From where does it STEM?

In this episode, I chatted with Dr. Kaitlyn Sadtler, who is pushing the boundaries of biomedical science. Co-hosted with HHMI Gilliam Fellow and ChemE PhD Candidate Sydney Floryanzia, we talk about their groundbreaking research, the twists and turns of their scientific journeys, and the power of collaboration in tackling big challenges.More on Dr. Sadtler, per the NIBIB:Kaitlyn Sadtler, Ph.D. joined NIBIB as an Earl Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigator and Chief of the Section for Immunoengineering in 2019. Prior to her arrival to the NIH, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Daniel Anderson, Ph.D. and Robert Langer, Ph.D., focusing on the molecular mechanisms of medical device fibrosis. During her time at MIT, Dr. Sadtler was awarded an NRSA Ruth L Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship, was listed on BioSpace's 10 Life Science Innovators Under 40 To Watch and StemCell Tech's Six Immunologists and Science Communicators to Follow. In 2018, she was named a TED Fellow and delivered a TED talk which was listed as one of the 25 most viewed talks in 2018. She was also elected to the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 List in Science, selected as a 2020 TEDMED Research Scholar, and received multiple other awards. Dr. Sadtler received her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where her thesis research was published in Science magazine, Nature Methods, and others. She was recently featured in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Magazine as an alumna of note. Dr. Sadtler completed her bachelor's degree summa cum laude at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, followed by a postbaccalaureate IRTA at the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology at NIAID.

In this episode, I chat with Jaida Elcock, a marine biologist studying basking sharks, and co-host with HHMI Gilliam Fellow Danny Olivares-Cordero, a researcher studying coral and coral reefs. We dive into their journeys, their research, and what keeps them hooked on the ocean's mysteries!

In this episode, we chatted with Sabrina Imbler, a science writer exploring the wonders of the natural world. They also wrote one of my favorite books of all time: How Far the Light Reaches! Co-host, Angelique Allen, a scientist and HHMI Gilliam Fellow made their podcast debut. She is passionate about communicating science with the public. The three of us discussed science writing, journalism, and ways to make science more accessible and engaging.

In this episode, I co-hosted Zingfa Wala with fellow Occidental Alumnus Julissa Larios. Both work at the Organization of Tropical Studies (OTS) and are passionate about science outreach, education, and community.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Sheila Teves (UBC) and Dr. Lawrence David (Duke U) with a fellow graduate student at Duke, Enya (@DewarsEnya)! Words cannot explain how fun it was chatting with other Filipino scientists

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Harmit Malik.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Bryan Dewsbury, an Associate Professor of Biology at Florida International University (FIU). Per the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI): He is the Principal Investigator of the Science Education And Society (SEAS) research program, which blends research on the social context of teaching and learning, faculty development of inclusive practices, and programming in the cultivation of equity in education. He is an Associate Director of the STEM Transformational Institute where he directs the Division of Transformative Education. He is also a Fellow with the John N. Gardner Institute where he assists institutions of higher education cultivate best practices in inclusive education. Dewsbury grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and immigrated to the United States in 1999. He received a BS in biology from Morehouse College and an MS and PhD in biology from FIU. 

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Michael Johnson, an Associate Professor of Immunobiology and Associate Dean for Basic Science Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona. He is also the Director of the National Summer Undergraduate Research Project (NSURP), the program that helped me recruit the first two guests I've ever had on this podcast! Check out NSURP here.

In this episode, Dr. Zack Drum, a postdoc in my lab, and I interviewed Dr. Andre Isaacs. Andre is originally from Jamaica and moved to the US to attend College of the Holy Cross, where he received his BA in Chemistry. He then went on to pursue his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania and his postdoctoral training at University of California, Berkeley. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at College of the Holy Cross. We had a great conversation about how representation in your peers and mentors matters in science, being openly queer in these higher education / academic environments, and how we can make science more inclusive.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Roshni Patel & Dr. Rachel Ungar. As graduate students at Stanford University in the Pritchard and Montgomery labs, respectively, they created a genetics & ethics course and published about it! Check it out here: Increasing equity in science requires better ethics training: A course by trainees, for trainees

