Black Nerds Matter

On today’s episode of Black Nerds Matter, we’re honored to sit down with Dr. Kailani Acosta. She is a biological oceanographer, science communicator, and a powerful voice for equity in STEM.

Kailani currently serves as the Science Program Associate at OceanX, helping to drive innovative ocean exploration and research. She earned her Ph.D. in 2024 from Columbia University, where she studied nutrient dynamics and phytoplankton communities in the Gulf of Mexico, an area with deep environmental and cultural significance. But Kailani’s work doesn’t stop at the science.

She’s the founder of Columbia’s Seminar Diversity Initiative, co-author of published best practices for building DEI task forces, and the creative force behind “Bridging the Gulf,” a science-art exhibit connecting 100-million-year-old plankton, Black Belt soil, and Southern cultural identity. As an Early Career Liaison for the UN Ocean Decade, she’s helping shape the next era of global ocean sustainability.

In this conversation, we explore how science and storytelling intersect, how DEI work can reshape institutions, and how she’s making waves from the lab to the ocean floor to the art gallery.

And we definitely didn't ask her what it was like having a bunch of college kids on her boat this summer....