Further Together the ORAU Podcast: Recent Episodes
ORAU
Join your hosts Michael Holtz and Jenna Harpenau as they discuss all things ORAU, through interviews with our experts who provide innovative scientific and technical solutions for our customers. They’ll talk about ORAU’s storied history, how we’re impacting an ever-changing world, as well as our commitment to our community.
Vit Ruzicka, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow who works with hyperspectral satellite images to detect methane signatures in the atmosphere. Methane is a transparent gas that cannot be seen by the human eye but hyperspectral satellites, along with machine learning models, can help determine if there are leaks in facilities or pipelines that store methane. Because methane is a greenhouse gas, detecting large emissions is important. In addition to his research focus, Ruzicka shares his journey from the Czech Republic to the United Kingdom to the United States, and how working for NASA was dream that became a reality. Applications are now open for the November cycle for the NASA Postdoctoral Program. Learn more and apply: https://npp.orau.org/index.html
The United States is facing a rural health crisis that includes a shortage of healthcare workers, challenges in access to women’s health services and mental health services, and preparedness limitations in the event of a public health crisis. ORAU is hosting a workshop on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, to launch a Rural Health Research Innovation Cluster (RIC). The RIC will bring together members of ORAU’s University Consortium to focus on solving the complex problems that impact rural health and resilience while also focusing on the federal government’s rural health priorities. Brenda Blunt, senior director of health and resiliency strategy, and Casey Thomas, strategic partnerships and engagement manager in ORAU’s Research and University Partnerships Office, preview the August workshop and discuss why rural health is a priority topic for ORAU.To learn more about the Rural Health Research Innovation Cluster and the priority areas to be discussed, check out our blog: https://www.orau.org/blog/projects/orau-to-address-nations-rural-health-challenges-with-research-innovation-cluster-meeting.html
Tara Fetherolf, Ph.D. is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the NASA Astrobiology Center at the University of California Riverside. Her research focuses on stellar variability, or how stars change with time. One example she uses is our sun. It has spots and it has storms. She studies those phenomena on other stars and how that affects other planets and their atmospheres, which she can compare to how similar activity affects earth. Fetherolf uses the example of the aurorae on Earth, which are beautiful and demonstrate the sun’s activity, but notes our sun is relatively quiet compared to other stars and their impact on their exoplanets. Fetherolf says studying the stars is part of scientists trying to answer the question, "Are we alone?" To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, or to apply in the November 2026 cycle, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Deborah L. Crawford, Ph.D., is chair of the ORAU Board of Directors. In her role, she has a front-row seat in shaping the future of the company. Crawford became chair as the selection of Meghan Millwood for president and CEO was being finalized, and has served on the board for eight years. In this episode of Further Together, Crawford talks to host Michael Holtz about her role as board chair, how she has seen ORAU flourish during her tenure on the board, and the exciting days that lie ahead for ORAU and all of Oak Ridge and region because of the nuclear renaissance. She also talks about the national research enterprise as a whole, her background as an electrical engineer who moved from Glasgow, Scotland, to the United States, and how she is really an introvert at heart. Crawford is Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Tennessee and is responsible for coordinating and overseeing the full range of the university’s research, innovation, and economic development programs, and raising the university’s national and international reputation as a leading public research university.Crawford works with UT faculty, staff and students to strengthen the institution’s contributions to research, scholarship and creative work, from the very fundamental through translation and implementation. Deeply committed to the integration of research and education, she understands that the university’s research portfolio must drive innovations in its academic programs, ensuring that every Vol has learning opportunities at the very frontier of knowledge.Crawford harnesses the power of partnerships to advance UT’s research ambitions, and to ensure that the institution’s research outcomes make life and lives better for the citizens of Tennessee and others far beyond. She is an advocate for entrepreneurship and innovation, promoting the translation of research outcomes into new and established organizations, including new deep tech ventures incubated and accelerated in the university’s programs.Learn more about Crawford here: https://orau.org/about/board/deborah-crawford.html
Gabe Grell, Ph.D., is a self-described geek. He is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow focused on high-energy astrophysics, which involves observing some of the most powerful objects in the universe, including massive stars (10 to 20 times bigger than our sun), black holes, galaxies and supernovae, all of which emit very strong radiation in the form of X-rays. Grell analyzed the data received from satellites measuring these X-rays to deduce the atomic makeup and physical properties of those objects. Grell says he has always a math and science geek and began taking an interest in astronomy in high school. He majored in astrophysics and physics at Harvard University, then pursued his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland College Park. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.
Veronika Jercic, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. She studies structures in the solar atmosphere known as prominences or filaments. Jercic calls them clouds on the sun. These clouds are important to understand stretch through all of sun’s atmospheric layers. Unlike the clouds on Earth, these clouds are much denser, so they're very heavy clouds and colder than the Corona in which they are situated. These clouds occasionally erupt, expelling huge masses of particles and energy into the interplanetary space, which see them as the Northern Lights. These energy masses can also impact satellite transmissions, which negatively affect our technologically driven world. To learn more about the NASA NPP Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Maurice Roots, Ph.D., was six years old when he watched “Star Trek” and decided to be a physicist. His dream came true and today he is an atmospheric physicist in the NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow researching atmospheric chemistry and dynamics at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Specifically, Roots focuses on ozone, which is one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s six critical pollutants. He says we need to measure and be concerned about ozone because of the health risks associated with how ozone impacts air quality and breathing it in, adding that ozone isn’t directly emitted from anything specific but formed in the air secondarily. Roots discusses why his research is important, what it means for all of us, and the career and education path that led him to NASA. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and to enter the November application cycle, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Oak Ridge is at the nexus of the nuclear energy renaissance. One of the challenges is meeting the demand for the necessary workforce, and not just the scientific and technical workforce but the skilled trades workers needed to build out and operate the small modular reactors and other facilities that are coming. On Thursday, May 14, ORAU is hosting the Pathway to Trades Summit, which will convene industry, trade unions, academia, government and other key players to begin to solve for meeting this important need. Laura Hammons, strategic programs and operations manager for the ORAU STEM Accelerator and key organizer of the summit, sits down with Michael Holtz to discuss why the Summit is important, what participants can expect, and what she hopes will happen next. To learn more about the Pathway to Trades Summit or to register for this free event, visit https://orau.org/pathway-to-trades/index.html
If you take anything away from this podcast episode, Naomi Asher wants you to know you are enough, you are worthy and you have value. In this episode of Further Together, Naomi and host Michael Holtz talk about career burnout, the need for rest and recovery, and finding yourself in the process. Naomi is the author of the book, “Take to the Bed (And Bring a Cake),” about the importance of giving yourself permission to rest when life gets overwhelming (and life gets overwhelming at times), evaluate whether what you do and how you present yourself to the world aligns with who you are, and make adjustments as necessary. This conversation takes place in the context of the wide variety of career opportunities that exist in the growing nuclear energy industry in East Tennessee. Be trained in a trade, get a community college education, make a mid- to late-career shift that better aligns with your values – the possibilities are endless. Naomi is the founder and principal of The Maven Consulting. Learn more about Naomi The Maven here: https://www.naomithemaven.com/aboutNaomi is a long-time resident of East Tennessee. She attended Johnson University where she graduated with a double major in Music and Theology. She was hired as the Executive Director of CASA of the Tennessee Heartland in 2010. While there she expanded the geographic service area, more than doubled the budget, created an endowment and reserve as well as increased volunteer numbers by double and retention rates from 41% to 92%. Naomi served on the Tennessee CASA Board and as a Regional Coordinator which allowed her to win and administer grants for the East Region as well as create regional marketing campaigns. She graduated from King University with her MBA in Marketing in 2012.In May of 2015, she was hired as the Executive Director of the United Way of Anderson, Campbell, Morgan and Scott Counties where she increased the budget by 42% as well as the geographic service area. She revised and rebuilt the grant-making process as well as created several community initiatives. She implemented annual Community Needs Assessments and provided technical training and support to other nonprofits. She is passionate about helping others thrive. Naomi is the Founder and Principal Consultant at The Maven Consulting and Doctoral Candidate at Carolina University where she is researching Nonprofit Executive Burnout.Naomi is a graduate of the Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness through the University of Tennessee, Leadership Oak Ridge, Leadership Anderson County, and East Tennessee Regional Leadership Association. She is the Chair of Explore Oak Ridge, Past-President of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, Past-President of the Altrusa Club of Oak Ridge, a founding member of the Anderson County Young Professionals, a board member of the Oak Ridge Center for Leadership and Community Development and the Oak Ridge Land Bank. She has served as the President of the United Ways of Tennessee and as a Regional Representative on the TN CASA Association Board. In 2017 she was named the Anderson County Chamber Young Professional of the Year, was the 2018 recipient of the East Tennessee Economic Council’s Postma Young Professional Medal and the 2021 Oak Ridge Chamber Young Professional of the Year. She lives and plays in Oak Ridge with her husband Ryan, dog Winnie, and 3 cats Jerome, Miley and Rhaenyra. They are a foster family with a heart for teenagers.
Ricardo Branco, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His research focuses on the development of detectors that can detect infrared or thermal radiation from very cold bodies throughout the solar system – think Uranus or the moon. Capturing the infrared radiation allows scientists to detect the chemical composition and other aspects of the body they are studying. Branco is a native of Brazil who has been interested in science since childhood. As a kid Branco wanted to be a doctor but fell in love with physics in high school. The rest, as they say, is history. While he never dreamed he’d be at NASA, he is excited about his research and the potential it holds to be part of future NASA flagship missions to orbit Uranus.To learn more about the NASA NPP program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Kirtan Dixit, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow in the second year of his fellowship at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He is part of the high-energy astrophysics, high-energy optics group on advances X-ray optics for future space telescopes. His research focuses on designing and fabricating multilayer mirror coating that can efficiently reflect hard X-rays. In this interview, he tells guest host Amber Davis that X-ray optical coatings are useful for focusing X-rays so that astrophysicists can make some sense out of it and can understand the underlying physics happening at high temperatures in the universe. For scientists who might want to pursue a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship, Kirtan recommends cultivating a deep curiosity about a problem that genuinely matters to you.To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Greg Nichols is operations manager in the ORAU health studies program, but he wears a lot of hats. He has become an expert in artificial intelligence and received an ORAU Thought Leadership Research Award to write a chapter on the convergence of AI and biotechnology. Nichols’s chapter, “Assessing Governance and Regulatory Frameworks for Converging Technologies: The Case of Artificial Intelligence in Biological Engineering and Design Technologies,” appears in Biotechnology and AI: Technological Convergence and Information Hazards. He says that While biotechnologies are somewhat better regulated and monitored compared to other technologies, artificial intelligence is not, and the combination of these two is certainly not explicitly or fully covered by most existing regulations or risk governance framework. This was an insightful and thought-provoking conversation. To learn more about the chapter Nichols wrote, visit https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-05246-9_8Find the book at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-05246-9
The annual Waste Management Symposia (March 8-12, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona) is the premier international conference concerning the safe and secure management of radioactive wastes arising from nuclear operations, facility decommissioning and environmental remediation, as well as storage, transportation and disposal, and associated activities. A team of ORAU subject matter experts will be attending this year’s event. In this episode of Further Together, Kathy Rollow, senior director for Energy and International Strategy, and Chelsea Hill, manager of Workforce Solutions, discuss why Waste Management 2026 is an important opportunity for ORAU to share its capabilities with leading agencies, industries and experts in the nuclear energy sector. At WM 2026, the ORAU team will share information about staffing and recruiting Workforce Solutions, organizational and safety culture evaluations, PeerNet—our proprietary decision-making tool, Emergency Manager 360, Exercise Builder Nuclear and Exercise Builder Energy. To learn more about Workforce Solutions, contact Chelsea Hill at chelsea.hill@orau.org. To discuss any of these capabilities, contact Kathy Rollow at kathy.rollow@orau.org. For more information about ORAU, visit https://orau.org/
Kelly Whalen, Ph.D., studies black holes and how they interact with galaxy growth as part of her research for the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Whalen says there are a lot of misconceptions about black holes because of pop culture and science fiction depictions. There are different kinds of black holes, and they are not gigantic forces of destruction. She tells Further Together, The ORAU Podcast that black holes can also create by forming new stars. Whalen says being selected for the NASA NPP program is a dream come true and looks forward to continuing her research. The deadline for the NASA NPP March application cycle has been extended to April 2, 2026. Learn more at https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Stela Silva, Ph.D., an astrophysicist in the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, has her eye to the sky, sort of. Working with gravitational microlensing, which she says is "the physical phenomenon that happens when we're observing a star and then another star with a planet passes in front of it," and machine learning she looks for signatures of exoplanets. The chance of finding a star is one in a million, Silva says, and she and her fellow researchers look at millions of stars at the same time trying to detect exoplanets. Silva grew up in Brazil, where NASA seemed as far away as the stars she now studies. But she and her grandfather shared a loved of astronomy, and she worked hard toward her dream of being at NASA. To learn more about the NASA NPP Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/. The deadline for the March 2026 application cycle has been extended to 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 2, 2026.
Myron Porter is a section manager in ORAU’s Technical Solutions Group, which is part of ITS. In his role, he is a software developer working as part of the team that maintains and supports U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science web applications for National Science Bowl, the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program and the Laboratory Equipment Donation Program (LDEP). Host Michael Holtz talked to Porter as part of a two-part series on the people making Black History at ORAU. Porter says he got hooked on technology when his family set up their first computer and used AOL to access the internet. When he hears the phrase, “I am Black History,” he is mindful of the blood, sweat and tears that Black people before him have shed so he can have the life he lives today. He says his success is because of past generations. Porter hopes that when people look back on his life, they will see how he helped advance work in the scientific arena, and point to scientific breakthroughs that may have resulted because of the technology he helped support.
Rachel Hill, Ph.D., calls them angels: pastors, teachers, extended family members, neighbors who encourage us and cheer us on. The quiet encouragers who aren’t given and probably wouldn’t take credit for our successes. In honor of Black History Month, Further Together, the ORAU Podcast is featuring a two-part series of conversations with individuals making Black history at ORAU. For this episode, host Michael Holtz and special co-host Jill Latchana talk to Hill, an associate manager in STEM Workforce Development for ORISE, which is managed by ORAU for the U.S. Department of Energy. She discusses shift from academia to better focus on things she cherished. Hill shared her role in Black history, what it means to stand on the shoulders of her ancestors and what she hopes people will see in the story of her life.