In this episode, I interviewed Angela Saini with Dr. Mike Love. Angela is a prominent author interested in bridging science and society. Her works include the fantastic books: Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story Superior: The Return of Race Science The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Sean Decatur, the President of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) with my lab's amazing manager, Sylvie Parkus.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Raven Baxter, otherwise known as Raven the Science Maven. She is a prominent scientist, science communicator, and STEM educator. She is also the President of the The Science Haven.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Alondra Nelson, the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Per her website: Dr. Nelson was formerly deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In this role, she was the first African American and first woman of color to lead US science and technology policy. At OSTP, she spearheaded the development of the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, issued guidance to expand tax-payer access to federally-funded research, served as an inaugural member of the Biden Cancer Cabinet, strengthened evidence-based policymaking, and galvanized a multisector strategy to advance equity and excellence in STEM, among other accomplishments. Including her on the global list of "Ten People Who Shaped Science," Nature said of Nelson's OSTP tenure, “this social scientist made strides for equity, integrity and open access.” In 2023, she was named to the inaugural TIME100 list of the most influential people in the field of AI. In 2024, Nelson was appointed by President Biden to the National Science Board, the body that establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation and advises Congress and the President. Alondra was also nominated by the White House, and appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, to serve on the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence. She also helped lead academic and research strategy at Columbia University, where she was the inaugural Dean of Social Science and professor of sociology and gender studies. Dr. Nelson began her academic career on the faculty of Yale University, and there was recognized with the Poorvu Prize for interdisciplinary teaching excellence.Dr. Nelson has held visiting professorships and fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, the BIOS Centre at the London School of Economics, the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, and the Bavarian American Academy. Her research has been supported by the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.Nelson has contributed to national policy discussions on inequality and on the social implications of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data, and human gene-editing in journals like Science. Her essays, reviews, and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Nature, Foreign Policy, CNN, NPR, BBC Radio, and PBS Newshour, among other venues.She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Nelson was co-chair of the NAM Committee on Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation and served as a member of the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Responsible Computing Research. She is the recipient of honorary degrees from Northeastern University, Rutgers University, and the City University of New York. Her honors also include the Stanford University Sage-CASBS Award, the MIT Morison Prize, the inaugural TUM Friedrich Schiedel Prize for Social Sciences and Technology, the EPIC Champion of Freedom Award, the Federation of American Scientists Public Service Award, and the Morals & Machines Prize.Raised in Southern California, Dr. Nelson is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of California at San Diego, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her PhD from New York University in 2003.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, the President Emeritus of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Per his website: He has given numerous TED talks and chaired the National Academies' committee that produced the report, Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads. President Obama named him chair of the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans in 2012.  In 1988, he co-founded the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. The program is recognized as a national model in supporting high-achieving students committed to pursuing graduate and professional degrees and research careers in STEM and advancing underrepresented minorities in these fields.   In 2022, Dr. Hrabowski was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and he was also named the inaugural Centennial Fellow by the American Council on Education. In addition, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) launched the Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program in 2022 with a commitment of $1.5 billion to help build a scientific workforce that more fully reflects our increasingly diverse country. In April 2023, the National Academy of Sciences awarded him the Public Welfare Medal, the Academy's most prestigious award, and inducted him as a member of the Academy, for his extraordinary use of science for the public good. In 2008, he was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report, which ranked UMBC the nation's #1 “Up and Coming” university for six years (2009-14). For the past nine years (2015-23), U.S. News ranked UMBC in the top ten on a list of the nation's “most innovative” national universities. U.S. News also consistently ranks UMBC among the nation's leading institutions for “Best Undergraduate Teaching.” TIME magazine named Dr. Hrabowski one of America's 10 Best College Presidents in 2009, and one of the“100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2012. In 2011, he received both the TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence and the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Academic Leadership Award, recognized by many as the nation's highest awards among higher education leaders. Also in 2011, he was named one of seven Top American Leaders by The Washington Post and the Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership. In 2012, he received the Heinz Award for his contributions to improving the human condition and was among the inaugural inductees into the U.S. News & World Report STEM Solutions Leadership Hall of Fame. More recently, he received the American Council on Education's Lifetime Achievement Award (2018), the University of California, Berkeley's Clark Kerr Award (2019), the University of California, San Francisco's UCSF Medal (2020), and the New American Colleges and Universities Ernest L. Boyer Award (2021). He serves as a consultant to the NSF, the NIH, the National Academies, and universities and school systems nationally. He has served on many national boards, including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation He has been elected into the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), the National Academy of Public Administration, and the American Philosophical Society; receiving many awards such as the prestigious McGraw Prize in Education, the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. He also holds honorary degrees from nearly 50  institutions – including Harvard, Princeton, Duke, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins University, and Georgetown University.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Holden Thorp, the Editor-In-Chief of Science Magazine. Formerly, he was Provost of Washington University in St. Louis and spent three decades at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where he was Chancellor, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and a Kenan Professor of Chemistry.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In this episode, I chatted with Dr. Marcia McNutt. A decorated scientist who was the 15th Director (and 1st woman) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the President and CEO of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), a Professor of Marine Geophysics at Stanford University and UC Santa Cruz, and a Professor of Geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was also the science adviser to the United States Secretary of the Interior, and the former Editor-In-Chief of Science Magazine. She is currently the 22nd President of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

