Storytellers of STEMM

Today's storyteller is Louise Carroll! Louise is an operational meteorologist based in Australia and also a fellow member of the Homeward Bound program. I was really excited to meet Louise and hear about her work as meteorologist, and the far flung places where her work has taken her. She's worked in Antarctica multiple times, and on remote islands like Willis Island in the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia. I had such fun talking to Louise so I hope you enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Courtney Robichaud! Courtney is a wetlands scientist who has primarily researched Phragmites australis - which is a super tall colony forming invasive freshwater plant species. And when I say tall, it's regularly 10-15 feet tall. And Phragmites (aka phrag or roseau) is very good at invading locations and outcompeting native species. It forms these dense colonies which also doesn't really allow for a diverse suite of species to grow in the same area. I was so excited to talk to Courtney because I spend a solid portion of my wetlands scientist career working with phrag, and it was fun to nerd out about the fieldwork and logistics side of it to start. But the biggest thing I wanted to talk about is - what do we do when an invasive species such as phrag is taking over, but also simultaneously holding the wetland together? What do you do? How do you manage that scenario, or do you even manage it at all? It's partially a philosophical question and partly a feasibility question. So we discuss that in length as well, comparing Ontario (Courtney's area) vs the Mississippi River Delta (my area). This was a great conversation and I'm so excited about a wetlands episode. Enjoy!!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Jonathon Valente! Jonathon is a longtime dear friend of mine who does all kinds of interesting bird and wildlife research and so I'm excited to share this conversation with you! We first met at Louisiana State University (LSU) back in I think like 2007, when I was finishing up my bachelor's degree and he was starting his master's degree. I then joined the same research lab to begin my master's degree right after my undergrad graduation, so we were lab mates for a few years as well. This conversation consists mainly of the questions I've always wanted to ask him and never really had the excuse to, like how did you end up in the wildlife field, how did you end up at LSU, what happened next, interspersed with conversations about wildlife, birds, research, etc. Also, there's a brief and hilarious bird interlude around 20 minutes in because what else could you possibly expect when 2 bird people chat on Zoom?!? I hope you enjoy this conversation!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Clay Tucker! Clay is a tree ring scientist, also known as a dendrochronologist, and his specialty is related to hurricanes and climate change. I could have called this episode "Dendrochronology" but probably most people have no idea what that would mean and I didn't want to detract from this fabulous episode!! So trees grow and add rings every year, so by taking a small core of the tree you get a visual representation of that tree's life, essentially. And you can see the impact of droughts, hurricanes, and disease on the growth of that tree over time. In Clay's research, he's used tree rings from pine trees across the southeastern US to understand the impacts of hurricanes. It's fascinating research and why I asked Clay to be on the podcast! Clay and I are both in Baton Rouge, and know a lot of the same people, and so we talk about that and relationships within science, about how technology in this era allows for collaboration across continents and time zones, about what I call the "Louisiana Quicksand Conundrum", about learning to read the landscape, and of course about trees and wetlands and research. This is such a fun conversation and Clay is great and I hope everyone enjoys it!

