Professor Mike Curry of the North Carolina Agricultural & Technological State University (NCAT) is a scientist, inventor, mentor, and advocate with a passion for bringing attention to the great research that happens at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). In this episode we share an interview between Dr. Curry and Dr. Bob Hamers, Dir…

Early in the COVID pandemic, then-graduate student Safia Jilani became Twitter buddies with the Chief Editor of the prestigious journal Nature Chemistry, Dr. Stuart Cantrill. Dr. Jilani is now a Postdoctoral Fellow with the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, and Dr. Cantrill is now the Editorial Director for all of Nature's physics and chem…

Five years after our first interview, we catch up with Dr. Jason White about chemistry at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and how nanoscience can benefit agriculture and global food security. Graduate student Beza Tuga interviews Jason about his new role as Director of CAES and exciting research collaborations between CAES and the N…

Mental Health Awareness Month was back in May, but it's never too late to talk about mental health and strategies for taking care of ourselves during difficult times. In this episode we share a discussion with psychiatrist Dr. Kaz Nelson called "Why we all feel so terrible and what to do about it." image shows a profile photo of Dr. Nelson Want mor…

We've got a great set of episodes for Season 6 following our themes of Nanotechnology, Sustainability, and Life in Science. Interviews include the founders of @BlackinNanotech, Dr. Olivia Geneus and Jarriaun Streets; materials scientist Dr. Suveen Mathaudhu; and psychiatrist Dr. Kaz Nelson, plus others! Subscribe now so you won't miss an episode.…

What do nanotechnology, blacksmithing, and Star Wars have in common? In this episode, we talk with Dr. Suveen Mathaudhu about a range of topics from medical applications of materials science to metallurgy in The Mandalorian. Zoom screen shot of Dr. Mathaudhu showing off his Armorer action figure (complete with her blacksmithing tools) Want more pod…

It's the first episode of season 6! Come for the nanopharmacology, stay for the robotics and fun with Twitter networking. In this episode, we interview Olivia Geneus and Jarriaun Streets about founding #BlackinNanotech, how they got into science, and the challenges of communicating about nanotechnology. Black in Nanotech founders Olivia Geneus (lef…

How do you explain sustainable nanotechnology using art? Last fall the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology collaborated with Lifeology, an online platform that connects scientists and artists, to create a public-friendly "mini-course" called "What happens to nanoparticles in the environment?". On this episode of the podcast, CSN graduate students…

How do you explain sustainable nanotechnology in text shorter than a tweet? This fall the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology collaborated with Lifeology, an online platform that connects scientists and artists, to create a public-friendly "mini-course" called "What happens to nanoparticles in the environment?". On this episode of the podcast, CS…

Zach Jones, a graduate student in the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, gives diamonds to his study organism. But they're nanodiamonds, not jewelry, and after the tiny worms eat them, Zack uses their fluorescent and magnetic properties to see where the material accumulates within the worm's body. This episode talks about worms, defective diamo…

Science communication takes a lot of different forms, including improvisation. In this episode, we interview Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology graduate student Paige Kinsley and alum Liz Laudadio. The episode dives deep into the life skills you can learn from doing improv, how it can make you a better listener, and how it relates to science sto…

How do you photograph the unphotographable? In this episode we interview MIT research scientist Felice Frankel, who specializes in visualizing science, using pictures to draw audiences in and help scientists more deeply examine their own work, including nanoscale materials that are smaller than wavelengths of light! We also have a mini-interview wi…

Winter can get pretty dark, especially in northern latitudes, and many cultures have winter holidays that feature and celebrate lights. For our last episode of 2019 we decided to talk about the bright and colorful chemistry of carbon dots! In this mini episode we interview Dr. Christy Haynes, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota an…

How often do college women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) experience sexism? And how do these experiences affect their likelihood of staying in scientific fields? In this episode we talk with Majel Baker, a counseling psychologist who investigated these questions in her doctoral dissertation. Spoiler alert: sexism is bad. But …

What if every seed you planted could include a sensor to monitor moisture and nutrients? What if every tissue had nanoscale electronics to check for viruses when you blew your nose? Our fourth season launches with an interview about the future of nanotransistor technology with Professor Mike Filler from Georgia Tech. We also begin our new series of…

We've got a great lineup of episodes taking shape for this year on our themes of Nanotechnology, Sustainability, and Life in Science. Interviews include Prof. Mike Filler talking about nanowires and his podcast Nanovation, Majel Baker discussing the effects of sexism in science, Felice Frankel talking about visual communication for nanoscience, and…

