Emma Scales

Emma is a biologist, writer, artist, and science advocate. As a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, she researches the molecular underpinnings of symbioses in fungi and bacteria. She is broadly interested in how beneficial biotic interactions between diverse organisms shape ecosystems and drive evolution.

In 2025, she co-founded and co-led the McClintock Letters initiative, a nationwide op-ed writing campaign that allowed people to hear directly from scientists in their own communities about what it is they do and why it matters. Emma's work on this initiative was featured in The New York Times, Science, and more (see press). She worked on this and other science policy projects with the Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP), of which she is a founding member, and the Cornell Advancing Science and Policy Club, of which she has served as co-President and Vice President.

She believes science communication in biology can serve as a powerful tool to not only drive civic engagement and inform policy, but to reinforce our shared humanity by stoking our inherent wonder and appreciation for the natural world. Outside of work, she moonlights as an oil painter and fly fisher.