chinyere knight, ph.d., is a professor at tuskegee university within the biology department of the college of arts and sciences. she is a mycologist and microbiologist studying slime molds and fungi within tuskegee, ala., and the broader southeast. her work in mycology focuses on applied mycology for health purposes and ecology education for broader audiences. 

knight is working towards a proposal for a herbarium on tuskegee’s campus to house a significant collection of slime molds and other fungi, which will expand and deepen mycology research at hbcus. 

as an undergraduate student doing research in her lab, i had the chance to pull her in for a chat after a recent lab meeting to discuss her work, its impact on health, and the role of education in her research. 

the interview below has been edited for length and clarity.

sylvia legette: for the reading audience, can you explain what slime molds are? what do you do with them and how does your research impact broader audiences? 

chinyere knight: slime molds are an interesting organism. they’re classified as protozoa, but we study them in mycology because they’re fruiting. they look like mini mushrooms when you see them in nature, but once you study them in detail, they’re actually classified as protozoa. 

but they’re really unknown to scientists, to biodiversity. because of that, there’s a lot of room for discovery. the things that are unknown are an opportunity for us to find innovations and new applications. typically, either mycologists or botanists study them because they grow bark and live in soil.

it’s become more important with the issues that we are having in the environment and climate change to have these robust natural history collections. 

my major professor and mentor, lafayette frederick, who was a tuskegee alumnus, studied slime molds. he created [a collection of slime molds, fungus, & plants at tuskegee university] and i inherited it. 

we have all of these great botanists and scientists, but we don’t have a museum for it. so i want to try and establish that here so we can have our own storage and safeguard our own material too at an hbcu. there’s only one other hbcu in the nation that has an herbarium and that’s delaware state, so this is also to empower and broaden hbcus’ impact, especially because we train so many of these great scientists. so they should be able to have a storage [site] for research and materials, but also to create model organisms for you all to study and have that connection to legacy. 

sl: can you describe your journey to academia? did you always want to be a mycologist? 

ck: do y’all know what a vision board is? so this is my vision board from 2011. you see how old it is. i cut pictures out of magazines and stuff like that. this was my vision from about 15 years ago. 

i wanted to be involved in microbial research or work with natural products and medicine, and i wanted to try to get funding. you see the picture of her getting money? this was the darkest skinned picture i could find. she’s supposed to represent us. 

like art, culture, and dance, i want to be part of legendary scientific history. from undergrad to now, my vision and interests have pretty much been the same. i used to have this saying that i was trying to find the cure, but now i realize there’s no actual cure to things. it’s more like a pathway to healing. looking at alternative ways to heal either the environment, the earth we live on, and ourselves too. 

sl: what made you choose tuskegee specifically, and can you name any mentors, and people specifically who guided you in your path?

ck: historically, of course, george washington carver. i mean, you read about him. if you don’t, before you even come here, you associate dr. george washington carver with tuskegee. also my major advisor was an alum of tuskegee.

i would say at least maybe four other professors that i had in the biology department at howard university were also tuskegee alumni. so i just knew it was one of those places that just connects all of the really bright black scientists together. howard, tuskegee, it’s like a pipeline. 

sl: with me starting on my own scientific journey, having good mentors is extremely important, and meeting people who connect you with opportunities to further your journey is also important. how do you incorporate mentorship for students into how you operate as a professor and how you structure your lab? 

ck: now that i’m faculty, i see the demands and i see how much the students really care. i was once one of those students who was always in office hours, always in the lab, and probably a very demanding student. i know that my professors at the time really invested in me. so i think that once you have had somebody nurture and invest in you, you have gratitude for that. it shows you how important it is for the next generation to have the same nutrients you were given. 

you can see the difference in the experiences of somebody really nurturing your dream and helping nurture your journey. i’ve always had that and i think that that’s one of the experiences that you get at an hbcu. 

sl: now to the nitty gritty. with the current federal proposed budget for the next fiscal year, there will be an approximate 50% cut to national science foundation funding, which would have massive rippling effects on opportunities for students to even get their foot in the door. how does that make you feel as both a scientist managing your lab, managing grants, and as an educator mentoring students and wanting to pass down the nurturing that you had? 