Last November, Dr. Cat Hicks wrote an essay on Medium called "Reading vulnerable learners' applications to grad school: we need to stop failing them." In this episode of the podcast, University of Minnesota graduate student Becky Rodriguez interviews Dr. Hicks about her essay, her educational and career path, and how our educational system can be s…

What could be cooler than a technology that uses nanomaterials? How about one that combines two nanomaterials! Nanocomposites bring together two or more nanoscale materials to take advantage of their combined features to get what Dr. Klaus Müllen calls "the best out of two worlds." Dr. Müllen is an emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute for …

Dr. Mary Kirchhoff is Executive Vice President of Scientific Advancement at the American Chemical Society and Director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute. Her career has spanned a variety of experiences related to sustainability in chemistry, including working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's green chemistry program and co-editing …

Alvin Chang, Senior Graphics Reporter for Vox, wrote and illustrated an article last year called "The subtle ways colleges discriminate against poor students, explained with a cartoon." In this episode of the podcast, we share the audio of a webinar that Chang presented for the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology about his work. He tackles challe…

Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO) is an important nanomaterial used in batteries, but little is known about what happens when it gets exposed to the environment. In this episode we interview Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology graduate student Liz Laudadio, who was the first author on a recent paper about what happens to LCO when it gets exposed to phos…

How are photons like toddlers? And what does that have to do with solar energy? Dr. Jillian Buriak has been researching nanomaterials and renewable energy for over a decade, including work to improve solar panel technology. In this first episode of the Sustainable Nano Podcast's third season, we interview Dr. Buriak, who is a Professor of Chemistry…

It's Season 3 of the Sustainable Nano Podcast! Here's a quick preview of a few of our upcoming episodes, including interviews with Dr. Mary Kirchhoff, Alvin Chang, & Dr. Jillian Buriak. Sustainable Nano Season 3 is on the way! Want more podcast episodes? You can find them all on our podcast page, or you can subscribe through Apple Podcasts or Stitc…

In the second interview from our visit to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, graduate students Natalie Hudson-Smith and Jaya Borgatta interview Dr. Wade Elmer, Chief Scientist for the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology. They discuss everything from everyday garden fertilizers to cutting-edge nanoparticle experiments on watermel…

How do we "see" nanoparticles when they're too small to view with a normal microscope? In this episode we interview Kelly Zhang, a graduate student in the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology who recently published a paper about a new way to use NMR technology (like MRI for chemistry) to study the behavior of molecules that form a shell on diamond…

What does food blogging have to do with genetics research? In this episode, we talk with Dr. Ahna Skop, an associate professor of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about how art, science, and cooking intersect, as well as some of the benefits and challenges she has experienced being dyslexic. Artwork depicting C. Elegans (left) and a…

At last summer's American Chemical Society national meeting, Dr. Margaret Schott of Northwestern University took the unusual step of giving her history division presentation as her subject, Dr. Katharine Burr Blodgett. In this episode we interview Dr. Schott about her own path in life and chemistry, as well as that of Dr. Blodgett, including the de…

Does gender bias matter? You can see for yourself thanks to an interactive app created by software engineer Penelope Hill at doesgenderbiasmatter.com. In this episode, we interview Penelope about what prompted her to create the app, some of the research behind it, and a few of the ways people in science and technology fields are working to overcome…

What does "sustainability" mean? Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland is famous for serving three terms as the Prime Minister of Norway and chairing the World Commission on Environment and Development -- the Brundtland Commission -- which defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of fu…

You may have heard of "impostor syndrome" or "imposter phenomenon," when perfectly competent people have the feeling that they don't belong or are faking it in their professional lives. It can lead sufferers to hold back their ideas and self-reject from opportunities, and it is surprisingly common among high-achieving people. In this episode, we ta…

As the Director of the Great Lakes Genomics Center in the School of Freshwater Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Professor Rebecca Klaper researches emerging contaminants such as nanomaterials and pharmaceuticals and how they affect freshwater organisms. In this episode we interview Dr. Klaper about the future of emerging contamina…

Chemistry at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station ranges from testing how nanoparticles help plants grow to determining what kind of poison was placed in someone's coffee. In this episode, we interview Dr. Jason White, Vice Director of Analytical Chemistry at the CAES and our newest collaborator in the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnolo…

A lot has changed in the last 10-15 years about our hopes and fears around nanotechnology. Ira Bennett and Jameson Wetmore are professors in the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University, and in this episode of the Sustainable Nano podcast we interview them about the complexities of understanding the ethical and societal impl…

Artist Peter Krsko uses his background in physics and materials science to study and communicate about nature. He is described as a "bioinspired artist whose approach combines science and art, participatory, interactive and community arts, and play with hands-on education." On this episode of the podcast, we interview Dr. Krsko about art, science, …

