Hoos in STEM STEM Advisor to the Provost at the University of Virginia

Dr. Scott Doney is a superstar environmental scientist, the Kington Professor in Environmental Change at UVA and Assistant Director of Ocean Climate Science at the White House. In this Earth Day episode, he sits down with host Dr. Ken Ono to discuss the devastating effects of climate change on the world's oceans and our coastal environments, a well as the latest approaches to fight the climate crisis--including the recent U.S. Ocean Climate Action Plan, a roadmap to harnessing the power of the ocean to address climate change.

Dr. George Bloom is a renowned cell biologist whose longtime focus has been deciphering the cellular processes at the heart of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease, such as the buildup of amyloid-β peptides and tau protein tangles. In this episode, he sits down with host Dr. Ken Ono to discuss our understanding of Alzheimer's mechanisms, the current state of treatment, recent advances in diagnostic technology, and the future of research into neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Mona Sloane is a superstar sociologist studying the intersection of technology and society. She leads the Co-Opting AI series, as well as UVA's Sloane Lab, which studies AI ethics, policy, and transparency. In this episode, she sits down with host Dr. Ken Ono to discuss the ethics of generative AI, the "social infrastructure" being created by AI, and how that infrastructure influences our society.

As of release (April 5th, 2024), the Sloane Lab is looking for a postdoc to conduct qualitative research on AI and HR management. Find out more on Dr. Sloane's website.

Dr. Karen Kafadar is a renowned statistician who has worked across the country in government, industry, and academics. In this episode, she sits down with host Ken Ono to discuss her long history of statistics: from early mentors to her work in forensic science and her time growing UVA's Department of Statistics as Chair. They also discuss how UVA's statisticians can be found everywhere --from space travel to medicine to AI--and the role of statistical expertise in a changing world.

This week, Professor Mar Hicks of UVA's School of Data Science and Margot Lee Shetterly, author of "Hidden Figures," join host Ken Ono to discuss the remarkable women whose contributions to STEM have been forgotten--from biologists to code-breakers to the "human computers" whose computations helped America win the Space Race.

That's why they're announcing the launch of the Human Computer Project Census--an effort to document the names and stories of NASA's human computers. And they're looking for students and faculty to help. Participants will collect oral and recorded history, search through archives, and review primary and secondary sources to recover the names and biographies of the women who worked at NASA from 1935 to 1980.

The deadline to apply for this paid internship is Monday, March 11th, 2024. The internship starts in early June. The application can be found here.

UVA third-year Astrophysics major Samuel Crowe holds a distinct honor-- he's one of, if not the only undergraduate Principal Investigator with access to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Last year, his research proposal was accepted as one of just 249 programs selected to make use of the telescope's valuable time.

In this episode, Sam sits down with host Ken Ono to discuss his early love for astrophysics and history, his mentors and training at UVA, and what it means to lead a project exploring the origins of massive stars.