Stanford Radio

Full title: Eric Abrams, Chief Inclusion Officer at Stanford Graduate School of Education, Discusses Diversity and Belonging on College Campuses

Promoting diversity and inclusion using effective approaches that foster open intercultural communication.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on August 8, 2020.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on August 8, 2020.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman:

Susan Holmes: How statistics are reshaping our understanding of biology

A leading statistician discusses her discipline’s growing influence on biology and why she thinks the most important skill for the biostatistician may be communication, not analysis.

In recent years, biologists have learned that the vaginal microbiome — the make-up of the bacteria in the vagina — during pregnancy may be the best predictor of pre-term birth. It is a valuable finding that could reshape obstetrics. What is perhaps more revelatory about this emerging knowledge is that biologists have learned it from a surprising source: statistics.

Stanford’s Susan Holmes is one such statistician in the rapidly evolving science of using statistics to understand biology. Holmes is now turning her attention to improving our understanding of the remarkable human immune system to help fight cancer and other deadly diseases. She says that the statistician’s greatest contribution to biology may not necessarily reside in analyzing the myriad numbers and data points available these days, but rather in divining and explaining which patterns are replicable and which are not.

Join bioengineering Professor Russ Altman for the latest episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast to discuss the fascinating and fast-evolving field of statistical biology with a leading proponent of the science, Susan Holmes. Listen here.

Some residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma may be surprised to discover that they live on Native American land. What does that mean legally—for tribal people and others? Join Professor Greg Ablavsky, an expert on American legal history including issues of sovereignty, territory, and property in the early American West, for a discussion of the Supreme Court’s recent decision McGirt v. Oklahoma and important legal issues of Native American lands and governance.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 25, 2020.

Full title: Religious Liberty at the Supreme Court: Education Aid, Medical Coverage, and Employment Discrimination Protections with guest Michael McConnell

Description: The Supreme Court recently decided several important First Amendment cases—ones that asked big questions about the rights of religious intuitions to receive federal aid for education, to be held to federal employment discrimination protections, and to cover all employee medical expenses. Join constitutional law expert Michael McConnell for a discussion about religious liberty in the U.S. and these SCOTUS decisions.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 25, 2020.

As Covid-19 resurges across the country, it is hitting prisons hard and courts are more backed up than ever. Is the American criminal justice system, already stressed, now at a breaking point? Join Stanford criminal justice expert Robert Weisberg for a discussion of prisons, the courts, and criminal justice during a pandemic.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 18, 2020.

Join health law expert Professor David Studdert for a discussion of his extensive study of handgun ownership and suicides in California. David will also weigh in on the politicization of the Center for Disease Control particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 18, 2020.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman:

Sheri Sheppard: How do we educate a new kind of engineer?

Mechanical engineer Sheri Sheppard got her start in engineering working on the Corvette for General Motors and later worked for both Ford and Chrysler.

Back then, she was among a handful of women engineers in the auto industry, where she learned firsthand the risks a monolithic culture presents.

Today, Sheppard is a professor at Stanford University, where she works to encourage diversity in the student body, in the classroom and in the curriculum. She says that engineering needs to reach beyond the traditional disciplines to tap into sociology, history, ethics, psychology and even philosophy to help engineers explore the “peopleness” in the challenges they are trying to solve.

In that pursuit, she encourages women and minorities eager to transform their field to become what her colleague Deb Meyerson has dubbed “tempered radicals” — leaders who can rock the boat while remaining in the boat. The result, Sheppard tells Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, is more empathetic engineering that benefits everyone in society.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman:

Jonathan Chen: Can algorithms make doctors better?

An expert in bioinformatics says that empowering clinicians with artificial intelligence that combs medical data will deliver better health care than either could do alone.

We’re all familiar with those algorithms on our favorite e-commerce and streaming services that recommend purchases, books or movies based on what “others like you” have enjoyed. In the industry, they are known as “recommender engines.”

Medical doctor Jonathan Chen is an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford and an expert in bioinformatics who wondered if the medical profession might benefit from similar artificial intelligence. He now creates recommender engines for doctors that comb real-world clinical data to help them make key decisions based on steps other doctors have taken with similar patients, empowering individuals with the collective experience of the many.

Chen tells Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast that such programs will soon be commonplace in exam rooms, helping doctors become better at what they already do and making medical practice a more consistent, universal experience for everyone.

Michael Tubbs, Stanford Alum, on creating change as the youngest and first African-American Mayor of Stockton, CA.

Michael Tubbs on leading bold policy and economic changes to transform a struggling city.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 11, 2020.

Adrian Miller, an American culinary historian, lawyer and public policy advisor shares his views about race, religion and ethnic reconciliation. He says social change begins when people listen to one another.

Adrian Miller previously served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton with his Initiative for One America, the first free-standing White House office to address opportunity gaps that exist for minorities in America.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 4, 2020.