Polycast
By David Kozuch
PolycastFeb 10, 2020
68 - Victor Glover (International Space Station)
This is a show that explores the lives of Cal Poly students, faculty, and alumni, revealing unique experiences and the abundance of opportunities available. We are excited to sit down with some incredible people from a wide range of backgrounds and hear them share valuable knowledge from their fields of expertise.
67 - Dr. Nishi Rajakaruna (Geobotany)
This is a show that explores the lives of Cal Poly students, faculty, and alumni, revealing unique experiences and the abundance of opportunities available. We are excited to sit down with some incredible people from a wide range of backgrounds and hear them share valuable knowledge from their fields of expertise.
66 - Tawny Sterios (Yoga Instructor)
This is a show that explores the lives of Cal Poly students, faculty, and alumni, revealing unique experiences and the abundance of opportunities available. We are excited to sit down with some incredible people from a wide range of backgrounds and hear them share valuable knowledge from their fields of expertise.
65 - David Roth (Produce Broker)
This is a show where I explore the lives of Cal Poly students, faculty, and alumni, revealing unique experiences and the abundance of opportunities available. I am excited to sit down with some incredible people from a wide range of backgrounds and hear them share valuable knowledge from their fields of expertise.
64 - Kim Bisheff (Misinformation)
This is a show that explores the lives of Cal Poly students, faculty, and alumni, revealing unique experiences and the abundance of opportunities available. We are excited to sit down with some incredible people from a wide range of backgrounds and hear them share valuable knowledge from their fields of expertise.
63 - Tyler Sams (GoPro)
This is a show that explores the lives of Cal Poly students, faculty, and alumni, revealing unique experiences and the abundance of opportunities available. We are excited to sit down with some incredible people from a wide range of backgrounds and hear them share valuable knowledge from their fields of expertise.
62 - Jimmy Kang (Product Manager)
This is a show that explores the lives of Cal Poly students, faculty, and alumni, revealing unique experiences and the abundance of opportunities available. We are excited to sit down with some incredible people from a wide range of backgrounds and hear them share valuable knowledge from their fields of expertise.
61 - James Whelan (Scientific Diving)
James Whelan is a recent graduate of Cal Poly with a degree in biology and marine sciences. He spends his free time in the ocean, but it is also where most of his academic career took place. From tagging elephant seals up and down the Central Coast to leading the scientific diving class for the Marine Sciences center, Whelan filled his college experience by combining science and fun.
60 - Natalie Miller (Open Education)
Natalie Miller is a Cal Poly Computer Science graduate with a minor in Entrepreneurship. Nat takes part in open education, a space that helps to work to break the barriers students may face when trying to access materials to learn. Her passion for open education and the realm of learning shines bright through her involvement within open education and through the stories she shares.
59 - Katerina Axelsson (Tastry)
Katerina Axelsson has shaped the last couple years around the model “you fail by quitting.” She applies this theory to her start-up company -- Tastry. During her time at Cal Poly as a chemistry major, she stumbled into the entrepreneurship program and eventually worked at the HotHouse in downtown San Luis Obispo. Through her company, Axelsson has essentially taught a computer how to taste and leads innovation in industries from wine to coffee.
58 - Mark Borges (ASI Student President)
Mark Borges is a 4th-year Environmental Management and Protection major with a minor in Water Science, Sustainable Agriculture, and Agricultural Leadership at Cal Poly. Serving various positions within Cal Poly’s student government, Mark currently stands as Cal Poly’s ASI Student President on campus. His passion shines through his involvement within various positions within student government and through the stories he shares.
57 - Tavin Boynton (BoltAbout Coworking)
Tavin Boynton is a Cal Poly graduate and co-founder of the local start-up BoltAbout CoWorking. The start-up has an office in San Luis Obispo and offers a monthly membership and 24hr office space to up and coming entrepreneurs. Boynton and his team are continuing to grow their start-up and share their story with the community.
https://www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/57
56 - Sahil Gupta (Quokka Brew)
Sahil Gupta is a 4th-year Business Information Systems major at California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo. He is the CRO of Quokka Brew, the first fully-caffeinated, jitterless cold brew on the market. Sahil has worked to develop his interest and skills in the past within the business world and continues to share his passion for business and coffee through working as the CRO at Quokka Brew.
55 - Dr. Costanzo (Polymer Synthesis)
Philip Costanzo is a Cal Poly chemistry professor who specializes in organic synthesis and polymers. He has been a professor for the last 12 years and was the Chief Scientific Officer at two companies before that.
