Further Together the ORAU Podcast

Chinmayee Govinda Raj, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow who conducts research for the Lunar Explorer Instrument for Space Biology Applications, or LEIA Project, at the NASA Ames Research Center. The LEIA Project will send microbes to the southern hemisphere of the moon on the upcoming Artemis II mission. Further Together host Michael Holtz talks to Govinda Raj about about her fellowship, and the fact that she is an outlier in her family. She says everyone in her family is an artist of some kind, and she wanted a change of pace. She knew from an early age that she wanted to work for NASA, but suffered from imposter syndrome. Still she took her journey one step at a time to get where she is today. Listen to the conversation to learn more. To learn about the NASA NPP, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Alberto Vazquez-Salazar, PhD, is a NASA postdoctoral fellow working at UCLA in the lab of Professor Irene Chen. He studies how life may have started on Earth by focusing on a molecule called RNA, or ribonucleic acid, which is a critical molecule that exists in all living things. His work is a part of astrobiology that explores how life began on Earth and how we might find signs of life elsewhere in the universe. In this episode of Further Together, Vazquez-Salazar talks to host Michael Holtz about how science has always seemed to be part of his life. Growing up in Mexico City, his mom, a botanist, kept books and plant specimens everywhere. “Science was just part of everyday life,” he says. “It was as normal as finding cereal in the pantry.” Listen to learn more about Vazquez-Salazar's journey to NASA. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program and when applications open, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Brenda Blunt, ORAU senior director of health policy, is passionate about the connections between nutrition and both physical and mental health. She is a mom, grandmother, wife, nurse, primal health coach, farmer and policy wonk. Blunt says all of those roles together make health and how we can better care for ourselves important to her. As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, rolls out his plan to Make America Healthy Again, much of the focus is on the role of better nutrition and its connection to health. Blunt was MAHA before it was cool, and often leans into the teachings of Florence Nightingale, who advocated for a holistic view of health that emphasized the importance of fresh air, clean water, efficient drainage, cleanliness of patients and care areas, and sunlight. In this conversation, Blunt and hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood discuss how we got to being one of the richest countries in the world and one of the least healthy, how we didn't get here overnight, how government agencies can work together to help Americans make better choices, and how we can individually and collectively take steps to make ourselves and the country healthier.

Looking up at the night sky can make anyone feel small, but for Ben Hord, Ph.D., a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, looking at the sky is also a reminder of how much there is left to discover, and how many people can be part of that journey. Hord is in his second year of his Fellowship, working on the Pandora SmallSat mission. Set to launch in fall 2025, Pandora will study at least 20 exoplanets, planets outside our solar system, and their stars to figure out what their atmospheres are made of. In this episode of Further Together, Hord discusses his research, his career trajectory, how he became a scientist and more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program and when applications open, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Ali Hyder, Ph.D., was raised in a family of artists and is himself a musician, which seems a far cry from his research modeling the hydrodynamics of the surfaceless planet Jupiter but he believes art and science fuel each other. Science is also art because you have to be creative in a specific way, he says in this interview for Further Together: The ORAU Podcast. Hyder takes a deep dive into why modeling Jupiter's hydrodynamics is important for better understanding Earth, as well as how he became interested in science and the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship and to apply for the next application cycle, visit https://npp.orau.org/

Casey Ivanovich, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow studying extreme humid heat, particularly focused on the dynamics of where events happen and why they happen across the globe. These dynamics are very different from extreme dry heat events, she says, and she is really trying to understand why they come about and how we can better prepare for them. Ivanovich talked about her research with guest host Bryan Campbell. Together they talk about the early days of Ivanovich's fellowship, how she became interested in science, the trajectory of her career, and much more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/

Backpack-mounted LIDAR systems are laser-ranging devices that can create very high definition 3D terrain maps. Jordan Bretzfelder, Ph.D., was very early in her tenure as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow when she was set to embark on a trip to California's Death Valley to use LIDAR on the dunes there. The Death Valley trip served as an analog for future expeditions to the moon and to Mars. LIDAR can map terrain in places without light, which will be useful to map the polar regions of the moon and other interesting topographies. In this episode, Bretzfelder discusses her research at the Marshall Space Flight Center, how she got interested in science and the path that led her to NASA. Listen in for a fun and interesting conversation! To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/