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Today's storyteller is Jhénelle Williams! Jhénelle is an ocean engineer from Jamaica using nuclear technology to do ocean and environmental science research. If you're wondering how that works and what that even means, don't worry that's the very first thing we talk about! We talk about the types of research they do, how they use nuclear techniques to further their knowledge. They use this technology to research mangroves, sediment, microplastics, sargassum, and air quality research. I found this to be really cool and we've had a lot of people on to talk about stable isotopes but we never talk about HOW the stable isotopes are processed, and this is one of the ways. So that really clicked for me and felt like a missing knowledge link! Jhénelle is awesome, this was a great conversation, and y'all enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Brittaney Spruill! Britt is friend and neighbor and architect and today we talk about pretty much everything! ALSO, surprise because Cedric Johnson is back to guest host this time! If you missed Cedric's episode, it's #128. So listen to that one too if you missed it. Anyway back to this episode! Britt is here today to talk about why she chose architecture (or did it choose her?), what she likes about it, about the types of projects she's worked on, what she'd be doing if not architecture, favorite albums, history and people, and a lot of in between. This episode is long because Cedric, Britt, and I have been good friends for a long time so we just had a lot of fun chatting and talking work and buildings and people and history and music. I hope you enjoy!!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Jarrod McKenna! Jarrod is a reproductive biologist at Monash University in Australia and today we talk about the Egyptian spiny mouse and studying reproductive biology. The Egyptian spiny mouse is a rare example of menstruation in mammals, especially a small prey sized mammal, as opposed to large mammals with few  to no actual predators (such humans and primates). In the lab they can use this mouse as a test subject of sorts or a surrogate for studying human reproductive health, which is part of what Jarrod's research is focused on. So today to sum it up, we talk about the Egyptian spiny mouse, mammal reproductive biology, about conservation and the ethics of whether we SHOULD do certain things; how captive spiny mice populations might be different after 20-40 years in captivity and how that differs from wild populations potentially. It was a very fascinating conversation and I hope you enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Lisa Caprelli! She is a children's book author and the creator of the Unicorn Jazz book series, which also launched an Amazon show called The Thing I Do. Today Lisa and I talk about the things that people do, social and emotional intelligence, the importance of people sharing what they do to a young audience, and how her psychology background helps her be a writer and leader. This isn't really a typical STEMM episode BUT I always have said I want to talk to anyone who has anything to share that's even remotely STEMM related, and also talking to Lisa was a lot of fun, so I hope you enjoy it!

