Bullied as a kid, Nick Henshue spent much of his childhood roaming the woods behind his house, fueling a love for nature that propels him to this day. Now an associate teaching professor of ecology at UB, and co-director of the EarthEd Institute, Henshue is an expert in restoration and soil ecology, with a primary focus on earthworms. He is also a passionate and celebrated educator. His conversation with host Cheryl Quimba dives deep into earthworm ecology, and it is fascinating—a testament both to the surprising complexity of this humble creature and to the remarkable talent Henshue has (he calls it his “superpower”) to engage and entertain while teaching about the natural world. 

Credits:

Host: Cheryl Quimba
Guest: Nick Henshue
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

Nicole Albanese grew up in a holistic household that emphasized diet over drugs. Now, as a clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice at the University at Buffalo, she embraces medication—but as only one piece of the overall health puzzle. In this episode, Albanese, whose research focuses on diabetes, obesity and nutrition, talks to host Laurie Kaiser about the pros and cons of modern weight-loss drugs. Their conversation covers everything from unforeseen side effects to unexpected health benefits, with discussions along the way on how these drugs work, why they’re so hugely popular, what prevents most users from achieving long-term success, and what’s next on the horizon. Hint: It won’t be long before we’re looking back on Ozempic and Wegovy as weight-loss drugs 1.0. 

Credits: 

Host: Laurie Kaiser
Guest: Nicole Albanese
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

Since his band teacher went alphabetically by last name, Jeff Scott’s choices were limited when it came his turn to pick an instrument. The sixth grader pointed to the French horn—and the rest is history. Today, Scott is one of the nation’s premier French horn players and a Grammy-winning composer. Among other accomplishments, he’s played on Broadway, toured with the likes of Barbra Streisand and Ray Charles, and co-founded a world-renowned woodwind quintet. In this laughter-filled episode, Scott tells host Cory Nealon about his unlikely path to musical success, his experiences on the road with A-list artists, what it felt like to win a Grammy, and how his multicultural upbringing in Queens, N.Y., shaped the urban classical music he shares with the world today.

Credits:

Host: Cory Nealon
Guest: Jeff Scott
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

As a young girl growing up in suburban Los Angeles, Joyce Hwang loved seeing how urban animals would create little moments of disorder in the highly manicured landscape. Now the intersection between animals and the built environment is at the very heart of her work as a professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo and as director of the ecologically focused practice Ants of the Prairie. Hwang’s projects, from bat towers to bee elevators to multispecies installations, have been on display throughout the world and have won multiple awards. In this episode, she talks to host David Hill about incorporating animals into our constructed spaces—what it entails, why it’s critical (for us as well as them), and what everyday people can do to make their homes and yards more accommodating to our non-human friends.

Credits:

Host: David Hill
Guest: Joyce Hwang
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

As a young clinical audiologist, Henry Louis Taylor Jr. found that the socioeconomic realities of many of his Black patients affected his ability to help them. To truly serve his community, he realized, he would need to understand the root causes of their circumstances. So he quit his job and went back to school to study urban history. Now, as the founding director of UB’s Center for Urban Studies at the School of Architecture and Planning, and associate director of the Community Health Equity Research Institute at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Taylor is on a mission to reverse the historic inequities that have created such a wide gap between Black lives and white lives. In this episode, the self-proclaimed activist scholar talks to host Ellen Goldbaum about his latest and most ambitious effort: The East Side Neighborhood Transformation Project.

Credits: 
 
Host: Ellen Golbaum
Guest: Henry Louis Taylor Jr.
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

Obsessed with true crime shows as a teen, Mary Bush naturally gravitated toward forensics as a young professor in the University at Buffalo’s School of Dental Medicine. Today, she is widely acclaimed for her efforts to banish bitemark evidence from the U.S. court system. She has won numerous research awards, served as an expert witness for high-profile murder cases and testified before Congress. Her research tools, once viciously mocked by prosecutors, are currently on display at the Smithsonian Institution. In this episode, Bush talks to host Laurie Kaiser about the fascinating life of a forensic dentist, which in her case has included writing crime novels and appearing on Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Credits: 
 
Host: Laurie Kaiser
Guest: Mary Bush
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

As a kid, all Vincent Lynch wanted to do was hang out by the river near his home, fishing and crabbing and playing in the muck. School, by contrast, was a bore. Then he discovered biology—and never looked back. Today, as an evolutionary biologist at the University at Buffalo, Lynch studies the genomic history of animals both living and extinct to understand everything from why elephants don’t get cancer to why women go into labor. In this episode of Driven to Discover, Lynch talks to host Tom Dinki about what it means to run a “curiosity-driven” lab, why resurrecting extinct species is a bad idea, and how analyzing animal genes could help humans lead longer, healthier lives.

Credits: 
 
Host: Tom Dinki
Guest: Vincent Lynch
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

Narcissists get a bad rap, but is it deserved? According to Emily Grijalva, an associate professor of organizational behavior at the University at Buffalo School of Management and a renowned expert on narcissism, it’s complicated. Grijalva has spent her career studying the trait—among leaders, across genders, over the lifetime and through the generations. She’s even studied narcissism inside the NBA. In this episode, she speaks to host Laura Silverman about the pros and cons of narcissism, how to cope with a narcissistic boss, why men are more prone to narcissism than women, and the truth behind every generation’s belief that “kids today” are more narcissistic than ever (spoiler alert: they’re not).

Credits: 
 
Host: Laura Silverman
Guest: Emily Grijalva
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

More than 750 older Americans are hospitalized every day due to severe side effects from their medications. Many of them will die prematurely as a result. In this episode of Driven to Discover, host Laurie Kaiser talks to David Jacobs, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University at Buffalo, about the systemic failures in our health care system driving this alarming trend, and how he and other members of an interdisciplinary initiative called Team Alice are working to reverse it. Jacobs recounts the story of Alice Brennan, the vibrant, 88-year-old woman for whom Team Alice is named; explains how the team has grown over the years to involve researchers from across the university as well as the greater community; and shares what individuals can do now to keep themselves and their loved ones safe from medication-related harm.

Credits: 

Host: Laura Kaiser
Guest: David Jacobs
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.

Food has become an increasingly fraught subject in America. Is paleo good for you? Keto? Should everyone be intermittent fasting? Meanwhile, an increasing number of Americans under 50 are being diagnosed with cancer, particularly colon cancer. Is our diet the problem? In this episode of Driven to Discover, Dave Hill talks to public health researcher Danielle Meyer, a board-certified specialist in oncology nutrition and director of the undergraduate program in nutrition at the University at Buffalo, about these issues and more. A refreshingly honest and nonjudgmental spokesperson for food in all its varieties, Meyer dispels common myths, exonerates the downtrodden potato and eliminates grocery cart guilt for good.

Credits: 
 
Host: David Hill
Guest: Danielle Meyer
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming This Fall: Driven to Discover is taking a break for the summer. We will be back in early September with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what sparked their passion for their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.