Inspiration Dissemination

Dr. Andrew Carpenter is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Joe Baio and joins us to talk about using lasers to study protein-lipid interactions. Andrew’s research seeks a better understanding of a protein called dysferlin, which plays a critical role in repairing muscle cells. Muscles undergo constant strain as they expand and contract, leading to tears in the sarcolemmas — thin membranes tha...

Charles Nye is a masters (soon to be PhD) student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University. Stationed at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, OR. Charles studies the dietary habits of whales and the impact of their surrounding environment through their fecal matter. How does one study the poop of whales? And why should we care? Find out on this episode of In...

What to do with all the whey? Whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking, is a nutritious liquid filled with proteins and sugars - and for every pound of cheese made, there are 9 pounds of excess whey produced. Some of this whey can be used for making protein powder, and some can be fed to livestock, but there is a massive amount leftover that cannot be easily discarded due to its high acidity. Food Scienc...

Olivia Williams is a 3rd year PhD student in Geology, advised by Christo Buizert. She uses ice core samples to study polar summer temperatures from thousands of years ago. We speak with Olivia about her novel methods for extracting noble gases from ice cores, finding scientific inspiration from her grandfather, and more. Hosted by Lisa Hildebrand and Joseph Valencia.

Kalina Fahey is a 5th year PhD candidate in the School of Psychological Science working with her advisors Drs. Anita Cservenka and Sarah Dermody. Her research broadly investigates LGBTQ+ health disparities and how stress impacts health in LGBTQ+ groups. She is also interested in understanding ways in which spiritual and/or religious identities can influence stress, and thereby, health.

Nima Azbijari is a second year PhD student in Computer Science, advised by Dr. Maude David. Nima is using machine learning to better understand relationships and patterns in biology. How does a machine learn biology? Check out the episode to find out how Nima is discovering previously unknown relationships between genes and the gut microbiome in different diseases and in general.

Where are all of the male sea turtles? It turns out that sea turtles do not have sex chromosomes and their sex is instead entirely determined by the temperature of eggs during incubation. As the planet continues to warm, this is creating a severe imbalance of female hatchling turtles. We chat with Vic about how mathematical models can help to forecast how the green sea turtle population will adapt...

Join us for spooktacular Halloween episode all about creepy beer! You heard that right, beer can be creepy. This week we discuss a phenomenon known as hop creep that plagues beer brewers as it gives hoppy beers such as IPAs the taste of move theatre popcorn butter...Delicious when you're at the movies! Not so delicious when you're expecting a mouthful of fresh, crisp, citrusy IPA beer. MS student...

Did you know that corals can get stressed out? When they do, their microbial community can change and diversify. For some coral species, this diversification helps them survive a stressful event; for others, not so much. 4th year PhD candidate Alex Vompe is trying to figure out why and you can learn why in this episode! Hosted by Lisa Hildebrand and Bryan Lynn.

PhD candidate Schmitty Thompson uses very modern methods to study very ancient things. As a geologist, they use computer models to fill in gaps of the geologic record in order to determine the relationship between massive ice sheets and ancient ocean levels. Their work lies at the intersection of physics, geology, computer science, and history.

The majority of the omega 3 fatty acids in our diet get their start in a tiny, unassuming organism: the phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are the primary producers of the oceanic food web, converting sunlight into energy. But what happens when warming oceans change the dynamics of energy availability? We chat about this and more with MS student in Marine Resource Management Becky Smoak.

Andrew Herrera is an MA candidate in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film. His thesis is focusing on the portrayal of violence, masculinity, and gender as a performance in three films by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for his film Drive starring Ryan Gosling. The films explore and portray masculinity in slightly different ways, but all with violence at the core. 

Environmental justice is mostly about how environmental hazards are causing [in]justice, especially for disadvantaged communities. We open up this discussion with some history of the term, provide some local and global examples, and provide suggestions for what to do with this knowledge. Make sure to check out the blog, there are lots of additional reading and listening resources there! Hosted by...

