Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Joe Biden’s former Chief Medical Advisor sat down with host and AAAS STPF fellow Dr. Adejare (Jay) Atanda to discuss pandemic preparedness and response. Dr. Fauci also discusses the duality of his former role as a public facing physician-scientist, lessons from his service responding to COVID-19, and how scientists can leverage the power of the media for good. In the process, we learn about the risks from new and emerging technology… and how we can be better prepared for the next pandemic.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
STEM careers have historically been performed by and for populations that do not represent the complete spectrum of unique lived experiences. In recent years however, the STEM community has been experiencing a sort of renaissance for diversity, equity, and inclusion -- or DEI. Efforts to address inequities in who participates in STEM and in who benefits from its advancements are becoming common talking points, but the breadth of resources, new initiatives, and think pieces can make knowing how to participate in these efforts as a scientist daunting or confusing. To weigh in on the challenges, successes, and future of DEI in STEM, we invited a panel of trained scientists who have integrated DEI into their scientific careers in different ways: STPF fellow Trenell Mosley, Juliet Johnston, and Bailey Duhé.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
When most of us think of “scientists,” we envision someone in a lab coat huddled behind a lab bench. AAAS STPF fellow Alexandra “Ali” Giese defies this stereotype – her work with glaciers has taken her all over the world, from the Himalayas to the Greenland ice sheet. It has also taught her the culture and importance of glaciers and mountains. Ali chats with host Reshmina William, telling the story of how she turned her “obsession with ice” into a career in climate science and of the international community she has befriended along the way.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
As the world changes, scientists and policymakers must grapple with increasingly complex, global, and interdisciplinary challenges. AAAS STPF fellow Alex Loewi sat down with host and fellow fellow Reshmina William to discuss the importance of asking the right questions to tackle these challenges, the role of government in social well-being, and how the National Science Foundation is working on 21st century problems and innovations.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
As science and technology progress, so do the impacts of those advances and pollution on communities. Veronica Eady, Senior Deputy Executive Officer of Policy and Equity at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and a lifetime advocate for environmental justice aptly states, “science and justice go hand in hand.” Join Eady and host Reshmina Williams as they discuss the important role of science in advocacy, the value of tenacity, and the role of J40 in putting power back in the hands of communities.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
According to a survey of 2000 adults, the average American hasn’t made a new friend in the last five years, and yet, 45% of people would go out of their way to make a new friend if they knew how. Former fellow and friendship expert Dr. Marisa Franco joins Dr. Stephanie Gage for a candid conversation about her NYT best-selling book “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make and Keep Friends.” Their conversation explores the topics of loneliness, the importance of friendship, and how to make lasting friendships.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
What role can the arts play in shaping scientific expression? How can scientists and artists better work together to share their insights with the general public? We sit down with Smitha Vishveshwara, a theoretical physicist, and Benny Starr, a hip-hop artist and activist, to discuss these thorny questions. In the process, we explore their creative journeys and the need for an artistic (and scientific!) process that incorporates authenticity, courage, and collaborative curiosity.
“The Joy of Regathering” premiered on September 17, 2022 at the University of Illinois' Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. This original work explores who we are at all scales - from the microscopic to the cosmic – through the lens of science, music, and movement.
Starr served as the inaugural Artist-in-Residence for the U.S. Water Alliance. His work “A Water Album” was recorded live in Charleston, South Carolina in 2018. The music reflects the life-bringing force of water and the existential threat that climate change poses to this flood-prone part of the world.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
On a very special episode of Sci on the Fly, host and current STPF fellow Reshmina William sits down with four members of the STPF Class of 2021 as they reflect on the last year. Join Carly Champagne, Julie Snow, Bill O'Brien, and Leslie Brooks as they discuss their accomplishments and their advice for the incoming Class of 2022.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
In this episode, we chat with Dr. Heather Spence, a marine biologist and sound artist. She’s currently a marine and science advisor in the Department of Energy, where she is exploring the potential for marine renewable energy to power ocean observation systems. For her graduate research, she conducted a groundbreaking sound monitoring program on the MesoAmerican Reef. Heather also combined her acoustic recordings from the reef with music – she also performs internationally as a cellist and viola da gambist. Heather also shares the activities of the Interagency Working Group on Ocean Sound and Marine Life and the United Nations Ocean Decade’s Maritime Acoustic Environment program. In combining science and art, Heather hopes to inspire the wider public about ocean biology and conservation.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
The guest for this episode of Sci on the Fly is Dr. Deborah Thomson. Dr. Thomson is a veterinarian and “One Health” advocate who has served as a Science Policy Advisor in the United States Senate. In addition to practicing clinical veterinary medicine, she founded and led a global organization that inspires children and adults to value the interconnection between human health and the health of the environment, plants, and animals (called One Health Lessons). In this episode she talks the One Health Lessons training program and her new book “The Art of Science Communication”.
