Inspiration Dissemination

If someone asked you to describe a shark, I imagine most folks would report a ten-foot long body, rows and rows of razor sharp teeth, and the ruthless nature of a (literal) cold-blooded killer. If you asked Master’s student Reilly Boyt to describe a shark, she would likely describe a salmon shark. Reilly is our guest on the show this week and she studies the diet and habitat use of salmon sharks using multi-chemical tracers (e.g. eDNA metabarcoding and fatty acid analysis) across size classes and sex. Reilly is also the founder and CEO of Disabilities Within Ocean Sciences (DWOS), an organization dedicated to “building a network and resource hub for disabled marine scientists at every career stage.” She has done prolific advocacy work that focuses on promoting inclusivity and equitable access within the field of marine science. Hosted by Taylor Azizeh & Lisa Hildebrand.

As global temperatures rise, ocean levels and extreme weather occurrences rise with it. One of the leading causes of global warming are greenhouse gases like CO2. Emily Hiatt's research is tryign to develop a cheap, robust way to capture CO2. This topic is hot; even hotter than the rising global temps.

What's cooler than land robots? Underwater robots (ice cold!), which Akshaya Agrawal's PhD research in the Robotics Department focuses on. Her research is indeed cool; developing and testing motion-planning algorithms designed to help teams of robots coordinate movement and perform tasks underwater. But have you ever wondered what's involved in getting robots to operate underwater? And how exactly does one get to work with underwater robots? Listen in to  find the answers to those budding questions, as well as Akshaya's journey from India to the U.S, ...or just to hear cool stuff about cool robots! 

If you’re not a fan of ‘The Office’ then that title probably made no sense to you. But, if you are, then you’ll know that Michael Scott famously said that mercury poisoning is one of the five Goliaths that America faces (though we never actually find out what the fifth one is…). Regardless, on this week's episode you’ll be able to learn all about this Goliath as our guest, the newly minted Dr. Cailin Sinclair, discusses his doctorate and post-doc work investigating mercury cycling in freshwater systems. Hosted by Lisa Hildebrand.

Emily Dziedzic, a PhD student in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Sciences, is a molecular ecologist who focuses on bioinformatics, which means that she uses computer-based methods to analyze genetic data. Her work spans a wide variety of taxa, from freshwater fish to scarlet macaws, from bats to Humboldt marten, and has implications for improving ecological monitoring for management as well as assisting in the fight against wildlife disease. Hosted by Lisa Hildebrand and Mireia Roig-Paul.

This week on ID we are interviewing Mireia Roig-Paul, a second year PhD student in Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, to learn all about pollutants and the potential threats they pose to our environment and our health. She studies in the laboratories of both Jennifer Fields and Serhan Mermer, and her research focuses on the intersection of so-called “forever chemicals” PFAS and non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL), how they move through soil, and how they interact with each other.

In the wake of the ongoing graduate employee strike at Oregon State University, Hannah and Mireia sit down to talk with the president and VP for Communications of the Coalition of Graduate Employees (the labor union that represents graduate employees at OSU). Austin Bosgraf and Erika Stewart explain the string of events that lead to this strike, what is at stake for vulnerable grads, and where we go from here.

In the wake of the ongoing graduate employee strike at Oregon State University, Hannah and Mireia sit down to talk with the president and VP for Communications of the Coalition of Graduate Employees (the labor union that represents graduate employees at OSU). Austin Bosgraf and Erika Stewart explain the string of events that lead to this strike, what is at stake for vulnerable grads, and where we go from here.

Dams, climate change, habitat loss, predation, anglers. Wild salmon must contend with all of these challenges during some point in their lifetimes. But an additional challenge may be having a negative impact on wild salmon that we don’t yet quite understand: hatchery salmon. Investigating the impacts of hatchery salmon on wild salmon is no easy feat, and it’s not made easier when you’re trying to do it in possibly one of the most remote and wild places in Oregon…But that’s exactly what our guest this week is doing! Emily Treadway is a first year Master’s student advised by Dr. Seth White in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences at OSU. On top of being a graduate student, Emily is also an employee at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife working within the East Region Fish Research Office. Hosted by Lisa Hildebrand.