Lab Talk with Laura

On this episode I'm joined by UMass Amherst Physics grad students Daria Atkinson and Alina Blinova. Daria explains her research in soft materials geometry, and how knitting can help us understand the behavior of soft materials. Alina explains her work using lasers to supercool rubidium atoms in order to explore the quantum behavior of atoms. Comedian Kendra Dawsey joins as co-host, you can find her on Instagram @unamusedblackgirl

Today I'm joined by Dr. Laurie Brown and Dr. Chris Condit, retired professors in the Geoscience Dept. at UMass. They tell the story of how they met and fell in love doing field work in the Springerville volcanic field in northern Arizona. Laurie explains her work studying Earth's magnetic field as it's recorded in the rock record (paleomagnetism), and talks about being the first woman professor hired in her department. Chris discusses his work mapping volcanoes and lava flows, and training NASA astronaut candidates how to do geologic mapping and sampling. Local comedian Jennifer Myszkowski joins as co-host. You can also find Jennifer hosting the Lady Haha Comey Open Mic at Holyoke Hummus in Holyoke, MA and hosting Bear Swaps Saturday mornings from 8-10 on Bear Country 95.3 FM.

On this episode I'm joined by Dr. Destenie Nock who recently completed a PhD in Industrial Engineering, and Hannah Johlas, PhD student in Mechanical Engineering. Destenie describes her research exploring the best ways to develop energy infrastructure in the global south, as well as planning for sustainable energy development in New England. Hannah explains how her computer simulations of fluid dynamics will help build better offshore wind farms. Both Hannah and Destenie are also co-chairs for the Graduate Women in STEM Outreach committee and they talk about the work they have done sharing their passion for science and engineering with young students and young girls in particular. Comedian Kim DeShields (aka Boney) joins as co-host. You can check out Destenie's blog about navigating life as a PhD student on her website: www.destenienock.com

On this episode I'm joined by Dr. Heidi Bauer-Clapp, Assistant Director of Grants and Scholarships in the Office of Professional Development at UMass, and organizer of the 3 Minute Thesis competition where graduate students compete to share their research in a compelling 3 minute speech. Grad student finalists Lian Guo (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology) and Louis Colaruotolo (Food Science) join us to share their research. Lian shares her work studying how climate shifts affect populations of river herring, a food source for many species higher on the food chain. Louis shares his research into a new method for testing biodegradable food packages using light and green food dye. You can catch them both at the final 3 Minute Thesis competition at Jones Library in Amherst, MA on Saturday March 23 at 3 pm. Hampshire college student and comedian Gabe Sklan joins us again as co-host.

In this episode we hear interviews from the HackHer413 event, a hackathon for women and non-binary students organized by students at UMass Amherst. I speak to organizers Shreya Sharma and Shreya Sawant, and participants Alina Valdez, Elsie Eigerman, Isabelle Tjokrosetio, Shruti Jain, and Raveena Mewani. We hear about hacks like dialect-detection software, an app to locate gender-neutral bathrooms, and more! The event drew over 300 participants and dozens of sponsors for its launch in February 2019. I'm joined in the studio by comedians Sophie Allen and Monk Danger to chat about the interviews and the event. Enjoy!

On this episode, we hear interviews with earthquake scientists of many varieties at the 2018 Southern California Earthquake Center Meeting in Palm Springs, CA. I talk to Alex Hatem, PhD student at University of Southern California, John Ebel, Seismologist at Boston College, Kaj Johnson, a Geophysicist at Indiana University Bloomington, and Julian Lozos, Dynamic Rupture Modeler at California State University, Northridge. I'm joined in the studio by UMass PhD students Raquel Bryant and Edwin Murenzi, and Edwin's friend Ben Aalvik (founder of Fully Rooted juice company) to chat about the interviews as we listen and discuss any questions that come up. We learn about how soil luminescence can be used to figure out when earthquakes happened in the past, why New Englanders should care about earthquake science, how satellites are used to measure earthquake hazard, and how models of earthquake ruptures can help us understand both past and future earthquakes. Part 2 of a 2 part special episode!

On this episode, we hear interviews with earthquake scientists of many varieties at the 2018 Southern California Earthquake Center Meeting in Palm Springs, CA. I talk to Emily Brodsky, Seismologist at UC Santa Cruz, Kate Scharer of the US Geological Survey, Ellen Yu of the Southern California Earthquake Data Center, and Ahmed Elbanna, a Civil Engineer at U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I'm joined in the studio by UMass PhD students Raquel Bryant and Edwin Murenzi, and Edwin's friend Ben Aalvik (founder of Fully Rooted juice company) to chat about the interviews and discuss any questions that come up as we listen. We learn about taking the temperature of a fault, trenching into fossil earthquakes, what is done with all the data collected by seismometers, and how engineers and geologists can help each other. Part 1 of a 2 part special episode!

On today's episode, Igor Luzhansky discusses his work at the Langer Lab at MIT working on implantable diabetes treatments made with an extract from seaweed. Edwin Murenzi explains how injecting rat brains into frog eggs has helped him understand the impact of pesticides on mammals. Comedian Gabe Sklan joins as co-host. This episode is chock full of surprises, don't miss it!

This week I'm joined by Dr. Forrest Bowlick and Dr. Will Daniels, both of the Geoscience Dept. at UMass. Forrest Bowlick is a lecturer and graduate program director for the Geographic Information Science master's program. He shares his thoughts on map projections, the scarcity of helium, and his new project to develop online accessible GIS-education modules. Will Daniels is a postdoc who studies lake sediments to understand past climates, but today we focus on his recent experience as a participant in a NASA human research program simulating a mission to an asteroid. Cartoonist and comedian Woozy Kurtz joins as co-host.

On this episode I'm joined by undergraduate researcher in Chemical Engineering Phoebe Bisnoff as she talks about her work using nanocrystals to improve LED and solar tech, and being the founder and President of the UMass chapter of oSTEM, and UMass Geoscience PhD student Becky Smith discussing her work using plant lipids in the sediment record to reconstruct sea surface temperatures over the last 3.5 million years. The hilarious Penina Beede joins as co-host.