In April 2024, Meharry Medical College received an ORAU Innovation Partnership Grant to help students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Nashville area attended Meharry's annual Cancer Survivorship Summit. IPG grants, offered through ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office, are designed to strengthen relationships between university consortium members and ORAU subject matter experts. The summit was a day-long event focused on sharing information about cancer risks, research, and prevention and early detection, as well as provide opportunities for community members to get needed health and medical screenings. In this conversation, host Michael Holtz talks with the team from Meharry that helped make the summit possible, including Tammy Henderson, Ph.D., vice president in the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation at the Meharry School of Medicine; Kirsten George, health careers pathway program manager in the Department of Family and Community Medicine; and Donald Alcendor, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Physiology. Also joining the conversation is Robert Briggs, a senior majoring in business management at Lemoyne-Owen College, who one of the students able to attend the summit because of the ORAU IPG grant.

Emory University has been a member of the ORAU University Consortium since it was established in 1946. The university has a long and storied history of research. L:ast year, Emory's research expenditures surpassed $1.2 billion primarily focused on biomedical research as well as infectious diseases, global health, brain health, artificial intelligence and more. Emory also has a robust technology transfer office, where drugs and devices developed through research make their way to the marketplace. The Journal of Technology Transfer in 2023 listed Emory University as third in the world in drug development, behind the National Institutes of Health and the University of California system. Emory's successes include the development of drugs to treat HIV and hemophilia, and a device that helps collect mosquitos that are studied for diseases. Host Michael Holtz talks to Kimberly Eck, MPH, Ph.D., Emory associate vice president of research, and Todd Sherer, Ph.D., associate vice president of research and executive director of the Office of Technology Transfer. Emory's history underscores the importance of research and tech transfer, and is endlessly fascinating. Check this episode out! To read the Journal of Technology Transfer article, visit https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10961-023-10007-z

Joey Pasterski, Ph.D., is not your traditional scientist. He took piano and voice and avoided science at all costs until he went back to school in his later twenties. Today Pasterski is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow researching laser desorption mass spectrometry for the Dragonfly mission, which will land a rotorcraft on various locations on Titan, Saturn's moon. During this conversation, Pasterski talks to host Michael Holtz about why studying Titan is important, how the moon is like a bizarro earth, and how the trajectory of his life changed when he discovered a love for science. Check it out! To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/.

More than a million breast biopsies are performed annually in the United States, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The need to ensure diagnostic accuracy is great. Alycen Wiacek, Ph.D., motivated by the impact breast cancer has had on her family and a desire to make a difference, is conducting research to help make biopsies more accurate through engineering and augmented reality. In this episode of Further Together, host Matthew Underwood talks to Wiacek about her research. Wiacek is an assistant professor at Oakland University. In her lab, the Medical Acoustics for Global Health Imaging and Clinical Translation (MAGIC), she and her students are developing a system that integrates various imaging modalities into AR to assist in the targeted biopsy of breast masses. This approach with AR means images and information can be displayed directly in the physician's field of view to better guide the biopsy process. Her research is supported by an ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in partnership with the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA).

Ken Tobin, chief research officer, and Cathy Fore, senior director of university partnerships, sit down with hosts Michael Holtz and Abbey Becker to discuss the state of research at ORAU. As an institution, ORAU has its hands in more research than ever before, involving our own subject matter experts, as well as that of our government agency partners and our university consortium members. This episode includes discussion of recent research successes and the matchmaking that Fore does to increase the value proposition for consortium members. We discuss ORAU's current research priorities and the topics of recently awarded ORAU-Directed Research and Development projects. We also do a quick wrap up of the 2024 annual meeting, which focused on STEM education and look ahead to the 2025 meeting and its focus on advanced manufacturing. To learn more about all of the activities in our Research and University Partnerships Office, or to register for the 2025 annual meeting, visit: https://www.orau.org/partnerships/index.html