Sara Howard, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist in the Health Studies group at ORAU who earned her doctoral degree in 2025. For part of her dissertation, she used machine learning techniques to analyze data from the National Supplemental Screening Program, which ORAU manages with several partners for the U.S. Department of Energy, to examine the link between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and occupational exposures. While we often think of COPD in the context of smoking, Howard wanted to look at the potential to be exposed to something other than smoking. Her dissertation, An Epidemiologic Study of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in the United States, was published by the University of Tennessee in 2025. In this conversation, Howard talks about data in the context of epidemiology and the rising use of Artificial Intelligence and how, when used correctly, it can be transformative for data analysis.To learn more about the National Supplemental Screening Program, visit https://orau.org/nssp/index.html
Alka Rani, Ph.D., is a planetary scientist specializing in the geological and geophysical evolution of the moon and Mars. As a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at Marshall Space Flight Center, she investigates planetary interiors and surface processes through advanced geophysical and geochemical modeling. In this episode of Further Together, Rani discusses her interdisciplinary research and what it may mean for future NASA missions to Mars and beyond. The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented U.S. and non-U.S. scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These fellowships, awarded annually up to three years, are competitive and are designed to advance NASA’s missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology.Annual NASA Postdoctoral Program application deadlines are March 1, July 1, and November 1. The March 1, 2026 application cycle is now open!To learn more about the program and to apply, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Welding isn’t just a skill; it’s a national security asset. That’s why ORAU launched Extreme Trades Makeover: Future Welders, a competition to give $30,000 in new welding equipment, upgrades or virtual equipment to three Alabama public high school educators. The competition deadline is January 30, 2026. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz talks to Jennifer Tyrell, Extreme Trades program manager, and Lindsay Cline from the U.S. Navy's Maritime Industrial Base Program Office about the need for welders, their earning potential, and their critical role in the country’s maritime industry. Learn more about Extreme Trades Makeover: Future Welders and enter the competition at https://orau.org/extreme-trades/Read our blog about the competition at https://orau.org/blog/programs/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-extreme-trades-makeover-future-welders-competition.htmlLearn more about shipbuilding careers in Alabama at https://www.buildgiantsalabama.com/Find educational resources for your classroom at https://www.buildsubmarines.com/education
Lee Riedinger, Ph.D., knows the history of Oak Ridge and its connections to the University of Tennessee like he knows the back of his hand. His book, “Critical Connections: The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge from the Dawn of the Atomic Age to the Present,” explores the connections that exist between UT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORAU and other key stakeholders. In this episode of Further Together, Riedinger talks to hosts Michael Holtz and Amber Davis about ORAU’s role in the Oak Ridge story, including how ORNL may not have remained open were it not for the efforts of William Pollard, ORAU’s founder, Kay (Katherine) Way, a UT physics professor, and others to open up what was then Clinton Laboratories to a consortia of universities. Additionally, Riedinger explains that ORAU was instrumental in the creation of the UT-Battelle partnership that now manages ORNL. Check out this fascinating discussion of Riedinger’s career, his book, and ORAU’s vital role in keeping Oak Ridge at the forefront of science. Lee Riedinger is an emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, on the faculty since 1971 and retired in 2019, and also served as the founding Director of the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education from 2010 to 2019. He received a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1968. His field of research was experimental nuclear physics, emphasizing properties of high-spin states in deformed nuclei. He is an author of 200 refereed publications, has given 60 invited talks at conferences and workshops, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His research was funded by the Department of Energy for 30 years from 1976 and was focused on experiments at accelerators at U.S. national labs (Oak Ridge, Argonne, Berkeley, Brookhaven) and abroad. Various sabbatical leaves were spent at the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark. He served as the elected chair of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the APS in 1996 and the chair of the Southeastern Section of the APS in 2004. In 1983-84, he was the science advisor to Tennessee Senator Howard Baker, who was then the majority leader of the U.S. Senate. He received the UT Chancellor’s Research Scholar Award in 1983, the 2005 Francis G. Slack Award from the Southeastern Section of the APS, the 2008-9 Macebearer award (the top UT faculty honor), the Chancellor’s Medal in 2012, the L.R. Hesler Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service in 2013, and the Graduate Director of the Year in 2017 from the UT Graduate Student Senate. In addition to teaching and research, he has served in a number of administrative leadership positions at the university: 1988-91, director of the Science Alliance Center of Excellence, a program devoted to building joint research between UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); 1991-95, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research; 1996–2000, head of the Physics Department; 2006-7 and again 2012, Vice Chancellor for Research. From 1993 to 1996, he was the first chair of the Tennessee Science and Technology Advisory Council, which advised the Governor and the Legislature on technical priorities for the state. In 1999 he was one of the leaders of the successful UT effort to choose a partner (Battelle) and bid on the ORNL management contract. From 2000 to 2004, he served as the ORNL Deputy Director for Science and Technology and from 2004 to 2006 as the Associate Laboratory Director for University Partnerships. UT-Battelle LLC has managed ORNL since 2000. Upon his return to the university in 2006, he led various efforts to develop a greater focus on energy teaching and research at UT. In September of 2010 he was appointed to be the first director of the UT-ORNL Bredesen Center, which is the academic home of a new doctoral program in energy science and engineering. In this role he taught the core two-semester graduate energy technology course and led all aspects of this interdisciplinary energy PhD program. A second interdisciplinary doctorate in data science and engineering between UT and ORNL started in August of 2017. He retired from UT at the end of 2019 and has written a book on the long history of the partnership between UT and Oak Ridge: Critical Connections: The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge from the Dawn of the Atomic Age to the Present, published by UT Press in 2024. To learn more about the book, visit https://utpress.org/title/critical-connections/
Luke Fountain, Ph.D., who is in the third year of his NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship, makes a return to Further Together because of a recently published paper he co-authored on plant biology and space exploration. His research focus is figuring out how to grow plants in space to help enable future deep exploration. In this conversation, Fountain shares the challenges of plant biology in space, including the need to make growing systems self-sustaining. The paper he co-authored, published in the New Phytologist in November 2025, lays out a 12-point framework called the Bioregenerative Life Support System readiness level to assist in overcoming challenges to establish resilient, sustainable crop production. Fountain's paper, "Expanding frontiers: harnessing plant biology for space exploration and planetary sustainability," can be found here. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.70662. New Phytologist is a leading international journal focusing on high quality, original research across the broad spectrum of plant sciences, from intracellular processes through to global environmental change. The journal is owned by the New Phytologist Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of plant science. https://www.newphytologist.org/ ORAU manages the NASA Postdoctoral Program for the National Aeronautic and Space Administration. To learn more about the program, meet some of the Fellows, or apply to become a Fellow, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.
Are black soldier flies the superheroes of the insect world? This episode of Further Together takes a dive into an ORAU-Directed Research and Development Grant-funded project led by Holly Holt, Ph.D., ORAU research specialist, who teamed up with Jeff Tomberlin, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Etymology at Texas A&M University and Charity Owings, Ph.D., research assistant professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of Tennessee. Black soldier flies are said to be voracious decomposers, feeding off anything organic. As they feed, they convert organic waste into insect biomass that can be used as feed for various livestock, such as poultry, swine, and even pets. The residual that's left over after digestion is a replacement for chemical fertilizer. The team’s research includes laboratory research to understand what happens to black soldier flies under stress; and social sciences research to analyze new and emerging opportunities with black soldier fly products and services and the potential to disrupt existing markets, including Western acceptance of using black solider flies for feed, fertilizer and other products.
Ultra-processed foods – think packaged snacks, frozen meals and hot dogs – have become dietary staples due to their convenience, affordability and aggressive marketing. However, these foods have low to no nutritional value and can contribute to significant health issues like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and colorectal cancer. In this episode of Further Together, three of ORAU’s subject matter experts – Diane Krause, Brenda Blunt and Jennifer Reynolds – talk about a recently published white paper on social listening and perceptions of ultra-processed foods. Improving diet quality is a critical goal of the Make America Healthy Again Agenda promulgated by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. Our experts talk in detail about the white paper and what their findings mean for future research and policy initiatives. A feature story on the white paper, Insights from Social Media Conversations on X about Ultra-Processed Foods and Recommendations for Health Communications, along with a link to the paper itself, can be found here: https://www.orau.org/blog/programs/maha-gaining-insight-into-what-people-think-about-ultra-processed-foods-through-social-listening.html
Molly Menzel, Ph.D., is an atmosphere scientist in the NASA Postdoctoral Program who conducts her research at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a smaller office under the umbrella of the Goddard Space Flight Center. When she started college, though, Menzel had no idea that she’d end up in her current fellowship. She was an engineering major focused on fluid dynamics and solid mechanics dynamics. During her graduate program she discovered atmospheric dynamics, which led to a focus on climate science. In this episode of Further Together, Menzel says her research doesn’t focus on day-to-day weather, but on the background context for why the weather is changing.
To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Behavioral health during cancer care is a critical issue. Anyone faced with a cancer diagnosis is faced with emotional, social, spiritual, familial and other issues. On top of that, for men in our society there is an expectation that vulnerability and asking for help is weakness. The non-profit organization Man Up to Cancer seeks to upend that expectation by helping men find social and emotional support from other men during their cancer journeys. MUTC has been successful at growing a community and gaining support from oncology community for its work, but no data exists to prove that peer-to-peer support for men facing cancer works. That’s where a 2025 ORAU-Directed Research and Development Grant comes in. Primary Investigator Katherine Chyka, ORAU health education specialist, and Teresa Hagan Thomas, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor in the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, launched a pilot study to measure the acceptability and feasibility of peer-to-per support for men facing cancer. In this episode of Further Together, hosts Michael Holtz and Amber Davis talk to Chyka and Thomas for an early look at their research. Data analysis is still underway, but the team has already gained valuable insights.
Disclosure: Holtz is chairman of the board of directors for Man Up to Cancer and proposed a study of peer-to-peer support for men facing cancer as part of a white paper he wrote in 2023. Holtz helped train navigators for the study and recruited members of the Community Advisory Board but was not involved in the study itself. The white paper and more information can be found here: https://www.orau.org/news/releases/2023/making-an-impact-on-cancer-personally-and-professionally.html
To learn more about Man Up to Cancer, visit https://manuptocancer.org/
ORAU-Directed Research and Development Grants support collaborations between ORAU subject matter experts and faculty at our University Consortium member institutions. To learn more, visit https://www.orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/odrd.html
ORAU coordinates the evaluation of DOE former workers through the National Supplemental Screening Program. Through the NSSP, the U.S. Department of Energy offers free customized medical screenings to their former workers who may have been exposed to hazardous substances on the job site. On this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz and Wendy Benade, operations manager, and Heather O’Maonaigh, outreach manager, take a deep dive into the program, from outreach to enrollment and so much more. ORAU manages the program along with great partners, including National Jewish Health, Acuity International, Cority Software, and the Center for Health, Work & Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health.
Former workers include eligible DOE federal, contractor, and subcontractor workers. The screenings are designed to identify findings consistent with occupational diseases such as chronic respiratory illnesses, hearing loss, kidney or liver disease, and some forms of cancer. Since the program was established in 2005, more than 22,500 initial exams of former workers have been conducted, and more than 11,000 follow-up exams.
To learn more about the NSSP and the various former worker programs, visit:
DOE Former Worker Medical Screening Program (FWP) website:
https://www.energy.gov/ehss/former-worker-medical-screening-program-0
Find Your Program Tool on the DOE FWP website: https://ehss.energy.gov/FWP_findyourprogram/
NSSP website:
https://orau.org/nssp
NSSP phone number (toll-free):
1-866-812-6703
Aakash Chhabra, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames. Chhabra's background is studying fires and forest ecology using satellite data or remote sensing data. He did his Ph.D. research in Australia on studying the effects of bushfires, he says, because it's a land shaped by fires. While writing his dissertation, he wrote down some ideas for future research. Then he learned about the NPP, contacted scientists at NASA and the rest, as they say, is history. In this episode of Further Together, Chhabra discusses his research and urges fellow scientists who have novel ideas to pursue them and seek out opportunities like the NASA Postdoctoral Program where those ideas can flourish. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program or to apply, visit https://npp.orau.org/
Dray Gentry, a clinical physicist on ORAU’s radiation epidemiology team, is the primary investigator for an ORAU-Directed Research and Development Grant project that aims to determine the feasibility of using artificial intelligence to speed up the process of identifying chromosomal abnormalities in the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site Cytogenetic Biodosimetry Laboratory, which is part of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education that ORAU manages for the U.S. Department of Energy. The second is to help determine the total dose cancer patients are exposed to during treatment. In this episode of Further Together, Gentry talks to hosts Michael Holtz and Amber Davis about his research, why it’s important and what he hopes to accomplish in the next phase of his project.
ORAU is tackling one of the most pressing challenges of our time: food security. ORAU is seeking a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to lead efforts to strengthen America’s food systems against emerging threats like supply chain disruptions and biological hazards. ORAU’s recently published white paper, Strengthening Regional Food System Resilience: A Framework for Risk Assessment and Emergency Preparedness outlines a transformative plan to address these challenges. This framework leverages ORAU’s interdisciplinary expertise, advanced modeling tools and stakeholder engagement to help USDA identify vulnerabilities and implement targeted interventions. In this conversation, hosts Michael Holtz and Amber Davis talk to ORAU experts Kara Stephens, Matthew Schnupp and Rachel Vasconez about their white paper, the framework they have created, and why it matters now.
Because of our strong capabilities in training and technical assistance, ORAU was contracted by the National Institutes of Health to develop a state-of-the-art training center for users of the Common Fund Data Ecosystem. This ecosystem is an infrastructure to make data from the NIH’s various programs easier to access with the aim of facilitating improved discovery, reuse, integration, and analyses of these datasets to form novel hypothesis for accelerating discoveries in biomedical research. In this episode of Further Together, Allissa Dillman, Ph.D., co-principal investigator and owner of BioData Sage LLC, and Jennifer Burnette, ORAU project director, talk to host Michael Holtz about the importance of the CFDE Training Center and how it can help researchers mine data for omics research of various kinds.
