The UIUC Talkshow

Jenny Johnson is a Map Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The story of this episode begins with Juan David stumbling upon the hidden treasure of the Main Library 4th Floor: The Map Library. From the moment our cohost met Jenny, he knew he had found someone truly remarkable. Jenny's love for maps transcends mere occupation; she is a maestro of storytelling, wielding ma...

Axel Hoffmann is a Professor of Material Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In this conversation, Dr. Hoffmann shares his upbringing in South Germany and his fascination with flying, providing a glimpse into his formative years. He reflects on his undergraduate life and his journey to the United States, emphasizing the role of luck in shaping his academic pa...

Tony Leggett is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. EPISODE LINKS: Tony Leggett's UIUC Website: https://physics.illinois.edu/people/directory/profile/aleggett OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 0:44 - The Daily Life of a Nobel Laureate 3:58 - What Would Tony Leggett Study in College Today? 7:18 - Consciousness 8:45 - Value People 10:50 - Superfluidity 1...

Martin Gruebele is a professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Computational Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Outside of academia, he is known as the "Honey Badger," a force to be reckoned with in the world of endurance sports, having completed and often won Iron Mans, Ultratriathlon World Championships, the World’s Toughest Bicycle Race, and the World’s Toughest Foo...

Gene Robinson is the Director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and Entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research uses bees to understand the mechanisms governing social behavior.   In this episode, we dive into the exciting world of genomics and discuss the Earth BioGenome Project, which aims to sequence and catalog every genome on the...

Indranil Gupta is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he focuses on distributed systems. In this episode of the UIUC Talkshow, Dr. Gupta shares his experience as the host of the Immigrant Computer Scientists podcast, an exploration of the personal stories of distinguished Computer Scientists from academia and industry, who immigrated from their h...

Stephen Wolfram is sane in a way most people are crazy. In this episode of the UIUC Talkshow, we delve into the mind of one of the most brilliant and accomplished thinkers of our time, Stephen Wolfram. At the age of 15, he published his first scientific paper and received his Ph. D. in theoretical physics from Caltech by age 20. Wolfram is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, the company behin...

Adrienne Antonson is a Neuroscience and Animal Sciences professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she uses translational animal models to study the connections between inflammation, neurodevelopment, behavioral abnormalities, and mental health disorders. In this episode of the UIUC Talkshow, Dr. Antonson shares her experience of balancing her passions for art and science a...

Stephen Boppart is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Boppart is an engineer, medical doctor, researcher, and entrepreneur.  In this episode of The UIUC Talkshow, Dr. Stephen Boppart discusses his work in photonics and biophotonics, and the potential for quantum mechanics to play a role in biology.  Dr. Boppart also talks about his experience surviving can...

Botond Bognar is a professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has been teaching graduate design, lecture, and seminar courses for over 40 years. Born and educated in Budapest, Hungary, Dr. Bognar is an internationally renowned scholar of the history and theories of Japanese architecture. He is the author of over 20 books and monographs on the subject and...

Arend van der Zande is a Mechanical Engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he focuses on nanomaterials research.  Dr. van der Zande is known for his work on nanomaterials research, and in this conversation, he will share his insights on the field and his unique approach to research. As a professor and human being, Arend is driven by curiosity and a desir...

Bruce Berndt is a Mathematics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who spent more than 40 years finding the proofs of Ramanujan's Notebooks. According to Academic Influence, Dr. Bernt is the 5th most influential mathematician. In this conversation, we talk to Dr. Berndt to find out how Ramanujan found him and how Dr. Berndt found Ramanujan. Srinivasa Ramanujan (aka The Man W...

Gary Swenson is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Over his career, Gary Swenson has followed a philosophy of working on problems others aren't working on, where he's applied a systems engineering approach to solving remote sensing problems.  In a series of fortunate events, Dr. Swenson ended up working at NASA, where he experienced the institution's...

Yash Rathod is a Computer Science student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The purpose of the UIUC Talkshow has been to meet interesting people, and we would not have met Yash if we hadn't started this project. We accomplish our mission every time we meet people like Yash and on every episode we have. Yash is a striking individual who radiates a sense of soothing ambition. He sha...

Neal Davis is a Computer Science Professor at UIUC and Urbit's director of developer experience. Since we started the UIUC Talkshow, we've said the show is about people who are sane in a way most people are crazy. Neal Davis is exactly one of them. It’s not surprise he believes we need to be weirder.   He started as a nuclear engineer but throughout his life, he's reflected on the definition...

Paul Kwiat is a Quantum Physics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he focuses on quantum information. We all know there are people who are passionate about what they do but Dr. Kwiat is a "Summer Sunday Late-Night" level of passionate. We met Dr. Kwiat during LabEscape, the science-based escape room he created. During the summer, we were walking by the Physics Buildi...

Samuel Steiner is a Venezuelan civil engineering student from Maracaibo, Venezuela. We emphasize where Samuel is from twice because of his true unconditional and unmatched love for his country.  This sentiment isn't just shallow nationalism. Rather it is a conviction that drives Samuel to a great length to become a civil engineer to rebuild Venezuela's broken infrastructure and become a stude...

Savannah Pagan considers herself a multipotentialist who brings together the art of engineering and the simplicity of design. As a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she has experienced the pressures of the college system from the tyranny of majors to the facade of learning.   We explore the question: "Are Multipotentialists Allowed at all?" A question that led us to e...

Jesse Ekanya is a civil engineering student who was born in the United States but moved to Uganda at an early age. He lived there until 2020 when he moved to States to study civil engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Jesse is an interesting character who blends intelligence, popular culture, wit, and a love for building things. He wants to become a civil engineer wo...

Arya Desai studies Astrophysics at UIUC and is incredibly talented at explaining science concepts. EPISODE LINKS: Arya Desai's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arya-desai-36b962220 Arya Desai's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/desai_arya/?hl=en OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 1:18 - Cosmic Neutrino Background 4:30 - The Standard Model & Subatomic Particles 8:25 - Physics Stagnation? 13:20...

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph W. Timberlake is the Commander and Professor of Aerospace Studies for Air Force ROTC Detachment 190 at UIUC. He studied Aerospace Engineering and recently became part of the newest branch of the military, The Space Force. EPISODE LINKS: Joseph Timberlake's UIUC Website: https://publish.illinois.edu/afrotc/cadre/lt-col-joseph-w-timberlake/ OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 1:15...

Kiruba Haran is an ECE professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he focuses on the big and long-term goal of creating an electric aircraft. After 13 years at GE, Dr. Haran came to UIUC to try out academia and become part of the Grainger CEME. Dr. Haran was born and raised in Sri Lanka and studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University and rece...

Cesar Monsalud (u/Tomatosmoothie) and Aidan Finn are students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who are studying Computer Science and Advertising/Journalism respectively.   We're joined by two of the most outspoken people on campus. They share a passion for connecting with people and using media (Daily Illini, Reddit, radio, memes, etc) to establish a relationship.  ...

It has been 4 months since we posted our first video. In this episode, we look back at what impacted us the most, what we learned from each of those conversations, discuss our goals for the future, and play our controversial game "Underrated or Overrated". SOCIAL: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uiuctalkshow Twitter: https://twitter.com/uiuctalkshow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uiuctalksho...

Husna Hussaini is an aspiring student at the University of Illinois who is currently pursuing Sociology and Pre-Medical. She is a multi-faceted person whose interests range from science and technology to pressing humanitarian issues. She enjoys learning about different cultures and new languages from around the world. While pursuing highly ambitious goals, she is also involved with research on cam...