Andreas Stefik is an associate professor of computer science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

For the last decade, he has been creating technologies

that make it easier for people, including those with disabilities, to write computer software. He helped establish the first national educational infrastructure

for blind or visually impaired students to learn computer science and invented the first evidence-based programming language, Quorum.

The design of Quorum is created from data derived through methodologies similar to those used in the medical community. Stefik has been a principal investigator on 5 National Science Foundation funded

grants, many of which related to accessible graphics and computer science education. Finally, he was honored with the 2016 White House Champions of Change

award and the Expanding CS Opportunities award from Code.org and the Computer Science Teachers Association. Click here to follow Andreas Stefik on Twitter.

As always, Episode 20 of Making Better is fully transcribed, and you can click here to consume Episode 20 in text form.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Making-Better-20-Andreas-Stefik-.mp3

Lainey Feingold is a disability rights lawyer who focuses on digital accessibility, an author, and an international speaker

and trainer. Lainey’s book, Structured Negotiation, A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits, is available in print and accessible digital formats.

In 2017 Lainey was selected as one of 13 “Legal Rebels” by the ABA Journal, the national flagship magazine of the American Bar Association.

In 2017 Lainey was also the individual recipient of the John W. Cooley Lawyer as Problem Solver Award, given annually to one individual and one organization by the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association. In both 2014 and 2000 Lainey was honored with a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award. Lainey is a frequent and highly regarded speaker and trainer at conferences, webinars, law school classes, and other programs and events.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Making-Better-19-Lainey-Feingold.mp3

As always, this episode of Making Better is fully transcribed. Click here to read the full transcript.

Science writer Brian Dunning is the host and producer of the Skeptoid podcast and the author of seven books on scientific skepticism.

Skeptoid is one of the longest running and consistently most popular independent podcasts, having surpassed 100 million downloads in January 2017.

Dunning is the writer and presenter of the documentary films Here Be Dragons and Principles of Curiosity. He has appeared on numerous radio shows and television documentaries, and also hosts the science video series inFact with Brian Dunning

A computer scientist by trade, Brian uses new media to showcase the rewards of science and critical thinking. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers and lives in central Oregon.

As always, this episode of Making Better is fully transcribed, and you can

Dr. Lisa Willis holds a PHD in immunology, is the present assistant professor of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. She focuses on helping women achieve their goals in STEM fields: Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics, and she describes something that she calls “the glass obstacle course” which is a lot more complicated than a glass ceiling, and she provides a number of good examples as to the things a woman needs to navigate in academia. Read her full bio here, follow Dr. Willis on Twitter, and as always, read a full transcript of episode 17.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Making-Better-17-DR-Lisa-Willis.mp3

Sina Bahram from episode one joins us to talk to Liz Lutgendorff, who describes herself as "always busy, a geek, punk, historian (Ph.D. in the history of secularism), Cyclist, Londoner, and a Trustee @ConwayHall. She hosts a podcast called Science Fiction Double Feature, where she interviews an author about their science fiction novel, followed by interviewing an expert about some aspect of the book, be it science, history, or anything else really. She also blogs at blogendorff. Liz can also be found on Twitter as @sillypunk.

As always, a complete transcript of this episode.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Making-Better-16-Liz-Lutgendorff.mp3

Michael Bungay Stanier is at the forefront of shaping how organizations around the world make being coach-like an essential leadership behavior and competency. His book The Coaching Habit is the best-selling coaching book of this century, with over 700,000 copies sold and 1,000+ five-star reviews on Amazon. In 2019, he was named the #1 thought leader in coaching, and was shortlisted for the coaching prize by Thinkers50, the Oscars of management. Michael was the first Canadian Coach of the Year and has been named a Global Coaching Guru since 2014. He was a Rhodes Scholar.

Michael is the Founder of Box of Crayons. Box of Crayons is a learning and development company that helps organizations transform from advice-driven to curiosity-led.

Michael is a compelling keynote speaker, combining practicality, humour, and an unprecedented degree of engagement with the audience. He’s spoken around the world in front of crowds ranging from ten to ten thousand.

En route to today—and these are essential parts of his origin story—Michael knocked himself unconscious as a labourer by hitting himself in the head with a shovel, he mastered stagecraft at law school by appearing in a skit called Synchronized Nude Male Modelling, and his first paid piece of writing was a Harlequin Romance-esque story involving a misdelivered letter … and called The Male Delivery.

Click here to watch Episode 15 on YouTube.

Click here to read a complete transcript of Episode 15.

Michael's new book, The Advice Trap, is available for your reading pleasure.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Making-Better-15-Michael-Bungay-Stanier.mp3

Selling over 20 million albums worldwide, The B-52s—Fred Schneider [vocals], Kate Pierson [vocals], Cindy Wilson [vocals] — have quietly impacted alternative music, fashion, and culture over the course of four-plus decades.

They count John Lennon, Madonna, James Murphy, and Michael Stipe among their disciples. Panic! At The Disco, Blood Orange, The Offspring, Pitbull, Roger Sanchez, and DJ Shadow have sampled classics from the band’s discography as Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy, The Simpsons, Sugarland, and more offered up covers of their own.

Fred Schneider joins our hosts on this episode to talk about everything from the B-52s writing process, to implementing positive things for the average citizens of the US, using coffee as a jumping-off point for implementing solutions that benefit everyone, healthy sex positivity, the New York music underground, and finally, upcoming new music from the B-52s.

As always, this episode is transcribed, and you can click here to read a full transcript of Episode 14.

Click here to visit the Breyting Community Roaster website, and click here to like and follow the B-52s on Facebook.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Making-Better-14-Fred-Schneider.mp3

Amber D. Miller is the 22nd dean of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. She holds the Anna H. Bing Dean’s Chair and a faculty appointment in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Click here to read her full biography and click here to read a transcript of this episode.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Making-Better-13-Dean-Amber-Miller.mp3

Jennifer Michael Hecht is a poet, historian, and commentator. She is the author of the bestseller Doubt: A History, a history of religious and philosophical doubt all over the world, throughout history. Her newest book is Stay: A History of Suicide and the Arguments Against It (Yale University Press, 2013).

Read some of Hecht's writings on the blog at her website,

Read Hecht's bio and enjoy some of her quotes at Wikipedia,

Follow Hecht on Twitter and finally Read a transcript of Episode 12 of Making Better.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Making-Better-12-Jennifer-Michael-Hecht.mp3

James O'Malley is a London-based freelance writer and journalist who has previously written for The Spectator, Wired, Politico and New Statesman, among other publications, WHERE HE WRITES ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

Click here to read James O'Malley's full professional bio and find a list of his writings and other accomplishments.

Click here to follow James O'malley on Twitter.

As always, this episode of Making Better is transcribed, and you can click here to read the full transcript of Episode 11: James O'Malley.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Making-Better-11-James-OMalley.mp3