Improvements in DNA sequencing technology have allowed scientists to dig deeper than ever before into the intricacies of the microbes that inhabit our gut, also called the gut microbiome. Massive amounts of data – on the scale of pentabytes – have been accumulated as labs and institutes across the globe sequence the gut microbiome in an effort to learn more about its inhabitants and how they contr...

Our climate in the next thirty years will not look the same as today, and that’s exactly why our energy systems will soon look completely different. Energy systems are the big umbrella of how and where we create electricity, how we transport that electricity, and how we use electricity. We’re discussing the past and the future of our energy environment with Emily Richardson, a Masters of Engineeri...

Have you ever considered that a virus that eats bacteria could potentially have an effect on global carbon cycling? No? Me neither. Yet, our guest this week, Dr. Holger Buchholz, a postdoctoral researcher at OSU, taught me just that! Holger, who works with Drs. Kimberly Halsey and Stephen Giovannoni in OSU’s Department of Microbiology, is trying to understand how a bacteriophage (a bacteria-eating...

Clinical and experimental trials for new medication can generate complex data, and it's important to identify which pieces of data are actually relevant. But this becomes difficult when the datasets include millions of genes, metabolites, or other biological factors. PhD candidate Nolan Newman is a computational biologist and uses networks to parse through these datasets and identify which interac...

"AI that benefits humans and humanities" is the theme of this week's episode...and the 'lofty life goal' of our guest. Anna Nickelson is a PhD candidate in the Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems Institute here at OSU. Her work focuses on how robots and AI can be used to assist humans, particularly the elderly and those with minor cognitive impairments.  Hosts: Grace Deitzler & Lisa...

In 2021 Jordan Peele remade the 1992 cult horror classic, Candyman. The 2021 remake received critical success and despite being delayed several times due to the covid-19 pandemic, was a box office success as well. In both the 1992 and 2021 versions, the eponymous main character is a black man. But in the remake, the character deviates from the usual narrative trope of being a menacing black man to...

Basic biology and computer science is probably not an intuitive pairing to think of, when we think of pairs of scientific disciplines. Not as intuitive as say biology and chemistry (often referred to as biochem). However, for Joseph Valencia, a third year PhD student at OSU, the bridge between these two disciplines is a view of life at the molecular scale as a computational process in which cells...

Did you know humans have the ability to “taste” through smelling? Well we do, and it is through a process called retronasal olfaction. This fancy sounding term is just some of the ways that food scientists, such as our guest speaker this week, recent M.S. graduate and soon to be Ph. D. student, Jenna Fryer studies how flavors, or tastes through smell, are understood and what impact external factor...

The number of anti-LGBTQ bills in the United States has skyrocketed from 41 in 2018 to over 200 in the first four months of 2022 alone. Rue Dickey, a 2019 OSU graduate and transgender person, recently used the indie game platform itch.io to fundraise over $400k for trans advocacy groups in Texas, a state currently affected by severe transphobic legislation. We chat with Rue about their fundraiser,...

What happens when robots face an ethical conundrum? When something that should be true about their world isn't - or vice versa? We talk logic, coding, self-driving cars, and pizza-stealing cats on this week's episode of ID with Colin Shea-Blymyer, a PhD student in OSU's new Artificial Intelligence program. Learn what it takes to be a "roboethicist" and what the future of coding ethics for robots l...

What were you doing 10 years ago? While some of our current hosts were getting ready to go to grad school, baking cakes, and finishing up high school, in 2012, Inspiration Dissemination was just getting started. In this special anniversary episode, we hear from founders Joey, Zhian, and Matt about how the show began, some of their favorite memories, and advice for the future. We also hear reflecti...

What happens when microbes decomposing organic matter suck all of the oxygen out of a zone in the ocean? Sarah Wolf, a PhD candidate in Microbiology, chats with us about microbial and biochemical dynamics in low oxygen zones, as well as her journey through starting what would become an immensely popular STEM education Instagram account.  Check out the ID blog at: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/insp...