Ali Alqaraghuli, Ph.D., was just about to start his NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship when he was interviewed by Further Together host Michael Holtz. Alqaraghuli's research focuses on the ASTHROS balloon-born telescope. The focus of ASTHROS is to place the telescope over the Antarctic to gather and better understand how stars form. Alqaraghuli is developing a portable test bed to help calibrate the antenna and the telescope. At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles, scientists have all the facilities they need to test and track and adjust things if needed. "Once we ship everything to Antarctica, we're kind of a bit limited on what equipment is available, and things of that nature. So my main project really is to develop like a portable test bed that we can take with us to Antarctica that basically can do just as good of a job as if we were to have all these big fancy machines in the JPL Center," he says. To learn more about the NSA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/

The U.S. Surgeon General says Americans are confronting an epidemic of loneliness. About half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness, and that was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Loneliness has physical health consequences, and impacts work performance, academic achievement and our overall mental health. Additionally, the Surgeon General has warned that the stress of caring for children has an impact on our mental health. Many members of Generation X may be caring for children or again parents or both, and the stress of caregiving has impacts on mental health as well. In this episode of Further Together, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to Jennifer Reynolds, senior manager of health communication, marketing, and promotion and Kristin Mattson, senior health education specialist. Both work in ORAU's Public Health and Healthcare Program. Throughout this episode, the hosts and guests discuss the problems, contributing factors, their lived experience, and where ORAU has done work to better understand and provide solutions. For more information on the work of ORAU's Public Health and Healthcare team, visit https://orau.org/public-health-healthcare/education-and-promotion.html. This Peer Recovery Workforce Program Certificate mentioned in this podcast is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $777,115 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

As Baby Boomers continue to age -- and let's be real Generation X isn't far behind -- healthy aging and how to care for this population will be critical. Elaine Jurkowski, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Southern Illinois Carbondale, received an ORAU Innovation Partnership Programs grant to host a day-long event called Destination Healthy Aging. The continuing education event for health care workers addressed caregiving, addressed the caregiver, addressed our workforce, talked about life after caregiving, talked about building communities that would be inclusive and age friendly for caregiving. We also addressed person-centered care and caregiving in place. That is, people remain in their own home and we figure out ways to strengthen the caregivers, so that they can do that job in helping that loved one stay in their home for as long as possible and even, hopefully, till they transition from this life. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz talks to Jurkowski and student GeVonna Fassett about the Destination Healthy Aging event, including how they decided to launch a program and the topic and what the impact was. ORAU's Innovation Partnerships Program is structured to build stronger relationships between ORAU and University Consortium members. The program offers $4,000 grants that can be used to implement conferences, seminars and other events focused around a variety of focus areas. To learn more about the Innovation Partnerships Program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html

Lakshya Sharma is student coordination manager for the Resource Center of Excellence Greater Atlanta, one of dozens of such centers around the world working to advance the United Nations' sustainable development goals. An ORAU Innovation Partnership Grant was awarded to RCE Greater Atlanta and Georgia Tech to help fund an Urban Horticulture and Permaculture Workshop, which brought together students from Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Georgia State, Morehouse College, Spelman College and other institutions across the Atlanta area. In this episode of Further Together, Sharma talks to host Michael Holtz and guest host Tracie Curtright from ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office about the workshop. Sharma says students learned to incorporate plant life into their daily lives by gardening where they are. Sharma says the series of workshops also focused on the mental health benefits of caring for and having plants in your physical environment. Curtright shared details about the IPG program, and how ORAU's university partners can apply to use these $4,000 grants to grow attendance and dissemination of events like the one Sharma and his team organized. To learn more about the IPG program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html

Sunil Pulletikurti, Ph.D., is NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow conducting research on the chemical origins of life. Essentially, he's investigating how small molecules become parts of larger molecules -- for example, how an amino acid becomes part of a protein and other cellular transformation. In this conversation with host Michael Holtz, Pulletikurti takes a deep dive into his research, the time he spent at NASA before his postdoctoral fellowship, what sparked his interest in science, the struggle of coming from an impoverished childhood in India to being part of a global research enterprise, and how the fellowship will impact his career. Learn more about the NASA NPP program at https://npp.orau.org/index.html.

