Spark Science, where we explore stories of human curiosity. Hosted by Dr. Regina Barber DeGraaff. Sparksciencenow.com
For our 100th episode, our first and most frequent guest is back, Dr. Melissa Rice. Days before quarantine, we entertained a live audience at WWU with stories of missions past and details about the future Mars Rover launching this July.
If you would like to learn more about Dr. Rice’s work you can visit https://wp.wwu.edu/mars/
You can follow her on instagram @westernmartians & Twitter @martian_mel
Who shapes the lives of science students? Here at WWU, two students edited and produced podcasts for their final project in a spring science communication course. They decided to feature the people they admire.
This episode features physics major Chase Boggio interviewing WWU physics professor Dr. Takele Seda about his education in Ethiopia. The second segment features engineering student Maria Watters speaking with her mother, a doctoral candidate in Public Health Sciences, about when she ran a free clinic in Nepal.
When you think of winter in the Pacific Northwest, what comes to mind? Snow, rain, darkness? Many people think of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is why we held and recorded a LIVE show at the start of 2020 to share tips on how to deal with SAD, depression, grief and anxiety. Our guest was the energetic and media-savvy WWU Executive Director for Counseling, Health and Wellness, Dr. Sislena Ledbetter.
For more information about Dr. Ledbetter, you can visit drsis.com
Image courtesy of drsis.com
We return to GeekGirlCon, an annual fall convention in Seattle that celebrates the various identities of geekdom, to showcase how curiosity combines with costuming, chemistry, ceramics, and computer-generated reality.
This is our second episode covering 2019 GeekGirlCon.
To find out more about the convention and out guest’s amazing work following them on twitter @GeekGirlCon @amyraehill for astro-ceramics & for Torrey’s cosplay @tereshkova2001
What do all of these things have in common? GeekGirlCon. This annual fall convention in Seattle celebrates the various identities of geekdom and in this episode, we showcase how bugs can help kids through adolescents, how easy it is for children to connect science to the everyday world and the fun world of forensics.
This is our first episode covering 2019 GeekGirlCon.
To find out more about The Bug Chicks, Mmmmonsters and/or Geek Girl Con follow them on twitter.
@TheBugChicks, @mmm_monsters, @GeekGirlCon
During this global pandemic, do you want to hear directly from a medical doctor who specializes in infectious diseases? We did.
While stuck at home inundated with COVID-19 news, we thought it would be nice to learn from and get to know one of the people on the front lines.
Join us for an interview with Dr. Vijai Bhola where we talk about the history of vaccines, the current response to this outbreak and some positive words to help our anxious minds.
Image credit: CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM
What do the Atomic Bomb and one of the first hands-on science museums have in common? The answer and a whole lot of geeky fun can be found in our interview with Dr. Whitmore. We discuss the language of science, the movie Real Genius, and our favorite Star Trek episode.
To find out more about the Exploratorium check out https://www.exploratorium.edu/ & follow Dr. Whitmore on twitter @DarthScience
How different are people's paths into science and what are students going through right now?
Each spring Spark Science host, Dr. Barber DeGraaff, teaches a science communication course where students can create podcasts for a final project. This episode features WWU student Khleo Isaguirre interviewing Biology professor, Dr. Adrienne Wang. This episode also shares WWU student Kassidy Haluska speaking to other College of Science and Engineering majors about their choices.
What is it like to study and handle the African giant pouched rat? How do these rodents interact with humans? Dr. Danielle Lee returns to Spark Science to answer these questions by sharing an experience that you won’t forget.
Dr. Lee was a keynote speaker at the National SACNAS Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii and you can find out more about Dr. Lee’s work by following her on twitter and instagram @DNLee5 and/or watch her TED talks on Finding Landmines Using Giant Pouched Rats & How Hip-Hop Helps us Understand Science.
Image Credit: Laura M. Boykin
What can we do to build confidence and community in Science and Math? What is the mathematical field, combinatorics? Dr. Pamela E. Harris, assistant professor of mathematics at Williams College, answers these questions in our season premiere of Season 6.
Dr. Harris was a keynote speaker at the National SACNAS Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii and we discussed personal journeys and the joys of watching undergraduate students tackle complex problems without fear.
To find out more about Dr. Pamela E. Harris check out http://lathisms.org/ & https://www.pamelaeharris.com/
