Dr. Shannon Bennett is the Chief of Science and Harry W. and Diana V. Hind Dean of Science and Research Collections at the California Academy of Sciences. She is responsible for the Academy’s programs of scientific research and exploration, and oversees the Academy’s collection of nearly 46 million scientific specimens. She also holds an appointment as one of the institution’s Patterson Scholars in Science and Sustainability. Bennett joined the Academy in 2011 as the institution’s first-ever Associate Curator of Microbiology, where she broadened the institution’s research scope to include a dedicated focus on viruses and bacteria. Her specialty lies in infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.