Dillman also hosts the Decoding the Data Ecosystem Podcast, which dives deep into unraveling the complexities and exploring the depths of omics data. The podcast can be found here: https://blubrry.com/3847772/
Check out the Common Fund Data Ecosystem Training Center here: https://orau.org/cfde-trainingcenter/index.html
Find the Common Fund Data Ecosystem here: https://commonfund.nih.gov/dataecosystem
As a child in rural Appalachia, Rachel Harris spent her days in her father’s vegetable garden, playing with dinosaur figurines and dreaming of ancient worlds. Today, she’s part of a very different world, working behind the scenes at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., as a NASA Postdoctoral Management Program (NPMP) fellow. Harris, who holds a Ph.D. in geosciences with a focus on biogeochemistry and environmental microbiology, isn’t in a traditional lab or field site. Instead, she’s embedded in science management and policy, where NASA’s missions are carefully shaped and supported. In this episode of Further Together, Harris discusses how she wanted to watch the sausage get made from a space policy perspective. “I thought I had a good understanding of NASA bureaucracy, but I’ve come to realize how interconnected and thorough the process really is," Harris said. "There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that ensures everything NASA shares with the community is vetted and supported.” To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, or to apply, visit https://npp.orau.org/
Luke Fountain, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow on the Space Crop Production Team at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The UK native's research focuses on on supplementing astronauts' diet with fresh food that is grown in space. "Eventually, we're hoping to replace calories. And as we transition to become more earth-independent, obviously, we want the astronauts to be able to supply, grow more of their own food, so we're less reliant on resupply," he said during his interview for Further Together. Fountain adds that growing plants in space is not easy, and that part of the challenge involves the significantly higher carbon dioxide levels in the International Space Station, where experiments involving plants take place. Learn more about Fountain's research and its importance to future space flight during this episode. Learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at https://npp.orau.org/
Bradley Gay, Ph.D., describes both his career and life paths as a “long-winding, topsy-turvy journey,” but the long road he took to get to the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program was clearly worth it. Gay is a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he studies permafrost carbon feedback in Arctic tundra. In this episode of the Further Together: The ORAU Podcast, Gay talks about his research, why it is important, his career trajectory and more. He also highly recommends the NASA NPP program as a place for up-and-coming scientists to find their place. To learn more about NASA NPP, or to apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship, visit https://npp.orau.org/
Sanchita Pal, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow studying solar storms at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. In this episode of Further Together, Pal discusses the planetary impact of solar storms. “Earth has a magnetosphere, so that actually protects us from the heavy impact of these solar storms. But other planets like Mars and Venus, which do not have magnetospheres, are very much affected by these kinds of storms because they can lose their atmospheric mass, which is a huge field of study right now, as we are planning to go to Mars in the Artemis Mission.” Pal talks about growing up in India, moving to Finland for her research, how her interest in solar storms began, and how she leapt at the NPP opportunity. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/about/orau.html
When Jim Sears retired from the U.S. Air Force after 33 years of service, friends and mentors told him he would miss two things: the people and the mission. Since joining ORAU as senior vice president a year ago, Sears says those are the things that keep him coming to work every day. That "has really been better than I could have expected for my first step on this second mountain of a journey," he said during a recent interview for Further Together: The ORAU Podcast. In this episode Sears discusses his career journey, the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in an ever-changing federal government landscape, why he and his wife moved to East Tennessee. and what brings him joy.
Ashley Stowe, Ph.D., is ORAU's new Chief Research and University Partnerships Officer. An accomplished scientist and inventor, Stowe joined ORAU after an 18-year career at the Y-12 National Security Complex that included standing up the Oak Ridge Enhanced Technology and Training Center. In this episode of Further Together, the ORAU Podcast, Stowe talks about the excitement he has for the work being done by the Research and University Partnerships Office, including the focus on nuclear energy workforce capacity-building through the ORAU STEM Accelerator, the various grant programs offered to University Consortium Members, and the possibilities for research opportunities open to any employee at ORAU. All that his office manages has the potential to benefit our government agency customers and help grow the company. Check it out now!
Chinmayee Govinda Raj, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow who conducts research for the Lunar Explorer Instrument for Space Biology Applications, or LEIA Project, at the NASA Ames Research Center. The LEIA Project will send microbes to the southern hemisphere of the moon on the upcoming Artemis II mission. Further Together host Michael Holtz talks to Govinda Raj about about her fellowship, and the fact that she is an outlier in her family. She says everyone in her family is an artist of some kind, and she wanted a change of pace. She knew from an early age that she wanted to work for NASA, but suffered from imposter syndrome. Still she took her journey one step at a time to get where she is today. Listen to the conversation to learn more. To learn about the NASA NPP, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Alberto Vazquez-Salazar, PhD, is a NASA postdoctoral fellow working at UCLA in the lab of Professor Irene Chen. He studies how life may have started on Earth by focusing on a molecule called RNA, or ribonucleic acid, which is a critical molecule that exists in all living things. His work is a part of astrobiology that explores how life began on Earth and how we might find signs of life elsewhere in the universe. In this episode of Further Together, Vazquez-Salazar talks to host Michael Holtz about how science has always seemed to be part of his life. Growing up in Mexico City, his mom, a botanist, kept books and plant specimens everywhere. “Science was just part of everyday life,” he says. “It was as normal as finding cereal in the pantry.” Listen to learn more about Vazquez-Salazar’s journey to NASA. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program and when applications open, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Brenda Blunt, ORAU senior director of health policy, is passionate about the connections between nutrition and both physical and mental health. She is a mom, grandmother, wife, nurse, primal health coach, farmer and policy wonk. Blunt says all of those roles together make health and how we can better care for ourselves important to her. As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, rolls out his plan to Make America Healthy Again, much of the focus is on the role of better nutrition and its connection to health. Blunt was MAHA before it was cool, and often leans into the teachings of Florence Nightingale, who advocated for a holistic view of health that emphasized the importance of fresh air, clean water, efficient drainage, cleanliness of patients and care areas, and sunlight. In this conversation, Blunt and hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood discuss how we got to being one of the richest countries in the world and one of the least healthy, how we didn’t get here overnight, how government agencies can work together to help Americans make better choices, and how we can individually and collectively take steps to make ourselves and the country healthier.
Looking up at the night sky can make anyone feel small, but for Ben Hord, Ph.D., a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, looking at the sky is also a reminder of how much there is left to discover, and how many people can be part of that journey. Hord is in his second year of his Fellowship, working on the Pandora SmallSat mission. Set to launch in fall 2025, Pandora will study at least 20 exoplanets, planets outside our solar system, and their stars to figure out what their atmospheres are made of. In this episode of Further Together, Hord discusses his research, his career trajectory, how he became a scientist and more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program and when applications open, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Ali Hyder, Ph.D., was raised in a family of artists and is himself a musician, which seems a far cry from his research modeling the hydrodynamics of the surfaceless planet Jupiter but he believes art and science fuel each other. Science is also art because you have to be creative in a specific way, he says in this interview for Further Together: The ORAU Podcast. Hyder takes a deep dive into why modeling Jupiter's hydrodynamics is important for better understanding Earth, as well as how he became interested in science and the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship and to apply for the next application cycle, visit https://npp.orau.org/
Casey Ivanovich, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow studying extreme humid heat, particularly focused on the dynamics of where events happen and why they happen across the globe. These dynamics are very different from extreme dry heat events, she says, and she is really trying to understand why they come about and how we can better prepare for them. Ivanovich talked about her research with guest host Bryan Campbell. Together they talk about the early days of Ivanovich's fellowship, how she became interested in science, the trajectory of her career, and much more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/
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 and other interesting topographies. In this episode, Bretzfelder discusses her research at the Marshall Space Flight Center, how she got interested in science and the path that led her to NASA. Listen in for a fun and interesting conversation!
To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/
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 risks, research, and prevention and early detection, as well as provide opportunities for community members to get needed health and medical screenings. In this conversation, host Michael Holtz talks with the team from Meharry that helped make the summit possible, including Tammy Henderson, Ph.D., vice president in the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation at the Meharry School of Medicine; Kirsten George, health careers pathway program manager in the Department of Family and Community Medicine; and Donald Alcendor, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Physiology. Also joining the conversation is Robert Briggs, a senior majoring in business management at Lemoyne-Owen College, who one of the students able to attend the summit because of the ORAU IPG grant.
To learn more about ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html
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. The Journal of Technology Transfer in 2023 listed Emory University as third in the world in drug development, behind the National Institutes of Health and the University of California system. Emory's successes include the development of drugs to treat HIV and hemophilia, and a device that helps collect mosquitos that are studied for diseases. Host Michael Holtz talks to Kimberly Eck, MPH, Ph.D., Emory associate vice president of research, and Todd Sherer, Ph.D., associate vice president of research and executive director of the Office of Technology Transfer. Emory's history underscores the importance of research and tech transfer, and is endlessly fascinating. Check this episode out!
To read the Journal of Technology Transfer article, visit https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10961-023-10007-z
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 bizarro earth, and how the trajectory of his life changed when he discovered a love for science. Check it out! To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/.
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 research. Wiacek is an assistant professor at Oakland University. In her lab, the Medical Acoustics for Global Health Imaging and Clinical Translation (MAGIC), she and her students are developing a system that integrates various imaging modalities into AR to assist in the targeted biopsy of breast masses. This approach with AR means images and information can be displayed directly in the physician’s field of view to better guide the biopsy process. Her research is supported by an ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in partnership with the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA).
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 the value proposition for consortium members. We discuss ORAU's current research priorities and the topics of recently awarded ORAU-Directed Research and Development projects. We also do a quick wrap up of the 2024 annual meeting, which focused on STEM education and look ahead to the 2025 meeting and its focus on advanced manufacturing. To learn more about all of the activities in our Research and University Partnerships Office, or to register for the 2025 annual meeting, visit: https://www.orau.org/partnerships/index.html
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 facilities they need to test and track and adjust things if needed. "Once we ship everything to Antarctica, we're kind of a bit limited on what equipment is available, and things of that nature. So my main project really is to develop like a portable test bed that we can take with us to Antarctica that basically can do just as good of a job as if we were to have all these big fancy machines in the JPL Center," he says. To learn more about the NSA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/
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 parents or both, and the stress of caregiving has impacts on mental health as well. In this episode of Further Together, hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to Jennifer Reynolds, senior manager of health communication, marketing, and promotion and Kristin Mattson, senior health education specialist. Both work in ORAU's Public Health and Healthcare Program. Throughout this episode, the hosts and guests discuss the problems, contributing factors, their lived experience, and where ORAU has done work to better understand and provide solutions. For more information on the work of ORAU's Public Health and Healthcare team, visit https://orau.org/public-health-healthcare/education-and-promotion.html.
This Peer Recovery Workforce Program Certificate mentioned in this podcast is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $777,115 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
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 our workforce, talked about life after caregiving, talked about building communities that would be inclusive and age friendly for caregiving. We also addressed person-centered care and caregiving in place. That is, people remain in their own home and we figure out ways to strengthen the caregivers, so that they can do that job in helping that loved one stay in their home for as long as possible and even, hopefully, till they transition from this life. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz talks to Jurkowski and student GeVonna Fassett about the Destination Healthy Aging event, including how they decided to launch a program and the topic and what the impact was.
ORAU's Innovation Partnerships Program is structured to build stronger relationships between ORAU and University Consortium members. The program offers $4,000 grants that can be used to implement conferences, seminars and other events focused around a variety of focus areas. To learn more about the Innovation Partnerships Program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html
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 and other institutions across the Atlanta area. In this episode of Further Together, Sharma talks to host Michael Holtz and guest host Tracie Curtright from ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office about the workshop. Sharma says students learned to incorporate plant life into their daily lives by gardening where they are. Sharma says the series of workshops also focused on the mental health benefits of caring for and having plants in your physical environment. Curtright shared details about the IPG program, and how ORAU's university partners can apply to use these $4,000 grants to grow attendance and dissemination of events like the one Sharma and his team organized. To learn more about the IPG program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html
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 struggle of coming from an impoverished childhood in India to being part of a global research enterprise, and how the fellowship will impact his career. Learn more about the NASA NPP program at https://npp.orau.org/index.html.
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 Rachel got to her role, the Tennessee Department of Health's role in the fight against cancer, how she works with local health departments, community organizations, researchers, healthcare providers, decision makers and everyone involved in the fight against cancer. To learn more about Tennessee's Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, visit https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/fhw/tennessee-comprehensive-cancer-control-program.html.
September is National Preparedness Month, the annual campaign to remind everyone that preparing for emergencies and disasters can keep them, their families and 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, and Jennifer Russomanno, Dr.PH, associate department head at the University of Tennessee Department of Public Health, discuss the research they conducted during their year-long pilot project. No research existed on the impact of extreme weather on this group of farmers, so McHale and Russomanno met with and interviewed farmers to see how they manage extreme weather events. Russomanno brings and interesting perspective to the conversation because she owns a small farm. Among their discoveries: the vast majority of small family farmers do not rely solely on farming for income. Their research was funded through the ORAU Directed Research and Development program, which supports collaborations between ORAU subject matter experts and faculty at consortium member universities. To learn more about ORAU-Directed Research and Development grants, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/odrd.html
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 creating a fair and just healthcare system. Rogers talks about his research portfolio, why health equity drives his work and how he came to found the CRC Equity Foundation. To learn more about the foundation, visit https://crcequity.org/
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 Office introduces us to Samantha Gross, Noah Price, Faryal Rafay, Brian Bros and Julio Chavez. Amanda Smith was unable to join us for this conversation, but we understand she has enjoyed her experience.
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 Cologuard Classic golf tournament as a cancer advocate this past spring. Exact Sciences is on the forefront of oncology treatment and cancer prevention. During this conversation, Goettel talks about where Exact Sciences is heading in the biotechnology space, how he got to be part of the company, the importance of the patient voice in shaping its products, and how companies like ORAU can join the fight against cancer. To learn more, visit https://www.exactsciences.com/
In our continuing series of conversations with leaders in the oncology and cancer space, Further Together host Michael Holtz sits down with Jody Hoyos, president and 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, breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer and others and help them understand when they are eligible to get those tests. Holtz and Hoyos also discuss the foundation's latest early detection and prevention survey, and how Hoyos became the leader of the foundation. To learn more about the Prevent Cancer Foundation, visit https://preventcancer.org/
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 take 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 for regular for checkups. and those all-important screening tests for colorectal and prostate cancers. Mike talks about how the Tennessee chapter of the Men's Health Network got started and some of the initiatives underway to help men better focus on their health. To learn more about the Men's Health Network, visit https://menshealthnetwork.org/.