As part of our continuing series of conversations with leaders in the cancer space, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood sit down with Rachel Matlock, manager of the comprehensive cancer control program at the Tennessee Department of Health. She also manages the Tennessee Cancer Coalition, which brings together stakeholders from across the state to reduce the cancer burden in the state. Her focus is primarily on cancer prevention and early detection. In this conversation, we discuss how Rachel got to her role, the Tennessee Department of Health's role in the fight against cancer, how she works with local health departments, community organizations, researchers, healthcare providers, decision makers and everyone involved in the fight against cancer. To learn more about Tennessee's Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, visit https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/fhw/tennessee-comprehensive-cancer-control-program.html.

September is National Preparedness Month, the annual campaign to remind everyone that preparing for emergencies and disasters can keep them, their families aMnd their communities safe. In this episode of Further Together: The ORAU Podcast, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to two researchers about how small family farmers manage extreme weather events and how that, in turn, effects their health. Amanda McHale, Dr.PH, research associate on ORAU's public health and healthcare team, and Jennifer Russomanno, Dr.PH, associate department head at the University of Tennessee Department of Public Health, discuss the research they conducted during their year-long pilot project. No research existed on the impact of extreme weather on this group of farmers, so McHale and Russomanno met with and interviewed farmers to see how they manage extreme weather events. Russomanno brings and interesting perspective to the conversation because she owns a small farm. Among their discoveries: the vast majority of small family farmers do not rely solely on farming for income. Their research was funded through the ORAU Directed Research and Development program, which supports collaborations between ORAU subject matter experts and faculty at consortium member universities. To learn more about ORAU-Directed Research and Development grants, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/odrd.html

Charles R. Rogers, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of the Colorectal Cancer Equity Foundation, an organization dedicated to eliminating colorectal cancer disparities among black men and other marginalized groups. In this conversation, host Michael Holtz and special guest host Brenda Blunt, ORAU senior director of health policy, talk to Rogers about the critical need to eliminate disparities, the importance of education about colorectal cancer prevention and early detection, and the hard work of creating a fair and just healthcare system. Rogers talks about his research portfolio, why health equity drives his work and how he came to found the CRC Equity Foundation. To learn more about the foundation, visit https://crcequity.org/

For the second year, the ORAU Research and University Partnerships Office has funded an internship program that places students in meaningful roles across the organization for the summer. In this episode of Further Together: The ORAU Podcast, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to five of the six interns in this year's program about their experiences at ORAU, what they will take away from the experience and what comes next. Lindsay Motz from the Research and University Partnerships Office introduces us to Samantha Gross, Noah Price, Faryal Rafay, Brian Bros and Julio Chavez. Amanda Smith was unable to join us for this conversation, but we understand she has enjoyed her experience.

Bryan Goettel is the director of advocacy and alliance relations for Exact Sciences, a Madison, Wisconsin, based biotechnology company. Exact Sciences is perhaps best known for its signature product, Cologuard, an at-home colorectal cancer early detection test for adults of average risk age 45 and older. Further Together host Michael Holtz has a history with the company, including sharing his cancer journey at the first-ever national sales meeting for Cologuard in July 2014 and attending the Cologuard Classic golf tournament as a cancer advocate this past spring. Exact Sciences is on the forefront of oncology treatment and cancer prevention. During this conversation, Goettel talks about where Exact Sciences is heading in the biotechnology space, how he got to be part of the company, the importance of the patient voice in shaping its products, and how companies like ORAU can join the fight against cancer. To learn more, visit https://www.exactsciences.com/

In our continuing series of conversations with leaders in the oncology and cancer space, Further Together host Michael Holtz sits down with Jody Hoyos, CEO of the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The Prevent Cancer Foundation is the largest non-profit organization in the country solely dedicated to the prevention and early detection of cancer. As part of the conversation, Hoyos says companies like ORAU can help prevent cancer by educating and encouraging employees to get tested for colorectal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer and others and help them understand when they are eligible to get those tests. Holtz and Hoyos also discuss the foundation's latest early detection and prevention survey, and how Hoyos became the leader of the foundation. To learn more about the Prevent Cancer Foundation, visit https://preventcancer.org/

As Men's Health Month (June) comes to a close, Further Together host Michael Holtz sits down with his friend and fellow health advocate Mike Leventhal, executive director of the Tennessee Men's Health Network, for a conversation about men and their health. Men are great about many things, like take care of their families and their careers, but are not always great about taking care of themselves, which can be detrimental. The discussion includes the importance of seeing a doctor and a dentist for regular for checkups. and those all-important screening tests for colorectal and prostate cancers. Mike talks about how the Tennessee chapter of the Men's Health Network got started and some of the initiatives underway to help men better focus on their health. To learn more about the Men's Health Network, visit https://menshealthnetwork.org/.

