Our guest Austin Owens describes maker spaces as "community gardens for your mind." He should know, he's been involved with local maker space Cyberia for 12 years, and leading it as its president for the past half decade. Austin is studying engineering at IUPUI, and we talk a bit about his research project on the strongest infill for 3D printing (it's not what everyone thinks it is.) 

Liz Bolger loves her job, teaching science to kids. She talks about how she got started, how she engages her audience, and gives advice for parents on how they can get their kids engaged in exploring the worlds around them.

Dr. Barrett Caldwell is a professor of Industrial Engineering with a courtesy appointment in Aeronautics at Purdue University (which has graduated more astronauts than any other public university in the country). He directs the Indiana Space Grant Consortium, and has worked on human factors engineering with NASA. We talk about how the humanities affect our ability to travel in space, some of the practical barriers, and he has a great answer to the question "What is it about West Lafayette that makes people want to leave the planet?"

Matthew Barron has been a speaker and attendee at Starbase Indy for years. He's also an author of books, creator of graphic novels, playwright, and moviemaker. In addition to all of this, he works in the sciences. We talk about the joys of conventions, the practical realities of a career in the sciences, and the dreams of the human digestive tract. Join us for this fun conversation.

One of the things we talk about is the Flash Fiction workshop he ran at the last Starbase Indy, which you can find here.

This week’s podcast features one of our returning vendors, Baby Boomer Rebellion. Jeff Bruce has been working conventions for decades, and so in addition to talking about what he brings to our vendor room, we’ll also chat some on his experience with conventions and the changes he’s seen over the years.

This week on the Starbase Indy Podcast we talk with longtime Starbase Indy speaker Dr. Colin McKinney. Dr. McKinney is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Wabash College. The conversation ranges from how math is a language (with mild spoilers for Discover Season 4) to how the movies get math and robotics right and (and wrong) to the possibly sentient AI that’s been in the news. Join us for this wide ranging and fun conversation.

For many years, Starbase saturday morning at 10am meant the Philosophy of Star Trek panel was going on with Dr. Jason Eberle. This week we get Dr. Eberle back to Starbase Indy through the podcast. We talk about medical ethics, the nature of humanity and the philosophy of transhumanism, and what makes Star Trek unique, philosophically.  Be warned - there are some spoilers for the Battlestar Galactica series (along with some debate of the ethics of spoilers for a series that’s been out for 15 years.)

Actor Bill Blair, holds the Guiness Book of world record for most special effects makeup characters portrayed in the career. Hear him talk about how he puts together an alien performance to bring the worlds we love to life, and hear some of his behind scenes stories. Bill also wrote a book on how to achieve success in show business, and we talk about some of the tips and tricks he’s not only picked up but shared with others over his long career.

More than 200 people came to hear Thomas Rathjen when he talked about human space flight at Mission Chicago. Come hear about what it’s like to work for NASA, and about what he sees in the future of human space flight. His 30 years included everything from designing the galley of the space shuttle to his current work on programmatic and strategic integration. Listen to him discuss the challenges he’s addressed and solved to help humans reach for the stars, and learn about the golden rule of velcro.

Dr. Lawrence Schoen founded the Klingon Language Institute, has an advanced degree in linguistics  - but insists that he's terrible with languages. Hear more about that, his novels, and hypnosis.