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 Artemis project, the value of mentorship, the importance of collaborating with hundreds of people on one of the world's biggest, most important projects and the importance of connection to other people. Check out the conversation. Learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program fellowship, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.
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 her NPP Fellowship, including how she got interested in science, how the NASA NPP has impacted her life and career, the value of mentorship and collaboration, and how being a curious rugrat started everything! To learn more about the NASA NPP program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.
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 employee during their onboarding process, his role in ORAU's strategic planning process, and the life lessons he's learned over the course of his career. Learn why he retired twice and why he has an affinity for the statue known as "Iron Mike." Enjoy!
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 mentorship, the value of the NASA NPP program, and more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
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 on what is known about their northern counterparts. Throughout this conversation, Shipra talks to host Michael Holtz about how she became an NPP Fellow (this conversation took place before her official start date in January), the importance of surrounding herself with supportive people, the value of mentorship and collaboration, and more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
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 United States, the role of mentorship and collaboration in his work, and what comes next during his fellowship. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Kelly Luis, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Water and Ecosystems Group. A native of Hawaii, Luis studies what the color of water can tell us about the health of aquatic ecosystems. During her conversation with host Michael Holtz, Luis talks about the trajectory of her career, how she is contributing to science at NASA, obstacles she's overcome to get to where she is, and so much more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
As Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month 2024 comes to a close, Further Together host Michael Holtz, a 12-year survivor of stage IIIB colorectal cancer, talks to Eric Mayer and Jessica Etheridge, CEO and director of marketing and branding, respectively, for Knoxville-based New Day Diagnostics. This March, New Day launched ColoHealth, a screening blood test for people at average risk of developing colorectal cancer. They talk about the importance of prevention and early detection, the rise in colorectal cancer rates among people under age 50, and the changing scientific landscape for early detection tests. Learn more at https://newdaydiagnostics.com/
While the idea of recognizing women in STEM has been a more recent phenomenon, ORAU has long included women in its scientific enterprise. In this episode, Amber Davis and Matthew Underwood introduce host Michael Holtz to three women among the many who have made history at ORAU. Meet Evelyn Watson, Ann Sipe and Helen Vodopick, three women who made significant contributions to work at the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies (the original name of ORAU). Their backstories are fascinating, and they were innovators in their own right. Watson was an English major who became a self-taught nuclear physicist. Sipe was the day-to-day manager of the ORINS Medical Division cancer hospital who had a heart for taking great care of her patients such. Vodopick was an oncologist at the cancer hospital who helped revolutionize the fields of nuclear medicine and radiation oncology. Check out this fascinating episode of Further Together, and learn more about Evelyn Watson and the history of ORAU at the ORAU Then and Now Blog: https://orau.org/blog/archive.html
Dr. Nicola "Nicky" Fox, is the associate administrator for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, which essentially means she is the head of science for NASA. Her directorate is responsible for more than 150 missions that are currently in space or in development. Further Together hosts Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to Fox about the importance of her role, the trajectory of her career, how she became interested in science and how the desire to work for NASA brought her from England to the United States. She also tells a great story about how her father propped 8-month-old Nicky in front of the television to witness Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. Perhaps that event planted the seed? Fox came to NASA as a Postdoctoral Fellow and rose through the ranks to her current role. We cover a lot in this great and fun conversation. Give it a listen.
Learn more about Nicky Fox: https://science.nasa.gov/people/nicola-fox/
Learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program: https://npp.orau.org/index.html
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colorectal cancer is the #1 cancer killer of men under age 50 and #2 of women under age 50. In this episode of Further Together, Michael Holtz welcomes his best friend, Ryan Vieth, as guest co-host. Ryan is in active treatment for stage IV colorectal cancer; Michael is a 12-year survivor of stage III colorectal cancer. They met when they were named 2023 Ambassadors for Fight Colorectal Cancer, a leading advocacy organization dedicated to the fight against colorectal cancer. Together, Michael and Ryan have a conversation with Anjee Davis, CEO of Fight CRC, during which they talk about cancer advocacy, the importance of survivors sharing their stories to eliminate the stigma associated with CRC, and the need to advocate all year long. Fight CRC creates opportunities for survivors, patients and caregivers to find community through virtual meetups, the Ambassador program and more. They also discuss United in Blue and Call on Congress, two Fight CRC events in Washington, DC, later this month.
To learn more about Fight Colorectal Cancer, and to participate virtually in United in Blue and Call on Congress, visit https://fightcolorectalcancer.org/
More than 18 million people in the United States are cancer survivors, and survivors are living longer than ever before. At the same time, the health impacts and side effects of cancer treatment can show up many years after treatment has ended. The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship advocates for quality cancer care for all people touched by cancer. In this episode of the Further Together podcast, Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to Shelley Fuld Nasso, CEO of NCCS. Full disclosure: Holtz is a member of the NCCS Cancer Policy Advocacy Team, which works with lawmakers on policy issues important to cancer survivors. Topics discussed on this podcast include efforts to pass legislation that would enable survivorship care plans for all survivors so they understand and can prepare for the long-term side effects of treatment; the State of Survivorship survey, which NCCS conducts every year; the need for a longitudinal study for adult cancer survivors; the importance of caregivers, who are the unsung heroes in cancer land. Nasso also shares the many ways NCCS educates and empowers cancer survivors and caregivers. There is a lot to unpack in this conversation.
To learn more about the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, visit https://canceradvocacy.org/
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.
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
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
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.
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/.
ORAU and Villanova University teamed up to offer a workshop during which participants received certification in Basic Industry Bioprocessing Techniques. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz talks with Rosalind Wynn, associate professor in the Villanova Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Tracie Curtright, ORAU project manager, about the Innovation Partnership Program that funded the workshop. The certification earned by workshop participants is recognized by most pharmaceutical industry processing facilities. Participants were successful in growing cells and were able to measure cell viability/population. Mammalian cell culture samples created during this workshop are currently under cryopreservation storage for use in future collaborative projects between Villanova and Jefferson Institute for Bioprocessing. To learn more about the Innovation Partnership Program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html
What is the optimal age to teach climate change science to young people? Chris Nelson, Ed.D., project manager, and Kristin Hurst, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Resources at Southern Illinois University, teamed up on an ORAU-Directed Research and Development project to study when it is best to teach young people about climate change science. They worked under the hypothesis that high school students have more developed cultural and ideological viewpoints, whereas the worldviews of middle school students not quite as developed. At the same time, they reframed the conversation to demonstrate how climate change is impacting things young people enjoy -- food, activity, travel, etc. This conversation focuses on how they approached their research, what they learned and what could happen next as a result of their work together.
Reinier Janssen is a staff scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Host Michael Holtz had the opportunity to talk to Janssen toward the end of his NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship, where he worked on novel instrumentation based on superconducting detectors. During this conversation, Holtz and Janssen discuss how he developed his interest in science, what the NASA NPP Fellowship has meant to his career, what drives him, and what happens next. To learn more about the NASA NPP, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
Host Michael Holtz and Brenda Blunt, ORAU senior director of health policy, had the opportunity to participate in the StoryCorps Project while attending the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Health Equity Conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. Listeners may be familiar with StoryCorps from interviews that air on National Public Radio. During this interview, Holtz and Blunt talk about health equity through their experiences in and around the healthcare system and as patients within the system, and how ORAU is working to help solve the equity puzzle. ORAU has permission from the StoryCorps Project to broadcast this interview.
Further Together host Michael Holtz gets the tables turned on him and becomes the interviewee in this episode. Holtz received a Thought Leadership Research Award through the ORAU Research and University Partnerships Office to write a white paper that makes recommendations for research projects based on ORAU's capabilities and the federal government's cancer research priorities. Matthew Underwood, communications and marketing specialist, and Brenda Blunt, senior health policy director, talk with Holtz about ORAU's history in the cancer space, from running a cancer hospital for 24 years, to managing long-term epidemiology programs for workers exposed to radiation in the workplace, to leading health communications efforts, to affecting policy change to impact patient outcomes, and so much more. Then they walk through Holtz's recommendations for seven potential ORAU-Directed Research and Development projects that could involve some of our university consortium partners. Learn more about the white paper here: https://orau.org/news/releases/2023/making-an-impact-on-cancer-personally-and-professionally.html
Laura Fackrell is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow who is looking ahead to the potential for humans living on the moon. Her research focuses on the role of nitrogen in lunar habitats, particularly how nitrogen is affected by plants and microbes in the soil or growth medium. Nitrogen is a key element in plant growth, so her research will also have an impact on creating better and more sustainable agriculture here on earth. In this conversation with host Michael Holtz, Fackrell talks about her career in research, the value of mentorship, and the value of being a mentor to younger scientists. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html.
The United States is falling behind in STEM proficiency. Our country faces a great challenge in improving the capability and capacity of the U.S. STEM workforce in a globally competitive environment. ORAU has created the STEM Accelerator to face this challenge head on. In this episode, Michael Holtz talk to Liv Blackmon, director of the ORAU STEM Accelerator, about the mission, vision and goals of this critical initiative, why focusing on the nuclear energy industry is the first priority for the OSA, and how ORAU is uniquely qualified to bring together the key stakeholders that are part of the nation's STEM ecosystem. To learn more about the ORAU STEM Accelerator, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/stem-accelerator/index.html
Daniel Watters, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is a global storm chaser. Fortunately, he can chase storms from the comfort of being behind a computer screen. Watters studies global precipitation using satellites, specifically focused on comparing data between satellites and RADAR systems. Daniel, who is from England, talks to host Michael Holtz about cultural adjustments to life in Huntsville, how he cultivated his interest in science, applying to the NASA NPP, and so much more. Listen to learn more about Watters's mission. To learn more about the NASA NPP, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
At the time of this conversation, Conner Ballew was a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His research area is in Meta Optics, which develops new technologies to aid future agency missions. The end goal of his research is to miniaturize optical elements, which reduces size and power requirements for space applications. Ballew is a native of Everett, Washington, discusses how he became interested in science, how his career and scientific interests have developed and what comes next for his career. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
ORAU's annual giving campaign is underway. Host Michael Holtz's yearly conversation with Naomi Asher, executive director of United Way of Anderson County, which serves Anderson, Campbell, Morgan and Scott Counties. Naomi invited two partner organizations, Katie Burnette from the YWCA of Knoxville and the Tennessee Valley. and David Allred from Oak Ridge Periodic Tables, to discuss the ways they serve the community together. We discuss how UWAC and its partner agencies fill in the gaps in big and small ways. The YWCA helps women escape domestic violence by providing advocacy in the legal system and housing for women and their families. Periodic Tables bring community members together to strengthen bonds around a specific topic and take steps to solve problems. Support from companies like ORAU goes a long way toward helping people in the communities where we do business. To learn more about UWAC, visit https://uwayac.org/
We continue our focus on some of the community organizations and events ORAU supports with this conversation about the Thompson Cancer Survival Center Race Against Cancer. The Race, now in its 29th year, races funds for the patients and their families treated at Thompson Cancer Survivor Center. Since it's inception, the race has raised more than $7.4 million for cancer education and support in East Tennessee. Host Michael Holtz, who was treated at Thompson and served as race chair twice, talks to Gina Williams, director of development in the Covenant Health Office of Philanthropy, about all things Race Against Cancer. From logistics to celebrating cancer survivors and more, they cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. The race is Sunday, November 5. Join Team ORAU by registering for the race here: https://runsignup.com/Race/TN/Knoxville/RaceAgainstCancer
As a company, ORAU loves to support the communities in which we do business. We regularly support community events like the Secret City Half Marathon and 5K, an annual event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, In this episode, host Michael Holtz talks to Bryan Campbell, a colleague and fellow cancer survivor, who is passionate about events like the Secret City Half and others. We talk about the race, Bryan's love for running, his cancer journey and so much more. To register for the Secret City Half Marathon, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/TN/OakRidge/secretcityhalfmarathon
Claudia Alvarez Carreno is a third-year NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow who is a medical doctor by training and then discovered that she really enjoys basic science. She finished medical school then pursued a doctoral degree in biological sciences. Her research at NASA focuses on the origins of life. She says you can tell a lot about the history of humanity by studying the molecules of humans. Alvarez Carreno studies ribosomal proteins across all living organisms to help understand past events. In this episode of Further Together: The ORAU Podcast, Alvarez Carreno talks to host Michael Holtz about her own evolution as a scientist, the importance of mentorship and collaboration, and so much more. To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/index.html
As National Preparedness Month comes to a close, we offer a second episode of Further Together that focuses on our expertise in the preparedness space. This conversation focuses on preparedness through various lenses, including mental health and psychological first aid, and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. On a national level we are experiencing a mental health crisis of epic proportions that was exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. And, mental health needs have to be considered in preparedness and response planning. Michael Holtz and Amber Davis talk to Matthew Schnupp, project manager and health education specialist on ORAU's public health and healthcare team. To learn more about ORAU's preparedness capabilities, visit https://orau.org/public-health-healthcare/emergency-preparedness-and-response.html
The American Cancer Society and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, are committed to ending cancer as we know it, for everyone. ORAU has supported the work of both organizations by sponsoring Relay For Life and Lights of Hope events for many years. Further Together host Michael Holtz is a member of ACS CAN's National Ambassador Team and a long-time volunteer for the organization. In this episode, he and co-host Matthew Underwood talk to Lisa Lacasse, president of ACS CAN, about the organization's role in making the fight against cancer a national priority, efforts to be more inclusive in its work, fundraising through Lights of Hope, the importance of community and corporate support and so much more. This episode drops during ACS CAN's Leadership Summit and Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. To learn more about ACS CAN, visit www.fightcancer.org.
