Climate change driven by global warming is a highly debated topic in today’s world. However, what we can be sure of is that certain gases cause changes to our environment and are often referred to as “greenhouse gases”. A large scientific effort has been made to capture these gases and turn it into things with less environment impact. One particular way is by creating molecules that mimic our bodies natural mechanisms. This is called biomimetic science and is the topic of our guest’s research, Bella Mc Coll

Bella is a third-year PhD student researching under Dr. Addison Desnoyer, in the Department of Chemistry here at OSU. Bella is an Oregon native and comes to us from Beaverton. Outside of the lab Bella has many interests particularly those involving the fiber arts. These interests have allowed her to come up with research ideas that uses her scientific mind to help answer questions for her creative mind.

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on February 1st to hear Bella talk about how growing up in a natural medicine house inspired her to find the harmony between science and nature.

Written by E Hernandez

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent environmental contaminates and their research has been featured on this show quite a bit. A little known fact is that estimates on the amount of PFAS in the environment range from 12,000 to 7 million. The number of working hours needed to analyze all those compounds would take many lifetimes. However, advancements in machine learning models have allowed for accurate estimates of crucial properties used to better understand PFAS. This cutting-edge research is the focus of our guest this week, Boris Droz.

Boris is a newly minted staff scientist in the lab of Dr. Gerrad Jones, in the Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering at OSU. Boris is originally from Switzerland and came to OSU in 2025 as a post-doc. Boris brings with him a deep knowledge and appreciation of both the rationale and in-lab work that goes into developing robust and useful machine learning models. His knowledge and expertise is a boon for OSU’s research prowess.

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on January 25th to hear Boris talk about how an apprenticeship in primary school was his ticket to traveling the world.

Written by E Hernandez

“Mathematics compares the most diverse phenomena and discovers the secret analogies that unite them.” — Joseph Fourier

Mathematical modeling has become an essential tool across all disciplines of science. Models are built and applied in everything from astrophysics to food science. Andrés Pinos-Sánchez, a masters student in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences in the lab of Will White, uses modeling to investigate the population dynamics of bull kelp and sea urchins on the Oregon coast. The goal of his research is to determine what’s the best pathway to recover kelp forests in Oregon, which are in drastic decline due to rising sea temperatures and overpopulation of purple sea urchins. The decline of bull kelp in Oregon’s coastal ecosystems is detrimental to several species, like rockfish which make up a large part of the commercial fishery in Oregon.

Andrés has been able to model the outcome of different kelp restoration tactics, determining the best potential course of action before having to step foot in the field. Modeling these restoration tactics potentially saves Oregon taxpayers and conservation groups millions of dollars and saves our environment from unintended consequences.

Tune in to KBVR 88.7FM on January 18th at 7PM to hear all about modeling population dynamics, the intricacies of preparing a system for restoration, and the pros and cons of sea otter reintroduction in Oregon. You can also check out the show on streaming services or wherever you get podcasts.

Written by Hannah Stuwe

The term “sensors” is broad and often conjures up different ideas in people’s heads. For example, motion sensors that turn lights off and on. However, sensors could be powerful tools to help monitor people’s health in a non-invasive way. As science develops a large amount of research is being done to make sensors smaller and more efficient. Continuous glucose monitors and smart rings are a great example of recent advancements. Development of technologies like these is the research focus of our guest this week, Pavel Sengupta.

Pavel is a 5th year PhD student in the lab of Dr. Dipankar Koley, in the division of Analytical Chemistry here at OSU. Pavel is from Kolkata, India and came to America after earning his B.S. and M.S. from the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology. Driven by his curiosity and strong sense of wonder for science, Pavel has become a pillar of his Department and OSU as a whole. It is our pleasure to share his story on Inspiration Dissemination.

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on January 11th to hear Pavel talk about how he let his passions steer his path through education and research.

Written by E Hernandez

Oregon’s many winding rivers meet the Pacific Ocean in gorgeous estuaries scattered along the coastline. These estuaries are critical habitat for salmon, water birds, Dungeness crab, and oysters, and are deeply connected to the local economies of coastal communities. These estuaries are also the primary habitat of eelgrass — a fully aquatic flowering plant. We may overlook eelgrass as the creepy thing under the waves that brushes against your foot while wading through the water, but it is actually incredibly important to coastal ecosystems. It protects against erosion, absorbs pollutants, provides breeding grounds for many fish and invertebrate species, and can act as carbon sinks. Unfortunately, eelgrass is disappearing because of dredging, development, and sea level rise. The good news is that researchers are actively investigating how to best restore eelgrass habitat. Olivia Boisen, a fifth year PhD student in the department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, is one of these researchers.

