About the Panelists

Dr. Mary Ann Vinton is an associate professor of Biology and the Director of the Environmental Science Program at Creighton University. She teaches courses in botany, ecology and environmental science and studies landscape change, resilience, and sustainability in the Nebraska Sandhills, one of the world’s most expansive grasslands.

Ann Antlfinger is an Emeritus Professor in the Biology Department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She earned a PhD from the University of Georgia in Botany and did post-doctoral training at Harvard University. During her career in Nebraska, she has studied the ecology and genetic diversity of rare plants such as American ginseng and the prairie orchid, nodding ladies’ tresses. She enjoys going to concerts and gardening.

Jessica Oreck makes projects large and small that instill a sense of wonder about the world of the everyday. Jessica’s documentaries (Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo, Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys, The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga, and several of her shorts) have played at festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Cairo, BFI, and many more. The Criterion Channel is currently hosting a retrospective of her earlier work. Jessica’s latest feature film, One Man Dies a Million Times will open theatrically this year. Jessica also makes bite-sized educational content, including two series for TED: Mysteries of Vernacular and In a Moment of Vision, as well as several shows for a soon-to-launch children’s network. Jessica spends most of her time curating and running a small museum called the Office of Collecting and Design in downtown Las Vegas. Through the museum, Jessica curates various associated traveling exhibits and workshops around the US.