54 - Michael Fernandez (LightSail 2)
Micheal Fernandez is a fourth-year physics major who has been part of the Cal Poly CubeSat lab for the past 3 years. CubeSat is an on-campus research lab that develops small spacecraft to test new technology in a low-cost fashion. Michael is the point of contact for the LightSail 2 mission at the Cal Poly ground control.
53 - Trent Ellingsen (Atlas Alpha)
Trent Ellingsen is the founder and CEO of Atlas Alpha and a Cal Poly Computer Science Graduate. After working as a Software Engineer at Mindbody for 5 years, he founded Atlas Alpha in 2017 with the mission to create a platform that fostered deep engagement within hobbies like board gaming.
https://www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/53
52 - Tyler Beaty (AfterHours)
Tyler is a multi-disciplinary designer with deep business experience. He is the founder and creative director of the branding agency, AfterHours which specializes in creating unique and ubiquitous branding for startups.
www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/52
51 - Mackenzie Fell (DJ Felly Fell)
Mackenzie Fell is a music DJ and current student at Cal Poly. Under the name Felly Fell, she has developed a unique style, performing at various events and festivals. She is also involved in SubSessions, a platform for Central Coast creators of all sorts.
https://www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/51
50 - Davy Drones (Polycast)
Davy is an entrepreneur living in San Luis Obispo, CA and is pursuing an aerospace engineering degree at Cal Poly. He is the host of Polycast where he explores the lives of the Cal Poly community. Davy is an avid drone pilot experiencing every sunrise at the beach.
www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/50
49 - Peter Schwartz (Sustainability)
Pete is interested in sustainability in all facets: energy, resources, equity, and collaboration and community building especially with people in developing countries. In what he sees as an imminent transition in energy, resources, and information, he is interested in both the technologies and the related societal transitions.
www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/49
48 - Brett Foreman (Kick-it Points)
Brett Foreman is a former Cal Poly student and the founder of Kick-it Points, an app that rewards users with deals at local businesses when they do activities around San Luis Obispo County — like hiking Bishop Peak or checking in on the Cal Poly campus (think Pokémon Go meets Groupon).
www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/48
47 - David Arrivée (Symphony Conductor)
David Arrivée has been fortunate to work with a variety of ensembles as a conductor, pianist, harpsichordist, and clarinetist. He is the director of the Cal Poly Symphony and a professor in the Cal Poly Music Department, where he teaches theory, musicianship, conducting, topics in history and chamber ensembles. He founded Cal Poly’s annual beach Week, which brings together faculty, students and guest artists to perform the vocal and instrumental works of J.S. Bach.
www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/47
46 - Dr. Ronda Beaman (Dream Makers)
Dr. Beaman is an internationally recognized expert on leadership, resilience, health and wellness, education, and coaching. She has conducted research in a host of areas, written many academic articles and books, and won numerous awards. Dr. B is the founder of Dream Makers SLO where community members volunteer to make the dreams of terminally ill adults come true.
45 - Haley Wintsch (CalFresh)
Haley is a nutrition major at Cal Poly and has just started her senior year. As a freshman, she joined the newly formed CalFresh program where she became very involved and has stuck with it all four years. Through this program, Haley has helped alleviate food insecurities among dozens of students.
44 - Judy Mahan (CIE Incubator)
Judy is the Incubator Director for the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the SLO HotHouse. She comes from years of experience as a corporate and securities attorney and currently provides legal advice to companies around SLO county. At the HotHouse, Judy leads programming to assist in the business development of over a dozen currently incubating companies.
43 - Dr. Sapper (Polymers and Coatings)
Dr. Erik Sapper is a professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department at Cal Poly. His research interests include using math, statistics, models, and machine learning to design new coatings and polymeric materials from the perspective of defeating failure, breakdown and degradation while optimizing performance and functionality.
https://www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/43
42 - Anika Narula (Environmental Engineering)
Anika Narula, the former president of Cal Poly’s Society for Environmental Engineers, discusses getting involved with her major and how it impacted her academic career at Cal Poly. She explains what an environmental engineer is and their hopes for a cleaner world. She is finishing up her last year as an undergraduate but will be staying at Cal Poly next year to work on a masters in Civil Engineering.
41 - Alison Bode (Massage Therapist)
Alison attended Cal Poly as a philosophy major and has since studied to become a massage therapist. She ran her own practice in downtown San Luis Obispo where she performed orthopedic and oncology massage. Alison now lives in Chicago and is getting her Master’s in Occupational Therapy.