Today's storyteller is Dr Cynthia Awruch! Cynthia is a marine biologist studying sharks of Argentina and Tasmania. She's researching shark physiology and reproduction, how physiology helps conservation, and how marine contaminants negatively impact shark reproduction. Today we talk all about her research, and dive into how physiology does impact shark conservation, which I found very interesting. They figured out a way to use hormones (via blood samples) to understand reproduction and stress, which is great because it's nonlethal and doesn't remove individuals from an already struggling population! We also have a really good conversation about communication and the importance of social sciences in the physical sciences, and about balancing work, research, school, and life. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Bharathi Boppana! Bharathi is a Research Scientist at the Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore. Today we talk about her work there using computational simulations to model wind and pollution in urban areas. Bharathi's journey is so interesting - her background is in engineering, and her PhD is in applied mathematics - and her journey takes her to Singapore where she is now. We talk fluid dynamics, what modeling is, how modeling works, computer programs, her journey in her career, and the type of work she does now. Also, Bharathi and I are both members of Homeward Bound's 5th cohort (known as HB5), which is how I have gotten to know her. And in a fun twist, Bharathi asks me questions about my work and it was rather fun being on the other end of the microphone! Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Karen Joyce! Karen is a geospatial scientist, and today we talk all about drones, remote sensing, geography, and everything in between! Karen wears a lot of hats - she's a lecturer at James Cook University in Australia, she's the cofounder and education director of She Maps (which we'll talk about), and she also runs the drone data repository GeoNadir (which we didn't even get to in this conversation!). She Maps is really brilliant and aiming at diversifying STEM using drones and geospatial tools through programs in schools. Karen tells the story of how it came to be in this episode so I won't give it away but it's such a cool program. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Paula Silva! Paula is a water resources engineer at a large international consulting firm. If you're like me, when you think water management, you either think of something like in urban areas (for me, that would be the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, in particular), or in more natural environments (for me, Mississippi River flows). Water is vital to a lot of things and so I'm excited to share this conversation with y'all. So Paula is here today to talk about what a water resources engineer does, what her job looks like day to day, the kinds of projects she works on, and the favorite parts of her job. We also dive into what drew her to engineering, what it's like working in this field. And towards the end, since I know Paula through Homeward Bound (we're both #TeamHB5), we chat a little about our experiences and favorite parts of the Homeward Bound program. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Claire Cannon! Claire is a veterinary oncologist based in Melbourne Australia. Today we talk all about cancer in pets, particularly dogs and cats, and I learned so much about the field, research, and types of cancers that impact our pets. Also, did you know that elephants don't get cancer!? Which is awesome and mind boggling, the world is so cool. Okay so we talk about the balance of clinical visits and teaching, about mental health in the veterinary world, about science communication, and about what her day to day job looks like. It's really such a fun conversation and I know I say this a lot but y'all the storytellers teach me so much every week!! Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Marga L Rivas! Marga is a marine ecologist based at the University of Almeria in Spain. She's done a lot of work with sea turtles, marine conservation, ocean plastics, remote sensing, and sometimes all these aspects combined. It's all really interesting work so check it out! Marga is also part of Homeward Bound 5 with me, and so it was nice to get to know her better on a one on one basis. So in addition to all the cool marine work we talk about we also talk about the HB experience so far, our favorite parts, and reflect on things we've learned so far. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Yona Nebel-Jacobsen! Yona is a geochemist based in Melbourne Australia, she works with isotopes, and she teaches me so much cool geology straight away. In this episode we talk about what a geochemist does, if it was the "geo" or the "chem" part that appealed to her, the nonlinear twisty path she took to her current position, and about all things in between. Yona is also part of Homeward Bound in the 4th cohort (I'm in the 5th) and so we talk a bit about our experiences in the HB program too. I love meeting fellow HBers and instant friends and so that's been a fun bonus of this whole podcast project. So it was doubly wonderful to meet Yona, hear her stories, and I hope y'all enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Georget Oraha! Georget is a graduate student at Cal State Fullerton, studying tidal influences on mussels in California. We start out talking about her research and how all that went, especially with how the pandemic has impacted her fieldwork and also her study areas. So we talk about all that, but we also have a really good conversation about finding community in a research lab/field team, which can be rare to find but is so amazing when it all clicks together. Georget is also interested in teaching, and has taught in some undergraduate courses and we talk about teaching, growth, philosophy about communication, and biology education. I know I say this a lot but I learned a lot from Georget and it was a lot of fun to record this so enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Scott Davidson! Scott is a peat researcher and this podcast episode is all about peat! Peat is, very generally, partially decayed organic matter, and forms the base for ecosystems like peatlands, bogs, and more. Scott's work is focused on how disturbance and climate change will impact resilience of wetland systems, particularly peat lands! Peatlands are a type of wetland, and y'all know I love wetlands and so I had a lot of fun talking about all of this with Scott. We talk about why peatlands are important, how changes in peat can impact climate change (think massive greenhouse gas emissions), about his community science #PeatPicProject, and about the Peatlands ECR Action Team. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Anna Frebel! Anna is an astronomer and stellar archaeologist, working as a professor and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her work focuses on finding the oldest stars in the universe, and y'all this is some really mind blowing work she's doing. In this episode we learn about metal poor stars, what that means, how one can (roughly) tell the age of a star, what kind of information we learn from old stars, how one navigates in outer space, and about her book "Searching for the Oldest Stars"! This is such a great conversation, Anna is brilliant, and I hope y'all enjoy this. And also, she's #TeamHB6 to my HB5 and we talk a bit about Homeward Bound at the end. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Aedín McAleer! Aedín currently works on the VOCAB project with NUI Galway in Ireland. She's also concurrently doing her master's studying ocean acidification! So today we talk about her work as a research assistant and master's student doing long term monitoring research with ocean acidification and climate change. We talk about how Aedín got interested in marine science, what she wants to do in the future after her master's work is finished, and about the equipment they use (and frequently troubleshoot) in their monitoring work! I had a lot of fun talking to Aedín. so enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Joanna Sumner! She is the Manager of Genetic Resources at Museums Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. She's also a self described "flick falling herpetologist" and tune in because asking what that means was my very first question in this episode! Today we talk about the work she does, what that work even is, the kind of collections they have, about bio banks, and I ask too many questions about liquid nitrogen because I'm a nerd. I was really interested to hear about these genetic collections, how they're managed, what type of research they're used for, and it just seems like such a valuable resource. Also, Joanna and I are both in the 5th cohort of the Homeward Bound program (aka HB5) so we also talk a bit about that too - how she heard about it, why she was interested and applied, and what she hopes to get out of the program once we complete it! Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Isobel Romero-Shaw! Isobel is a PhD student at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She studies gravitational waves, which is AWESOME. I'm not even going to pretend to be smart enough to write out an explanation of what that is so just listen in and Isobel will explain it to us. What I will say is that the existence of gravitational waves was predicted by Albert Einstein, and recently confirmed just a few years ago. There's still so much to learn in this field! Today Isobel tells us how she stubbornly chose physics, and about her research with gravitational waves. And then we jump into a dive about Homeward Bound - I'm HB5 as you all know and Isobel is HB6. It was really great getting to talk to her and I'm happy to have met another person from HB6, so enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Harriet Teare! I got connected with Harriet because she's in the newest cohort of Homeward Bound - HB6 - and I put an all call on Twitter to invite them to come be on the podcast! So Harriet is the first of several episodes featuring HB6ers, and I feel a bit like a sophomore in high school now with the new class coming in after me. So that's how Harriet and I got connected, but she's here today to talk about her work in the healthcare space working on managing health, not disease, and focusing on ways new and upcoming technologies can make healthcare more accessible for all. It's really interesting and I learned a lot! Then we also go on tangents about our health habits and fitness interests, like the endurance activities we both do. I personally have been struggling with lack of motivation during this pandemic because my normal source of motivation is gone, and Harriet explains how she found unique ways to stay motivated during this unusual time. As usual the episode title doesn't begin to cover everything we talk about in this episode so enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Carol Silberberg! She's a consultation-liaison psychiatrist living in Melbourne, Australia. I met Carol through HB5 - which is the 5th cohort of Homeward Bound - and it was really great to have her on for a one on one conversation. So, today we talk about a LOT of topics, including about her career, what drew her to medicine in the first place, choosing a path in life, how one transports a cello from Canada to Australia, doctors orchestras, Homeward Bound, education in Australia, and gender balances in our respective fields. It's really hard to title these episodes sometimes because the blip of a title never fully captures the whole episode! I titled it as I did because I couldn't list everything we talk about (I never can) - so enjoy the conversation!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Richard Allen White III! Richard is a professor of bioinformatics at UNC Charlotte, and also has a biotech company called RAW Molecular Systems. We talk today about viruses, coronaviruses, viral therapies, eradicating diseases, antibiotic resistance, phage therapy, and a whole host of things. There's something in this episode that Richard says that I want to say again "science is a recipe to seek the truth". I love that.

