Sera Young is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Global Health at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. She has dedicated her career to understanding how mothers, especially in low-resource settings, cope to preserve their health and that of their families. Professor Young’s current research is focused on quantifying human experiences with problems with water, and unpacking their consequences for nutrition, health, and well-being (www.hwise.org). High-resolution, globally comparable, gender-disaggregated data have been helpful in other sectors, e.g. the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Insecurity Experiences Scale. However, experiential data for water have been limited. To fill this gap, Dr. Young led a large multi-disciplinary team to develop the first cross-culturally equivalent way of measuring water access and use at the household and individual levels, the Water Insecurity Experiences Scales. These scales have been used by 100+ organizations in more than 50 countries. She has co-authored 150 peer-reviewed publications; awards include an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and the Margaret Mead for her book, Craving Earth.