In this episode, I chatted with Dr. Robert Fernandez, the Executive Director of Cientifico Latino, and a United States Obama Leaders for the Obama Foundation Leaders USA Program. He is a former PD Soros Fellow and a former undocumented immigrant who once had a dream of becoming a scientist. His dreams have become a reality, and he is now helping historically marginalized students access higher education in the sciences!

When Doris (formerly UNC PREP Postbac Scholar, Currently University of Michigan PhD student) was applying to graduate school, JP connected her with Dr. Christina Termini, the creator of the List of 100 Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists. In this conversation, we mentioned expanding that list, and thus the #LatinxAtlas was born! Check out the original list of 100 Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists here, and check out the #LatinxAtlas, housed by the Fred Hutch Cancer Center here!

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Lyric Jorgenson, the Associate Director for Science Policy and the Director of the Office of Science Policy at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Per the NIH Office of Science Policy website, she provides senior leadership in the development and oversight of cross-cutting biomedical research policies and programs considered to be of high-priority to NIH and the United States Government. Prior to this role, she served in numerous roles across the agency, including Deputy Director of the Office of Science Policy, and has led the development of numerous high impact science and policy initiatives such as the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Dr. Jorgenson also served as the Deputy Executive Director of the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force in the Office of the Vice President in the Obama administration, where she directed and coordinated cancer-related activities across the Federal government and worked to leverage investments across sectors to dramatically accelerate progress in cancer prevention. Lyric received a doctorate degree from the Graduate Program for Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities where she conducted research in neurodevelopment with a focus on learning and memory systems. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Denison University.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Yim Register (they/them). A recently minted DOCTOR. Per their website, they are an NSF GRFP Fellow and got their PhD from the University of Washington (UW) Information School. At UW, they studied the ways that AI algorithms can cause harm, and the best practices for identifying and remedying such algorithmic harms.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Beronda Montgomery, an amazing mentor, leader, and author of "Lessons from Plants". Per her website, she is a writer, researcher, and scholar who pursues a common theme of understanding how individuals perceive, respond to, and are impacted by the environments in which they exist. Her primary laboratory-based research is focused on the responses of photosynthetic organisms (i.e., plants and cyanobacteria) to external light cues. Additionally, she pursues this theme in the context of effective mentoring and leadership of individuals, and the role of innovative leaders in supporting success.

