Inspiration Dissemination

If you walk into any grocery store today and find yourself in the beverage aisle, you’ll be able to find all sorts of “prebiotic” sodas touting ingredients like inulin that claim to improve gut health. Many of us are familiar with probiotics and the gut benefits of fermented or cultured foods that contain beneficial bacteria, but prebiotics are a little different. Prebiotics are typically nondiges...

Sometimes the smallest things in the universe can answer some of the largest questions. That seems to be the case with neutrinos. But what exactly are these fundamental particles, that also happen to be the most abundant in the universe, and why are they of importance? Listen in to hear Noah shed light on all things neutrinos, including undereground research facilities! Hosted by Matthew Vaughan a...

Join us as we dive into the world of apex predators with shark researcher Jessica Schulte, a PhD candidate studying the foraging behavior and movement of broadnose sevengill sharks in the Pacific Northwest. This episode is packed with mystery, fun shark facts, unexpected diet discoveries, crazy field stories, and inspiring ventures that lead to a career working with sharks! Hosted by Matthew Vaugh...

For most of the time that biochemists have been studying proteins they have preached the widely adopted dogma that structure equals function. Proteins are macromolecules made of chains of amino acids, and as they are produced they fold into intricate and specific shapes. These shapes or ‘structures’ are critical to the tasks that they perform, like producing energy for the cell, carrying molecular...

Per- or Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of chemicals that are known for their ability to contaminate our environment and be resistant to breaking down. However, there’s still a lot to learn about their potential for toxicity. One way scientists can better understand PFAS toxicity is by using the embryonic zebrafish models. These tiny fish have a genome that is around 70% similar to h...

If someone asked you to describe a shark, I imagine most folks would report a ten-foot long body, rows and rows of razor sharp teeth, and the ruthless nature of a (literal) cold-blooded killer. If you asked Master’s student Reilly Boyt to describe a shark, she would likely describe a salmon shark. Reilly is our guest on the show this week and she studies the diet and habitat use of salmon sharks u...

As global temperatures rise, ocean levels and extreme weather occurrences rise with it. One of the leading causes of global warming are greenhouse gases like CO2. Emily Hiatt's research is tryign to develop a cheap, robust way to capture CO2. This topic is hot; even hotter than the rising global temps.

What's cooler than land robots? Underwater robots (ice cold!), which Akshaya Agrawal's PhD research in the Robotics Department focuses on. Her research is indeed cool; developing and testing motion-planning algorithms designed to help teams of robots coordinate movement and perform tasks underwater. But have you ever wondered what's involved in getting robots to operate underwater? And how exactly...

If you’re not a fan of ‘The Office’ then that title probably made no sense to you. But, if you are, then you’ll know that Michael Scott famously said that mercury poisoning is one of the five Goliaths that America faces (though we never actually find out what the fifth one is…). Regardless, on this week's episode you’ll be able to learn all about this Goliath as our guest, the newly minted Dr. Cai...

Emily Dziedzic, a PhD student in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Sciences, is a molecular ecologist who focuses on bioinformatics, which means that she uses computer-based methods to analyze genetic data. Her work spans a wide variety of taxa, from freshwater fish to scarlet macaws, from bats to Humboldt marten, and has implications for improving ecological monitoring for...

This week on ID we are interviewing Mireia Roig-Paul, a second year PhD student in Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, to learn all about pollutants and the potential threats they pose to our environment and our health. She studies in the laboratories of both Jennifer Fields and Serhan Mermer, and her research focuses on the intersection of so-called “forever chemicals” PFAS and non-aqueous ph...

In the wake of the ongoing graduate employee strike at Oregon State University, Hannah and Mireia sit down to talk with the president and VP for Communications of the Coalition of Graduate Employees (the labor union that represents graduate employees at OSU). Austin Bosgraf and Erika Stewart explain the string of events that lead to this strike, what is at stake for vulnerable grads, and where we...

Dams, climate change, habitat loss, predation, anglers. Wild salmon must contend with all of these challenges during some point in their lifetimes. But an additional challenge may be having a negative impact on wild salmon that we don’t yet quite understand: hatchery salmon. Investigating the impacts of hatchery salmon on wild salmon is no easy feat, and it’s not made easier when you’re trying to...

Taylor Azizeh, a first-year Ph. D. student at OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute, joins Matt to discuss how climate change might be driving gray whales to shift their feeding habits along the Pacific Northwest coast. Taylor's research explores the phenomenon of 'prey switching,' where these benthic specialists switch from seafloor to water-column feeding. By combining stable isotope analysis, GPS track...

Erika Stewart, a second year MA student in the School of Literature, Writing and Film, joins Matt to chat about how horror represents itself in video games. Erika's research focuses on an emerging subgenre of games which she coins 'Malewaric' games. These games are capable of hijacking your computer, inducing a deep sense of fear of which Erika contributes to the hypothesis that computers have bec...

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus is one of the most infectious viral diseases in the world. FMD virus affects all cloven-hooved animals and there have been outbreaks all over the world except for in North America. While FMD virus doesn’t necessarily cause fatality in animals, it causes severe milk production losses and can leave affected individuals severely weakened and debilitated. This is par...

Katie Minich is a first year Masters student in Applied Anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts, with a minor in Interdisciplinary Studies. Katie is coupling her 8 years of birth work experience with research on the sustainability and decolonization of doulas in the healthcare workforce. Hosted by Matthew Vaughan and Lisa Hildebrand.

We chat with Jillien Zukaitis, a first year PhD student in Nutrition, College of Health. Her lab, fondly referred to as the ‘Milk Lab’, studies at all things milk. With a clinical background as a dietitian, Jillien now couples her practical experience with translatable research. Partnering with OHSU, Jillien assesses the composition, nutritional value, and potential health benefits of human milk o...

What can be learned from anthropologists studying other anthropologists? Danu Yang is a second year master’s student and anthropologist in the Applied Anthropology Graduate Program. Her main subject of study is a collaborative project dedicated to translating anthropological research between Chinese and Portuguese. Danlu is conducting an ethnographic study of the people involved in this translatio...

30 by 30. No, not the critically acclaimed ESPN documentary series — the phrase refers to the Biden Administration’s goal for the US to produce 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power generation by 2030. To support this target, large scale construction projects are planned off the coast of Oregon and the rest of the West Coast. Here to tell us about the potential effects of this planned construction o...

Do you feel dizzy after reading that title? Me too, after writing it, but this week on the show we did indeed speak to a trainer of the trainers who train trainers of little humans! Meet Maya Johnson, a 3rd year PhD student in the School of Human Development and Family Sciences. For her research, Maya studies early childhood education policy and the childcare system within Oregon, with a pretty ap...

Kayla Fratt is a PhD student in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation sciences, whose research uses scat samples collected from apex predators to better understand their biology and ecology. As if being a graduate student isn't already enough of a full-time job, Kayla has another one; she is one of the founders and trainers of K9 Conservationists, an organization that unites high...

Elena Conser is a third year PhD student in the Plankton Ecology Lab within the Department of Integrative Biology. She really, really, loves plankton – marine organisms that are unable to swim against the current and are thus, at the whim and mercy of their environment. To study plankton, Elena employs a cutting-edge technology imaging system to view plankton in their natural environment, somethin...

Charlene Perez Santos is a first year Master student working within the Marine Mammal Institute. Her research focuses on tracking humpback whale movement via satellite tags and comparing them with sea vessel routes in Bahia de Banderas in relation to habitat use and exposure to human impacts. Hosted by Matthew Vaughan and Hannah Stuwe.