Dr. James O’Dwyer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Biology and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He was awarded a master’s degree in Physics from the University of Durham, as well as a master’s and PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge. James was awarded an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship conducting research at the University of Oregon and the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, and he was also awarded an Omidyar Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Santa Fe Institute before accepting his current position. James is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.
Podcasts
785: Dr. Jonathan Kipnis: Investigating Interactions Between the Immune System and Central Nervous System
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Dr. Jonathan (Jony) Kipnis is a BJC Investigator and the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is also Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Neurosurgery and Director of the Brain Immunology and Glia Center there. He completed his BSc in Biology at Tel Aviv University, and he received his MSc in Neurobiology and PhD in Neuroimmunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Jony worked on the faculty at the University of Virginia for over a decade before joining the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. He has received numerous awards and honors, including an NIH/NIA MERIT Award, the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the Harrison Foundation Distinguished Teaching Professorship in Neuroscience, a Gutenberg Research College fellowship from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, and the Distinguished Research Career Development Award from the University of Virginia. He is also a Member of the National Academy of Medicine. In this interview, Jony shares more about his life and science.
784: Dr. Susan Wessler: In Her Element Examining Mobile DNA Sequences and Genome Evolution
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Dr. Susan Wessler is a Distinguished Professor of Genetics at the University of California, Riverside. She is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and the Home Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from Cornell University. Susan then spent time as a postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institute of Washington. She served on the faculty at the University of Georgia for over 25 years before moving to UC Riverside. Susan has received many awards and honors over the course of her career. She is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the American Philosophical Society, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also the recipient of the Stephen Hales Prize from the American Society of Plant Biologists the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Excellence in Science Award, and the McClintock Award from the Maize Genetics. Susan is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.
783: Dr. Ruchira Singh: Studying the Biology of Eye Diseases to Inform the Development of New Therapies
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Dr. Ruchira Singh is an Associate Professor and the recipient of the Dean’s Professorship in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester Medical Center where she also has joint appointments in the Department of Biomedical Genetics and the Center for Visual Science. Ruchira received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) in India, and she completed her graduate studies in Physiology at Kansas State University. Next, Ruchira conducted postdoctoral research in Pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine, followed by a postdoc position in stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She joined the faculty at the University of Rochester in 2014. In this interview, Ruchira discusses her life and science.
782: Dr. Philip Moriarty: Nanoscientist and Physicist Studying the Manipulation of Single Molecules and Atoms
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Dr. Philip Moriarty is a Professor of Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham. In addition, he is an avid contributor to the Sixty Symbols YouTube video project and author of the book When the Uncertainty Principle Goes to 11: Or How to Explain Quantum Physics with Heavy Metal. Philip received his Ph.D. in Physical Sciences from Dublin City University, and he conducted postdoctoral research in physics at the University of Nottingham before joining the faculty there. Over the course of his career, Philip has received a number of awards and honors, including being a member of the Sixty Symbols team awarded the 2016 Kelvin Medal from the Institute of Physics for innovative and effective promotion of the public understanding of physics, and he was also a winner of the 2015 I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here Terbium Zone contest. In our interview Philip shares more about his life and science.
781: Dr. Patrick Schloss: Bringing to Light the Benefits of Bacteria and the Connections Between Health and the Human Microbiome
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Dr. Patrick Schloss is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. After completing his undergraduate studies at Cornell University, Pat stayed on to receive his PhD. Both degrees were in Biological & Environmental Engineering. He went on to do his postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin and served on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan where he is today. In this interview, Pat shares stories from his life and science.
780: Dr. Allison Okamura: Researching Soft Robots, Medical Robots, and Haptics in Human-Robot Interactions
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Dr. Allison Okamura is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She also holds a courtesy appointment in Computer science there. Allison received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and she was awarded her M.S. and Ph.D. both in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Before joining the faculty at Stanford University, Allison was Professor and Vice Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Allison is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including being elected as a fellow for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She has also been awarded the IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics Early Career Award, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Academic Career Award, and an NSF CAREER Award. In addition, Allison was honored as a Duca Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, a Robert Bosch Faculty Scholar, a Gabilan Fellow, and an Alumni Distinguished Scholar by Stanford University, as well as a Decker Faculty Scholar by Johns Hopkins University. In our interview, Allison shares more about her life and science.
779: Dr. Sterling Nesbitt: Finding Fossils of Extinct Species to Explore the Early Evolution of Vertebrates
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Dr. Sterling Nesbitt is an Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Virginia Tech, as well as a research associate/affiliate of the American Museum of Natural History, the Vertebrate Paleontology Lab at The University of Texas at Austin, the Virginia Museum of Natural History, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and the National Museum of Natural History. He received his BA in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and went on to complete his MA, MPhil, and PhD in Geosciences at Columbia University. Afterwards, Sterling conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Washington, and the Field Museum before joining the faculty at Virginia Tech where he is today. Sterling is the recipient of the 2016 Virginia Tech College Award for Outreach Excellence from the College of Science. Sterling is here with us today to speak to us about his life and science.
778: Dr. Rachel Bennett: Examining the Role that Blood Vessels in the Brain May Play in Alzheimer’s Disease
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Dr. Rachel Bennett is an Assistant Professor in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She received her B.S. in Molecular Biology from Arizona State University and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis. Afterwards, she conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital before joining the faculty there. Rachel has been named an Outstanding Emerging Scientist by the BrightFocus Foundation, and she received the New Investigator Award from the Charleston Conferences on Alzheimer’s Disease (CCAD). In this interview, she shares more about her life and science.
777: Dr. Jamie Voyles: Epic Research Investigating Epidemics and Infectious Diseases in Wildlife
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Dr. Jamie Voyles is an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno. She received her B.A. in Zoology and Anthropology from the University of Washington, her M.S. in Integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her Ph.D. in Public Health from James Cook University in Australia. Afterwards, she conducted postdoctoral research at University of Idaho and at the University of California, Berkeley before accepting her current position. In our interview, Jamie speaks more about her experiences in life and science.