Lab Mates

In this episode, Emilee joins Sam to speak with Tom Jenkins, owner of Blue Dog Forestry in western Massachusetts. They talk about Jenkins’s specialty with oxen, impact of parcelization of forest land and varied jobs of a forester. Plus, Sam gives insight into her personal experience with foresters, and Emilee rants about her frustrations with public information offers. 

Learn more about Blue Dog Forestry: https://www.facebook.com/bluedogforestry/ (https://www.facebook.com/bluedogforestry/)  

A photo of Jenkins with his oxen from the Daily Hampshire Gazette: https://gazettenet.com/2026/03/21/photos-a-sweet-haul/ (https://gazettenet.com/2026/03/21/photos-a-sweet-haul/)

In this episode, Sam chats with Tara about her role at The Engine, a start-up incubator founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They discuss finding the right place to rent lab space; getting buy-in for environment, health, and safety (EHS) policies and transitioning from the bench to a career in operations. Plus, Tara gives an insider scoop on how the start-up industry has changed.

In this episode, Sam gets some sexual and reproductive health tips from (another) Emily, who works at a publicly-funded reproductive health clinic in Boston. Plus, the women discuss their own complicated paths to their current professions, the importance of diversity in healthcare and boundaries in public health professions.

In this episode, Sam gets into the nuances of working with research animals with her friend Maria. The two scientists discuss the process of picking an animal model for a study, the upward mobility in animal research and importance of animal welfare in research. 

This month, Sam sits down with Angela Stewart, a tenured professor at a Brazilian university who made a career pivot into K-12 education when she moved back to the United States with her family. They discuss the importance of inclusion in study design and analysis, the hiring process of a professor in Brazil and the qualities professors look for in a strong PhD candidate.

This week, Sam dives into the art of science and importance of crafts with materials engineer and good friend Kaleigh Marcotte. Plus, they discuss higher education during COVID, journeys in coding and the power of pigment.

This week, Sam sits down with Emilee’s childhood friend and biomedical engineer Maya Jaffe. They discuss vaccine development at a large biotech company, being a scientist versus engineer and the unwritten rules of Microsoft Teams. 

Produced by Emilee Klein and Samantha Bozorgadeh

Edited by Emilee Klein

Podcast graphic created by Aiden Donaher

Music by Alex and Drew. Listen to more here: https://www.youtube.com/@drewkaler/videos