Given our history of working in the cancer space, it makes perfect sense that ORAU supports several organizations that provide support and advocate for people with cancer. One of those organizations is the Cancer Support Community of East Tennessee, which provides an array of support and educational programs for cancer patients, survivors and family members. In this episode of Further Together, Michael Holtz and Matthew Underwood talk to Beth Hamil, executive director of CSCET, about the organization's mission, the variety of programs they offer, upcoming fundraising events and how people can support their work. To learn more about CSCET, visit https://www.cancersupportet.org/
ORAU has decades of experience helping the healthcare and public health systems prepare for, respond to and recover from events like pandemics, natural disasters, terrorism and other unforeseen disruptive events. September is National Preparedness Month. In this conversation, Michael Holtz and Amber Davis talk to Jennifer Burnette and Will Artley from ORAU's Public Health and Healthcare Team, about preparedness for older individuals, rural communities, urban areas, etc. They also discuss the ripple effects of climate change on the growing number of natural disasters and the ever-present state of readiness, as well as a series of discussion guides the team created for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To learn more about ORAU's emergency preparedness and response capabilities, visit https://orau.org/public-health-healthcare/emergency-preparedness-and-response.html
To learn how you can prepare at home, visit https://www.ready.gov/
As an employer based in East Tennessee, ORAU is a humble company with a great story to tell. In this episode, Andy Page, president and CEO; Keri Cagle, senior director of all things peer review; and Lauren Schaffer from our employee relations team, discuss the strength of our company. With host Michael Holtz and co-host Bryan Campbell the team discusses what it means to be One ORAU, how our corporate culture has been strengthened over the years by the pandemic and the flexibility of our workforce, the results of our employee survey, and so much more.
Use of complementary and alternative medicine, like acupuncture, chiropractic and more, is on the rise. As with most health care services, women tend to be the decision-makers when it comes to using CAM. Brenda Blunt, senior director of health policy, and Davyda Hammond, safety culture program manager, are investigating the experiences of women who use CAM, as well as how providers market to clients and how they see their role in healthcare. Their project is funded through the ORAU-Directed Research and Development program and they have partnered with Virginia Commonwealth University to conduct this research. In this conversation, Blunt, Hammond and host Michael Holtz discuss various aspects of their research, including the diversity of their outreach, the experiences women have with CAM providers, how women are willing to make economic sacrifices for CAM services, and what they've learned through their research.
Our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Educational Institutions are often untapped resources abounding in talent, ingenuity and expertise but often lacking in the material resources necessary for scientific research. Tapping into HBCU talent resources is why ORAU and the Ecological Society of America officially began a working relationship with the signing of a memorandum of understanding during the ESA’s 108th annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, August 7, 2023. In this episode, host Michael Holtz talks to Catherine O'Riordan, executive director of ESA, Jeff Miller, ORAU senior vice president, Theresa Mourad, director of diversity education and programs for ESA, and Desmond Stubbs, director of diversity initiatives for ORAU. They discuss the importance of the MOU and what the future holds for our working relationship.
ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office offers Innovation Partnership Grants to bring together University Consortium members and ORAU subject matter experts for meaningful collaborations. One of those collaborations involved Vanderbilt University and the funding of a Tennessee University-Business Showcase focused on building a biomedical/biotech economic engine in Middle Tennessee and beyond. In this episode, host Michael Holtz talks to Brenda Blunt, ORAU senior director of health policy; Scott Massey, president and CEO of Global Action Platform at the Massey School of Business at Belmont University; and Charleson Bell, director of entrepreneurship and and biomedical innovation at the Vanderbilt Center for Innovation and Design. The conversation focuses on everything from the importance of investing in innovations, transforming Middle Tennessee' workforce and so much more.
For the first time ever, the ORAU Research and University Partnerships Office funded four interns to work in various capacities across the organization. Each represents a member of the ORAU University Consortium. This conversation is led by guest host Adam Delahoussaye, a RUPO intern working in Communications and Marketing, and co-hosted by Michael Holtz. Adam, along with Kayla Lacey, Kelsey O'Brien and Tony Zybinski, discuss their varied internship experiences, what may be in store for their futures, and plan for a "corn meetup" in America's Midwest. The interns are joined by Lindsay Motz from RUPO, who managed the internship program. Listen in for an insightful, interesting and fun conversation.
Public health has been in the spotlight over the last few years. In this episode, host Michael Holtz talked to two public health luminaries: Julie Crumly, Ph.D., senior researcher at ORAU, and Paul Irwin, MD, DrPhD, the dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Crumly received the UAB School of Public Health's Alumni Award for Practice earlier this year. Irwin has roots in East Tennessee. During this conversation, we discussed Crumly's award, how she and ORAU have contributed to the overall practice of public health in East Tennessee and across the country, and the challenges and the bright future for public health practice in the United States.
Dr. Aaron Yung is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He's a theorist working on what he calls the "mission of the century," the James Webb Space Telescope team. He has been making predictions via galaxy models for the JWST team since he was a graduate student five years ago. During this conversation, host Michael Holtz and Yung discuss the science behind predictive modeling and what it means to be a scientist telling the story of the universe. Interested in the NASA NPP Program? The November application cycle is open with a November 1, 2023, deadline. For more information, visit https://npp.orau.org/
On the Further Together podcast we talk about the work that ORAU does across our various capabilities, but we don't often step back and take stock of our impact on a national and global scale. ORAU is a humble organization focused on the public good, not on bragging about the work we've done over the last 76 years. In this episode, CEO Andy Page and Senior Vice President Jeff Miller put some of ORAU's impact in perspective. Their conversation with host Michael Holtz and co-host Adam Delahoussaye is both enlightening and exciting.
The National Library of Medicine, located on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., is the world's largest biomedical library and an important resources accessed by millions of people around the world. If you're familiar with PubMed, you know the NLM. The NLM is also one of ORAU's longest-standing customers. For more than 30 years, ORAU has helped promote and raise awareness for the library's resources. More recently, ORAU has been helping the NLM with a project called All of Us, wherein the NLM works with public libraries to help communities participate in biomedical research. In this conversation, Further Together host Michael Holtz talks with LaFrancis Gibson and Kelli Bursey from ORAU's Public Health and Healthcare team about their work with the NLM.
Dr. LaToya Myles is the deputy director of the Air Resources Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division. ORAU works in partnership with NOAA ATDD to perform advanced weather and climate research. Research at ARL focuses on the boundary layer, which is the very air we breathe every day. The ARL includes the Climate Reference Network, which collects data from instrument stations located in remote areas across the country. These instruments measure long-term change in the environment. Host Michael Holtz talks to Myles about the CRN, the importance of studying climate change over time, and so much more. Learn more about ORAU's partnership with NOAA here: https://www.orau.org/environment/air-quality-climate-research.html
Alejandro Borloff recently completed his NASA Postdoctoral Program experience at NASA Ames, and will continue working for NASA on a number of collaborative projects. He has a long-term interest in space telescopes and Borloff has gotten to do some amazing work in this area. He calls himself an "ophthalmologist for space telescopes." In this episode, Borloff and host Michael Holtz talk about his work, how his interest in science developed, and how he moved from Spain to fulfill his NASA dreams. To learn more about the NASA NPP, visit https://npp.orau.org/
Erica Barlow, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow based at Penn State University working at the Laboratory for Agnostic Biosignatures team. Originally from Australia, Barlow focuses on the question of whether rocks from the ancient Earth have or had life inside them and how life might have gotten there. In this conversation with host Michael Holtz, Barlow discusses her origin story, including her interest in environmental science from an early age, being mentored and mentoring others, and so much more. Barlow also talks about the impact of the NASA NPP program on her career and what may happen next for her.
To learn more about the NASA NPP program or to apply, visit https://npp.orau.org/.
ORAU hires and manages contractors on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the National Student Services Contract. Contractors work in the EPA's Office of Research and Development for up to five years and then often become full-time regular employees of the agency. Further Together host Michael Holtz talks to Karen Cleveland and Geri Philpott, who manage the EPA NSSC for ORAU. They talk about the importance of this program to the EPA, the types of work participants are engaged in for the agency, and how they and their team have mastered the art of the recruiting to fill open positions. To learn more about the EPA NSSC or to apply for open opportunities, visit https://www.orau.org/epa/
Ken Tobin, ORAU chief research and university partnerships officer, introduces host Michael Holtz to Dr. Laurene Tetard, associate professor in the NanoScience Technology Center at the University of Central Florida. Together they talk about the importance of university partnerships to ORAU and how we work together to provide solutions to our federal government partners. Dr. Tetard digs into her research and talks about the importance of networking for her research as well as for her students. This episode drops the day after ORAU's 2023 Annual Meeting and provides a great exclamation point to the value proposition offered by RUPO.
ORAU is among the sponsors of a Research Community Forum presented by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Human Protection. The two-day event will be held March 29 and 30, 2023, in Knoxville. In this episode, Ken Tobin, ORAU chief research and university partnerships officer, and Cathy Fore, senior director of university partnerships, talk about the RCF, why this event is important to the research community, the importance of human protection regulations for research, who should attend this event, and what to expect. Also sponsoring the meeting are East Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. To learn more about the Research Community Forum and to register, visit https://www.orau.org/event/research-forum/index.html
ORAU's Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institutions is held to explore relevant topics in higher education. This year's topic is “Climate Security and Environmental Justice: Pathways to Achieving the 2050 Carbon Net-Zero Goal.” Experts and leaders from academia, federal agencies, and national organizations will share their views on technology innovation and transformation; science-based models for an environmentally equitable society; and future workforce development needs. Further Together host Michael Holtz, along with Ken Tobin, ORAU chief research and university partnerships officer, and Cathy Fore, senior director of university partnerships, preview some of the speakers, panel discussions and other aspects of this year's all-important gathering.
Learn more about ORAU's annual meeting here: https://orau.org/university-partnerships/annual-meeting.html
Samson Johnson, Ph.D., a new NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow who has been in his role for just a few months, is studying exoplanet demographics or how many and where exoplanets are. An exoplanet is an extrasolar planet and there are approximately 5,000 known in the universe. During this conversation, host Michael Holtz and Dr. Johnson discuss his work, how his interest in astronomy was stoked, how a high school teacher changed the course of his life, the importance of mentorship and so much more.
To learn more about NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowships including when the next round of applicants can apply, visit the NASA NPP Gateway at https://npp.orau.org/.
Tiffany Lewis, Ph.D., is a NASA Post-Doctoral Program Fellow working at the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory on theoretical modeling of jets ion active galaxies, especially blazars. She has been a NASA NPP Fellow for two years. In this episode of Further Together: the ORAU Podcast, host Michael Holtz talks to Lewis about her work, being mentored and mentoring others, and what she has planned for the future. As you'll discover, Lewis was initially interested in science policy before turning her attention to physics and the work she is doing today. To learn more about the NASA Post-Doctoral Program, as well as how and when to apply for upcoming opportunities, visit https://npp.orau.org/
As a company, ORAU supports financially a number of non-profit organizations in the communities where we do business. As CEO Andy Page says, it's the role of a good corporate citizen. Additionally, many of our employees give of their time, talent and treasure to support organizations that are important to them. For this year's Thanksgiving episode, host Michael Holtz asked several colleagues to share how and why they support the organizations they do. The organizations, the skills and the reasons are as personal and individual as each of the people interviewed. Giving back is important to each of these folks, and many, many others. It's the right thing to do, and we think talking about giving back is a great way to celebrate a holiday focused on giving thanks.
For Stacey Whaley, winning ORAU's Extreme Classroom Makeover 2022 was one of the biggest surprises of her life. She knew she could put the $25,000 prize to good use in her classroom, and boy did she ever. During this conversation, Whaley talks to host Michael Holtz about the new technology she purchased for her classroom, from digital microscopes and iPads to virtual reality headsets and a floor projector. Applications for the 2023 edition of Extreme Classroom Makeover are now open, and Whaley urges teachers within a 50-mile radius of Oak Ridge to apply. You never know what could happen! Learn more here: https://orau.org/news/releases/2022/extreme-classroom-makeover-2023-applications-now-open.html
A cornhole competition between ORAU employees and executives, which executives lost, was the high point of the Diversity Council's 30th birthday celebration, which took place on ORAU's Main Campus and virtually in October 2022. The gathering was the first major in-person event since the beginning the pandemic, and celebrated ORAU's commitment to diversity. In this special "man on the street" style episode, host Michael Holtz talks to members of the diversity council against the backdrop of a very fun and important day for ORAU. To learn more about ORAU's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, visit https://www.orau.org/about/principles/diversity.html
Alexander Betaller, assistant professor of nuclear engineering at North Carolina State University, was a 2020 recipient of an ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. With his award, which was matched by his institution, Betaller built a custom optical furnace as part of his team's research into molten salt reactors. The blueprints for the furnace were from the 70s, and molten salt reactor research is seeing a bit of a renaissance. Learn more about his research and why it's important during this conversation with host Michael Holtz. If you're junior faculty at an ORAU University Consortium institution, consider applying for a Powe Award. Application submissions close on January 9, 2023. Apply here: https://www.orau.org/university-partnerships/member-grant-programs/powe/index.html
It's annual giving time at ORAU, and for the third year in a row Michael Holtz sat down with Naomi Asher, executive director of the United Way of Anderson County (and surrounding, let's be real), to talk about how UWAC and its partner agencies meet some of the basic needs of individuals living right here in our communities. Joining this year's conversation are Janet Wood, vice president of community engagement at Emory Valley Center, and Kayla Simon, executive director of ASAP of Anderson County. These organizations and many others who receive United Way funding are doing great work and make donated dollars stretch as far as humanly possible. Give a listen to learn more, and then give: ORAU employees, support the Annual Giving Campaign. https://web2012.orau.net/ORAUGiving/Home/
Learn more about United Way of Anderson County https://uwayac.org/, Emory Valley Center https://www.emoryvalleycenter.org/ and ASAP of Anderson County https://www.asapofanderson.org/,
Susan Ehrlich, a former assistant U.S. Attorney and a former judge in Arizona, recently wrote a memorandum for the Central Department of Energy Institutional Review Board discussing explicit and implicit biases in human subjects research. Bias is a critically important issue in research, ensuring that biases are addressed and don't exclude participation in human subjects research. In this conversation, Ehrlich shares how she came to be the first author of the memorandum, why it's important and what happens next.
ORAU has a thriving and growing research enterprise. Returning guest Ken Tobin, ORAU's Chief Research Officer, joins host Michael Holtz for a conversation about some new developments in the research arena, including the creation of a research scientist job family. Ultimately, research is good for the company from a performance and employee engagement perspective. The conversation is brief but very impactful.
Dr. Hilary Marston, an internal medicine physician by training, has long had an interest in public health and global health policy. In 2013, she began work at the National Institutes of Health as an ORISE research program participant as at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where she was mentored by Dr. Anthony Fauci and worked on several outbreaks including Ebola, Zika and COVID-19. She also worked for the National Security Council and the White House COVID Response Team before being named Chief Medical Officer at the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year. In this conversation, Marston tells host Michael Holtz how her ORISE experience played a key role in the trajectory of her career, discusses her mentors, how she enjoys mentoring future scientists and so much more. Join us for a great conversation.
