LaNell A. Williams is an associate research scholar in the Center for the Physics of Biological Functions at Princeton University. She currently studies the formation of a carbon-fixating membraneless organelle inside algae called the pyrenoid. She earned her PhD from Harvard University in May 2023 studying the self-assembly of viral proteins around RNA. In addition to research, she founded an education non-profit focused on increasing the number of Black and Brown women+ and gender minorities who receive STEM PhDs (the Women+ of Color Project) and served on the American Physical Society Council & Board of Executives, representing the Forum on Graduate Student Affairs, from 2019 to 2023.