What if car tires could be made from renewable resources instead of petroleum? In this episode of the podcast, we interview Dr. Paul Dauenhauer, part of a research team from the Center for Sustainable Polymers who have developed a new chemical process to make isoprene (one of the key ingredients in car tires) from biomass such as grass or corn. (im…

Dr. Hope Jahren is a geobiologist who studies fossil organisms and the global environment, and is also the New York Times-bestelling author of the memoir Lab Girl. In this episode of the podcast, we interview Dr. Jahren about communicating science with the public, the joys and challenges of writing academic articles, and her thoughts on sexism in s…

Nanoparticles are widely used in a variety of technologies, and some researchers are looking for ways to make those nanoparticles more environmentally friendly. In this episode of the podcast, we interview Dr. Mike Curry about his research making nanoparticles from cellulose, a very common molecule found in plants. Dr. Mike Curry and a network of c…

We're back from winter break and preparing a fantastic batch of podcast episodes for spring 2017! Over the next few months we'll be featuring interviews with Dr. Hope Jahren and Dr. Mike Curry, plus a profile of Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, and much more. Stay tuned! 2017 is here! (image adapted from Vector Open Stock)…

Art and science are often though of as completely separate pursuits, but what happens when artists and scientists actually talk to each other? In this episode of the podcast, we interview Dr. Cathy Murphy about her experiences inviting art students to spend time in her chemistry lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Painting by Leah G…

Plastic debris in our water is a huge pollution problem, and just one source of that pollution is the tiny microbeads that have been widely used in personal care products. In this episode of the podcast, we interview Dr. Richard Thompson, a Professor of Marine Biology at Plymouth University and an expert on the effects of plastic debris in the mari…

This episode of the podcast features an interview with University of Minnesota graduate student Peter Clement, discussing the book The War on Science by Shawn Otto. We focus on Otto’s explanation of the Seven Stages of Technological Adaptation — an observation that how our society adapts new technology has generally repeated the same sequence of st…

On this episode of the Sustainable Nano podcast, we talk about one example of how nanotechnology is changing something many people use every day: bikes! Margy Robinson, a graduate student in the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology and a competitive cyclist, explains how carbon nanotubes and graphene are currently being incorporated into some high…

Why do glaciers sometimes look blue? Hint: it’s not for the same reason we see blue as the color of the sky! On this episode of the podcast, we have an interview with Dr. Robert Hamers, following up on his recent blog post. Bob is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, and he tells us about a recent family trip to Alaska that go…

October 9, 2016 was the first ever National Nanotechnology Day (10/9 = 10-9 for nano!). On this episode of the Sustainable Nano podcast, we talk with Dr. Lisa Friedersdorf, Deputy Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, about National Nanotechnology Day, activities like #100BillionNanometers, the Nobel Prize, and this year’s Ge…

As you may have heard, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration recently announced a ban on using the antibacterial agent triclosan (and 18 other substances) in soaps, and then last week the issue of antibacterial resistance was discussed at the UN General Assembly. In this episode of the Sustainable Nano podcast, we talk with scientist Eric Melby about…

Welcome to episode 4 of the Sustainable Nano podcast! In this final new episode of our launch week, we interview the three high school student finalists from NSF’s Generation Nano contest about their amazing nanotechnology-based superheroes. image credit: Vegas Bleeds Neon https://sustainablenano.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/generationnano.mp3 Stay …

Welcome to episode 3 of the Sustainable Nano podcast! In this episode, we talk about a recent research study that looked at how one type of battery nanomaterial affects bacteria called Shewanella oneidensis. We interview Mimi Hang and Ian Gunsolus, who were co-first authors of the study as graduate students in the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnol…

Welcome to episode 2 of the Sustainable Nano podcast! In this episode, we talk with scientist M.G. Finn about how viruses are like (and unlike) nanoparticles, and some of the ways researchers want to use viruses to fight disease. A virus-like nanoparticle. (image adapted with permission from Pokorski et al. (2011), copyright American Chemical Socie…

What does “Sustainable Nano” even mean? On this pilot episode of our brand new podcast, we talk with the Director of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, along with students, faculty, and a few complete strangers about some questions related to our Center’s research: What is nanotechnology? What is sustainability? And what does it mean when w…

That’s right, Sustainable Nano is about to become a podcast! Podcast cover art! This new audio version of Sustainable Nano is launching next week. You can get a brief sample of what we have in store with this 3-minute preview episode: https://sustainablenano.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/preview-9916-9-20-am.mp3 Don’t worry, the Sustainable Nano blog…