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Journeys of Scientists

Journeys of Scientists

By MSU WaMPS

This podcast is created by WaMPS (Women and Minorities in the Physical Sciences), a graduate student organization at Michigan State University. These are informal conversations with graduate students to learn about the journeys that brought them to where they are today.

For updates on other WaMPS events, follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can direct message us at either of those sites if you would like to reach out to us.
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Episode 34 - Melinda Meiring

Journeys of ScientistsJun 16, 2021

00:00
36:30
Episode 90 - Keontré Immanuel Hughes
Oct 21, 202243:32
Episode 89 - Georgia Votta
Sep 21, 202225:24
Episode 88 - Nicole Hayes
Aug 31, 202226:13
Episode 87 - Rachel Roca
Aug 24, 202222:35
Episode 86 - Amelia Doetsch
Aug 17, 202226:30
Episode 85 - Jessica Mencia

Episode 85 - Jessica Mencia

Jessica J. Mencia (she/her/ella) is a PhD student at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. She completed her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a major in Public Policy and double minors in Latinx Studies and Women and Gender Studies. Jessica currently researches abortion accessibility and sexual-risk taking for young women and non-binary youth. She identifies as Honduran-American, queer, and manatee enthusiast.  

4theRecord: https://www.4trecord.com/   

NY Birth Control Access Project: h    ttps://nybcap.org/

National Network of Abortion Funds: https://abortionfunds.org/  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu 

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email  WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Aug 10, 202233:32
Episode 84 - Sarah Castle
Jul 27, 202224:38
Episode 83 - Emily Bolger
Jul 20, 202218:27
Episode 82 - Aubree Marshall
Jun 29, 202219:14
Episode 81 - Samara Chamoun
Jun 22, 202223:11
Episode 80 - Carolyn Graham
Jun 15, 202223:00
Episode 79 - Alyssa Saunders
Jun 08, 202226:42
Episode 78 - Gissell Sanchez
Jun 01, 202240:27
Episode 77 - Danika Van Niel

Episode 77 - Danika Van Niel

Danika is a fourth year math PhD student studying equivariant homotopy theory. Danika enjoys spending time with her friends, family and two  rabbits Mimi and Moomoo in her free time.

Check out her website: https://www.danikavanniel.com/home

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu 

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS  outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

May 25, 202230:39
Episode 76 - Ursula Abou-Rjeileh

Episode 76 - Ursula Abou-Rjeileh

Ursula is a second year PhD student in the comparative medicine and integrative biology program. Her research focuses on understanding oleic acid's effect on adipose tissue metabolism in early postpartum dairy cows.

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu 

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone  to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS  outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

May 18, 202225:51
Episode 75 - Emily Liljestrand

Episode 75 - Emily Liljestrand

Emily is a Fisheries and Wildlife PhD candidate studying the statistics  underpinning stock assessment models. Her work aims to find the best  techniques to accurately and precisely estimate fish  population abundances using fishery data.  

Check out the MSU Falcon Cam: https://youtu.be/xZxtVFoW9ts  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu  

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu



May 11, 202243:59
Episode 74 - Marzieh Ghiasi

Episode 74 - Marzieh Ghiasi

Marzieh Ghiasi MSc (@marziehg) is an MD/PhD epidemiology trainee at Michigan State University studying clustering techniques and genetic epidemiology in chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis. Her background in research is in airborne infectious disease transmission and environmental health.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

May 04, 202238:01
Episode 73 - Isabela Lima Borges

Episode 73 - Isabela Lima Borges

Isabela is a PhD student in the department of Integrative Biology at MSU. She studies how small and fragmented natural populations persist and interact with their environments.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu   

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu


Apr 27, 202226:19
Episode 72 - Madison Howard

Episode 72 - Madison Howard

Madison is a 2nd year PhD student studying experimental accelerator physics, with a focus on beam diagnostics. In her free time, Madison enjoys reading, baking, and being a cat mom to her two cats, Hannibal and Frannie.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu  

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Apr 20, 202220:26
Episode 71 - Maria Kloboves
Apr 13, 202235:24
Episode 70 - Carmen-Maria Garcia
Apr 06, 202233:20
Episode 69 - Erin Kramer
Mar 30, 202223:09
Episode 68 - Sara Hugentobler
Mar 23, 202228:40
Episode 67 - Osama Alian

Episode 67 - Osama Alian

Osama is a microbiology and molecular genetics PhD candidate studying microbes living in deep ocean hydrothermal systems and trying to understand what they can tell us about life beyond earth.