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Neali Lucas. She has been at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for 14 years, where she is currently the Senior Science Advisor in the Office of the Commissioner, Office of the Chief Scientist. She was the first African-American scientist to graduate from her graduate program at the University of Michigan in 2007, and we had a rich discussion about equity and inclusion in STEM and the importance of hearing about how important these topics are from the top. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, guest co-host Rami Major and I interviewed Dr. Adriana Bankston. Per her website, she is an advocate for scientific research and innovation at the federal level. For close to a decade, Adriana has worked to nurture U.S. competitiveness in science and technology through a number of roles with universities, non-profits and scientific societies. Adriana works at the intersection of scientific research, higher education and STEM workforce development with a focus on science policy to advance our nation forward through evidence-based practices and empower the next generation to get involved. As the incoming first-ever AAAS/ASGCT Congressional Policy Fellow, Adriana will contribute to our nation's advancement in science and technology by providing high-quality, science-based, independent guidance to federal policy makers on Capitol Hill starting fall 2024. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Per Pallav's website, he studied physics in college at KTH in Stockholm, Sweden (where I'm from). As a PhD student in the lab of Julio Fernandez at Columbia University, he studied the mechanics of protein folding and discovered that we can modulate this process to alter the elasticity of muscles. He then moved to Harvard University as a postdoc in the lab of Xiaowei Zhuang, where he used DNA to invent and build nanosensors that make it possible to see molecular movements. Since starting my lab at the Salk Institute in 2021, he has been excited about building a diverse and thriving research community, while training future leaders in biophysics. When I'm not in the lab, you can find him rock climbing, skiing, or learning to surf. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Dr. Michael Summers is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Robert E. Meyerhoff Chair for Excellence in Research and Mentoring and Distinguished University Professor at UMBC. He is also an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Research in his laboratory is aimed at understanding how HIV-1 and other retroviruses assemble in infected cells and package their RNA genomes. He was an instrumental figure in the success of the amazing Meyerhoff Scholars Program! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Antentor Hinton Jr. Per his biosketch on his lab website, he is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics in the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences at Vanderbilt University and a member of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center and the Ernest E. Just Early Career Investigator. Dr. Hinton's laboratory has a strong commitment to diversity. Dr. Hinton has published 8 STEM education papers and 32 diversity, equity, inclusion, mentoring, and career development commentaries. Dr. Hinton is currently a national leader on matters related to diversity, equity, inclusion and mentoring. Some of Dr Hinton's publications include Cell, 2023 (First DEI cover article), Cell, 2022, Cell, 2020, EMBO, 2020 (a), EMBO 2020 (b) Nature Biotechnology, 2020, Trends in Cancer, 2021, Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 2021, Trends in Biochemical Sciences 2022, Cell Reports Medicine, 2021 (Shared 2nd Anniversary Cover), Cell Reports Medicine, 2022, Trends in Immunology 2022, Trends in Cell Biology 2022 (a), Trends in Cell Biology (b), Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 2022 (First DEI/career development cover article for a scientific journal), Trends in Plant Sciences, 2022 (Second DEI/Career development cover article for a scientific journal, Trends in Parasitology, 2022 (Third DEI/Career development cover article for a scientific journal), Trends in Chemistry, 2023 (Fourth DEI/Career Development cover article for a scientific journal) and Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 2022 (First mentoring cover article for a scientific journal). These pieces are constructive and heavily use the literature to make recommended suggestions. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Crystal Schiller, a clinical psychologist specializing in women's mental health. She studies how hormones trigger changes in mood over the course of the reproductive life span—during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, postpartum, and the transition to menopause. She is also passionate about teaching others about the impact of hormones on mood and tools that have been scientifically shown to help. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Ubadah Sabbagh & Dr. Daniel Gonzales. Ubadah is a Syrian neuroscientist and NIH K00 Fellow at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, and Daniel just started a faculty position at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. They met over social media, are freakin' HILARIOUS, and I am so glad I got to put them together in a Zoom room! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I co-hosted Dr. Eric Green, Director of the NHGRI with Parth and Chinmay, the co-hosts of Biocast. He is the third NHGRI director, having been appointed by NIH director Dr. Francis Collins in 2009. In this episode, we talked about mentorship, baseball, and what it's like to head an institute of the NIH. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I co-hosted Dr. Karolin Luger with Chinmay and Parth, the co-hosts of a partner podcast with From where does it STEM? called Biocast. Biocast is a biology podcast made to serve as a resource for anyone interested in biology: whether it be about recent breakthroughs in research, common topics, or even just a general interest, they hope to encourage people to explore the world of biology and help them delve deeper into the wonderful science of life itself.I hosted Karolin in a previous episode back in 2021, and this is the first time I've done a follow-up with a previous guest! If you forgot, she is a scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder who solved the structure of the nucleosome using X-ray crystallography. More recently, she was awarded the 2023 World Laureates Association Prize in Life Sciences or Medicine. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Murry Burgess. When I interviewed Murry in 2023, she was a PhD candidate at North Carolina State University, and now she is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University. She is an ornithology and urban ecology researcher, but she is also a huge advocate for field safety in the natural sciences as an aspect of accessibility and inclusion. In 2022, she co-founded a non-profit organization called Field Inclusive, which amplifies and supports marginalized and historically excluded field biologists. She is also a children's book author with both self-published work and contracted pieces with Little, Brown Young Readers and Christy Ottaviano Books. She is the author for a nature book series featuring a 5-year old Black girl exploring the nature around her suburban home.   --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Dimie Ogoina. Dr. Ogoina is a Nigerian Infectious Disease Physician-Scientist and Professor of Medicine at the Niger Delta University. He is also the chief medical director at its teaching hospital and the President of the Nigerian Infectious Diseases Society. He was named one of the 100 most influential people of 2023 by TIME magazine and was named Nature's Top 10 in 2022. He sounded the alarm on a new presentation of Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) and his research became critically important to developing better strategies to prevent and control outbreaks.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I had a conversation with Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin. Dr. Mohiuddin and his team transplanted the first gene-edited pig heart into a human. Currently, he is the Director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. He received his MD from Dow Medical College in Pakistan and moved to the United States after completing his surgical training.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

