Further Together the ORAU Podcast

Recent Episodes

Episode 60: Isaac Clark's Busy Life: ORAU employee writes children's book to support mental health cause

Posted June 22, 2021 • 00:31:50

Isaac Clark, an ORAU program specialist, leaned into his creative side to write a children's book called Batchy's Busy Day. Batchy spends one very busy day attempting to help his friends with basic chores but ends up causing more problems than he solved. Clark is donating a portion of proceeds from the book to the International OCD Foundation, which helps people with OCD access mental health services and support resources. Clark experiences OCD himself, which he talks about during this conversation with Further Together host Michael Holtz.

Episode 59: Creating a Data Science Consortium for Minority Serving Institutions

Posted June 8, 2021 • 00:32:51

Jason Black, Ph.D., an associate professor of information systems at Florida A&M University, is the apple who didn't fall far from the tree. His mother was a computer scientist for IBM Watson in the 1960s who later taught at FAMU. Because of her work, Dr. Black was around and worked with computers for much of his life, including coding games that he would charge his friends a quarter to play. Today, he is leading a data science consortium for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions. Michael Holtz and Dr. Black had a great conversation. Join them for great insights into the world of data science.

Episode 58: The World is Wide Enough: ORISE Mathematical Sciences Graduate Internship

Posted May 20, 2021 • 00:31:06

In this episode of the ORISE Featurecast, host Michael Holtz talks about the National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences Graduate Internship, which is managed by ORISE. The conversation includes Ryleigh Moore, a doctoral candidate and program participant; Marissa Torres, Ryleigh's mentor; and Jennifer Burnette, the program manager. Ryleigh talks about the many avenues she has open to her because of the program and the potential that exists. She says she is excited about the future and wants to do something where she can help the most people.

Episode 57: ISO 9004 and the future of quality standards, a conversation with Kristy Kistner

Posted April 28, 2021 • 00:27:48

Kristy Kistner, ORAU's Director of Performance Excellence, knows a thing or two million about quality standards and assurance practices. So much so, in fact, that she was one of three United States experts invited to join an international ad hoc group established to examine the feasibility of converting International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9004 into a quality assurance standard with stated requirements for organizations to achieve. Currently, 9004 is a series of best practices for ongoing quality assurance. Michael Holtz and Jenna Harpenau discuss the work of this ad hoc group, Kristy's role and ORAU and how she became the organization's quality expert.

Episode 56: Workforce Solutions: Finding Success in the Midst of the Pandemic

Posted April 14, 2021 • 00:28:07

When the coronavirus pandemic struck more than a year ago, ORAU Workforce Solutions was poised to help their customers manage the transition from work-from-work to work-from-home. Amanda Hurley, Workforce Solutions section manager, reflects on how the technology her team uses every day set them up for success during a time of incredible change. Virtual career fairs, video interviews and more have long been part of Hurley's team's workflow. In this episode of Further Together, Hurley describes how her team weathered the pandemic for their customers, job candidates and her team.