Further Together the ORAU Podcast
Join your host Michael Holtz as he discuss all things ORAU, through interviews with our experts who provide innovative scientific and technical solutions for our customers. Michael and his guests will talk about ORAU’s storied history, how we’re impacting an ever-changing world, as well as our commitment to our community.
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Preparing to study the moon's terrain: A conversation with Jordan Bretzfelder, Ph.D., NASA Postdoctoral Fellow
Backpack-mounted LIDAR systems are laser-ranging devices that can create very high definition 3D terrain maps. Jordan Bretzfelder, Ph.D., was very early in her tenure as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow when she was set to embark on a trip to California's Death Valley to use LIDAR on the dunes there. The Death Valley trip served as an analog for future expeditions to the moon and to Mars. LIDAR can map terrain in places without light, which will be useful to map the polar regions of the moon and other interesting topographies. In this episode, Bretzfelder discusses her research at the Marshall Space Flight Center, how she got interested in science and the path that led her to NASA. Listen in for a fun and interesting conversation!To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/
Meharry Medical College's Cancer Survivorship Summit: An Innovation Partnership Grant Story
In April 2024, Meharry Medical College received an ORAU Innovation Partnership Grant to help students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Nashville area attended Meharry’s annual Cancer Survivorship Summit. IPG grants, offered through ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office, are designed to strengthen relationships between university consortium members and ORAU subject matter experts. The summit was a day-long event focused on sharing information about cancer risks, research, and prevention and early detection, as well as provide opportunities for community members to get needed health and medical screenings. In this conversation, host Michael Holtz talks with the team from Meharry that helped make the summit possible, including Tammy Henderson, Ph.D., vice president in the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation at the Meharry School of Medicine; Kirsten George, health careers pathway program manager in the Department of Family and Community Medicine; and Donald Alcendor, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Physiology. Also joining the conversation is Robert Briggs, a senior majoring in business management at Lemoyne-Owen College, who one of the students able to attend the summit because of the ORAU IPG grant.To learn more about ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html
How the world benefits from Emory University's history of research and technology transfer
Emory University has been a member of the ORAU University Consortium since it was established in 1946. The university has a long and storied history of research. L:ast year, Emory's research expenditures surpassed $1.2 billion primarily focused on biomedical research as well as infectious diseases, global health, brain health, artificial intelligence and more. Emory also has a robust technology transfer office, where drugs and devices developed through research make their way to the marketplace. The Journal of Technology Transfer in 2023 listed Emory University as third in the world in drug development, behind the National Institutes of Health and the University of California system. Emory's successes include the development of drugs to treat HIV and hemophilia, and a device that helps collect mosquitos that are studied for diseases. Host Michael Holtz talks to Kimberly Eck, MPH, Ph.D., Emory associate vice president of research, and Todd Sherer, Ph.D., associate vice president of research and executive director of the Office of Technology Transfer. Emory's history underscores the importance of research and tech transfer, and is endlessly fascinating. Check this episode out!To read the Journal of Technology Transfer article, visit https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10961-023-10007-z
From artist to investigating the terrain of one of Saturn's moons: Joey Pasterski, Ph.D., NASA Postdoctoral Fellow
Joey Pasterski, Ph.D., is not your traditional scientist. He took piano and voice and avoided science at all costs until he went back to school in his later twenties. Today Pasterski is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow researching laser desorption mass spectrometry for the Dragonfly mission, which will land a rotorcraft on various locations on Titan, Saturn's moon. During this conversation, Pasterski talks to host Michael Holtz about why studying Titan is important, how the moon is like a bizarro earth, and how the trajectory of his life changed when he discovered a love for science. Check it out! To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/.
Using augmented reality to improve breast cancer biopsies: A conversation with Alycen Wiacek, Ph.D.
More than a million breast biopsies are performed annually in the United States, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The need to ensure diagnostic accuracy is great. Alycen Wiacek, Ph.D., motivated by the impact breast cancer has had on her family and a desire to make a difference, is conducting research to help make biopsies more accurate through engineering and augmented reality. In this episode of Further Together, host Matthew Underwood talks to Wiacek about her research. Wiacek is an assistant professor at Oakland University. In her lab, the Medical Acoustics for Global Health Imaging and Clinical Translation (MAGIC), she and her students are developing a system that integrates various imaging modalities into AR to assist in the targeted biopsy of breast masses. This approach with AR means images and information can be displayed directly in the physician’s field of view to better guide the biopsy process. Her research is supported by an ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in partnership with the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA).
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