David Burtt, Ph.D., is in his second year as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, studying martian geology using data from the Mars rover at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Burtt wound his way through several scientific disciplines before focusing on extraterrestrial geology. He discusses the pivotal moment where he had the courage to talk to an advisor about research he was working on. It wasn't exciting to him, so he pivoted. Burtt talks about working on the Mars rover in preparation for the Artemis project, the value of mentorship, the importance of collaborating with hundreds of people on one of the world's biggest, most important projects and the importance of connection to other people. Check out the conversation. Learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program fellowship, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.

Understanding how plants use water resources and how they're responding to changes in climate and the resulting feedbacks on the climate system is important, and challenging. Zoe Pierrat, Ph.D., a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says that while there are great models for some aspects of climate and climate change, plants adapt to the changes in their environment making understanding their impact more uncertain. Host Michael Holtz talks to Pierrat about all aspects of her NPP Fellowship, including how she got interested in science, how the NASA NPP has impacted her life and career, the value of mentorship and collaboration, and how being a curious rugrat started everything! To learn more about the NASA NPP program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.

Ken Tarcza has served as a leader in several capacities, from the military to the U.S. Department of Defense to the U.S. Department of Energy. One thing he knows to be true is this: leadership is not about the leader. Leadership is about people: meeting them where they are and creation conditions where they can be successful. In this episode of the Further Together podcast, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood unpack Tarcza's role as chief of staff, his commitment to meeting every new employee during their onboarding process, his role in ORAU's strategic planning process, and the life lessons he's learned over the course of his career. Learn why he retired twice and why he has an affinity for the statue known as "Iron Mike." Enjoy!

Like just about any kid, Abhishek Desai grew up in India with dreams of becoming an astronaut. While that dream didn't come true, Desai is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow studying space from Earth. His project at NASA focuses multimessenger and multiwavelength astronomy to explain processes happening inside an Active Galactic Nuclei. In this conversation with Further Together's Michael Holtz, Desai talks about coming to the United States for his education, the importance of collaboration and mentorship, the value of the NASA NPP program, and more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Shipra Sinha, Ph.D., is a a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow living in India and conducting research with the Goddard Space Flight Center. Shipra's research focuses on auroras, which occur at both the North and South Poles. Studying auroras is fascinating, as most people in the West know about the Aurora Borealis. Shipra says the biggest challenge with studying South Pole auroras is Antarctica. Getting there is a challenge, so she often has to make estimates about southern aurora behavior based on what is known about their northern counterparts. Throughout this conversation, Shipra talks to host Michael Holtz about how she became an NPP Fellow (this conversation took place before her official start date in January), the importance of surrounding herself with supportive people, the value of mentorship and collaboration, and more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

James Rogers, Ph.D., is an astrobiologist in the NASA Postdoctoral Program. He studies exoplanets (extra-solar bodies like planets, asteroids, etc.). Rogers says scientists have detected thousands of exoplanets orbiting stars throughout the galaxy. Studying exoplanets and planet formation can help us piece together how our solar system fits into the galaxy and the universe. In this conversation, Rogers talks to host Michael Holtz about his fellowship, making the transition from England to the United States, the role of mentorship and collaboration in his work, and what comes next during his fellowship. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Kelly Luis, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Water and Ecosystems Group. A native of Hawaii, Luis studies what the color of water can tell us about the health of aquatic ecosystems. During her conversation with host Michael Holtz, Luis talks about the trajectory of her career, how she is contributing to science at NASA, obstacles she's overcome to get to where she is, and so much more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

As Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month 2024 comes to a close, Further Together host Michael Holtz, a 12-year survivor of stage IIIB colorectal cancer, talks to Eric Mayer and Jessica Etheridge, CEO and director of marketing and branding, respectively, for Knoxville-based New Day Diagnostics. This March, New Day launched ColoHealth, a screening blood test for people at average risk of developing colorectal cancer. They talk about the importance of prevention and early detection, the rise in colorectal cancer rates among people under age 50, and the changing scientific landscape for early detection tests. Learn more at https://newdaydiagnostics.com/

