Research & Service Leadership Symposium

FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Violet Saena is the founder and executive director of Climate Resilient Communities, an organization that supports under resourced communities of color at the frontline of climate change and sea-level rise. Her dedication to elevating community voices and responding to environmental injustice is rooted in her lived experience in the South Pacific.

She has served as an international climate change expert with the United Nations’ Least Developed Countries and Small Island States to protect communities from the impacts of climate change. She now works in the Bay Area partnering with governments, research institutions, and community-based organizations to build community capacity to respond to climate change and sea-level rise. Violet also serves as the equity program manager for the Bay Area Climate Adaptation Network, an environmental justice advisor for the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and a community advisory council member to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

Violet has a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University, a bachelor’s in environmental studies from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, and postgraduate diplomas in environmental and climate change management from Dresden University in Germany, Erasmus University in the Netherlands, and Waikato University in New Zealand.

Currently, Violet is a Distinguished Visitor at Stanford University and her residency is on Environmental Sustainability.

• Use the Official RSLS 2024 Program Schedule [Available May 13] for a complete program with listed presentations!
• You can attend presentation sessions on the hour throughout the day, beginning at 10 a.m. 
• Make room in your schedule for the full day, or just an hour.
• We invite you to sample individual projects, explore themes, or absorb the event from morning to late afternoon.
• We encourage you to attend multiple sessions and see the full range of research, service, and creative arts projects that participants have developed.
  

• Preview the Official RSLS 2024 Program Schedule [Available May 13] for a complete program with listed presentations!
• You can attend Zoom presentation sessions on the hour, beginning at 10 a.m.
• Join livestream viewing of Zoom presentations in the Multicultural Center on campus.

• Preview the Official RSLS 2024 Program Schedule [Available May 13] for a complete program with listed poster topics and art gallery items!
• You can attend new poster sessions on the hour throughout the day, beginning at 10 a.m. 

• Don't forget to vote for the Viewer's Choice Awards by 5:00 p.m.!
• Vote throughout the day as you view the presentations, starting at 11:00 a.m.
• You may select one presentation or poster for each room per hour.
• Use the Viewer's Choice Award links available within each presentation room and online in the RSLS 2024 Event site.

• Get fuel for the day with a free, catered lunch!
• Continue viewing presentations, posters, and art.
• Listen to music and rap performances.

• Join Foothill Beats Drumming for a performance and interactive lesson.
• Enjoy drinks and desserts with friends, family, and community.

• Kick-off the celebration with the rap stylings of OneSelf DaVinci.
• Celebrate the full day of presentations with our evening Awards Ceremony, during which we will honor 5 of the most impactful project presentations with the RSLS Judges' Awards.

• We will also recognize 5 additional projects selected by you, the audience, with Viewers' Choice Awards.

• You can vote for the presentations that "speak" to you from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.