Sprouting in STEM

While Audrey and Matt weren't good enough at computers to save last week's episode, they are good enough to feel qualified talking about them for over an hour. This week your hosts discuss how influential computers have been in scientific research, and how they've learned how to code over the years.

This week is a sleepy podcast as Audrey & Matt reflect on the Physics GRE that they took early in the morning. That's pretty much it, that's the episode.

This week Audrey was out at a conference and Matt was buried in astronomy, and so there was no episode planning taking place. Like all good podcast hosts, they decided to wing it. And so this week your top-notch hosts discuss dressing professionally, sleep deprivation, mental health, family dynamics, and Long Island shops closing too early.

Biology friend Clara joins the podcast this week to talk about research in-depth. Like, in a lot of depth.  We talk about different lab experiences, asking your PI for money, taking time off from research, finding the right lab for you, and PLOTS.

This episode is brought to you by Audrey's cold and several very squeaky chairs. Matt and Audrey are joined by non-STEM friend James to talk about exams and eat donuts.

Audrey and Matt are joined by weather friend Ben Bacon to talk about climate change, surrounded by cozy pillows so things don't get too sad. Tune in for some rants about veganism, discussions of nuclear energy, and an unexpectedly optimistic perspective from Matt.

This week Audrey and Matt are joined by a GUEST! Electrical engineer and roommate Charlie joins the pod this week to talk about the call to industry versus pure research, and the blurred lines between different fields in STEM.

It's getting chilly, leaves are falling, fall is around the corner, and it's Friday the 13th! ... at least it was when we recorded this episode. Audrey and Matt share some spooky stories, how superstitions have affected their careers, and how fear is often a barrier between science and the public.

Audrey and Matt get real about Impostor Syndrome: what it is, why it happens, and how they've dealt with it over the years. Impostor Syndrome is especially common in underrepresented groups, so women and minorities in science are especially susceptible to it (spoiler alert: Audrey is practically the dictionary definition of Impostor-ism).  In fact, well over half of people studied showed signs of it over all. So why do we all feel like frauds, and how do we fix it?