Skype a Scientist Live – Details, episodes & analysis

​Jaida Elcock is a graduate student at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on elasmobranch ecology and conservation. She is particularly interested in the movement ecology of migratory elasmobranchs, as this information is still unknown for many species. Jaida received her B.S. in Biology with University Honors from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. She has been recognized as an American Elasmobranch Society Young Professional Recruitment Fund Scholar and an Honorable Mention for the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Jaida is a science communicator through social media and enjoys doing outreach with any age group.

Nichole Broderick is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on impacts of the microbiome on animal health. Nichole’s teaching portfolio includes Tiny Earth, a microbiology-based authentic research course in which students search the soil and other environments for antibiotic-producing microbes. Through her role as the Director of Science and Training for Tiny Earth, she has helped train over 200 college and high school instructors to implement this course.Broderick received her PhD from University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a postdoctoral fellow at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. She has won several awards including a Human Frontiers Long-term Postdoctoral Fellow, the 2020 Faculty Mentor Award from the University of Connecticut McNair & LSAMP Scholars Programs, and the 2021 American Society for Microbiology Award for Education.

What can Roman toilets teach us about daily life in ancient Rome? What does the archaeology of these structures reveal about Roman hygiene, public sanitation, customs related to purity or cleanliness? In a talk that investigates and illustrates some key examples of public and private Roman toilets from Rome, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Ostia, we take a trip down into the black holes of ancient space for some answers.

Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow has done archaeological fieldwork in Italy at Herculaneum, Pompeii, Ostia, and Rome, and in Jordan, Tunisia, and survey work or archaeological study in Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, and Turkey.  She works especially on Roman daily life, including urban infrastructure, plumbing and hydraulics, baths and bathing practices, and toilets and sanitation. At Brandeis University, she is Kevy and Hortense Kaiserman Endowed Chair in the Humanities, Professor of Classical Studies, and Head of the Division of the Humanities. She was the 2016 winner of the Archaeological Institute of America's award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Dr. Murty Studies the influence of neuromodulatory systems on both memory and memory-guided decisions using human neuroimaging.

Dr. Sarah Ward studies behavioral and pharmacological effects of the cannabinoid, serotonin, and opioid receptor systems on neuropathic pain and neuroprotection, learning and memory, and addiction.

Dr. Russ Buono is a science educator and researcher in molecular biology and the genetics of the human brain and disease states.

​Janelle Shane's AI humor blog, AIweirdness.com, looks at the strange side of artificial intelligence. She has been featured on the main TED stage, in the New York Times, The Atlantic, WIRED, Popular Science, All Things Considered, Science Friday, and Marketplace. Her book, "You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How AI Works, Thinks, and Why It’s Making the World a Weirder Place" uses cartoons and humorous pop-culture experiments to look inside the minds of the algorithms that run our world, making artificial intelligence and machine learning both accessible and entertaining. Shane is also a research scientist at an optics R&D company, where she has worked on projects including a holographic laser tweezers module for the space station, and a virtual reality arena for mantis shrimp.

Chelsea Connor is a herpetologist focusing on anoles at university in Texas. She's studying the interactions between an invasive species, Anolis cristatellus (Crested anole), and an endemic species, Anolis oculatus (Eyed anole), on the Commonwealth of Dominica where she's from. Chelsea is also a science communicator who loves sharing fun facts about anoles on her Twitter page with #DidYouAnole.

Melissa Molho is a Ph.D. candidate in the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Kentucky where she studies virus-host interactions in plants. She likes doing outreach activities and advocating for diversity and inclusion in science. Melissa is originally from Mexico City and she loves learning about different cultures. She also enjoys reading suspense books and historical novels.

Dr. Wei Wei is a plant pathologist at the United States Department of Agriculture. She obtained her PhD in Microbiology from Oregon State University. Her research focuses on understanding the interactions between bacterial pathogens and their plant hosts to help improve plant disease control and prevention strategies. When she is not working in the lab, Wei enjoys painting, cooking, and traveling.