This episode was recorded in mid February, and research in the virus world is changing quite rapidly so I don't know if anything has changed but I just wanted to point out that it's a possibility in the months since we recorded this. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Damion Whyte! Damion is a naturalist and biologist, and is currently a PhD student working on conservation and restoration efforts of the Jamaican iguana on Goat Island. This particular species was thought to be extinct in the 1940s, but was rediscovered in 1990, and there's a lot of research going on with this species. It's really a remarkable story and honestly only one part of all the amazing things that Damion is doing! He's also using social media (as Rooster's World!!) as a way to educate people, dispel myths that persist about some species, and find information about invasive species.  We talk about his research, the pros/cons and usages of social media, the value of interdisciplinary collaboration, and really about a bunch of things. This was a fun conversation so enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Bryan Fry! Bryan is a toxicologist working on how toxins impact health, and working a lot with venom, hence why he also goes by the nickname Venom Doc! Which is also the title of his memoir about his experiences, which we'll talk about a few times in this episode. Bryan works with venom from a variety of species, and uses some really powerful technology to accomplish research that literally wasn't possible 20 years ago (as you'll hear in detail). I got connected with Bryan in the first place because I was curious where the snakes go in the winter round here, so we start off talking about that. Then we talk about his career and how his childhood experiences led him to an interest in toxins, and what kinds of research he's been working on. I didn't know how complicated and specific venoms and anti venoms are, and so I learned a lot and am glad to have learned from Bryan! This was a fun episode and I was kind of astounded several times, so I hope you enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Sarah Youngren! She was one of my earliest guests, and a friend of mine from when I was in grad school. In her first episode, we talk about her life as a seabird biologist, which involves "migrating" to different remote areas throughout the year. Sarah and her partner Dan Rapp regularly work out in the Pacific on islands and on Aiktak Island in the Aleutians. Sarah and Dan have been out on Midway Atoll since November, and today actually is their departure day. So they've been on Midway for months doing seabird research, primarily with Laysan Albatross and Bonin Petrels. In this episode we're going to hear some audio of the birds at Midway, my conversation with Sarah, and I'll end the episode with a longer audio clip that Dan recorded. You can also hear birds in the background of the conversation, which I love. I called this episode "live from Midway Atoll" but really it's not live, but it will sort of sound like it because of all the wonderful bird sounds. So up first in this episode is a few minutes long clip of seabirds on Midway Atoll, and you'll primarily hear the Laysan Albatross, Then stay tuned for my conversation with Sarah. Following our conversation is a longer audio segment of what it sounds like in the early morning on Midway Atoll amongst the birds. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Amani Webber-Schultz! Amani is awesome, and this is a great conversation so I'm excited for y'all to hear it. I think I first found Amani on Twitter because of her How It Pants series, where she draws pants on animals and people debate how that critter would wear pants, and I love it. Basically I showed up for the fun critter art and stayed for all the great science and sharks content! Amani majored in marine science at Rutgers, is a co-founder of the Minorities in Shark Sciences (known as MISS), and is also involved with The Field School in Florida. We talk about ALL of this so I don't want to give too much away but enjoy this conversation about sharks, all about MISS, How It Pants, awesome shark facts, and what Amani is up to next. Enjoy!