In this episode, I had a conversation with Lisa McCorkell, a Long COVID Patient-Researcher and Advocate. She received a Masters in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. Currently, she is a co-founder, team lead, and researcher with the Patient-Led Research Collaborative. She regularly presents recommendations and the patient perspective to government agencies and has been awarded the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Distinguished Public Service Award and was named Nature's 10 in 2022. My favorite fun fact about her is that she's a huge Noah Kahan fan! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Dr. Mike Levine is the Director of the Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University. Originally from Southern California, Mike sat down with me and Marielle Bond to talk about his scientific journey and how he ended up in New Jersey ("of all places!"). He was an absolute joy to talk to, and I was excited to get him on the show because of his passion for training the next generation of scientists and for inspiring fellow Dodger fans (like myself). --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Dr. Diana Greene Foster is a Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program. She was just named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow and in 2022, was named by Nature as one of the top 10 scientists shaping science today. She was a leader in the Turnaway Study, a longitudinal prospective study of almost 1,000 women who received or were denied wanted abortions from 30 facilities across the US. She is now leading a Global Turnaway Study, documenting the experience of women and denied abortions in five other countries where it is legal: Bangladesh, Colombia, Nepal, South Africa, and Tunisia. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Per the National Human Genome Research Institute, Dr. Christopher Donohue is a historian at the NHGRI at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He co-manages the History of Genomics Program.  The History of Genomics Program is a unique history and science communications effort at the NIH that uses the history and present manifestations of eugenics, scientific racism, ableism, heteronormativity and their complex connections to contemporary genomics and medicine to facilitate meaningful and difficult conversations that promote equity and confront past and present wrongs.  NHGRI Eugenics & Scientific Racism Fact Sheet: https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism NHGRI Eugenics: Its Origin and Development (1883-Present) Fact Sheet: https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/educational-resources/timelines/eugenics --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Dr. Chrystal Starbird is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is passionate about DEI in STEM and mentoring the next generation of diverse scientists. We had an insightful conversation ranging from actionable things institutions can do to better support historically underrepresented students to how she bumps "Everyday I'm Hustlin'" by Rick Ross when she's in celebration mode! Enjoy! To learn more about her research, check out her site! (https://starbirdlab.com/) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Happy #TidyTuesday! Excited to share an awesome conversation with Hadley Wickham (@hadleywickham), Chief Scientist @rstudio! We tried to stay away from #ggplot2 and the #tidyverse and wanted to focus on his journey and life. Enjoy! #RStats --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Angeline Dukes is a PhD candidate and neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine. She is a proud alumnus of Fisk University and the Founder and President of Black in Neuro! We had great conversations about being a mentor and overcoming imposter syndrome. This fall, she will also be starting at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

