2505 Dr. Cissy Ballen

Bio bios' first, and possibly only, summer episode features a scientist who was very dear to me, to our colleagues at the University of Memphis, and far beyond, Dr. Judy Cole. It's rare to find someone who can speak with so much insight and curiosity on so many topics and Judy definitely showed that here. I'm so grateful that Jaime Sabel suggested bringing Judy on the show and so grateful to hear another dose of her wisdom and humor. Thank you, Judy. We miss you.

This week I speak with Dr. Cissy Ballen from Auburn University about her research in biology education, the importance of mentors, and "the hidden curriculum." There are some really valuable nuggets (that particular word came up a surprising amount!), especially for undergrads interested in future paths in biology.

This week I talk about forests, salt, community ecology, and way more with Dr. Natalie Clay. Oh, and we may geek out about undergraduate research and Costa Rica a little too.

Dr. Steve Nowicki of Duke University is not only a great researcher in animal behavior, cognition, and neurobiology, he's also the guy who taught me intro bio, which set me down this whole path! This week, I got to chat with him about everything from bird brains and scientific generosity to accordions and tubas--I couldn't be happier about it!

Dr. Scott Sakaluk, Professor Emeritus at Illinois State University, joins us to talk about his varied career in evolutionary biology and animal behavior, insects, birds, and yes, pickleball.

It's 2025's first episode and I sat down with Kendra Wright, a graduate student in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of Memphis. Despite being about a week away from defending her dissertation (!!!), Kendra took time to talk with me about her work in biology education research, specifically about student persistence, her path in research, and gave a couple of TV recommendations to boot.

In our final interview of the Fall 2024 seminar series, I chat with Dr. Joe Opferman of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital about his work in apoptosis, how his practice of keeping doors and options open led him to biology in general, and Memphis in particular.

This week, I chat with Dr. Liz Carlen from Washington University in St. Louis about her work in urban ecology and evolution, the intersection between biology and social sciences, and, of course, the dog park.

University of Memphis PhD Candidate, Matthew Pollard, joins me to talk about his dissertation research on the evolution of diet in carnivores, his path to graduate school (and beyond), and just a little D&D.

Join me for a great conversation with Dr. Anna Dornhaus of the University of Arizona about everything from collective behavior of ants through distributed computing and finally some great ideas about the philosophy of science and open science.