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This is episode 23 of the Antarctica series, and it's also the final one in the series. Today's storyteller is the perfect finale though to bring this series full circle. So - today's storyteller is Megan McCuller! You may remember her from the very first episode of the Antarctica series where we heard from her as she was onboard the NSF ship the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer about to embark on an epic journey to Antarctica! In that episode we talked about the work they were going to do, her expectations, and the process they had to go through to do this in a safe way during this global COVID-19 pandemic. So that episode (actually episode #71 back in November) was the before, and this episode is the after! So in this episode we talk about the cool sea creatures they found in their samples, life on the ship, ice breaking, being isolated from the world for 3 months, and what's up next for Megan after Antarctica. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Priya Gandhi! She's a building sustainability consultant based in Melbourne, Australia, and also she's part of Team HB5 with Homeward Bound! Today Priya and I talk about her work, the kinds of changes people can make in their buildings to be more environmentally friendly, and her career journey to get where she is today, and also we have a chat about Homeward Bound to wrap it up! I'm happy to know Priya through Homeward Bound, and even though we have yet to meet in person, she's one of the people I talk to the most frequently in the program and that's been a really great connection and friendship. Enjoy!

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Today's storytellers are Kirsten Carlson and Greg Neri! They are co-chairs of the Antarctic Artist and Writers Collective (AAWC), and they went to Antarctica together as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Antarctic Artist and Writers Program in 2017. The AAWC brings together all past members of the NSF program together to collaborate to inspire and educate the public about Antarctica. Right now the AAWC has an online exhibit called "Adequate Earth" and you should definitely check that out because you can also see the exhibits that Kirsten & Greg contributed! Kirsten is a visual artist, has a science background, and a diver and she combines all of these things together in her work. Greg is a writer and filmmaker, and has written a dozen books for kids about various topics. They are both awesome and it was so great to talk to them and hear about their time in Antarctica, their work with AAWC, and their exhibits in the Adequate Earth online program. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Jeremy Conkle! He's a professor at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and his specialty is pollution in wetlands, including pharmaceuticals and microplastics. I met Jeremy way back in the day when we were both students at LSU, and today we talk about his journey to his current job and research focus! Jeremy has always done really interesting research, starting with looking at pharmaceuticals in wetlands. I love wetlands as y'all all know but this is an aspect I would never have thought about probably without knowing Jeremy. It's really interesting learning how long things persist in the environment and I learned we're still finding the remnants of DDT out there. We have a brief chat about the DDT aspect, but if you want to learn more I definitely recommend reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson - it was the book that introduced me to what being an ecologist can achieve. This conversation is pretty wide ranging covering a lot of different aspects of wetland ecology, pollution, the impacts of oil and gas, climate change, and how all of these things interact. I am so glad Jeremy agreed to do the podcast, and I really enjoy it when close friends agree to be on this podcast with me, it was so great to catch up, and I hope y'all enjoy this episode!!