We wrap our celebration of National Postdoc Week with an enlightening and inspiring interview with Christina Wildfire, a two-time ORISE research program participant at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Wildfire's research has focused on using microwave energy to revitalize the coal industry. Currently, as an employee at NETL, she works with scientists and industry to reduce carbon emissions. In this conversation with host Michael Holtz, Wildfire discusses her journey into science (she didn't start out with a plan to study engineering) and the trajectory of her impactful career. Learn more about Dr. Wildfire and NETL here: https://orise.orau.gov/netl/experiences/wildfire.html
As part of our annual observance of National Postdoc Week, this episode of the ORISE Featurecast focuses on Julie Spencer, Ph.D., an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program researcher, who uses mathematics to track and, in collaboration with other scientists, research how to end human suffering from communicable diseases. In this episode, Julie talks to host Michael Holtz about her ongoing work, how she developed an interest in science and math, the importance of collaboration for success in today's research environment, and the value of mentorship, both as a mentor and mentee in the development of her career. Join us for an interesting and, dare we say, fun conversation. Learn more about the ORISE IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship here: https://orise.orau.gov/icpostdoc/applicants/index.html
We all deliver and consume information through the lens of our own biases. Individuals can get the same information and have the same resources, but come to wildly different conclusions. Nick Byrd, a researcher in the ORISE Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, uses his background studying philosophy and applied engineering to help people understand their cognitive biases and engage in reflective thinking to de-bias decision-making processes. The intent isn't to change minds or opinions, but to engage us in critical thinking. Learn more about Nick's work during this conversation with host Michael Holtz. You can learn more about the ORISE IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship here: About ORISE | IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program (orau.gov)
ORAU's work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (NOAA ATDD) is one of the hidden gems of our company. It's not work we talk about often, but it is exciting and compelling Our team's work focuses on climate research, atmospheric chemistry and dispersion, and boundary layer characterization. The Climate Reference Network, in particular, is a series of 114 stations around the country that collect data to monitor climate. Some of the stations are located in harsh weather conditions, in locations like Alaska. Kathy Rollow and Mark Hall discuss the importance of the Climate Reference Network, how they keep the sensors on the monitoring stations operating in harsh conditions, that the importance the work of the team working for NOAA ATDD. Join host Michael Holtz for this fascinating conversation. Learn more about our air quality, weather and climate research here: Air Quality, Weather & Climate Research | ORAU
For Jonathan Levine, reading the 2002 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report made it clear that global warming and its effects on those of lower-income households were clearly and swiftly becoming a reality. After the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Levine became a participant of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Postgraduate Research Program, studying deep sea gas and oil rising through the ocean. Levine left academia and started his own company called Folia Materials to address environmental issues. Jonathan talks to host Michael Holtz about his NETL experience, how ORISE helped build his career, and the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork. You can also read more about Jonathan's experience at NETL here: https://orise.orau.gov/netl/experiences/levine.html
ORISE is managed by ORAU for the U.S. Department of Energy
Scientists and weather watchers have been tracking weather and animal migration data for decades, mostly because they thought the data was interesting. Today, Jeff Kelly, University of Oklahoma biology professor and part-time ORAU employee, and other scientists use the convergence of archived weather and animal migration data with current technology to track changes caused by climate change over time. "Now we can look at decades of bird migration data, bat emergency data, and start to look at patterns related to climate change and weather changes and how they've impacted animals in ways that nobody really thought about when they started archiving those data." Join host Michael Holtz for a conversation about Kelly's research. You can also read more about Kelly's work here: https://orau.org/impact/people/jeff-kelly-uses-weather-data-for-biological-research.html
The Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge provides no-cost primary care services to 14,000 people in its three-county service area. These are our neighbors, people who don't qualify for TennCare because they make a little too much money but can't afford health insurance. Think the coffee shop baristas, grocery store clerks, food delivery drivers, etc. Ashley Golden, director of health studies, is a member of FMCOR Board of Directors. She and Billy Edmonds, FMCOR executive director, talk about the work of the organization. Ashley has a fundraising goal of $5,000 to support FMCOR. Help her meet her goal by donating here: https://acommunitythrives.mightycause.com/story/H5kehf
Learn more about FMCOR here: https://www.fmcor.org/
Our health is one of our most important personal assets, and Brenda Blunt, ORAU director of health policy, knows that from her experience as a nurse and her extensive experience working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She and host Michael Holtz discuss the importance of healthcare and health policy, during a wide-ranging conversation. One revelation: While ORAU is known for its health and healthcare history, including being a pioneer in the field of nuclear medicine and radiation therapy, we have also been actively involved in the formation of health policy for years, for customers like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We hope you enjoy this episode.
Kourtney Purham, a STEM teacher at Kramer Elementary School in Washington, D.C., was one of three winners of the CIA Mission Possible Classroom Transformation competition in 2021. After 15 years at another school, Purham's win of $25,000 in new technology for her classroom definitely made an impression. During this conversation, she and host Michael Holtz discuss what the last year has been like, how her students and her school have benefited from the new technology, and the learning challenges that still exist for her students. The conversation took place in a coffee shops just blocks away from the school, in the neighborhood where Purham lives and works. ORISE manages the Mission Possible program for the Central Intelligence Agency.
In this episode, host Michael Holtz talks with Dr. Carol Iddins, director of the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site, or REAC/TS. REAC/TS is a world-renowned Department of Energy asset located at ORISE. Dr. Iddins talks about the work of REAC/TS, the importance of their role for both DOE and the National Nuclear Security Agency, and how her team is always ready to respond in the event of a radiation incident.
Although rigid guidelines have been established for animal research, the parameters have not been as clear in the teaching and training of students veterinarians. Marci Savoy, Ph.D., a research associate with ORAU's research services team, co-authored a chapter on "Animal Care and Use in Veterinary Teaching and Clinical Services," for the book Finding Your Place at the Table, published by the Medical Library Association. In this conversation, Dr. Savoy shares her experience as a medical librarian and the challenges of finding standard protocols for animal care and use for teaching student veterinarians. The history of this topic is fascinating, including the development of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees. We hope you enjoy this conversation.
How has the coronavirus pandemic magnified barriers to career development for women in science? That's the question being researched by Dr. Laura Davenport, ORISE evaluation specialist for STEM Workforce Development, and Dr. Firouzeh Sabri, chair of the Department of Physics and Material Science at the University of Memphis. Their research is funded through the ORAU-Directed Research and Development program. In this episode of the podcast, we discuss how these scientists and their teams came to work together, where they are in the process, and what happens next. Barriers to career development for women in science is an important issue. Tune in for this enlightening conversation.
How did so-called lockdown or stay-at-home orders designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus impact air pollutant concentrations, particularly in underserved communities? That's the question Davyda Hammond, Ph.D., ORAU environmental engineer, and researchers at the University of Houston Air Quality Forecasting and Modeling Lab are working to answer. They are investigating and characterizing the human health risk disparities due to air pollutant exposures prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hammond's research was funded through the ORAU-Directed Research and Development program. In this episode of Further Together, Hammond discusses her research in-depth and talks about next steps for her and the research team.
Around here, Kristy Kistner is ORAU's quality queen. As the director of performance excellence, she, among other duties, oversees maintenance of ORAU’s ISO 9001:2015 registration, compliance with the U.S. Department of Energy quality assurance requirements, and conduct of assessments and process improvement initiatives. Next week, she will be speaking during the American Quality Institute's ISO 9000 and Audits World Conference, where she will discuss "How to Rock Your Virtual ISO 9000 Audit" based on her experience leading ORAU through virtual audits during the pandemic. No surprise, we rocked it!
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This episode of Further Together is an ORISE Featurecast, wherein host Michael Holtz talks with Dr. Jim Vosburg, director of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. They talk about the great work ORISE does across five performance areas and plans in progress to mark ORISE's 30 anniversary.
ORAU and the University of Tennessee have partnered on a research project to develop computer simulations for rural disaster preparedness. In this episode we talk to lead researchers Julie Crumly, Ph.D., ORAU research and evaluation specialist and senior scientist, and Tom Berg, Ph.D., from the University of Tennessee, who has a joint appointment to the College of Nursing and the College of Engineering and Industrial and Systems Engineering. They talk about the challenges of building a model that works for every rural community and what they have learned so far. Tune in for a very engaging conversation.
ORAU assumed management of the $129.7 million NASA Postdoctoral Program at the end of January 2022. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz talks with Scott Miller, ORAU Program Director for the program. What is the NPP program, why is it important to the NASA enterprise, and how can early and senior career scientists be part of this important research program? Tune in for details, and check out the NASA Postdoc Program website here: https://npp.orau.org/
Ronnie Bogard has led an effort over the last few years to properly archive, digitize and make available to the public the archives of renowned nuclear physicist Alvin Weinberg. Weinberg, who was administrator of ORNL during and after the Manhattan Project, kept his papers -- letters, commentaries, research projects, photographs, etc. -- in a number of file cabinets and storage boxes. When he came to work for ORAU in 1975, the papers came with him. It was Weinberg's friendship with Selma Shapiro, founder of the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge and Bogard's mother, that led to his papers being left in the care of CMOR. The well-ordered file cabinets and storage boxes were locked in a storage room until Bogard and Beth Shea, CMOR executive director, began assembling a team to properly archive and digitize Weinberg's collection. In this interview Bogard shares how she has gotten to know Weinberg through this project and shares what a truly remarkable man he was.
The presence and use of technology in the classroom has accelerated rapidly in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But what does technology look like in the post-pandemic landscape? ORAU and The MITRE Corporation partnered in 2021 on a long-term project to research and ultimately improve equitable adoption of artificial intelligence in education. In this episode of Further Together, Michael Holtz and special co-host Jennifer Tyrell, ORAU senior project manager for K-12 STEM education, have a conversation with Chris Nelson, Ed.D., ORAU program manager for K-12 STEM education; Guido Zarrella, senior principal AI engineer in the AI and Autonomy Innovation Center within MITRE Labs; Bobby Blount, Jr., head of MITRE’s Texas Innovation Hub; and Tracy Glazier, a math teacher at Herndon High School in Fairfax County, Va. Our experts discuss how AI is already being used in the classroom, how technology can save time for teachers while engaging students, as well as the importance of equitable access and the need for collaboration to improve access to AI.
ORAU-Directed Research and Development grants is an investment program that provides a path for funding innovative research-based approaches/solutions that fall within the intersection of ORAU's core capabilities and our member universities’ research interests. In this episode of Further Together, we talk with Casey Thomas, ODRD program manager about the program, the priorities for research that joins together the skills of our subject matter experts with the research interests of our university partners, and the process of applying. We also talk with Davyda Hammond and Laura Davenport, two of ORAU's currently funded researchers, who discuss the benefits of the program and what happens next. Look for longer conversations about their research in the coming months.
Dr. Donna Cragle, senior scientific advisor, has worked at ORAU for nearly 40 years. In the second part of our conversation, she talks about being a woman in science, how ORAU's culture has evolved, her role as corporate ombudsman and more. Her perspective on science and the company will be enlightening, and often humorous.
In this episode of ORAU at 75, a special series of the Further Together podcast, we talk to Dr. Donna Cragle, senior scientific advisor at ORAU. Dr. Cragle is an epidemiologist who has been part of the ORAU scientific enterprise for decades. This is the first of a two-part interview that focuses on how she pursued an education in epidemiology to how she came to work for ORAU and more. A conversation with Donna Cragle is interesting, enlightening and funny. Enjoy this episode!
Podcast host Michael Holtz considers himself a gratitude evangelist, and Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday of the year. The Gratitude Show episode of Further Together, the ORAU Podcast, has become an annual tradition. We hope hearing from employees across the organization will lift your spirits as much as they've lifted ours.
The National Supplemental Screening Program, or NSSP, is a legacy program for ORAU that began in 1996. The NSSP provides free medical screenings to Department of Energy workers who have have been exposed to hazards in the workplace. The NSSP collects data to help identify if those former workers have developed any health conditions related to workplace exposures, as well as any health conditions that arise as they workers age. In this conversation, host Michael Holtz talks with John McInerny, MD, co-principal investigator for the NSSP who has been a practicing physician in various capacities for more than 50 years, and Jamie Stalker, MD, co-principal investigator, who is also medical director for the ORISE Beryllium Lab and has decades of experience as an occupational health and internal medicine physician. As Dr. McInerny heads toward retirement, Dr. Stalker will take the reins at NSSP. We discuss all of that and more in this episode of Further Together, the ORAU Podcast.
In this episode, Michael Holtz talks to Sara Howard, MPH and Ph.D. student, who works in the epidemiology and exposure science group at ORAU and ORISE, recently won a Scholar-in-Training Award for her virtual poster presentation at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Radiation Research Society. Her poster presentation focused on "Tobacco use and its relationship to socioeconomic status in occupational radiation cohorts." She used data from the Million Person Study and other sources for her project. We discuss the specifics of her research, the Million Person Study and Sara's plan for the future. Take a listen to this great conversation with an up-and-coming researcher.
Acclaimed Oak Ridge historian Ray Smith, who knows just about everything there is to know about the Manhattan Project that created Oak Ridge and everything that has happened since, sat down with host Michael Holtz to talk about ORAU's place in Oak Ridge's history. From our founding to our early leadership to our impact on nuclear medicine and beyond, Smith is a wealth of knowledge.
With this episode, Further Together begins a monthly series of podcast episodes in which we talk about the research enterprise at ORAU. Ken Tobin, vice president and senior research officer in our Research and University Partnerships Office, gives an overview of ORAU's research enterprise along with a sneak peek at future episodes, which will include interviews with researchers across the organization. Research has always been part of ORAU's DNA. This series gives us a chance to shine a brighter light on the amazing work being done by our people.
Like a number of companies, ORAU kicked off its annual giving campaign. We invited Naomi Asher, executive director of the United Way of Anderson County to talk about the importance of the annual giving campaign as a fundraising mechanism and how UWAC and its partner agencies support some of the most basic needs in our communities. Also joining host Michael Holtz for this conversation are Jennifer Enderson from Emory Valley Center and Joey Collins from Aid to Distressed Families in Appalachian Counties. A little money goes a long way, as you'll hear in this conversation.