While the idea of recognizing women in STEM has been a more recent phenomenon, ORAU has long included women in its scientific enterprise. In this episode, Amber Davis and Matthew Underwood introduce host Michael Holtz to three women among the many who have made history at ORAU. Meet Evelyn Watson, Ann Sipe and Helen Vodopick, three women who made significant contributions to work at the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies (the original name of ORAU). Their backstories are fascinating, and they were innovators in their own right. Watson was an English major who became a self-taught nuclear physicist. Sipe was the day-to-day manager of the ORINS Medical Division cancer hospital who had a heart for taking great care of her patients such. Vodopick was an oncologist at the cancer hospital who helped revolutionize the fields of nuclear medicine and radiation oncology. Check out this fascinating episode of Further Together, and learn more about Evelyn Watson and the history of ORAU at the ORAU Then and Now Blog: https://orau.org/blog/archive.html

Dr. Nicola "Nicky" Fox, is the associate administrator for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, which essentially means she is the head of science for NASA. Her directorate is responsible for more than 150 missions that are currently in space or in development. Further Together hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to Fox about the importance of her role, the trajectory of her career, how she became interested in science and how the desire to work for NASA brought her from England to the United States. She also tells a great story about how her father propped 8-month-old Nicky in front of the television to witness Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. Perhaps that event planted the seed? Fox came to NASA as a Postdoctoral Fellow and rose through the ranks to her current role. We cover a lot in this great and fun conversation. Give it a listen. Learn more about Nicky Fox: https://science.nasa.gov/people/nicola-fox/ Learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program: https://npp.orau.org/index.html

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colorectal cancer is the #1 cancer killer of men under age 50 and #2 of women under age 50. In this episode of Further Together, Michael Holtz welcomes his best friend, Ryan Vieth, as guest co-host. Ryan is in active treatment for stage IV colorectal cancer; Michael is a 12-year survivor of stage III colorectal cancer. They met when they were named 2023 Ambassadors for Fight Colorectal Cancer, a leading advocacy organization dedicated to the fight against colorectal cancer. Together, Michael and Ryan have a conversation with Anjee Davis, CEO of Fight CRC, during which they talk about cancer advocacy, the importance of survivors sharing their stories to eliminate the stigma associated with CRC, and the need to advocate all year long. Fight CRC creates opportunities for survivors, patients and caregivers to find community through virtual meetups, the Ambassador program and more. They also discuss United in Blue and Call on Congress, two Fight CRC events in Washington, DC, later this month. To learn more about Fight Colorectal Cancer, and to participate virtually in United in Blue and Call on Congress, visit https://fightcolorectalcancer.org/

More than 18 million people in the United States are cancer survivors, and survivors are living longer than ever before. At the same time, the health impacts and side effects of cancer treatment can show up many years after treatment has ended. The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship advocates for quality cancer care for all people touched by cancer. In this episode of the Further Together podcast, Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to Shelley Fuld Nasso, CEO of NCCS. Full disclosure: Holtz is a member of the NCCS Cancer Policy Advocacy Team, which works with lawmakers on policy issues important to cancer survivors. Topics discussed on this podcast include efforts to pass legislation that would enable survivorship care plans for all survivors so they understand and can prepare for the long-term side effects of treatment; the State of Survivorship survey, which NCCS conducts every year; the need for a longitudinal study for adult cancer survivors; the importance of caregivers, who are the unsung heroes in cancer land. Nasso also shares the many ways NCCS educates and empowers cancer survivors and caregivers. There is a lot to unpack in this conversation. To learn more about the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, visit https://canceradvocacy.org/

In this episode of Further Together: The ORAU Podcast, Ken Tobin, chief research and university partnerships officer, and Cathy Fore, senior director of university partnerships, look ahead to the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institutions. In conversation with Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood, Tobin and Fore talk about the meeting's theme -- Redefining the Next Generation STEM Enterprise -- as well as the slate of keynote speakers and panelists. The annual meeting is a great opportunity to bring together ORAU subject matter experts, university consortium members and federal agency partners to discuss key issues and build relationships to find solutions together. While the annual meeting is an invitation-only event, the topics are relevant beyond the walls of ORAU. To that end, future podcast episodes will include a post-meeting wrap-up and interviews with some of the meetings speakers.