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Today's storyteller is Saz Reed! Saz is currently a technician for the Scottish Association for Marine Science, known as SAMS, and in this episode we talk about her time when she was based at Rothera in Antarctica for 18 months! She's done a lot of polar work in both directions, is a diver, loves adventure, and was just a treat to talk to. Saz is also the first person I've talked to who has overwintered in Antarctica, which was interesting to hear about. We talk all about her time in Antarctica, diving and carrying a seal stick, and transporting samples back to the UK by ship. She did a pretty extreme journey where she went from Antarctica, by ship to the UK, then basically straight to the Arctic! It was interesting to hear about and Saz is such a good storyteller so enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dakota Hilliard! He's an undergraduate at the University of North Dakota here in the US, majoring in astrophysics and minoring in space studies! I asked Dakota to be on the podcast because his enthusiasm for space is infectious (in a good way) and I enjoy following him on Twitter, so I thought it would be fun! I know next to nothing about outer space or astrophysics or anything like that, so Dakota told me all about that. He's very interested in spaceflight and from following him on Twitter I learned there's waaaaay more rocket programs going on right now than I was aware of, so I asked him to teach me all about that. We also talk about extreme weather, like hurricanes and tornadoes, and chasing the aurora borealis.

Also I've had very few undergrads on the pod so far so that was an additional reason I invited Dakota on and also to prove that there's no gates round here - if you have something STEMM related you want to share no matter where you are in your education or career, let's talk! You can find how to contact me in the show notes. Anyway enjoy the episode!

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Today's storyteller is Marlo Garnsworthy! Marlo is an artist, illustrator, author, and science communicator. She has now travelled to Antarctica twice as an education and outreach officer aboard an Antarctic cruise ship, which is a really important role aboard those ships because they educate and interpret the landscape and environment for passengers. She says in this episode that she had a hard time to put her experience into words, which further shows why art is so important! In this episode we talk about her time in Antarctica, the blue iceberg that changed her life, the importance of art, her amazing story of getting to meet Jane Goodall, and we discuss our experiences and the ways that the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) changed our lives. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Yoshi Maezumi! Yoshi is a paleoecologist and if you don't know what that is (like I didn't) don't worry - that's the very first thing we talk about! She studies the history and long term interactions of people and the environment, specifically focused on how fire plays a role. We talk about how she does this research in the field, what and how they learn from this, and about projects she has going on right now. She also is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam, and also a National Geographic Explorer! I really learned a lot from Yoshi so enjoy this episode!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Michael Schrimpf! He's currently doing a postdoc position at the University of Manitoba, and his research interests are species distributions, bird conservation, and species interactions. Today though he's here to talk about his PhD research at Stony Brook University, where he was in the same lab at Alex Borowicz (Episode 75) which you'll hear us reference. So his PhD research focused on the distribution and community ecology of breeding birds in Antarctica! I know we all think about penguins in Antarctica, but there's also a variety of seabirds including a species of cormorant, plus a few petrels. So we talk all about birds, field work, doing their study from and utilizing tourist cruise ships, and more. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Pat Lennard! He's a PhD student at Leiden University in the Netherlands and from Tasmania. His background is in biotechnology, One Health, and infectious diseases. We start this episode talking about his work with Tasmanian Devils and their transmissible cancer called the Devil Facial Tumor Disease (also known as DFTD). His work with DFTD introduced him to infectious and transmissible diseases and OneHealth. I had never heard of OneHealth but it's basically this idea (and related organizations) that environmental, human, and animal health are all interrelated and connected, and so people from a variety of backgrounds are working on all fronts towards a common goal. Anyway this is a fun chat so enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Mike Gooseff! He's a professor at the University of Colorado and specializes in hydrology in streams, glaciers and frequently in polar regions, in this case Antarctica! He's also the lead on the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project, which studies the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. We talk long-term monitoring (which I love to talk about), the types of data they're collecting. I also am always curious about how people break into the Antarctic research world so we talk about that. Towards the end we go on a wide ranging conversation about how to communicate all the kinds of career possibilities out there and how facilitate conversations with students of all ages about everything that's out there and how it all works (like grad school). Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Rebecca Atkins! She's a PhD student at the University of Georgia studying marsh periwinkles in salt marshes. Marsh periwinkles are an adorable little purplish snail found in coastal salt marshes around the coastal United States. I've always seen them when I do field work but got to learn so much about them from Rebecca. We also talk about how she got into the wetlands / snail research field, and about the course on STEM and feminist theory she just helped teach with other graduate students. The course sounded really good (that's the "Experiences in STEMM part of this episode because I'm not very good at creatively naming episodes) and I am looking forward to learning more about those topics. Also, Rebecca, like many people I've talked to in STEMM is also an artist & she does illustrations! One of my favorite parts of doing this podcast is learning about all the different aspects of people in STEMM outside of their careers/fields and it's really fun. I enjoyed talking to Rebecca so I hope you enjoy this episode! And Happy Mardi Gras!