Secretary of the International Whaling Commission, Dr. Rebecca Lent spoke with Sci on the Fly about the history and evolution of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) – one of the oldest international marine conservation treaty organizations and one of the first to be advised by science. The organization has gone from a body of whaling nations trying to maximize their catches to one that is tackling climate change, pollution, fisheries by-catch, underwater noise, ship strikes, unsustainable whale-watching and other international threats to whales and dolphins. As noted, it was one of the first international treaty organizations to be based on science, and today the Scientific Committee meetings of the IWC are where cutting edge whale and dolphins science is used to inform international whale management and conservation policy.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
Dr. Samuel M. Goodman is the author of Beyond Carbon Neutral: How We Fix the Climate Crisis Now, a book about how to reverse climate change. He is a chemical engineer by training who earned a doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder after undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Following graduate school, Dr. Goodman completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Academy of Sciences and was an AAAS S&T Policy Fellow at the US Department of Defense. He is currently an international trade analyst with the US International Trade Commission.
Dr. Goodman has always been interested in addressing climate change. And with his recent book Beyond Carbon Neutral, he hopes that he will help to move the climate change conversation forward with a blueprint for action through workable, and necessary, solutions. In the second part of this two-part episode, he talks about the history of the toxic element lead as a public health issue, and the similarities with the problem of climate change. He also discusses how fossil fuel jobs could transition as we become carbon neutral, as well as what individuals can do to help combat climate change.
Dr. Samuel M. Goodman is the author of Beyond Carbon Neutral: How We Fix the Climate Crisis Now, a book about how to reverse climate change. He is a chemical engineer by training who earned a doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder after undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Following graduate school, Dr. Goodman completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Academy of Sciences and was an AAAS S&T Policy Fellow at the US Department of Defense. He is currently an international trade analyst with the US International Trade Commission.
Dr. Goodman has always been interested in addressing climate change. And with his recent book Beyond Carbon Neutral, he hopes that he will help to move the climate change conversation forward with a blueprint for action through workable, and necessary, solutions. In the first part of this two-part episode, Dr Goodman talks about energy sector solutions to solving the climate crisis and why better policy rather than new technology is the approach we need to take to reduce carbon emissions.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
The guest in this episode is Dr Bill Sullivan, the author of "Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are" (2019, National Geographic Books). Sullivan is a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he studies genetics and microbiology. An award-winning researcher, teacher, and science communicator, Sullivan has been featured in a wide variety of TV and radio shows, and has written for The Washington Post, National Geographic, Discover, Scientific American, and many more, in addition to over 100 papers in scientific journals. Dr Sullivan talks about his work from parasites to genetics, his new book, and about the importance of science communication.
In this episode, Mr. Daniel Simmons, Principal of Simmons Energy & Environmental Strategy and former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from 2019 to 2021, speaks to his experience as a political appointee within the DOE; advocating for affordable reliable clean energy; balancing leadership and family; and the importance AAAS Science & Technology Policy fellows supporting critical DOE missions.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
Dr. Ambika Bumb is a Science and Technology Policy Fellow working in the Crisis Management and Strategy Office at the U.S. Department of State. Within this office, she was part of several tasks forces that played major roles during the coronavirus pandemic, including the Repatriation Task Force that brought home American citizens stranded abroad during the early months of the pandemic. This repatriation effort was unprecedented in many ways but was executed quickly and efficiently. For their work, the US Senate passed a bipartisan resolution commending the Crisis Management and Strategy Office and the Department of State presented with the Distinguished Honor Award. In this episode Dr. Bumb talks about the challenges that she and her colleagues faced while bringing Americans home, and about how diverse parts of her academic and professional life seemed to converge in her work at the Department of State.