As ORAU kicks off its 75th anniversary celebration, Andy Page, president and CEO, talks about the company he has led for the last 11 years. He shares his journey from national security program manager to CEO, how he and corporate leadership navigated ORAU through the worldwide pandemic, how our corporate culture has changed, and what makes a company like ORAU built to last for 75 years and beyond. Page tells host Michael Holtz that ORAU's future is bright, and that it's the people, dedicated to the mission of public service, are what make ORAU strong.
As we close National Preparedness Month, ORAU's team of experts look to the past to help map out the future of preparedness. They discuss Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Southeast Louisiana on August 29, 2005. The powerful Category 3 storm left 1,800 people dead, caused $100 billion in damage, and demonstrated that America was ill prepared to respond to a disaster of such magnitude. A lot has changed in the last 16 years. Our experts explain the changes, and how ORAU has remained involved in preparedness work.
In our fourth conversation about National Postdoc Appreciation Week, host Michael Holtz talk to Erin Burr about her postdoc experience and how that experience developed into the work she does today. We also discuss how she became interested in a STEM career and so much more. We've enjoyed observing National Postdoc Appreciation Week through these conversations. We hope you enjoyed listening to them.
It's National Postdoc Appreciation Week!! We're celebrating at the ORISE Featurecast by talking with folks within our organization who have their own postdoc experiences to share. This week, host Michael Holtz talks with Ann Martin about her experience, what drew her to pursue a career in STEM, and how her experience shaped who she is today
National Postdoc Appreciation Week is September 21-25. In preparation for the observance, ORISE Featurecast host Michael Holtz sat down with four members of our team who shared about their own postdoc experiences. In this episode, he talked to Rachel Creager, who discusses her postdoc experience, how she got interested in a career in the STEM fields and what she does today. Give a listen!
National Postdoc Appreciation Week is September 21-25. In preparation for the observance, ORISE Featurecast host Michael Holtz sat down with four members of our team who shared about their own postdoc experiences. First up is Rachel Hill, who discusses her postdoc experience, how she got interested in a career in the STEM fields and what she does today. Give a listen!
September is National Preparedness Month, an observance to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time. Disaster and pandemic preparedness have been among ORAU’s capabilities for decades. In this episode of Further Together, a team of preparedness experts gather to discuss preparedness in the pre-9/11 era, post-9/11 work, pandemic preparedness and so much more. This is the first of a two-part conversation with Freddy Gray, Julie Crumly, Rachel Vasconez, Mary Connelly, Will Artley and Linda Hodges. To learn more about ORAU's preparedness capabilities, visit https://orau.org/preparedness/index.html.
If Lauren Shaffer's 10-year-old brother had not been required to interview someone who lived through the period of history depicted in the book, "Number the Stars," she and the rest of her family may never have heard the story of her great-grandfather's flight from Nazi Germany, or of her grandmother living in hiding for over a year before visas could be secured to get out of the country, or of Uncle Willy, who risked his own life to save a number of Jewish families from the extermination camps. After sharing the story for the first time, her grandmother spoke to classrooms and school groups in Michigan and Florida for years. Now, the torch has been passed to the younger generations of the family to continue to bear witness and keep history from repeating itself. Lauren shared this story as part of ORAU's annual Heritage Day, sponsored by the Diversity Council. We are honored to that she agreed to share the story again for Further Together.
Keri Cagle, ORAU director of science and technology and ORISE director of scientific technical resource integration, is willing to bet she has the best team in the entire ORAU enterprise. They're close knit, they work hard, and they have experienced loads of successes over the past year and beyond. Leading a team like hers bring her joy, as does the optimism she feels about the anticipated growth of ORAU. She wear two (and probably more) hats at ORAU, while also pursuing a doctoral degree, building a new house and spending time with her family. Learn more about Keri during her conversation with Michael Holtz for this episode of Further Together.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused all of us to adapt and adjust in some way at the organizational level, the individual level and beyond. How organizations adapt and cope with COVID will impact our organizational culture for five years and perhaps longer. Jeff Miller, Ph.D., ORAU Senior Vice President and Director of ORAU Government Services, presents the evidence for how the stressors of the last 14 months will stay with us for years to come. This is a not-to-be-missed conversation.
Workplaces across the country shifted to remote work to protect people from the fast-spreading coronavirus a year ago, including national laboratories and other federal research agencies. At one point, 80% of ORISE research participation program participants were working remotely. The task to make that shift was enormous, considering RPPs are not designed for remote work. With expert guidance from the ORISE workforce development team and by deploying the technology we've all become used to over the last year, the transition to remote work went smoothly. So did the transition to remote teacher professional development and student STEM education programs, thanks to the K-12 STEM Education team. How did they do it, how will this impact programs for the future, and what happens next? We discuss all of this and more in this extended episode of the ORISE Featurecast.
Dr. Phil Bourne, Stephenson Dean of the School of Data Science at the University of Virginia, didn't set out to be a data scientist. Rather, Bourne, who hails from Australia, began his career as a physical chemist. He got interested in the computational part of physical chemistry, which led him to become an expert in compiling huge data sets. Among his many accomplishments, Bourne served as associate director of data science at the National Institutes of Health. During this conversation, Bourne talks about his career path, the importance of data science, and the "school without walls" that he leads at UVA. Data science is cross-cutting, and is part of many aspects of our lives whether we know it or not.
The Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program was established in 2000 to support unclassified basic research in areas of interest to the intelligence community. Funded primarily by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the program annually supports several Postdoctoral Fellows from U.S. accredited colleges, universities, and U.S. Government laboratories across the country. In this episode of the ORISE Featurecast, host Michael Holtz sits down virtually with Helena Liuag, IC postdoc program manager; Nebila Lichiheb and Yun Tao, two postdocs participating in the program; and Kevin Lafferty, research advisor. The conversation covers everything from how the program works, to the types of research opportunities available, to the day in the life of a postdoc working from home during a pandemic. Postdoctoral students interested in applying should visit https://orise.orau.gov/icpostdoc/. Deadline to apply is February 26, 2021.
Dr. Adayabalam Balajee, director of the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site Cytogenetic Biodosimetry Laboratory, is a busy and prolific researcher. Most recently, he co-authored a manuscript in partnership with colleagues at the University of Tennessee that was recently published in Nature Communications. He has also developed the Chromosome Challenge, which gamifies the identification of dicentric chromosomes with the ultimate goal of recruiting people to assist with the identification process in the event of a radiation emergency. Not unexpectedly, he has other projects in the pipeline. ORISE Featurecast hosts Jenna Harpenau and Michael Holtz spent some time catching up with Dr. Balajee last month. Join us for a great conversation.
In this episode of Further Together, the ORAU Podcast, host Michael Holtz talks with Renee Cummings, data activist in residence and criminologist at the University of Virginia School of Data Science. In this wide-ranging, important and hopeful conversation, Cummings discusses data science ethics including the ethics of Artificial Intelligence; diversity, equity and inclusion in AI development; algorithm authenticity and accountability; data integrity and so much more. She riveted the audience during an ORAU-hosted data science webinar in December 2020 and has the same impact during this conversation.
ORAU's 127-member University Consortium enables us to leverage the research capabilities of members and those of our subject matter experts to collaborate on research projects that meet the needs of our federal and industry partners. Through ORAU-Directed Research and Development (ODRD) funding, future research projects will be focused around public health, data science and analytics, and diversity, equity, and inclusion studies.
Ken Tobin and Cathy Fore from ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office discuss ORAU's research priority areas, how RUPO serves as matchmaker and convener for universities and federal agencies, and their excitement for the future of research at ORAU. Join us for an interesting and enlightening conversation.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sara Alert™ was developed to automate the monitoring of individuals exposed to or infected with COVID-19. In partnership with MITRE, ORAU’s goal is to leverage existing Sara Alert™ technology to protect the health of students and faculty on campus by creating a tool customized to university needs, Sara Alert™ Academic. Sara Alert™ Academic enables students and faculty to enter their symptoms daily, providing real time insights to university health staff working to contain the spread of the virus on campus. Sara Alert™ Academic can help universities safely operate campuses through increased efficiency in tracking potential cases, leading to earlier containment of the virus and reduction of burden on resources. The system can also help universities track vaccine uptake for COVID-19. While Sara Alert™ Academic was developed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the system is useful for any public health emergency, include influenza and other illness outbreaks. Michael Holtz and Jenna Harpenau had an in-depth conversation with the ORAU team behind Sara Alert™ Academic. Join us for this important conversation.
Those of us who work here say it frequently: ORAU is a family. Few of us, though, can say that with 50 years of company experience under their belts. Betty Bowling retired at the end of November from her role as a program specialist working with the ORISE EPA Research Participation Program, just one of the many positions she's held in the company over the years. Jenna Harpenau and Michael Holtz talk to Betty about her first job at ORAU, how business has changed from key punch cards and cocktail hour in the president's office to the modern, leading edge organization we are today. Join us for a fun and interesting conversation.
Talking about how rough 2020 has been borders on cliche at this point, but makes it no less true. From a global pandemic seemingly raging out of control to the economic fallout of decisions made to protect people to personal challenges that have occurred for many of us on top of all of that, 2020 has been difficult. But, as you'll hear in this special episode of Further Together, the ORAU podcast, there is a silver lining if you are willing to look for it. And, there is always, always something for which to be grateful. We hope you enjoy this episode. Thank you to the ORAU employees who shared their stories. Thanks to everyone in our audience for listening. Happy Thanksgiving!
Dr. Mark Ervin has experienced a lot of firsts in his career, but joining REAC/TS as the new associate director in the middle of a pandemic certainly stands out. In this episode, you'll learn about Dr. Ervin's background, work experience, hopes for the future of this ORISE crown jewel, and even hear about the Zen of fishing without bait. Jenna and Michael had a great conversation with Dr. Ervin for this episode of the ORISE Featurecast. We hope you'll join us.
The National Supplemental Screening Program (NSSP) provides free medical screenings to Department of Energy workers from any DOE site around the country who may have been exposed to hazards in the workplace. The NSSP collects data to help identify if these former workers have developed any health conditions related to exposures that they had in the workplace, as well as identify any health conditions that arise as these workers age. ORAU manages this program for the DOE. In this conversation, we talk to Zac Hubbell, Ph.D., a research associate for the program, and Dr. Lee Newman, director of the Center for Health, Work, and Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health. The CHWE recently named ORAU it's 2020 Partner of the Year for the work our organizations do together for the NSSP.
Every summer for the last 31 years, ORAU has managed a High School Summer Math-Science-Technology Institute and a Middle School Science Academy for the Appalachian Regional Commission. In ordinary times, both of these programs are residential in nature, with students and teachers traveling to Oak Ridge, Tenn., to work alongside researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, tour the area and more. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the programs had to be conducted remotely but participating students and teachers still got the high-quality experience for which these programs are known. In this conversation, Michael talked to Jennifer Tyrell from ORAU's K-12 team, and Wendy Wasserman, communications director for the ARC. We learned that the ORAU-managed programs have served as a template for other educational programs offered by ARC, and that these programs are vital to the economic development work ARC conducts across the region.
This episode of the ORISE Featurecast is a conversation with Chic Thompson, founder of WAGI Labs, and Kayla Canario, ORISE K-12 program manager. ORISE and WAGI Labs are working together to help students learn the concepts of design thinking, entrepreneur and empathy so they can solve problems in their communities. Together, ORISE and WAGI Labs have created a free game that helps students learn these concepts. Learn all about during this episode of the ORISE Featurecast.
The coronavirus pandemic has upended so much of how we live, learn, work and play. It has also impacted how we give. In this episode, Michael Holtz and Jenna Harpenau talk to Naomi Asher, executive director of the United Way of Anderson County, and representatives from three agencies supported by UWAC -- Michael Yates from Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services, Annie Cachiero from Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, and Brent Waugh from Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee. We talk about the services each of these agencies provides, how those services have been impacted by the pandemic, how the need is greater now as a result, and how we can all help serve people in need in our communities. Join us for an uplifting conversation!
In May, ORISE launched a mobile app called ORISE GO. The app offers college students, recent graduates and postdoctoral students a mobile tool to search and apply for hundreds of science, technology, engineering and math internships, fellowships and research opportunities at national labs and facilities across the United States. The ORISE GO app also provides a platform to remain engaged, connected and informed during the ORISE experience—from application, to offer, through the appointment and even as an ORISE alum. Join hosts Michael Holtz and Jenna Harpenau as they invite Leslie Fox and Chelsea Gibson to hang out around the virtual coffee table.
While most employees and the general public know of the ORAU Diversity Council through annual events like Heritage Day and Veterans Appreciation Day, the council is more than the events they produce. The council serves as a sounding board for employees who may have a concern about diversity related issues throughout the company. In this episode of Further Together, Michael talks to Mae Mosley, director of employee relations and diversity; Chanel Sudderth, employee relations and diversity specialist; and Dee-Dee James and Ann Gonzalez, two members of ORAU's Diversity Council. Together, they discuss the council's history and role at ORAU, the roles of the council members and how being visible is more important now than ever before.
The waste we flush down the toilet can serve as a leading indicator of the prevalence of COVID-19 in a community, whether it's a city or a university campus. In this episode of Further Together, the ORAU podcast, Michael Holtz discusses wastewater surveillance with Dr. Kunal Rambhia and Dr. Monique Mansoura of The MITRE Corporation. They are joined by Ken Tobin, vice president of ORAU's University Partnerships Office, and Cathy Fore, senior university partnerships specialist. The conversation covers the importance of wastewater surveillance as a tool in tracking COVID-19 spread, particularly as universities prepare to welcome students back to campus. We also discuss the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition, of which ORAU and MITRE are members; and the partnership between the organizations and a means of facilitating relationships, research and work between government and academic institutions.
When Exercise Builder Nuclear was first discussed as a concept in the spring of 2012, Don Hanlon, ORAU EBN project manager, did not fully realize the extent to which the platform would come to support national nuclear security. Today, EBN supports more than 53% of the nuclear industry with its nuclear security drills and exercises and is being offered in web and mobile app formats. EBN is an online platform used by emergency preparedness managers in the nuclear power industry to manage the many drills and exercises required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to prepare plants to meet any type of threat.
Sean Crabbe says The Hurt Locker, the 2008 Academy Award-winning film that follows an Iraq War ordnance disposal team, comes pretty close to following the approach he and his team take when conducting forensic DNA analysis for the Defense Forensic Science Center. In this episode, Crabbe talks about the work he and his team do, his background and what awaits him when pandemic travel restrictions are lifted. Don't miss this conversation!
