Episodes

Backpack-mounted LIDAR systems are laser-ranging devices that can create very high definition 3D terrain maps. Jordan Bretzfelder, Ph.D., was very early in her tenure as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow when she was set to embark on a trip to California's Death Valley to use LIDAR on the dunes there. The Death Valley trip served as an analog for future expeditions to the moon and to Mars. LIDAR can map terrain in places without light, which will be useful to map the polar regions of the moon a...

In April 2024, Meharry Medical College received an ORAU Innovation Partnership Grant to help students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Nashville area attended Meharry’s annual Cancer Survivorship Summit. IPG grants, offered through ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office, are designed to strengthen relationships between university consortium members and ORAU subject matter experts. The summit was a day-long event focused on sharing information about cancer risk...

Emory University has been a member of the ORAU University Consortium since it was established in 1946. The university has a long and storied history of research. L:ast year, Emory's research expenditures surpassed $1.2 billion primarily focused on biomedical research as well as infectious diseases, global health, brain health, artificial intelligence and more. Emory also has a robust technology transfer office, where drugs and devices developed through research make their way to the marketplace....

Joey Pasterski, Ph.D., is not your traditional scientist. He took piano and voice and avoided science at all costs until he went back to school in his later twenties. Today Pasterski is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow researching laser desorption mass spectrometry for the Dragonfly mission, which will land a rotorcraft on various locations on Titan, Saturn's moon. During this conversation, Pasterski talks to host Michael Holtz about why studying Titan is important, how the moon is like a biza...

More than a million breast biopsies are performed annually in the United States, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The need to ensure diagnostic accuracy is great. Alycen Wiacek, Ph.D., motivated by the impact breast cancer has had on her family and a desire to make a difference, is conducting research to help make biopsies more accurate through engineering and augmented reality. In this episode of Further Together, host Matthew Underwood talks to Wiacek about her rese...

Ken Tobin, chief research officer, and Cathy Fore, senior director of university partnerships, sit down with hosts Michael Holtz and Abbey Becker to discuss the state of research at ORAU. As an institution, ORAU has its hands in more research than ever before, involving our own subject matter experts, as well as that of our government agency partners and our university consortium members. This episode includes discussion of recent research successes and the matchmaking that Fore does to increase...

Ali Alqaraghuli, Ph.D., was just about to start his NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship when he was interviewed by Further Together host Michael Holtz. Alqaraghuli's research focuses on the ASTHROS balloon-born telescope. The focus of ASTHROS is to place the telescope over the Antarctic to gather and better understand how stars form. Alqaraghuli is developing a portable test bed to help calibrate the antenna and the telescope. At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles, scientists have all the ...

The U.S. Surgeon General says Americans are confronting an epidemic of loneliness. About half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness, and that was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Loneliness has physical health consequences, and impacts work performance, academic achievement and our overall mental health. Additionally, the Surgeon General has warned that the stress of caring for children has an impact on our mental health. Many members of Generation X may be caring for children or again pare...

As Baby Boomers continue to age -- and let's be real Generation X isn't far behind -- healthy aging and how to care for this population will be critical. Elaine Jurkowski, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Southern Illinois Carbondale, received an ORAU Innovation Partnership Programs grant to host a day-long event called Destination Healthy Aging. The continuing education event for health care workers addressed caregiving, addressed the caregiver, addressed o...

Lakshya Sharma is student coordination manager for the Resource Center of Excellence Greater Atlanta, one of dozens of such centers around the world working to advance the United Nations' sustainable development goals. An ORAU Innovation Partnership Grant was awarded to RCE Greater Atlanta and Georgia Tech to help fund an Urban Horticulture and Permaculture Workshop, which brought together students from Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Georgia State, Morehouse College, Spelman College an...

Sunil Pulletikurti, Ph.D., is NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow conducting research on the chemical origins of life. Essentially, he's investigating how small molecules become parts of larger molecules -- for example, how an amino acid becomes part of a protein and other cellular transformation. In this conversation with host Michael Holtz, Pulletikurti takes a deep dive into his research, the time he spent at NASA before his postdoctoral fellowship, what sparked his interest in science, the stru...

As part of our continuing series of conversations with leaders in the cancer space, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood sit down with Rachel Matlock, manager of the comprehensive cancer control program at the Tennessee Department of Health. She also manages the Tennessee Cancer Coalition, which brings together stakeholders from across the state to reduce the cancer burden in the state. Her focus is primarily on cancer prevention and early detection. In this conversation, we discuss how Rac...

