Further Together the ORAU Podcast

Recent Episodes

Looking ahead to the 2024 ORAU Annual Meeting: A conversation with Ken Tobin and Cathy Fore

Posted February 21, 2024 • 00:32:11

In this episode of Further Together: The ORAU Podcast, Ken Tobin, chief research and university partnerships officer, and Cathy Fore, senior director of university partnerships, look ahead to the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institutions. In conversation with Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood, Tobin and Fore talk about the meeting's theme -- Redefining the Next Generation STEM Enterprise -- as well as the slate of keynote speakers and panelists. The annual meeting is a great opportunity to bring together ORAU subject matter experts, university consortium members and federal agency partners to discuss key issues and build relationships to find solutions together. While the annual meeting is an invitation-only event, the topics are relevant beyond the walls of ORAU. To that end, future podcast episodes will include a post-meeting wrap-up and interviews with some of the meetings speakers.

'I can do more than I thought I could do': A conversation with Amanda Lopez, NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow

Posted February 14, 2024 • 00:21:18

Amanda Lopez is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow in the Water and Systems Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her research background is in coastal geoscience world and she is currently studying the impact of wildfires on the land-sea interface. In this episode of Further Together, Lopez tells host Michael Holtz that she has wanted to be a scientist for as far back as she can remember. Her childhood included a love of Bill Nye the Science Guy and Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series. Lopez says no one in her family was surprised she wanted to pursue the sciences. She also discusses how she gravitated toward coastal studies, the importance of mentorship and collaboration, the importance of the NASA NPP and so much more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Studying the history of the universe: A conversation with Taylor Hutchison, Ph.D., NASA NPP Fellow

Posted February 7, 2024 • 00:27:20

Taylor Hutchison, a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow working on the James Webb Space Telescope, says her research focus is on distant galaxies --some of the first galaxies ever found in the early universe -- which give us a view toward understanding the history of the universe. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz asks Hutchison about her research emphasis, how she got to be a NASA NPP Fellow, what led her to a career in the sciences and so much more. To learn more about the NASA NPP Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html

Men don't have to face cancer alone: A conversation with Trevor Maxwell, founder of Man Up to Cancer

Posted January 29, 2024 • 00:59:45

Trevor Maxwell was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in March 2018. During his treatment journey he was dismayed to learn that support services specifically geared to men are sorely lacking, so he set out to change that. In 2019, he launched Man Up to Cancer, an organization that encourages men facing all forms of cancer to avoid isolation and connect with each other. Men find connection in The Howling Place, a private Facebook group, in 40-plus chapters across North America and around the world, and at an annual retreat called the Gathering of Wolves. MUTC also offers chemo backpacks to men undergoing chemotherapy, and is piloting men-only support groups at five cancer centers in 2024. The organization achieved non-profit status in November 2023 to continue its efforts to reach even more men who are not on social media, and to continue to provide all services at no cost. Further Together host Michael Holtz, a 12-year survivor of stage IIIB rectal cancer, is a member of the MUTC board of directors and recently recommended an ORAU-Directed Research and Development project to study the importance of peer-to-peer support for men facing cancer as part of his white paper, "Meeting the Moment: Aligning ORAU capabilities with the federal government's priorities to end cancer as we know it." Holtz and Maxwell discuss all things MUTC, the importance of peer-to-peer connection for men's mental and physical health, and how research will play a key role in reaching even more men in the future. To learn more about Man Up to Cancer, visit manuptocancer.org.

Critical opportunities for academia and the US Department of Agriculture: A conversation with Sanah Baig

Posted January 24, 2024 • 00:43:21

Sanah Baig is the Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she leads the management of the more than $4 billion USDA Science enterprise responsible for ensuring U.S. agriculture’s success through the advancement of science, technology, and innovation. Deputy Under Secretary Baig was a keynote speaker at ORAU's 2023 Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institutions, which brings together members of our university consortium and our federal government agency partners. Baig is the first representative from the USDA to address the ORAU annual meeting, and she hopes there will be more opportunities in the future. In this conversation, Michael Holtz and Baig discuss the importance of agriculture to the U.S. economy, how agriculture is changing in light of climate science, the opportunities that exist for academia, and her role in public service. To learn more about Baig's mission area, visit https://www.ree.usda.gov/.