Ibrahim Mohedas earned his masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan. His doctoral research, supported through a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, focused on the use of ethnographic techniques during the design of medical devices for low- and middle-income countries, collecting data in healthcare settings in Ethiopia, Ghana and Rwanda. Dr. Ibrahim is currently a AAAS S&T Policy Fellow in the Office of the Convergence Accelerator at the National Science Foundation. The Convergence Accelerator program funds innovative new research that brings together scientists with diverse stakeholder groups to produce projects with societal impact. Ibrahim talks about his career journey and this innovative new way of funding scientific projects that have major real-world impacts.
In this week’s episode our guest is Dr. Maryann Cairns, who talks about her career path and her studies on pathogens in water. Dr Cairns is an environmental anthropologist who uses using creative research designs and cultural understanding to safeguard the environment and human health. Her work has examined the politics of water and sanitation systems, the impacts of tourism on coastal water quality and human health, and the low-cost technologies to treat wastewater-polluted rivers. She’s done research in several parts of the world including Latin America & the Caribbean, the Western Balkans, and the United States. In this podcast she talks about her work, in particular a recent $1.5 million dollar collaborative National Science Foundation-supported research program (the MERA investigation) which studied human exposure to pathogens in coastal areas in Costa Rica.
Dr Roberto Delgado has a doctorate in Biological Anthropology from Duke University, where he did research on the social behavior and calls of male orangutans. So how did he end up becoming the Program Director for the Arctic Observing Network (AON) in the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs – as far removed from the jungle of Borneo as one could imagine? Roberto tells about the journey his career took from great apes to AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, to the National Institutes of Health - where he focused on resilience and well-being among Arctic, American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Finally, his career took him to National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs where in addition to the AON program he co-leads the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee's (IARPC) Environmental Intelligence Collaboration Team and is helping to manage NSF's “Navigating the New Arctic” Big Idea. In this episode Dr Delgado tells us about his journey from PhD student to AAAS STP fellow, to working in the Federal Government on pressing Arctic issues.
Participants :
Roberto Delgado, Ph.D., Anthropologist
2013-15 Executive Branch Fellow at the US National Science Foundation
Host:
Chris Parsons, Ph.D., Ocean conservation science
2020-2021 Executive Branch Fellow at the US National Science Foundation
Twitter: @ecmparsons
Editor:
Editor: Ashley Scarlett, Ph.D., Marine biologist and science communication specialist
Twitter: @DrScarlettSmash
Producer/Executive Producer:
Chris Parsons, Ph.D., Ocean conservation science
2020-2021 Executive Branch Fellow at the US National Science Foundation
Twitter: @ecmparsons
Image credit: Kate Ruck
In this two-part episode, Dr. nature McGinn talks about how the AAAS Science & Technology Policy fellowship helped to give her skills and open doors for a permanent job in federal government and the work she does in her current position to help safeguard the environment and species in the world's last true wilderness area - Antarctica.
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
Dr. Nature McGinn is currently the Environmental Policy Program Manager and Antarctic Conservation Act Permit Officer in the Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation. Nature has been at NSF for over eight years, with her first two years as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow (STPF) in the Office of Polar Programs, before entering a permanent position in the agency as an Environmental Policy Specialist in 2015. Nature earned her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology from the University of California, Davis. The focus of her research was the impacts of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on reproduction and development in marine invertebrates. She followed her Ph.D. with a postdoc focusing on the reproductive biology of the endangered white abalone.
In this two-part episode she talks about how the STPF fellowship helped to give her skills and open doors for a permanent job in federal government, and the work she does in her current position to help safeguard the environment and species in the world’s last true wilderness area – Antarctica.
With so many children currently attending school virtually on laptops, tablets and other smart devices, there is concern about how the extended use of these devices affects them. While much attention has been given to the cognitive effects of extended device usage, Dr. Regina Pope-Ford has instead investigated the physical effects. In this episode, Dr. Pope-Ford, an expert in human factors and ergonomics, discusses her study of children’s comfort while using smart devices. She also discussed signs of bad posture that could lead to enduring pain, ways to correct the posture, and some things that parents and educators can keep in mind as schools continue to educate virtually. You can read her paper here.
Host: Philip Ko, Ph.D., 2019-2021 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation (Twitter: @PhilKo19)
Guest: Regina Pope-Ford, Ph.D., 2019-2021 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation
Producer & Executive Producer:
Philip Ko, Ph.D., 2019-2021 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation (Twitter: @PhilKo19)
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.