September is National Preparedness Month, the annual campaign to remind everyone that preparing for emergencies and disasters can keep them, their families aMnd their communities safe. In this episode of Further Together: The ORAU Podcast, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to two researchers about how small family farmers manage extreme weather events and how that, in turn, effects their health. Amanda McHale, Dr.PH, research associate on ORAU's public health and healthcare team, an...

Charles R. Rogers, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of the Colorectal Cancer Equity Foundation, an organization dedicated to eliminating colorectal cancer disparities among black men and other marginalized groups. In this conversation, host Michael Holtz and special guest host Brenda Blunt, ORAU senior director of health policy, talk to Rogers about the critical need to eliminate disparities, the importance of education about colorectal cancer prevention and early detection, and the hard work of cr...

For the second year, the ORAU Research and University Partnerships Office has funded an internship program that places students in meaningful roles across the organization for the summer. In this episode of Further Together: The ORAU Podcast, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to five of the six interns in this year's program about their experiences at ORAU, what they will take away from the experience and what comes next. Lindsay Motz from the Research and University Partnerships Of...

Bryan Goettel is the director of advocacy and alliance relations for Exact Sciences, a Madison, Wisconsin, based biotechnology company. Exact Sciences is perhaps best known for its signature product, Cologuard, an at-home colorectal cancer early detection test for adults of average risk age 45 and older. Further Together host Michael Holtz has a history with the company, including sharing his cancer journey at the first-ever national sales meeting for Cologuard in July 2014 and attending the Col...

In our continuing series of conversations with leaders in the oncology and cancer space, Further Together host Michael Holtz sits down with Jody Hoyos, CEO of the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The Prevent Cancer Foundation is the largest non-profit organization in the country solely dedicated to the prevention and early detection of cancer. As part of the conversation, Hoyos says companies like ORAU can help prevent cancer by educating and encouraging employees to get tested for colorectal cancer, ...

As Men's Health Month (June) comes to a close, Further Together host Michael Holtz sits down with his friend and fellow health advocate Mike Leventhal, executive director of the Tennessee Men's Health Network, for a conversation about men and their health. Men are great about many things, like taking care of their families and their careers, but are not always great about taking care of themselves, which can be detrimental. The discussion includes the importance of seeing a doctor and a dentist ...

David Burtt, Ph.D., is in his second year as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, studying martian geology using data from the Mars rover at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Burtt wound his way through several scientific disciplines before focusing on extraterrestrial geology. He discusses the pivotal moment where he had the courage to talk to an advisor about research he was working on. It wasn't exciting to him, so he pivoted. Burtt talks about working on the Mars rover in preparation for the A...

Understanding how plants use water resources and how they're responding to changes in climate and the resulting feedbacks on the climate system is important, and challenging. Zoe Pierrat, Ph.D., a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says that while there are great models for some aspects of climate and climate change, plants adapt to the changes in their environment making understanding their impact more uncertain. Host Michael Holtz talks to Pierrat about all aspects of h...

Ken Tarcza has served as a leader in several capacities, from the military to the U.S. Department of Defense to the U.S. Department of Energy. One thing he knows to be true is this: leadership is not about the leader. Leadership is about people: meeting them where they are and creation conditions where they can be successful. In this episode of the Further Together podcast, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood unpack Tarcza's role as chief of staff, his commitment to meeting every new emplo...

Like just about any kid, Abhishek Desai grew up in India with dreams of becoming an astronaut. While that dream didn't come true, Desai is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow studying space from Earth. His project at NASA focuses multimessenger and multiwavelength astronomy to explain processes happening inside an Active Galactic Nuclei. In this conversation with Further Together's Michael Holtz, Desai talks about coming to the United States for his education, the importance of collaboration and ...

Shipra Sinha, Ph.D., is a a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow living in India and conducting research with the Goddard Space Flight Center. Shipra's research focuses on auroras, which occur at both the North and South Poles. Studying auroras is fascinating, as most people in the West know about the Aurora Borealis. Shipra says the biggest challenge with studying South Pole auroras is Antarctica. Getting there is a challenge, so she often has to make estimates about southern aurora behavior based ...

James Rogers, Ph.D., is an astrobiologist in the NASA Postdoctoral Program. He studies exoplanets (extra-solar bodies like planets, asteroids, etc.). Rogers says scientists have detected thousands of exoplanets orbiting stars throughout the galaxy. Studying exoplanets and planet formation can help us piece together how our solar system fits into the galaxy and the universe. In this conversation, Rogers talks to host Michael Holtz about his fellowship, making the transition from England to the Un...