Storytellers of STEMM

15/12/2022

I had a lot of fun and met SO MANY amazing people while doing the Storytellers of STEMM podcast! It's officially finished now but thank you to everyone for the participating, listening, and being awesome!! Episodes will stay up for y'all to listen though. Thanks everyone! ❤️

18/06/2022

I know it's been a hot minute y'all but there's a new episode out RIGHT NOW!!! 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!

Link to Anchor, but it's available in all the usual podcast places -

https://anchor.fm/storytellersofstemm/episodes/144---Louise-Carroll-Meteorology-e1k3tnd

08/02/2022

New episode!!! 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!!

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...

16/01/2022

New episode is live!! 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. 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, his favorite part of his work, and things like that. And it's 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!

Available wherever you get podcasts, and on Anchor --

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...

15/01/2022

I hope everyone has had a good December and into January and if you haven't well WE'RE COMING BACK! So that'll help, right? :D New episode dropping in a few hours! Stay tuned!!!

17/11/2021

New episode!! 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. 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!

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...

14/11/2021

New episode!!! 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!

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 ...

09/11/2021

New episode!!! 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! Anyway 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!!

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 ba...

14/10/2021

New episode!! 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!

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 mamm...

28/09/2021

New episode!! 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 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....

27/09/2021

Monday: Episode 75 with Alex Borowicz! Alex Borowicz is a PhD student at Stony Brook in New York (when we recorded this!), and he describes his research as where things are and why they're there. He studied Antarctic wildlife like Weddell seals, whales, and if course penguins. We talk research, how he first ended up in Antarctica, marine debris, tourism, and more! This is also the 3rd episode in the series. Enjoy!

Alex Borowicz is a PhD student at Stony Brook in New York, and he describes his research as where things are and why they're there. He studied Antarctic wildlife like Weddell seals, whales, and if course penguins. We talk research, how he first ended up in Antarctica, marine debris, tourism, and mor...

22/09/2021

New episode!! Today's storyteller is Logan Kline! Logan is a master's student at the University of Maine studying nesting birds using drones! She is using drones to find nests of colonial nesting seabirds on islands in Maine, and training AI to interpret the images. It's really just so cool! I studied shorebirds for my master's, and have a special place in my bird loving heart for these birds, and that's how I originally started following Logan on Twitter. And add in the amazingly cool drone technology that we have now and it's just really cool the research that's possible now, and I find this transition period we're in to be fascinating (which we talk about). We also talk about using drones safely and ethically, the training one should have to use drones around wildlife and to get a drone pilot's license, birdwatching and gate keeping, and what's next for Logan. Enjoy!

Today's storyteller is Logan Kline! Logan is a master's student at the University of Maine studying nesting birds using drones! She is using drones to find nests of colonial nesting seabirds on islands in Maine, and training AI to interpret the images. It's really just so cool! I studied shorebirds....