Audio

As an intern for NASA’s flagship agency podcast, Curious Universe, I interview scientists, research topics, write scripts, and sound design and produce episodes. Curious Universe is a narrative podcast released seasonally from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Here are a selection of episodes I produced:

Season 5, Episode 3: Wildfires from Space

Wherever you live on Earth, wildfires touch your life. They shape ecosystems, clearing dead plants and making way for new. Their smoke changes the air you breathe, and even the climate. And as the Earth warms, wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense. To track a global problem, we need a global perspective. Explore how NASA scientist Doug Morton and Canadian firefighter-turned researcher Josh Johnston use satellites to track the changing landscape of wildfires from space.

As a production intern for WBEZ’s flagship midday daily news talk show, I booked guests, researched and scripted interview segments, screened phone calls and crafted web stories and social media posts. You can find all my stories here.

Here are a few of my favorite segments:

How a sponge could help clean up microplastics in Chicago and the Great Lakes

A team of Northwestern University engineers created a coating that, when applied to sponges, traps pollutants found in water.

They study Earth. So what has NASA learned about the climate crisis?

A NASA climate scientist shares what they’ve learned about sea levels and climate change from studying the planet for decades.

Some of Illinois’ last prairie land could be destroyed

Only one hundredth of one percent of Illinois’s original prairie lands still exist today.

Coolest job ever? These scientists ride snowmobiles to study ice on the Great Lakes

Scientists from a dozen universities are converging on the Great Lakes for a first-of-its-kind study of changing winter conditions.

How Chicago plans to coexist with the bats, snakes and other animals that call the city home

Chicago hosts an unusually wide variety of urban wildlife. But when animals and humans meet, it’s not always on the best of terms.

Diesel pollution in Chicago is hurting people’s health and the environment

Chicago ranks third in the nation in deaths and health costs related to diesel pollution, according to a new analysis.

I’m a U.S.-based freelance correspondent for DW’s global environmental podcast, Living Planet.

Here are a selection of stories I reported:

Finding the cold on a warming planet

Today on Living Planet, we’re traveling to some cold (and not-so-cold) places. We’re asking how Europe’s snow-starved winters are affecting winter sport enthusiasts. We visit a French supermarket that’s keeping things especially chilly. And we head to the lab to find out how climate scientists study the world’s oldest ice.

Is it time to end biofuels?

As energy prices go sky-high this winter, any source of affordable energy may seem like a welcome reprieve. But does it make sense to be growing crops for fuel that could otherwise be food? This is the conundrum of biofuels. Today on Living Planet, we travel to the US, Kenya and Germany to explore biofuels – how they came about, their promises and drawbacks, and why it is we’re still using them.

Microscopic underground battles in salt marsh soil are reshaping our atmosphere

Tidal marshes store carbon at a rate 10 times higher than mature tropical rainforests. But due to land development, half of the world’s salt marshes have already disappeared. As the world warms and sea levels rise, scientists are worried the marshes that remain may unpredictably flip from net carbon sinks to net emitters.

Native American alternatives to industrial farming in Iowa

Iowa’s industrial agricultural system suffered massive damages after a derecho storm tore through the area in August 2020. But between the vast monocultures of soy and ethanol corn, the Meskwaki Nation grows food using different techniques that may provide key lessons for farmers wanting a more resilient and sustainable agricultural system in the face of increasingly severe climatic changes.

Digital story

Indigenous crabbers take on dirty fuels and climate change

Dungeness crab off the Pacific coast are one of the United States’ most valuable fisheries. But as ocean conditions become more unpredictable due to climate change, the fishery’s fate is up in the air. Quinault Indian Nation fishermen are experiencing the changes firsthand, and the tribe is working to reduce their impact on the environment.

The Great Quad Cities Listen is an attempt to collect and share the diverse stories of Quad Citizens to gain in civic pride and create a more compassionate Quad Cities. These stories are shared with StoryCorps and archived in the Library of Congress.

Lagomarcino’s: A Quad Cities’ Tradition

Lagomarcino’s has been in business in Moline since 1908, adding the Davenport location in 1997. Beth and Tom Lagomarcino, current owners and grandchildren of the founder Angelo Lagomarcino, tell the origin story of this great Quad Cities’ tradition.

Talking Art is a weekly arts program hosted by artist Carolyn Martin featuring interviews with American artists. I produced most of the show’s episodes from 2019-2020.

LOVE Girls is hosted by Jasmine Babers, the founder of Love Girls Magazine, and Mikhayla Hughes-Shaw, Miss Iowa 2018. I produced the podcast’s second season.

Lives of the Mind is an Augustana College student-run podcast produced in cooperation with WVIK focused on closing the gap between academia and society by telling the human stories behind academic research through interviews with professors and visiting scholars/speakers from various disciplines.

I was the podcast’s main producer and host from 2018-2020.