40 - Libby Parker (Permission to Eat)
Libby Parker is a registered dietician and published author of the book, “Permission to Eat”. A Cal Poly alumni, Libby uses compassion and evidence-based science to help college students struggling with eating disorders relearn how to eat intuitively. Her expertise and passion for helping people really shines through during this podcast, as she shares her stories and advice.
Shownotes: https://www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/40
39 - Arnold Deffo (Aerospace Engineering)
Dr. Deffo is a professor in the aerospace department teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses. He recently finished his Ph.D. at Cal Tech with his thesis on dislocation dynamics.
www.davidkozuch.com/episodes/39
38 - Richard Emberley (Fire Protection)
Richard Emberley is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Cal Poly, specializing in Fire Protection Engineering. With years of experience working in Structural Engineering and around Fire Safety, Emberley combined both fields to teach graduate courses in Fire Protection Mechanical Engineering. He provides numerous stories about various projects he has worked on, information about the field, and some advice for current students at Cal Poly.
37 - Themis Mastoridis (Accelerator Physics)
Themis Mastoridis is an assistant professor in the physics department with research interests including accelerator physics, beam dynamics, and control theory. He has worked with the Large Hadron Collider and Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN, bringing students with him to assist in his research.
CIE: Meet the Accelerator Teams
The Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship or (CIE) opens a world of entrepreneurial opportunity to Cal Poly students, faculty and community members and promotes entrepreneurial activity and dialogue across the university and throughout San Luis Obispo.
The 12 week summer CIE accelerator program matches student entrepreneurs with a diverse pool of mentors and speakers who help guide and support them throughout the summer. In addition to hands-on mentorship and weekly workshops, companies in the accelerator program have access to $10,000 in seed funding to start building their business.
Demo Day Registration: https://ciedemoday2019.eventbrite.com
More about CIE: https://cie.calpoly.edu/
36 - Matt Maxwell (BoltAbout)
Matt Maxwell is the CEO and co-founder of BoltAbout, an electric bike company based in San Luis Obispo. Having studied Business Administration and Finance at Cal Poly, Matt’s strong entrepreneurial drive and spirit has allowed him to build and grow start-ups such as BoltAbout, from an idea he had one summer his third year at Cal Poly into what it has become today. Utilizing his background in business, entrepreneurship and his positive attitude, he and his team are working hard to create sustainable, quick, and easy-to-use transportation for students, commuters, and even for police officers to help change the way we commute to where we need to go.
Check out BoltAbout: https://boltabout.com/
Show Notes: https://www.davidkozuch.com/polycast/36
35 - Stavros Diamantopoulos (PolySat)
Stavros is an international student from Greece and is currently working towards obtaining his master's degree in aerospace engineering. He is a member of the aerospace team at the Cal Poly CubeSat laboratory, PolySat where he is highly involved in a variety of projects. Through his involvement on campus, he has gained lots of experience working in cleanrooms and performing hands-on work.
34 - Megan Rivoire (Americorps)
Megan Rivoire is the coordinator for the campus Center for Service in Action. She first became involved with this program during her first year as a student here at Cal Poly. After graduating, she worked for various organizations in the nonprofit sector through Americorps before eventually coming back to work at Cal Poly.
33 - Kate Ballantyne (Geoarchaeology)
Kate Ballantyne is a Deputy Director at the County Public Works Department in San Luis Obispo. An alumnus from Cal Poly and University of California Santa Barbara, Kate has worked with different groups including CalTrans, Cal Poly, and the County of San Luis Obispo where she currently works. With a ton of experience under her belt, Kate’s expertise shines brightly.
32 - Hayley Nenadal (SLO Motion Film)
Hayley is one of the founders of SLO Motion Film, a new local film company and film festival organizer based out of San Luis Obispo, CA. With tons of experience in the film industry under her belt, Hayley and SLO Motion Film help give independent storytellers the platform to allow them to share their stories, ideas, and experiences to inspire and motivate their audiences.
31 - Jason Linn (Ancient Greece)
“Jedi Master” Jason Linn, as students call him, took many different career paths before ending up at Cal Poly as a lecturer for the History Department. From dreaming of running for state office to changing his area of study from classics to history, Linn continued to the next challenge of his life: becoming a history professor. Linn went to CU Boulder and UCSB for his Masters and PhD, and now shares his wide knowledge with Cal Poly students through story-telling with costumes and props.