It was an honor and privilege to interview Dr. Francis Collins M.D., Ph.D. He was appointed the 16th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by President Barack Obama and continued to serve under Presidents Trump and Biden. Dr. Collins is the only Presidentially appointed NIH Director to serve more than one administration. Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes (cystic fibrosis) and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project which was completed in 2003. He served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH from 1993-2008. Dr. Collins is an elected member of both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, and received the National Medal of Science in 2009. In 2020, he was elected as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (UK) and was also named the 50th winner of the Templeton Prize, which celebrates scientific and spiritual curiosity. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Christopher Emdin, Ph.D., is the Robert A. Naslund Endowed Chair in Curriculum Theory and Professor of Education at the University of Southern California; where he also serves as Director of youth engagement and community partnerships at the USC Race and Equity Center. He previously served as Director of the Science Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University and alumni fellow at the Hip-hop archive and Hutchins Center at Harvard University. The creator of the #HipHopEd social media movement and Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S., Emdin was named the 2015 Multicultural Educator of the Year by the National Association of Multicultural Educators and has been honored as a STEM Access Champion of Change by the White House. In addition to teaching, he serves as a Minorities in Energy Ambassador for the US Department of Energy. Check out his new book, STEM, STEAM, Make, Dream, where he explores the ways that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics can transform young people's lives through learning. This includes reimagining our collective relationship to STEM by presenting it as more accepting and accessible than previously acknowledged! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Yeraldi Loera graduated from Occidental College as a Biology major in the Fall of 2016. After graduating, she attended California State Polytechnic University in Pomona for a Master's in Biology. Since receiving her Master's in 2019, she has started a PhD program in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University in the lab of Dr. Shane Campbell-Staton. She emphasizes her gratitude to do what she loves and is outspoken on connecting with others about their obstacles and journeys. She is the daughter of a single mother Mexican immigrant who grew up in an underprivileged household and town in Los Angeles with limited educational resources. She recognizes her time at Occidental College as a pivotal point in her journey where she was able to explore science and find her interests. She attributes the bulk of her success to the awesome mentors she has had throughout her time at Oxy and beyond. These mentors have helped her defy obstacles impeding her path, leading her to grow as a scientist and as a person. Mentoring is now a primary goal for her as she studies to become a PI at an institution like Oxy where she can conduct her research while introducing and immersing students into the wonders of scientific research. She has been the first student in both of her graduate labs, finding the challenges of starting a lab both instructional and as a creative outlet to foster a welcoming lab culture. She is working on her scientific communication skills to reach more students feeling unease throughout their academic journey. She is open to conversations on these topics via email (yeraldiloera@gmail.com). --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

On this episode, I got the chance to sit down and chat about social justice in science with Dr. Sabah Ul-Hasan, a bioinformatician and postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego under Dr. Andrew Su. They are currently working on the NIH-funded Wikidata biocuration project. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Awesome chatting with STEM Twitter celebrity George Iskander, a Physics PhD student at the University of Chicago! I also want to announce that I'll be bringing in co-hosts to bring in unique perspectives and questions! First one is the wonderful SaraJoy Salib of Occidental College! Enjoy! Special shout-out to Ethan Lin, a Valencia High School (Santa Clarita, CA) graduate and current undergraduate at the Rochester Institute of Technology, for producing the music used in this episode! The Global Prep Academy product will be majoring in Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering and hopefully will continue making music! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Dr. Karolin Luger is a biochemist and structural biologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Famously known for solving the structure of the nucleosome via X-ray crystallography, she also believes that one of the most important aspects of her job is training and inspiring the next generation of scientists! Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Tigist (Tiggy) Menkir is a PhD student working with Dr. Caroline Buckee at the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics housed within the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She did her undergraduate training at Princeton University where she received her BA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with minors in Global Health and Health Policy and French Language in Culture. She studies infectious disease epidemiology and utilizes machine learning-based methods, spatial statistics, and traditional dynamic models for infectious disease surveillance, with a focus on data-limited settings and marginalized populations. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Cristal Rivera is an industrial production engineer who I had the pleasure of meeting through the 2021 RStudio Diversity Scholars program. She is extremely passionate about data science and advocating for opportunities in STEM for people from marginalized backgrounds, especially women! Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message

Episode 2 of Season 2 is LIVE! On this week's episode, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Dr. Charles Scaife! Charles is currently an ORISE/ORAU Science, Technology, and Policy Fellow at the US Dept. of Energy and was formerly a NOAA Sea Grant Knauss Fellow! He received his PhD from the University of Virginia and completed his undergrad at UNC Chapel Hill! Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fromwheredoesitstem/message