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Mar 16, 202231:25
Episode 66 - Toni Gordon

Episode 66 - Toni Gordon

Antonia “Toni”  Gordon is an Army Veteran and Political Science PhD student. Her  research interests include Public Policy with an emphasis on education policy reform.

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions,   or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys   of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan   at stanl142@msu.edu

Mar 09, 202231:49
Episode 65 - Samantha Ziomek
Mar 02, 202226:46
Episode 64 - Macy Pell

Episode 64 - Macy Pell

Macy is a PhD candidate in Dr. Shannon Manning's lab in the department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. Macy studies the genomic  diversity and stress-tolerance mechanisms of persistent Group B Streptococcus infections during pregnancy.

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Feb 23, 202225:36
Episode 63 - Rachael Pyram
Feb 16, 202222:43
Episode 62 - Zoe Hansen
Feb 09, 202230:03
Episode 61 - Arianna Troia

Episode 61 - Arianna Troia

Arianna is a first year veterinary student at MSU college of veterinary medicine. She is interested in pursuing a career in small animal medicine. Her hobbies include practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu, going to the gym, and doing jigsaw puzzles. You can follow her on Instagram: @veterin.ari

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at  stanl142@msu.edu

Feb 02, 202227:32
Episode 60 - Grace Tukurah
Dec 29, 202129:31
Episode 59 - Erin White
Dec 22, 202133:41
Episode 58 - Kandace Griffin

Episode 58 - Kandace Griffin

Kandace is a PhD student investigating how migrating sea lamprey use habitat features and chemical cues to avoid predators when moving through rivers. This information will allow us to create novel invasive species control methods based on manipulating and exploiting these movement tendencies.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu  

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Dec 15, 202138:36
Episode 57 - Hazel Anderson
Dec 08, 202134:24
Episode 56 - Laurisa Ankley
Dec 01, 202127:47
Episode 55 - Julie Jarvey
Nov 10, 202132:00
Episode 54 - Tracy Edwards

Episode 54 - Tracy Edwards

Tracy is a 2nd year nuclear physics and radiochemistry PhD student. Her research is focused on harvesting isotopes for the purpose  of medical applications. In her free time, Tracy enjoys binge watching crime shows, learning how to cook from YouTube videos and being a cat mom to Lilo and Stitch!  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu  

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys  of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Nov 03, 202128:02
Episode 53 - Amanda Witwer

Episode 53 - Amanda Witwer

Amanda is a 1st year PhD student in the School of Criminal Justice. Her research interests include intimate partner violence (IPV), technology-facilitated abuse, and court policy and technology. In her free time, she collects houseplants, goes biking on local trails, and learns new recipes.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu  

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys  of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Oct 27, 202132:29
Episode 52 - Bianca Serda

Episode 52 - Bianca Serda

Bianca graduated from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. Bianca is originally from San Jose, California, and also has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from San Jose State University. As an undergraduate at UNM, Bianca was an NIH Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Scholar and NSF Louis Stokes New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation (NM  AMP) Scholar. Bianca's undergraduate research project focused on  understanding plants' growth development, anatomical, and photosynthetic  rates, Arabidopsis thaliana, in a microgravity environment, in Dr. David Hanson's laboratory. During her undergraduate degree at UNM, she did an  internship in the Space Life Science Training Program at NASA Ames  Research Center. Bianca is now a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Molecular Plant Sciences program. She is now a member of Dr. Thomas Sharkey's laboratory, where she studies the mechanism of the protective role of isoprene against ozone stress. In her free time, she is involved in the BMB Outreach program, Co-Outreach coordinator for MSU AMPSS, BMB Graduate Student DEI Representative, and on the Student Board for the American Society of Gravitational and Space Research.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions,  or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Oct 20, 202136:04
Episode 51 - Samridhi Satija

Episode 51 - Samridhi Satija

Samridhi is a 3rd year Chemistry PhD candidate focusing on harvesting radionuclides from heavy-ion beam irradiated refractory metals. My  hobbies include cooking Indian delicacies and binge-watching The Office.

