Pomona College Sagecast

This week our guest is Associate Professor of Economics Manisha Goel, who specializes in labor and development economics. Our conversation ranges from her early years in India to her research into the impact of the Indian caste system on business decisions in that country to the origins and impact of growing income inequality in both India and the United States. Hosted by: Mark Wood and Patty Vest...

This week’s discussion is with McArthur Grant-winning seismologist Brian Tucker ’67, who recently retired as founder and president of the nonprofit GeoHazards International.  In this conversation, Tucker looks back at his wandering educational path into the science of seismology and his long career dedicated to helping people in poor, earthquake-prone countries retrofit their schools and othe...

This week, we’re joined by Professor of Psychological Science and Africana Studies Eric A. Hurley, whose research in cognitive development focuses on understanding and improving the social and educational outlook of African American and other minority children.  Our conversation with Professor Hurley explores the power of cultural values in shaping students’ educational experience and the imp...

This week our guest is Mac Barnett ’04, the author of such beloved children’s books as Extra Yarn and The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse. His latest book, A Polar Bear in the Snow , is his 47th book.  In this episode, Barnett shares stories about his Pomona College mentor, the late Professor David Foster Wallace, and his exchanges with children who’ve reached out to him about his books. He also...

This week, we’re talking with Pomona College Professor of Religious Studies Zhiru Ng, who specializes in Eastern religions. Our conversation with Professor Ng ranges from her childhood in Singapore and the importance—and burden—of filial piety in Chinese culture to the concept of emptiness, the stages of meditation and the power of Buddhist thought as a way of relating to the world. Hosted by: Mar...

This week, we’re joined by award-winning investigative reporter Anjali Kamat ’00. In a conversation recorded in February, Kamat discusses, among other things, her career trajectory in journalism, her experience covering the Arab uprisings in Egypt and Libya for Al Jazeera, and the challenges and responsibilities facing journalists in today’s atmosphere of “fake news” accusations and real fake news...

This week, we welcome Professor of Politics Pierre Englebert, a leading expert in African politics, specializing in the nations of francophone West Africa. A native of Belgium, Englebert discusses, among other things, his education in Europe and America and the research that has taken him across the African continent, seeking to understand the various successes and failures of African statehood an...

This week, we chat with volcanologist Robby Goldman ’15. Mentored at Pomona by Prof. Eric Grosfils, Goldman studies the physics of eruptions from Hawaii's volcanoes and how scientists communicate eruption risks to residents. This episode was recorded this past spring before the shutdown due to the pandemic. Hosted by: Mark Wood and Patty Vest Produced by: Jeff Hing Transcript: https://www.pomona.e...

This week, we welcome Associate Professor of History Pey-Yi Chu, a historian of Russia and the former Soviet Union, who discusses her research aimed at understanding the environment through the history of science and technology, with a special focus on the history of the frozen tundra known as permafrost. Hosted by: Mark Wood and Patty Vest Produced by: Jeff Hing Transcript: https://www.pomona.edu...

This week, we welcome longtime NPR science correspondent Joe Palca ’74. Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered a variety of science topics, from biomedical research to astronomy. He is currently focused on the eponymous series, “Joe's Big Idea.” In a discussion recorded last fall, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, he talks about, among other things, the challenges and responsibilities of ex...

This week, we’re joined by internationally renowned biochemist Jennifer Doudna ’85, the co-discoverer of CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary gene-editing tool that has had an unprecedented impact on the world of genetic research. A professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Doudna discusses, among other things, her discovery of science as a child in Hilo, Hawaii, her mentors at Pomona College,...

This week, our guest is Professor of Mathematics Jo Hardin ’95, who specializes in statistics and bioinformatics, the use of statistical data to study the human genome. In this episode of Sagecast, Hardin discusses, among other things, her mentors at Pomona College, the role of data science in genetic research, her pride in being part of a very inclusive and diverse mathematics department and the...