Amanda Lopez is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow in the Water and Systems Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her research background is in coastal geoscience world and she is currently studying the impact of wildfires on the land-sea interface. In this episode of Further Together, Lopez tells host Michael Holtz that she has wanted to be a scientist for as far back as she can remember. Her childhood included a love of Bill Nye the Science Guy and Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series. Lopez says no one in her family was surprised she wanted to pursue the sciences. She also discusses how she gravitated toward coastal studies, the importance of mentorship and collaboration, the importance of the NASA NPP and so much more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Taylor Hutchison, a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow working on the James Webb Space Telescope, says her research focus is on distant galaxies --some of the first galaxies ever found in the early universe -- which give us a view toward understanding the history of the universe. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz asks Hutchison about her research emphasis, how she got to be a NASA NPP Fellow, what led her to a career in the sciences and so much more. To learn more about the NASA NPP Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Trevor Maxwell was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in March 2018. During his treatment journey he was dismayed to learn that support services specifically geared to men are sorely lacking, so he set out to change that. In 2019, he launched Man Up to Cancer, an organization that encourages men facing all forms of cancer to avoid isolation and connect with each other. Men find connection in The Howling Place, a private Facebook group, in 40-plus chapters across North America and around the world, and at an annual retreat called the Gathering of Wolves. MUTC also offers chemo backpacks to men undergoing chemotherapy, and is piloting men-only support groups at five cancer centers in 2024. The organization achieved non-profit status in November 2023 to continue its efforts to reach even more men who are not on social media, and to continue to provide all services at no cost. Further Together host Michael Holtz, a 12-year survivor of stage IIIB rectal cancer, is a member of the MUTC board of directors and recently recommended an ORAU-Directed Research and Development project to study the importance of peer-to-peer support for men facing cancer as part of his white paper, "Meeting the Moment: Aligning ORAU capabilities with the federal government's priorities to end cancer as we know it." Holtz and Maxwell discuss all things MUTC, the importance of peer-to-peer connection for men's mental and physical health, and how research will play a key role in reaching even more men in the future. To learn more about Man Up to Cancer, visit manuptocancer.org.

Sanah Baig is the Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she leads the management of the more than $4 billion USDA Science enterprise responsible for ensuring U.S. agriculture's success through the advancement of science, technology, and innovation. Deputy Under Secretary Baig was a keynote speaker at ORAU's 2023 Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institutions, which brings together members of our university consortium and our federal government agency partners. Baig is the first representative from the USDA to address the ORAU annual meeting, and she hopes there will be more opportunities in the future. In this conversation, Michael Holtz and Baig discuss the importance of agriculture to the U.S. economy, how agriculture is changing in light of climate science, the opportunities that exist for academia, and her role in public service. To learn more about Baig's mission area, visit https://www.ree.usda.gov/.

ORAU and Villanova University teamed up to offer a workshop during which participants received certification in Basic Industry Bioprocessing Techniques. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz talks with Rosalind Wynn, associate professor in the Villanova Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Tracie Curtright, ORAU project manager, about the Innovation Partnership Program that funded the workshop. The certification earned by workshop participants is recognized by most pharmaceutical industry processing facilities. Participants were successful in growing cells and were able to measure cell viability/population. Mammalian cell culture samples created during this workshop are currently under cryopreservation storage for use in future collaborative projects between Villanova and Jefferson Institute for Bioprocessing. To learn more about the Innovation Partnership Program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html

What is the optimal age to teach climate change science to young people? Chris Nelson, Ed.D., project manager, and Kristin Hurst, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Resources at Southern Illinois University, teamed up on an ORAU-Directed Research and Development project to study when it is best to teach young people about climate change science. They worked under the hypothesis that high school students have more developed cultural and ideological viewpoints, whereas the worldviews of middle school students not quite as developed. At the same time, they reframed the conversation to demonstrate how climate change is impacting things young people enjoy -- food, activity, travel, etc. This conversation focuses on how they approached their research, what they learned and what could happen next as a result of their work together.