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Oct 13, 202128:12
Episode 50 - Sarah Tymochko

Episode 50 - Sarah Tymochko

Sarah is a 5th year PhD student in the department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering. Her research interests include applied and computational topology, time series analysis, and machine learning. Outside of math, she spends most of her time playing with her dog, Bella.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Oct 06, 202131:15
Episode 49 - Jane Kim

Episode 49 - Jane Kim

Jane is a 4th year PhD candidate studying nuclear many-body problems and ways machine learning can improve existing computational methods. On her free time, she likes to hike and crochet.

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of  Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at  stanl142@msu.edu

Sep 29, 202132:36
Episode 48 - Karina Martirosova

Episode 48 - Karina Martirosova

Karina is a 3rd year graduate student pursuing a PhD in Physics. She works at FRIB on applying bayesian analysis and modeling to heavy-ion  collision research to gain a better understanding of quark-gluon plasma properties.

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Sep 22, 202132:45
Episode 47 - Sarah McGuire

Episode 47 - Sarah McGuire

Sarah is a 3rd year PhD student in the department of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering (CMSE). Her current research  interests involve applied topology and machine learning applications for graph structured data. Her non-math interests include running, crocheting, and doing jigsaw puzzles.

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Sep 15, 202129:14
Episode 46 - Olivia Utley

Episode 46 - Olivia Utley

Olivia is a 5th year PhD candidate studying predator effects on prey behavior in agroecosystems. She is currently working with American Kestrels  (North America’s smallest falcon) in Michigan cherry crops.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Sep 08, 202137:59
Episode 45 - Erik Amézquita
Sep 01, 202138:06
Episode 44 - Jen Fry

Episode 44 - Jen Fry

Jen Fry is a PhD student in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences at MSU. "The purpose of my research is to use the experiences of current and former Black female volleyball players who have played internationally to inform coaches, agents, parents, and staff who support pre-professional Black female volleyball players, and the Black female volleyball players themselves, who are currently playing collegiate volleyball and considering playing professionally on the experiences they are likely to have overseas. I will be situating my area of expertise within geography as it allows me to think boldly about how the intersection of race, gender, sport, and geography affects the experiences of Black female athletes, both domestically and internationally."

In addition, she runs JenFryTalks, LLC, which is a social justice education firm that uses conversation to educate and empower those within athletics through an anti-racist lens on issues of race, inclusion, intersectionality, diversity, and equity. Learn more at https://www.jenfrytalks.com/  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Aug 25, 202144:21
Episode 43 - Chloe Lewis
Aug 18, 202138:52
Episode 42 - Yoani Herrera

Episode 42 - Yoani Herrera

Yoani is a Neuroscience PhD student at the University of Michigan's Medical School. She got her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from UMich, and is now studying synaptic and network mechanisms used by neural circuits in the auditory system for encoding sound and speech for her graduate studies.  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at  stanl142@msu.edu

Aug 11, 202135:06
Episode 41 - Andrés Galindo Olarte

Episode 41 - Andrés Galindo Olarte

Andrés is an incoming 4th year PhD student in the Department of Mathematics. His research broadly consist in how to best numerically approximate solutions for Partial Differential Equations that appear in Mathematical-Physics. He investigates both theory and computational algorithms.  

He is also an international student coming from Colombia and the president of Comunidad Latinoamericana at MSU (CLA), CLA is a student organization that promotes culture and community for international students from across Latin America. (@comunidadmsu on Facebook and Instagram, and the website is https://comunidadmsu.wixsite.com/comunidad-msu)  

To keep up to date with WaMPS updates, you can follow @msuwamps on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or visit our website https://www.wamps.org. If you would like to learn more about graduate school in physics and astronomy at MSU, check out https://pa.msu.edu  

If you would like to leave comments, questions, or recommend someone to be interviewed on Journeys of Scientists, you can email WaMPS outreach coordinator Bryan at stanl142@msu.edu

Aug 04, 202133:29