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Posts tagged as “Physics”

LSS 57: Women in STEM, Science and Health Communication, Nobel Prizes

The last show of March brings in discussions about the numerous gender-based obstacles that impede research and career advancement for women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) and how men can be better allies to women in the sciences; the most recent Nobel prize winner in physics; breast cancer screening overuse, and our science event calendar.

As always the science is local, fresh, and yours to enjoy.

The main interview takes us on location to D.C. for the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting held in February. The first segment is with Christine O’Connell, a Cornell alumna, who was the founding Associate Director at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University where she helped create and build the Center and its curriculum to international acclaim. O’Connell is currently an assistant professor of communicating science at Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism.

The second segment is with Bruce Lewenstein, professor and chair of science and technology studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell.

In the short history piece we learn about Donna Strickland, whose doctoral studies at the University of Rochester were recognized with a Nobel Prize in 2018. The prize was awarded for the development of techniques to make ultra-short, ultra-intense laser pulses. This plays a role in anything that needs really high intensity light from eye surgery to laser-based acceleration of charged particles.

The final interview is with Dr. Sunita Sah, a former physician and now an assistant professor at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. Dr. Sah studies institutional corruption and ethics in decision making. She is a co-author on a new study that finds that in the US we are inadvertently overusing breast cancer screening and other healthcare services.

Calendar links:

Contributors: Mark Sarvary | Patricia Waldron | Kitty Gifford | Esther Racoosin

Producer: Mark Sarvary

Music Credits:

Show theme by Joe Lewis and Cece Giannotti

“Laser Groove” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/