Reinier Janssen is a staff scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Host Michael Holtz had the opportunity to talk to Janssen toward the end of his NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship, where he worked on novel instrumentation based on superconducting detectors. During this conversation, Holtz and Janssen discuss how he developed his interest in science, what the NASA NPP Fellowship has meant to his career, what drives him, and what happens next. To learn more about the NASA NPP, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Host Michael Holtz and Brenda Blunt, ORAU senior director of health policy, had the opportunity to participate in the StoryCorps Project while attending the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Health Equity Conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. Listeners may be familiar with StoryCorps from interviews that air on National Public Radio. During this interview, Holtz and Blunt talk about health equity through their experiences in and around the healthcare system and as patients within the system, and how ORAU is working to help solve the equity puzzle. ORAU has permission from the StoryCorps Project to broadcast this interview.

Further Together host Michael Holtz gets the tables turned on him and becomes the interviewee in this episode. Holtz received a Thought Leadership Research Award through the ORAU Research and University Partnerships Office to write a white paper that makes recommendations for research projects based on ORAU's capabilities and the federal government's cancer research priorities. Matthew Underwood, communications and marketing specialist, and Brenda Blunt, senior health policy director, talk with Holtz about ORAU's history in the cancer space, from running a cancer hospital for 24 years, to managing long-term epidemiology programs for workers exposed to radiation in the workplace, to leading health communications efforts and affecting policy change to impact patient outcomes, and so much more. Then they walk through Holtz's recommendations for seven potential ORAU-Directed Research and Development projects that could involve some of our university consortium partners. Learn more about the white paper here: https://orau.org/news/releases/2023/making-an-impact-on-cancer-personally-and-professionally.html

Laura Fackrell is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow who is looking ahead to the potential to humans living on the moon. Her research focuses on the role of nitrogen in lunar habitats, particularly how nitrogen is affected by plants and microbes in the soil or growth medium. Nitrogen is a key element in plant growth, so her research will also have an impact on creating better and more sustainable agriculture here on earth. In this conversation with host Michael Holtz, Fackrell talks about her career in research, the value of mentorship, and the value of being a mentor to younger scientists. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.

The United States is falling behind in STEM proficiency. Our country faces a great challenge in improving the capability and capacity of the U.S. STEM workforce in a globally competitive environment. ORAU has created the STEM Accelerator to face this challenge head on. In this episode, Michael Holtz talk to Liv Blackmon, director of the ORAU STEM Accelerator, about the mission, vision and goals of this critical initiative, why focusing on the nuclear energy industry is the first priority for the OSA, and how ORAU is uniquely qualified to bring together the key stakeholders that are part of the nation's STEM ecosystem. To learn more about the ORAU STEM Accelerator, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/stem-accelerator/index.html

Daniel Watters, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is a global storm chaser. Fortunately, he can chase storms from the comfort of being behind a computer screen. Watters studies global precipitation using satellites, specifically focused on comparing data between satellites and RADAR systems. Daniel, who is from England, talks to host Michael Holtz about cultural adjustments to life in Huntsville, how he cultivated his interest in science, applying to the NASA NPP, and so much more. Listen to learn more about Watters's mission. To learn more about the NASA NPP, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Conner Ballew is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His research area is in Meta Optics, which develops new technologies to aid future agency missions. The end goal of his research is to miniaturize optical elements, which reduces size and power requirements for space applications. Ballew is a native of Everett, Washington, discusses how he became interested in science, how his career and scientific interests have developed and what comes next for his career. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

ORAU's annual giving campaign is underway. Host Michael Holtz's yearly conversation with Naomi Asher, executive director of United Way of Anderson County, which serves Anderson, Campbell, Morgan and Scott Counties. Naomi invited two partner organizations, Katie Burnette from the YWCA of Knoxville and the Tennessee Valley. and David Allred from Oak Ridge Periodic Tables, to discuss the ways they serve the community together. We discuss how UWAC and its partner agencies fill in the gaps in big and small ways. The YWCA helps women escape domestic violence by providing advocacy in the legal system and housing for women and their families. Periodic Tables bring community members together to strengthen bonds around a specific topic and take steps to solve problems. Support from companies like ORAU goes a long way toward helping people in the communities where we do business. To learn more about UWAC, visit https://uwayac.org/