Further Together the ORAU Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Studying the history of the universe: A conversation with Taylor Hutchison, Ph.D., NASA NPP Fellow Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

Taylor Hutchison, a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow working on the James Webb Space Telescope, says her research focus is on distant galaxies --some of the first galaxies ever found in the early universe -- which give us a view toward understanding the history of the universe. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz asks Hutchison about her research emphasis, how she got to be a NASA NPP Fellow, what led her to a career in the sciences and so much more. To learn more about the NASA NPP Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Men don't have to face cancer alone: A conversation with Trevor Maxwell, founder of Man Up to Cancer Jan 29, 2024

Show notes

Trevor Maxwell was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in March 2018. During his treatment journey he was dismayed to learn that support services specifically geared to men are sorely lacking, so he set out to change that. In 2019, he launched Man Up to Cancer, an organization that encourages men facing all forms of cancer to avoid isolation and connect with each other. Men find connection in The Howling Place, a private Facebook group, in 40-plus chapters across North America and around the world, and at an annual retreat called the Gathering of Wolves. MUTC also offers chemo backpacks to men undergoing chemotherapy, and is piloting men-only support groups at five cancer centers in 2024. The organization achieved non-profit status in November 2023 to continue its efforts to reach even more men who are not on social media, and to continue to provide all services at no cost. Further Together host Michael Holtz, a 12-year survivor of stage IIIB rectal cancer, is a member of the MUTC board of directors and recently recommended an ORAU-Directed Research and Development project to study the importance of peer-to-peer support for men facing cancer as part of his white paper, "Meeting the Moment: Aligning ORAU capabilities with the federal government's priorities to end cancer as we know it." Holtz and Maxwell discuss all things MUTC, the importance of peer-to-peer connection for men's mental and physical health, and how research will play a key role in reaching even more men in the future. To learn more about Man Up to Cancer, visit manuptocancer.org.

Critical opportunities for academia and the US Department of Agriculture: A conversation with Sanah Baig Jan 24, 2024

Show notes

Sanah Baig is the Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she leads the management of the more than $4 billion USDA Science enterprise responsible for ensuring U.S. agriculture’s success through the advancement of science, technology, and innovation. Deputy Under Secretary Baig was a keynote speaker at ORAU's 2023 Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institutions, which brings together members of our university consortium and our federal government agency partners. Baig is the first representative from the USDA to address the ORAU annual meeting, and she hopes there will be more opportunities in the future. In this conversation, Michael Holtz and Baig discuss the importance of agriculture to the U.S. economy, how agriculture is changing in light of climate science, the opportunities that exist for academia, and her role in public service. To learn more about Baig's mission area, visit https://www.ree.usda.gov/.

Training future workers in bioprocessing: ORAU's Innovation Partnership with Villanova University Jan 18, 2024

Show notes

ORAU and Villanova University teamed up to offer a workshop during which participants received certification in Basic Industry Bioprocessing Techniques. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz talks with Rosalind Wynn, associate professor in the Villanova Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Tracie Curtright, ORAU project manager, about the Innovation Partnership Program that funded the workshop. The certification earned by workshop participants is recognized by most pharmaceutical industry processing facilities. Participants were successful in growing cells and were able to measure cell viability/population. Mammalian cell culture samples created during this workshop are currently under cryopreservation storage for use in future collaborative projects between Villanova and Jefferson Institute for Bioprocessing. To learn more about the Innovation Partnership Program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html

Determining the optimal age to teach climate change science to young people: ODRD-funded research at work Jan 10, 2024

Show notes

What is the optimal age to teach climate change science to young people? Chris Nelson, Ed.D., project manager, and Kristin Hurst, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Resources at Southern Illinois University, teamed up on an ORAU-Directed Research and Development project to study when it is best to teach young people about climate change science. They worked under the hypothesis that high school students have more developed cultural and ideological viewpoints, whereas the worldviews of middle school students not quite as developed. At the same time, they reframed the conversation to demonstrate how climate change is impacting things young people enjoy -- food, activity, travel, etc. This conversation focuses on how they approached their research, what they learned and what could happen next as a result of their work together.

Follow your passions: An interview with former NASA NPP Fellow Reinier Janssen Dec 20, 2023

Show notes

Reinier Janssen is a staff scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Host Michael Holtz had the opportunity to talk to Janssen toward the end of his NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship, where he worked on novel instrumentation based on superconducting detectors. During this conversation, Holtz and Janssen discuss how he developed his interest in science, what the NASA NPP Fellowship has meant to his career, what drives him, and what happens next. To learn more about the NASA NPP, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Health equity in the spotlight: Brenda Blunt and Michael Holtz record a StoryCorp conversation Dec 13, 2023

Show notes

Host Michael Holtz and Brenda Blunt, ORAU senior director of health policy, had the opportunity to participate in the StoryCorps Project while attending the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Health Equity Conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. Listeners may be familiar with StoryCorps from interviews that air on National Public Radio. During this interview, Holtz and Blunt talk about health equity through their experiences in and around the healthcare system and as patients within the system, and how ORAU is working to help solve the equity puzzle. ORAU has permission from the StoryCorps Project to broadcast this interview.

Meeting the Moment: Aligning ORAU's capabilities with the federal government's cancer research priorities Nov 29, 2023

Show notes

Further Together host Michael Holtz gets the tables turned on him and becomes the interviewee in this episode. Holtz received a Thought Leadership Research Award through the ORAU Research and University Partnerships Office to write a white paper that makes recommendations for research projects based on ORAU's capabilities and the federal government's cancer research priorities. Matthew Underwood, communications and marketing specialist, and Brenda Blunt, senior health policy director, talk with Holtz about ORAU's history in the cancer space, from running a cancer hospital for 24 years, to managing long-term epidemiology programs for workers exposed to radiation in the workplace, to leading health communications efforts and affecting policy change to impact patient outcomes, and so much more. Then they walk through Holtz's recommendations for seven potential ORAU-Directed Research and Development projects that could involve some of our university consortium partners. Learn more about the white paper here: https://orau.org/news/releases/2023/making-an-impact-on-cancer-personally-and-professionally.html

Looking ahead to living on the moon: A conversation with Laura Fackrell, NASA NPP Fellow Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

Laura Fackrell is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow who is looking ahead to the potential to humans living on the moon. Her research focuses on the role of nitrogen in lunar habitats, particularly how nitrogen is affected by plants and microbes in the soil or growth medium. Nitrogen is a key element in plant growth, so her research will also have an impact on creating better and more sustainable agriculture here on earth. In this conversation with host Michael Holtz, Fackrell talks about her career in research, the value of mentorship, and the value of being a mentor to younger scientists. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.

Episode 134: ORAU launches STEM Accelerator to meet the challenge of strengthening our scientific capacity Nov 15, 2023

Show notes

The United States is falling behind in STEM proficiency. Our country faces a great challenge in improving the capability and capacity of the U.S. STEM workforce in a globally competitive environment. ORAU has created the STEM Accelerator to face this challenge head on. In this episode, Michael Holtz talk to Liv Blackmon, director of the ORAU STEM Accelerator, about the mission, vision and goals of this critical initiative, why focusing on the nuclear energy industry is the first priority for the OSA, and how ORAU is uniquely qualified to bring together the key stakeholders that are part of the nation's STEM ecosystem. To learn more about the ORAU STEM Accelerator, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/stem-accelerator/index.html