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Today's storyteller is me! This is a remix version of Episode 1, where I share the story of how I became a field biologist. I have re-edited it, added stories, and expanded on things I glossed over in the first version. I won't re-release episodes regularly, but I have learned so much about storytelling, editing, and podcasting in general so I wanted to do the original episode more justice. I've also had a few realizations during the past year that came to me in conversations with other guests so I had more to say about my story. So enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Schuyler Borges! They are a PhD candidate in Astronomy & Planetary Science at Northern Arizona University. Their research, in their own words, is aimed at "understanding how Antarctic microbial communities form remote and in situ biosignatures detectable on rocky, cold planetary bodies in and outside our Solar System". I just find this concept of using Antarctica as an analog for Mars to be just SO COOL and also a totally different approach to research in Antarctica. They are using remote sensing to detect microbes and microbial communities in the Fryxell Basin in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. We talk about how one even does that, about working in Antarctica, what gives the Dry Valleys their name, and how they got into the microbe world. I found it all to be super fascinating and it was great to talk to Schuyler, so enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Dr Emlyn Resetarits! She's an aquatic disease ecologist specializing in snails and their parasites, and currently doing a post doc at the University of Georgia. Today we talk all about her research studying aquatic snails and their parasites, including with California Horn Snail in California marshes, and marsh periwinkles in the salt marshes of the southeastern US. So I ask her all about snails, and parasites, and I learned that parasites castrate snails. So if you want to  learn about snails and parasites, Emlyn is the expert and it was fun to learn from her! She's also one half of the brilliant hosts of the STEM Fatale Podcast, which tells the story of a different historic woman in STEM in each episode, and it's a lot of fun and super informative so y'all check them out. Enjoy!

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This is a special one year anniversary episode! Exactly one year ago today I released that very first episode, the one in which I interview myself, and started this whole podcast thing rolling. I am very appreciative of the support over the last year, grateful to have met so many amazing humans, and happy to have learned so much from everyone, and excited to share everyone's stories! Enjoy this short reflection on my favorite moments, how the podcast came to be, and what to expect moving forward. Thank you all so much and I appreciate you!

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Today's storyteller is Alicia Purcell! She's a PhD candidate at Northern Arizona University, and her background is in microbial ecologist. In her own words, Alicia research is "using field based techniques to understand how the growth of soil microbes change in response to warming temperatures. I'm studying this both in Northern Arizona and on the Antarctic Peninsula". So in this episode Alicia tells me all about both her trips to Antarctica, how she got into the microbe world, about stable isotopes, and about subglacial lakes. We also talk about life in the desert, Arizona, and her field study area there too. While Alicia was at Palmer Station, she also got to meet a cohort from Homeward Bound, so she tells about her experience from an external point of view, and it was very interesting to hear her point of view. Enjoy!

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Today's storyteller is Anna Colucci! Anna is here today to tell the story of how she grew up in Italy and spent time in the summers on the Mediterranean, where she was fascinated by the water and got interested in marine biology and marine mammals. Our paths often meander and so her path ultimately took her all the way to Australia, then back to Europe, to where she now works in Germany in corporate sustainability.   She is also part of Homeward Bound 5, and so that's how Anna & I met and yay #teamHB5! We also have a conversation reflecting back on 2020, and looking forward to what we want to see in 2021. This was the last episode recorded in 2020 so it was a good reflection point for the year. Enjoy!

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