30 - Amelia Meyerhoff (The Clapback)
Amelia Meyerhoff is a senior at Cal Poly and will be graduating with a degree in English. For her Senior Project, she conducted a research investigation called “The Clapback” where she interviewed 61 survivors of sexual violence. Her research focused on the experiences of each survivor and how the lasting effects of sexual violence impacts their daily lives.
29 - Owen Main (Athletics Photographer)
Owen Main is the sports photographer for Cal Poly Athletics, shooting photography to showcase the best of what our athletics have to offer. An alumnus of Cal Poly, Owen has worked hard to establish himself as a creative and his passion shines through his stories and advice he shares throughout his time as a photographer and as a professional.
28 - Tyree Cochrane (Rodeo Queen)
Tyree is a SLO-native and Animal Science senior at Cal Poly. She began participating in rodeos at the age of 4 and has continued all the way through her college career. Recently, she won the title of Rodeo Queen at the Cal Poly Rodeo. Even after college, Cochrane hopes to continue being involved with pro rodeos.
27 - Rose Badrigian (BooBees)
Rose is the founder of BooBees, a local surf company specializing in creating sustainable surf wax while working to empower women all around the globe. A former student at Cal Poly studying biology, Rose has worked hard to create a brand that is not only environmentally friendly and does the job right but also helps support women in the surfing industry all at the same time. Her passion for surfing and entrepreneurship shines very brightly and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for Rose and BooBees!
26 - Dr. Watts (Biochemistry)
Dr. Watts found her passion for science at a very young age through a science fair project regarding compost and was influenced by her parents who both have PhDs in science fields. She was a chemistry major during her undergrad, originally on the physician track, but switched to studying molecular discovery in natural products in graduate school at UC Santa Cruz. Dr. Watts is very interested in biological activity, isolating molecules and seeing what causes their activity, and enjoys studying accessible natural products, such as soil, with her students here at Cal Poly as a teacher and researcher.
25 - Victor Glover (NASA Astronaut)
Victor J. Glover, Jr. was selected as an astronaut in 2013 while serving as a Legislative Fellow in the United States Senate. He is currently training for Crew-1, the first post-certification mission of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft – the second crewed flight for that vehicle – and a long duration mission aboard the International Space Station. Glover and his crewmates are working closely with SpaceX to develop their new spacecraft systems, which will provide roundtrip crew transportation services to the International Space Station and, along with Boeing’s Starliner, return the ability to launch humans into space from United States soil.
24 - Jason Reynolds (Jinxbot 3D Printing)
Jason Reynolds is the founder of Jinxbot 3D Printing, a service business focused in hobby printing, rapid prototyping, and product design for businesses in the Bay Area and around the world! Graduating from Cal Poly in 2009 as an Industrial Technology major, Jason went on to work for a number of different companies before founding Jinxbot 3D Printing. His passion for not only 3D printing but entrepreneurship shines brightly throughout his work in various fields, including medical applications and working with large tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Tesla.
23 - Haley Pavone (Pashion Footwear)
Haley Pavone was a student at Cal Poly when she had an idea for her very own startup, creating convertible shoes that can go from fancy heel to functional sandal in a matter of seconds. In just a few months, she began pitching her idea to the Hatchery and entering entrepreneurship competitions to progress her business plan. After many months of planning, prototyping, and finding funding, Pavone was able to launch Pashion Footwear.
22 - Sarah Bridger (Scientists at War)
Dr. Bridger is an author and history professor at Cal Poly. She earned her undergraduate degree at Brown University and her PhD at Columbia University. Stemming from a postgraduate dissertation, she published “Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research.” Now, Bridger is focused on teaching several history classes at Cal Poly, including United States History since 1865 and Cold War Science and Society.
21 - David Askay (Design Thinking)
Dr. Askay is a Communication Studies professor with a background in organizational science, a field that combines sociology, physiology, management and communication. Before coming to Cal Poly in 2013, he taught small group and business communication at UNC Charlotte as well as English in Japan. Dr. Askay shares an eclectic mix of stories from couch surfing across Europe, joining the Yelp Elite Squad and implementing design thinking in his classes at Cal Poly.
20 - Emma Chow (Conservationist)
Emma Chow is a conservationist for the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). Her office is based in Santa Maria but covers all of Santa Barbara County. She graduated from Cal Poly with a Bachelor’s degree in environmental protection and management and has been working for the NRCS ever since. She has worked up and down the coast of California to help farmers make their farms more viable businesses. Chow is appreciative of her education and how it has influenced her in pursuing a fulfilling career.