ck: this funding is your lifeline. like, that’s how you supply. that’s how you pay students during the summertime. that’s how you get supplies for your lab. so a lot of it can be daunting, but then i figured that we just have to remember historically, there was a time when hbcus had no government funding.  there was a time when we were still producing great scientists and no agency recognized us. so, i think that in some instances, we can’t be codependent on these entities in the government. 

we assume that they’re there to support us. we assume that they have the best agendas and that they are supposed to do what their mission says they are supposed to do: to protect humanity and protect the environment. but that’s not always the case. 

i feel that us as a people… we have that in our genetics. we know what it is to not even be considered human. we have to realize that it wasn’t too long ago that the government didn’t consider us human. it wasn’t too long ago that we didn’t have a government. it wasn’t too long ago when you as a woman couldn’t even do any of this.

try to just separate yourself and realize that you’re in this storm that’s going on, but we have a certain amount of protection. in biology, we say that organisms can go into spore mode when times are rough and conditions are hard. and then as soon as conditions are favorable, they become viable. i feel like that we’re already founded on those principles of not being included and not having enough and still making do. 

i just got an nsf grant recently. until now, most of what i’ve established has been on my own, and that is harder, but it gives you a sense of knowing that your house is built out of brick, right? when the big bad wolf comes around, they can’t blow you down, because you’ve already made your own bricks at tuskegee.

sl: that’s a beautiful answer. i hadn’t thought about that perspective. even now, hbcus like tennessee state university aren’t receiving money they are owed from the state of tennessee. 

ck: hbcus were often funded by churches in the past. a lot of hbcus were funded through the african methodist episcopal church so it’s it a total community effort. i think that that’s what [we] as a culture have lost. we’ve lost the interdependence when our community sustained all of our institutions, our education, and health care that was created because we weren’t a part of the government institution.

we had to create our own homes, that’s what reconstruction down here in the south was. so when we talk about this new renaissance maybe that’s happening now, i think maybe it’s like a new reconstruction, and the question is now, “how do we re-establish and reconstruct ourselves if the government is not just failing us but failing everybody?”  

sl: lots of people think scientists and researchers are taking their money and then not doing anything that impacts them, when in reality the research we’re doing is for them and to improve quality of life. so how do you think this plays into this whole funding dynamic, and do you perceive any solutions for improving science communication?

ck: when you become a scientist, you must ask, “who is your audience?” if your primary audience is private industry companies or the government, they have a different priority and agenda. if your audience is families, if your audience are women and children, they all have different agendas. so that really dictates how you communicate. 

so currently, a lot of it is commercialism. a lot of it is advertisement. and, a lot of it is teaching from a stance of disparity. meaning that even when i teach class, you have to talk about the water crises and the soil crises and everything is from a crisis perspective. but why is that? whose agenda is it to try to make it seem there’s not enough? it’s not enough land for you. it’s not enough food for you. it’s not enough soil for you.

we also have to be mindful of the agenda behind training a generation of young people that there is never enough. if you’ve always been trained that there’s not enough — when in reality, there’s plenty — how will that impact future scientists research, experiments, and interests? 

sl: do you have any words of encouragement for students who are maybe looking at this current situation and wondering, “is it time to pivot? do i need to pick another lane?” 

ck: you’re gonna be dealing with change if you are in science. whatever type of science you decide you’re going to be in, it’s going to be rigorous; it’s going to be challenging; and it’s going to be constant change. that’s the nature of the field. for some people, that’s stimulating. but for some people, they don’t like that fast pace. they don’t like that hustle and bustle.

so learn about yourself more than anything in education. more than you learn about the climate, more than you’re learning about the environment, more than you’re learning about biology or chemistry, you’re actually learning about yourself, right? and you’re learning about your limits and the things that inspire you, or that you disgusts you. you’re having your beliefs challenged, and then you’re learning new things that you appreciate that you weren’t exposed to before. so, that is what the education is for. it’s the investment in you, in your brain, and in your heart.

you can’t feel pressure to try to solve history, systemic racism, environmental damage, or war, you know what i mean? you just have to know that in your daily practice, that you must lead with your heart, use critical thinking, lead life with integrity, and try to be honest. that’s the little wave you can make in this big ocean.