2026 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Mejs Hasan

Mejs Hasan is a science communicator on a mission to make Earth science feel human, warm, and accessible using storytelling, animation, and data visualization to bring people of different backgrounds together. As founder of Animations with Kids, she leads children through a collaborative process of co-creating science storytelling animations as a team, regardless of where they come from. To date, the program has produced 13 films with over 300 children across four cities and two countries and has secured more than $11,000 in funding. Her current work also includes building 3D visualizations of wartime destruction using open-source satellite data, transforming complex geospatial information into stories that anyone can understand and feel.

Before launching Animations with Kids, Hasan was an Earth Science Visual Storyteller at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she pioneered new techniques for creating more engaging 3D Earth data visuals, supported VIP visits with geospatial graphics and translation, and produced animations for the public. She has also written for WIRED Magazine, researched river and wetland health using satellite imagery — with a focus on the Chesapeake Bay and the Tigris/Euphrates river basin — and served as a media intern for EcoPeace in Amman, Jordan.

Hasan’s work has been recognized with two Voyager Awards from JPL, an AAAS Mass Media Fellowship, and the grand prize in the inaugural AGU/NASA Data Visualization and Storytelling Student Competition. She has presented at AGU numerous times, including as an invited speaker, and has joined panel discussions for Crayola’s Earth Day celebrations and NASA’s STEM Career Day.

Hasan is a triple Tar Heel. She earned a B.A. in Economics (2006), an M.S. in Public Health with a concentration in Environmental Sciences and Engineering (2010), and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences (2018). She was a recipient of the Chancellor’s Fellowship through the Royster Society of Fellows from 2014-2018.

Hasan speaks on science storytelling, data visualization, and using creativity and collaboration to bridge divides between communities.

Hasan’s presentation is open to the public. Please spread the word with your colleagues and encourage them to register at: https://go.unc.edu/RoysterKeynote