This week we’re joined by  The New York Times  bestselling author Douglas Preston ’78. An accomplished journalist, Preston is the author of more than 20 novels including the Special Agent Pendergast series along with co-author Lincoln Child. Preston started his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which had an incredible impact on his career going forward. H...

This week we're joined by Henry E. Sheffield Professor of History, Sam Yamashita. A longtime Pomona College professor, Yamashita shares about his early childhood passion for baseball growing up in Hawaii. A Confucian specialist with mastery of both classical Chinese and classical Japanese, Samuel Yamashita has written extensively about early modern and modern Japanese intellectual and cu...

In this episode, we’re joined by Lynda Obst ‘72, the renowned film producer of such groundbreaking films as  The Fisher King, Sleepless in Seattle, Interstellar  —among many more. Several of her films and TV projects have also involved science.  Contact. Interstellar.  The recent NatGeo Channel miniseries of  The Hot Zone.  She shares what draws her to those...

Associate Professor of Politics Mietek Boduszynski joins Sagecast in this international relations episode. A former U.S. diplomat who held a variety of posts at U.S. Embassies in Albania, Kosovo, Japan, Egypt, Libya and Iraq, Boduszynski shares what it was like to witness the Arab Spring firsthand. Boduszynski also opens up about what sparked his interest in internati...

In this episode, we chat with Associate Professor of Neuroscience Elizabeth Glater, a scholar whose research explores genetics and behavior. Glater gives us a glimpse of her research, which examines the ways the nervous system allows animals to generate behavioral responses to their environment. More specifically, Glater and her lab use the nematode C. elegans to investigate the genetic and neuron...

In this podcast episode, we welcome science writer Virginia Morell ’71, the author of several books, most recently Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel . Morell tells us about some of the amazing animals she’s met through her research, and shares her thoughts on why the notion of animals thinking and feeling has been so taboo among scientists for so long. Morell’s second book, Blue Nile...

This week we’re joined by Assistant Professor of History and Africana Studies Ousmane Traoré, whose research focuses on the history of imperialism and colonialism in Africa. Originally from Senegal, Traoré shares the story of how he once flew in the Senegalese President’s airplane on his way to France for his undergraduate studies. Hosted by: Mark Wood and Patty Vest Produced by: Je...

In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Grammy Award-winner soprano Melissa Givens. An assistant professor of music at Pomona, Givens tells us about her original plans to study pre-med in college, how they changed, and what led her to pursue a professional and academic career in music. Hosted by: Mark Wood and Patty Vest Produced by: Jeff Hing Transcript: https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files...

In this episode, we dive into the world of business startups with Shadiah Sigala ’06. The tech startup entrepreneur is the co-founder of Honeybook and most recently of Kinside. Sigala, a first-generation college student, tells us what inspired her to start her own company and the many lessons she’s learned along the way.  Passionate about the topic of childcare, Sigala know devotes...

In this episode, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Eleanor Birrell joins us to talk about her research interests in security and data privacy.  Birrell shares about her interest in design and development of systems for better managing sensitive data in the modern world and explains why the current system of notice and consent is inadequate to protecting our digital privacy. &n...

In his early years, Andrew Glazier ’97 had hopes of making a difference by running for office. After five years of working with local and state government, he decided to focus instead on working with nonprofits in industries that intersect with government. In this episode, Glazier discusses why the 1992 L.A. Riots were a seminal moment in his life, and tells us about his j...

Former journalist Bill Keller ’70 joins the podcast this week and shares his story on how he climbed the ladder at The New York Times from reporter all the way up to executive editor.  As a foreign correspondent, Keller earned a Pulitzer Prize for covering the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, and had the opportunity to interview Nelson Mandela as the Times’&nbsp...

Assistant Professor of Music Gibb Schreffler joins us for this faculty episode of Sagecast. A first-generation college graduate, Schreffler shares insight about his journey from his youth punk rock scene to academia.  As an ethnomusicologist, Schreffler focuses his research on historical work-songs of American maritime culture known as chanties, as well as the music and dance of South Asia’s...