As part of her research in the lab of Scott Heppell, Olivia is investigating several estuary sites along the Oregon coast where restoration practices are being implemented. Through this work she is able to determine the effectiveness of certain restoration practices on eelgrass recovery, and subsequently how various fisheries species respond.
Tune in to 88.7FM KBVR on October, 26th at 7PM PST (or anywhere you get podcasts) to hear a deep dive into the world of eelgrass, conservation, non-profit conservation work, and the interplay between coastal societies and habitat restoration!

Written by Hannah Stuwe

In Oregon the fire season typically lasts from mid-May to late September. As the climate changes so do the frequency and severity of the blazes. New generations of scientists are needed to help study the impact these natural disasters can have on the populations of fish and large fauna in the area. However, a less obvious ecosystem that can be affected by the fires is the microenvironment. We’ll hear more about that from this week’s guest Meagan White.

Meagan is a 3^rd year M.S. student in the lab of Dr. Ivan Arismendi, a part of the Fisheries and Wildlife Department here at OSU. Meagan originally came to OSU from UC Santa Cruz. Interested in science from a young age, Meagan’s high school biotech teacher connected her with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The rest is history that we have the pleasure of hearing about on Inspiration Dissemination.

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on October 19^th to hear Meagan talk about how a fire changed her research plans and how being a parent in graduate school has led her on an inspiring path.  

Written by E Hernandez

To many of us inhabiting the Western half of the US, wildland firefighters are the heroes that put their lives on the line to save our lives, homes, and treasured natural landscapes. Behind the scenes however, researchers put in countless hours trying to understand the factors that contribute to forest fires, and the ecological impact that follows. Laken Alles, a masters student in the department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences at OSU, has been on the front lines fighting fires and is now researching fire and habitat ecology in the lab of Lisa Ellsworth.

Laken’s work focuses on the Great Basin in Utah, which is also where he spent the majority of his career wildland firefighting. Nowadays Laken is observing how the implementation of different fuel treatments (fuel in this case being any flammable material in the ecosystem) affect future wild fires, as well as how invasive species like cheat grass can take hold in regions after a fire has burned through. Cheat grass is a highly invasive annual grass, and it is causing unprecedented ecological impacts in sagebrush ecosystems. Fire tends to favor cheatgrass over native plant species like sagebrush, so preventing fire-related invasions has been a major focus of cheatgrass mitigation efforts.

Tune in to 88.7FM at 7PM PST on October 5th, 2025 to hear all about the intricacies of wild fires, invasive cheat grass, and how one goes from the fire front lines to modeling fire outcomes. You can also listen live on KBVR’s website or wherever you get podcasts!

For more info about sagebrush restoration visit sagestep.org

Written by Hannah Stuwe

Mammals encompass some of the most interesting animals on the planet. We can see how bats have mastered the sky with wings like birds or how dolphins have adapted streamlined bodies for life in the ocean just like fish. The ability to evolve similar characteristics to overcome common problems found in the environment is called convergent evolution and opens our eyes to the fundamentals of how life has changed to face the challenges of our planet. One such trait that is the product of convergent evolution is echolocation, which is the subject of research for our guest on the show this week Serena Frazee.

Serena is a 2nd year PhD student in the lab of Dr. Katie Everson, a part of the Department of Integrated Biology. Serena is an Oregon native from Portland and was initially driven to science by an interest at the intersections of neuroscience and art. However, it was her love of understanding genetics that inspired her to come to OSU and pursue her PhD. Since coming to OSU she has been a part of a few projects, but on the show we’ll get to hear what she’s learned while studying tenrecs, a relative of shrews that are only found in Madagascar.

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on May 25th to hear Serena explain how echolocation evolves in unusual places and her fight to change how people view the narrative of gene research. Hopefully she’ll also answer my burning question of “why does everything become crab?”

Written by Mireia Roig-Paul

For most of the time that biochemists have been studying proteins they have preached the widely adopted dogma that structure equals function. Proteins are macromolecules made of chains of amino acids, and as they are produced they fold into intricate and specific shapes. These shapes or ‘structures’ are critical to the tasks that they perform, like producing energy for the cell, carrying molecular cargo from one end of the cell to the other, or letting ions across the cell membrane. However, over 30% of the protein humans produce has no specific structure. These are called intrinsically disordered proteins, and only in the last 15 years have they been brought into the spotlight of biochemistry and biophysics research (Structural Disorder in Eukaryotes).
Hannah Stuwe is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Biochemistry and Biophysics, and her research revolves around disordered proteins, particularly a protein from SARS-CoV-2 called the nucleocapsid protein. In her work she uses state-of-the-art techniques specifically suited for studying disordered proteins to understand how the flexibility of this protein changes throughout the viral replication cycle.

To hear from Hannah, ID host and this week’s interviewee, about all things NMR, protein, and virus, tune in to KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on April 13th, or listen wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!