Life, the Universe, and Everything: An Unconventional Science Podcast

Kathrine O'Brien on work-life balance and starfish

STEAM factory friend Katherine O'Brien tells another great story on work-life balance, starfish and a scientist she admires at a "STEAM Exchange" event in 2019. Enjoy!

STEAM Factory friend Jim Fowler on Voices of Excellence podcast

Only a few people have been with the STEAM factory as long as math professor Jim Fowler has. He shares his love for mathematics with another STEAM factory supporter professor David Staley on OSU's Voices of Excellence podcast. You can find more interviews from voices of excellence at this link: https://soundcloud.com/voices_arts_sciences

Chris Orban on OSU Voices of Excellence Podcast

STEAM factory podcast host Chris Orban sits down with OSU history professor and STEAM Factory friend David Staley for an interview on OSU's Voices of Excellence podcast. From virtual reality education research to plasma physics to cosmology, Chris covers it all in 26 minutes. For more great interviews, check out the Voices of Excellence SoundCloud page: https://soundcloud.com/voices_arts_sciences

Being a student journalist during a terrorist attack

On November 28, 2016, an OSU student who was a Somali refugee ran his car into a crowd outside an engineering building and jumped out wielding a knife to try to hurt more people. Although several people were injured, only the attacker died in the incident, which became breaking news around the country and a political flash point only a few weeks after the 2016 election. OSU’s student newspaper – The Lantern – played a central role in providing national news organizations with updates on the situation. We rebroadcast an episode of The Student Slant podcast (https://studentslant.podbean.com/) from OSU’s school of journalism where students talk about covering the event and being in the newsroom that day. STEAM factory intern Jake Rahe, who is also a commentator on the Student Slant, helps to introduce the segment.

Katherine O’Brien’s love for science and overcoming obstacles as a kid

Dr. Katherine O’Brien is a research postdoc and outreach coordinator for the OSU Museum of Biological Diversity (https://mbd.osu.edu/). She also helps coordinate the Columbus Science Pub (https://www.facebook.com/ColumbusSciencePub/), which is one of the longest-running and most successful science outreach groups in central Ohio. Katherine shares a personal story of how her love of science helped her overcome obstacles when she was in elementary school.

Sam White’s unlikely academic journey

Sam White is a long-time STEAM factory member and professor in the history department. He shares the story of his unlikely trajectory from working towards a job in the State Department to studying the history of climate change. For more about Sam's work, check out his appearance on the History Talk podcast at this link: http://origins.osu.edu/historytalk/sixth-extinction-and-our-unraveling-world   History Talk is a podcast produced by members of the history departments at OSU and Miami University. Sam's story was recorded on October 5, 2017 at the Columbus Speakeasy (www.speakeasycolumbus.org).

Interview with genetics expert and popular science speaker Rob Pyatt (Part 2)

Few people have contributed as much to the science outreach scene in Columbus as Rob Pyatt, who helped found the immensely popular Columbus Science Pub and regularly engaged audiences at events across Central Ohio. By day, Rob is a genetics expert who works in a hospital setting to identify rare diseases. We sat down with him to get more of his back story and to wish him well in his new role.

Interview with genetics expert and popular science speaker Rob Pyatt (Part 1)

Few people have contributed as much to the science outreach scene in Columbus as Rob Pyatt, who helped found the immensely popular Columbus Science Pub and regularly engaged audiences at events across Central Ohio. By day, Rob is a genetics expert who works in a hospital setting to identify rare diseases. We sat down with him to get more of his back story and to wish him well in his new role.

Chris Scientifically Proves the Existence of God

STEAM factory member Chris Orban takes us on a journey through creationism, intelligent design and proving the existence of God. The story was recorded at the Columbus Speakeasy on October 5, 2017 with the theme "Blinded me with science". For more awesome, check out the Columbus Speakeasy website: https://www.speakeasycbus.org/   

Interview with retired black journalist Martin Weston

Martin Weston was a retired journalist who lived in the Weinland Park neighborhood near Ohio State University. We sat down with him for an extended conversation about his life as a black journalist and his perspective on how the journalistic world has changed with social media and the 2016 election. Sadly, Mr. Weston passed away in February 2018, making this interview his last extended on-the-record conversation about his life and work.