Jill Latchana says it's the little things that bring her joy, like a dance party with her five children to celebrate 15 years of marriage to her husband, Neil. Here five children each have different ethnic backgrounds, all are adopted or being fostered, and they clearly bring her joy. You'll hear in her voice as she talks about balancing work, life and caring for her kids during the COVID-19 lockdown in Maryland. Latchana manages the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Program for ORISE. Jenna and Michael talk to Jill about how she and Neil balance work with life as foster parents (they've fostered 18 kids), how they made the decision to adopt, how they pour love into the lives of their foster kids, and so much more. Life is always interesting, and Jill says it takes a village. She talks about her village people too.
States have loosened stay-at-home and safer-at-home restrictions. People are getting their hair done, going out to eat, shopping -- all of the things that came to a halt in mid-March. What have we learned and where do we go from here? Should we remain vigilant about possible exposure to the coronavirus? Are we facing the prospect of a second wave of illness in the fall, assuming the first wave comes to an end? That's the conversation Michael Holtz had with ORAU public health, preparedness and communication experts Freddy Gray, Julie Crumly, Rachel Vasconez and Jennifer Burnette.
As the nation and the world take steps to reopen for business after weeks of safer at home/stay at home practices, the subject of contact tracing is making headlines. What is contact tracing, how does it work, and why is it important? These questions and more are addressed by ORAU health communication and marketing team members. Freddy Gray, Julie Crumly, Rachel Vasconez and Jennifer Burnette join hosts Michael Holtz and Jenna Harpenau for this important and timely conversation.
ORAU employees have been teleworking for nearly two months because of the coronavirus pandemic. In this special episode of Further Together, some employees share how they've celebrated life's important milestones, taken up new hobbies and lessons learned about life with a commute from the bedroom to their in-home workspace. Health, joy, laughter, love and gratitude haven't stopped in a mostly closed world. Special thanks to the employees who shared their stories with us.
Dr. Eric Abelquist, executive vice president and chief research officer, discusses the importance of ORAU's research enterprise, including an explanation of how the ORAU-Directed Research and Development program works, and the organization's research priority areas. Conversations with Eric are always interesting and engaging, and this one is no different. Sit back and enjoy the conversation.
How can 3-D printers help medical personnel in our community who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic? Renee Powell, winner of the 2019 ORAU Extreme Classroom Makeover, and members of ORAU's K-12 STEM education team are using 3-D printers to produce personal protective equipment components, like N95 masks, ear guards for disposable masks and face shields. Powell and ORAU's Kayla Canario share what led to their decisions to offer help in this important way. Join hosts Michael Holtz and Jenna Harpenau for a fun and inspiring conversation.
Cries of "fake news" seem to be everywhere these days, especially in the political world. Who is most vulnerable to believing and/or sharing misinformation or disinformation that has no verifiable facts, sources or quotes? And how can we keep ourselves from sharing information that isn't true. ORAU social scientist Tiffani Conner, Ph.D., who has worked with Penn State University on fake news research, discusses her work, and some of the steps we can all take before sharing something on social media that sounds too good to be true. While this conversation took place before the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, it's very relevant to the situation.
As news and events continue unfold around the spread of COVID-19, questions continue to arise about how the disease is spread and how to prepare for what the World Health Organization has called a global pandemic. Further Together podcast host Michael Holtz had a conversation about COVID-19 and ORAU's pandemic preparedness capability with Wade Williamson, BSN, ORAU occupational health nurse, Freddy Gray, MPH, MCHES, director of health communication and preparedness, and Julie Crumly, Ph.D., health and education program evaluator. From how to protect yourself to our involvement in preparing communities for pandemic response, this is a wide-ranging and very timely conversation.
ORISE manages two two-week summer residential programs for students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and teachers who want to hone their STEM skills. JSTI APG will take place in Baltimore and JSTI ABQ will take place in Albuquerque. Students and teachers work side-by-side with researchers in academic or government research laboratory settings. Jennifer Tyrell and Kayla Canario of the ORISE K-12 team talk about everything students and teachers need to know about these programs. Applications are now open and the programs, including travel, are free.
ORISE has been tracking stay rates for foreign nationals who come to the United States to earn doctoral degrees in science, engineering and other STEM-related fields since the 1970s. Why is this information important? What does it tell us about higher education in the United States? And what does the future look like for foreign nationals who come here to get their degrees? Leigh Ann Pennington and Mike Finn are experts at tracking this data, and explaining what it all means. Join us for an enlightening conversation.
As the population of seniors and pre-seniors continues to rise, cities across the country and around the world must be better prepared to meet their needs. Austin is an age friendly city, with an age friendly action plan, that allows seniors to age in the place of their choosing, while also cultivating a community of connection and support. For ORAU, the growing field of geroscience gives us opportunities to apply our capabilities in support of the aging population. We talk to Ashley Golden, Ph.D., ORAU biostatistician, and Tabitha Taylor, program coordinator for Austin's Age-Friendly City program about the nation's and the world's changing demographics.
Helping Paws Animal Network is a non-profit organization that supports area animal rescue organizations pay vet bills, meet food needs, get shelter and more for animal found in dire situations. This week, HPAN will celebrate raising more than a quarter million dollars and helping well over 1,000 animals throughout the region. in this episode, we talk to Amy Starkey, a founding board member and treasurer of HPAN, and Lisa Hill, owner of Senior Dog Lodge and Animal Rescue, which is located in Sunbright, Tennessee. Senior Dog Lodge is one of the many rescue groups in Anderson and surrounding counties that HPAN has assisted over the years. This is a doggone good episode!
Craig Layman, Ph.D., associate director of workforce development for ORISE, is openly passionate about scientific workforce development, the people who work at every level of his organization, and their impact on the scientific workforce. In this wide-ranging discussion, we discuss K-12 STEM education, research participation programs at the Department of Energy and other federal facilities, longitudinal research studies and so much more. Get ready for an insightful episode of the ORISE Featurecast, a special edition of the Further Together podcast.
For two Christmas seasons running, Tommy the Elf has visited all of us at ORAU. He has learned about our capabilities and shared his knowledge on our social media channels. In this episode of the Further Together podcast, we turn the tables on Tommy and learn more about his life, including his favorite cookie, favorite thing about Christmas, whether anything in the movie "Elf" is real and whether he has gone on world-wide rounds with the big guy in the red suit. At turns informative and hilarious, this special edition is not to be missed.
Dr. Howard Hall is a member of the ORISE Distinguished Scientist Advisory Board, an external panel of recognized experts in scientific and technical disciplines that validates the ORISE vision is maximizing DOE's strategic objectives. Dr. Hall talks about trading his national laboratory career to work in academia at the University of Tennessee. Working for the DSAB combines the best of both worlds.
Desmond Stubbs was an academic late-bloomer. While working as a hotel cater waiter, a chance encounter sparked his pursuit of an academic career in chemistry. In November 2019, Dr. Desmond Stubbs was honored as this year's HBCU Pioneer by the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. The award is given to those who have dedicated a substantial part of their career to the support of historically black colleges and universities, as well as to other underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Stubbs is the director of diversity for ORISE, linking HBCUs with opportunities for students at federal research institutions around the country. Join us for a fun and fascinating conversation.
Could immersive virtual reality hold the key to increased flu vaccination rates among adults age 18-49? A study funded by an ORAU-Directed Research and Development grant and published in the journal Vaccine on Monday, December 2, 2019 sought to answer that question. We talked to Karen Carera, PhD, ORAU senior evaluation specialist, and Glen Nowak, principal investigator and director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication headquartered at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. As you will hear in the episode, this ground-breaking research holds great promise and points to the need for more research in this area.
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate all of the things for which we are grateful. In that spirit, Michael and Jenna turned the microphone over to employees from across ORAU and asked them to share what they are grateful for this year. From all of us at ORAU, Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoy the show.
The nation's unemployment rate is at a historic low. Meanwhile, large numbers of people in the federal scientific workforce are at or nearing retirement age. Opportunities may be plentiful for young and aspiring science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workers, if they're not snatched up by big tech firms first. Michelle Goodson, group manager for workforce solutions at ORAU, talks about the challenges, the opportunities and where ORAU fits in the greening up of the American scientific workforce.
Julia Steed is a senior at Oak Ridge High School. She spent part of her summer working alongside Katie Schuman, a research scientist who specialized in artificial intelligence at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her experience in ORNL's Next Generations STEM Internship Program has fueled Steed's interest in computer science. She and Schuman discuss the work they did together, the importance of mentorship for young scientists and the importance of the NEXTGENS program.
The ORAU strategic plan is not a hallowed document formulated by a committee of executives and then distributed to employees to follow. Rather, our strategic plan is developed, updated, implemented and thoughtfully discussed using Agile, an iterative, cross-functional approach to project management that relies on input from employees at all levels of the company. In fact, upwards of half of ORAU's employees were involved in the development of the latest strategic plan. Jamey Kennedy, ORAU strategic plan advisor, talks about our process, as well as some lessons about life she learned while on a harrowing trip to Norway in early 2019.
ORAU advances research and education through our very talented subject matter experts and thought leaders, many of whom work with our university partners on a wide range of research projects. In this episode, Arlene Garrison, vice president of university partnerships, and Cathy Fore, director of collaborative initiatives, discuss the history of ORAU's relationships with its university partners, the grant funding mechanisms available through the University Partnerships Office, some of the research being conducted, our new relationship with MITRE Corporation and so much more.
Imagine discussing internship and research opportunities with world-renowned scientists from your laptop or mobile device in the comfort of your living room while wearing pajamas. Virtual career fairs allow applicants to do exactly that, which reduced anxiety for applicants, saves money for organizations looking to place candidates, and lets recruiters spend more time with applicants. Amanda Hurley, ORISE section manager for workforce development, and C.J. Mitchell, social media and digital analyst, discuss the importance of virtual career fairs for ORAU, ORISE and our customers.
Josh Hayes, a doctoral student at Colorado State University, hopes wild boars from Fukushima will help lead to a faster process for determine radiation dose during a radiation incident. In addition to his laboratory research, Hayes has twice been to the forests surrounding the Fukushiima Daiichi nuclear plant, where a major radiation leak occurred in 2011. There, he helps trap and capture the boars used in his research. His work is made possible because of ORAU's Visiting Faculty Research Program.
Janie Kimble and Melissa Jones teach math and science, respectively, at Carlin Combined Schools in rural Carlin, Nevada (population 2,300). They have transformed STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in their school, from how they teach to offering a STEM Club, a robotics team, and so much more. This transformation is possible thanks in part to the Joint Science and Technology Institute, a two-week residential program for high school students and teachers that exposes them to scientific research through hands-on projects. JSTI is managed by ORISE and is sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Joint Science Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense.
Wanda Gamble is vice president of business development at ORAU. With more than 20 years of experience in planning, operations, sales, business development and customer relationship management in the science and technology industry, Wanda is very passionate about her work and ORAU’s mission. Wanda loves social media, is an avowed War Eagle as a graduate of Auburn University, and is a big fan of “Game of Thrones,” as you’ll hear in this wide-ranging and fun conversation.
Dr. Adayabalam Balajee, technical director for the ORISE Cytogenetic Biodosimetry Laboratory has had a storied research career, including a stint at the National Institutes of Health. In this conversation, Dr. Balajee talks about the important work of the CBL in helping determine whether someone has been exposed to radiation and how much; REAC/TS, the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site, which trains medical professionals to respond in the event of a radiation emergency; as well as his research, which includes research with bioprinted tissue. Dr. Balajee's work is fascinating. You don't want to miss this episode!
Keri Cagle, director of peer review for ORAU and the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) uses a lottery analogy to discuss the role of peer review in helping organizations funding research and other grants determine which proposals should get funded. She calls peer review the unsung hero of the research funding and proposal evaluation process. Check out our enlightening conversation on an important and often underappreciated topic.
ORAU's experienced health communication professionals and award-winning evidence-based solutions have helped secure national and global health since 1946. Three of our experts discuss the projects their working on, which seem ripped from today's headlines. Kristin Mattson, Jennifer Reynolds and Diane Krause explore their work with on a CDC School Health Branch social media campaign, extensive opioid work in Appalachia and a social media listening project on vaccination messaging.
Picture it: A passionate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teacher discovers all of her educational supplies have been burned or smoke-damaged by a fire in the shed where they were stored. She considers giving up on STEM but her principal tells the teacher to keep her chin up because she just learned the teacher has won a $25,000 prize to build the classroom of her dreams. Renee Powell's story has all the hallmarks of a made-for-cable movie, and it's all true.
Andy Page, President and CEO, talks about his career, and his role as leader of ORAU. On the eve of the company receiving a philanthropy award from the Tennessee Board of Regents, Andy talks about the privilege of being a member of the community and the importance of giving back. ORAU contributes more than $300,000 a years to community and philanthropic initiatives. He also talks a bit about his favorite philanthropic initiative, Extreme Classroom Makeover, where ORAU gives $25,000 to one East Tennessee teacher to make over his or her classroom with new technology.
Jim Vosburg, the director of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which is managed by ORAU for the Department of Energy, talks about his varied career, the programs ORISE offers (scientific workforce development, scientific peer review, the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site, worker health, and independent cleanup verification) and much more. This is an interesting conversation not to be missed!
Dr. Eric Abelquist, executive vice president and chief research officer, discusses ORAU's research enterprise, from our storied past to the present day, as well as future opportunities that exist between our University Consortium members and our subject matter experts.
Nice Murphy, ORAU K-12 education group manager, discusses the importance of educating students at a young age and how it correlates with building up the nation’s scientific workforce. She also talks about the value of partnering with businesses and community organizations to ensure STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education reaches as many young people as possible.
Amanda Hurley, ORAU project manager, recruiter and subject matter expert for recruiting trends and technology, shares her background in marketing and recruiting, gives a great tip on using LinkedIn for finding your next job, and describes how she hunts “purple squirrels,” people with the right skills for difficult-to-fill positions.
Jeffrey R. Miller, Ph.D., CIH, CSP, senior scientists and head of ORAU’s Center for Safety Studies, talks about the subtle but important difference between nuclear safety culture and safety culture. He and his team have asked 30,000 people in the nuclear industry about safety culture, and Jeff talks about what they’ve learned, how he and his team help customers improve their safety culture, and the five dimensions of a strong safety culture. Our inaugural episode is packed with great information.