Buff Innovator Insights

The Buff Innovator Insights podcast offers a behind-the-curtain look at some of the most ground-breaking innovations in the world, along with the personal journeys that made those discoveries possible.

Join Terri Fiez, Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, for an up-close and personal look at how researchers, scholars and artists become global pioneers, why they are so dedicated to discovery, and their visions of the future in the wide range of fields they explore.

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BII Past Episodes (Content List)

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Margaret Murnane (JILA; Physics; STROBE)

Meet Dr. Margaret Murnane, one of the world’s leading experts in ultrafast laser and x-ray science. Join us to learn about her improbable journey from growing up in the Irish countryside to developing the microscopes of the future and cultivating the world’s next generation of physicists.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Jun Ye (JILA; Physics; ��bit Quantum Initiative; Q-SEnSE)

In this episode of Buff Innovator Insights, we talk with Dr. Ye about his formative years in China, his transformation into a leading researcher in the US, and how his work is helping to realize the vast potential of quantum science and technology.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Lori Peek (Sociology; Institute of Behavioral Science; Natural Hazards Center; CONVERGE)

In this episode of Buff Innovator Insights, hear from Dr. Lori Peek about her formative years in small-town Kansas, how her research is helping us learn from disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the COVID-19 pandemic, and her love for teaching and mentoring students.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Sona Dimidjian (Psychology and Neuroscience; Renée Crown Wellness Institute)

In this episode of Buff Innovator Insights, we explore how Dr. Dimidjian’s research cultivates mental health and wellness among women, children and families by engaging people’s capacities for learning to care for themselves and their communities.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Evan Thomas (Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering; Aerospace Engineering; Mortenson Center)

In this episode, Dr. Thomas shares how his family’s interests in journalism, engineering and entrepreneurship, as well as his experiences with Engineering Without Borders, inspired him to tackle global poverty through his work and teaching.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Jennifer Ho (Ethnic Studies; Center for Humanities and the Arts)

Meet Dr. Jennifer Ho, professor in the department of Ethnic Studies and director of the Center for Humanities and the Arts. Dr. Ho tells us about how growing up in an Asian-American family, along with more recent societal and personal transformations, has influenced her scholarship and emboldened her efforts to end racism.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Sidney D'Mello (Psychology; Computer Science; Institute of Cognitive Science; Institute for Student-AI Teaming)

In this episode, Dr. D’Mello describes how his unique combination of education and research experiences led to his leading-edge work at the NSF National Institute for Student-Agent Teaming, which is reimagining the role of artificial intelligence in the classroom to better serve both students and teachers.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Jennifer Balch (Geography; Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences; Earth Lab)

Learn how Dr. Jennifer Balch's work in places like Kenya and Amazon rainforests shaped her interests in the relationships between fire, Earth systems and people, and how she’s working to transform data into insights to help solve some of the world’s most challenging problems.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Reiland Rabaka (Ethnic Studies; Center for African and African American Studies)

Meet Dr. Reiland Rabaka, inaugural director of the Center for African and African American Studies (CAAAS). Dr. Rabaka describes the mix of church, poverty, family and jazz that shaped his early years; the combination of mentors and educational opportunities led him to �� Boulder; and his vision for CAAAS.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Cora Randall (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences; LASP; WAVE NASA DRIVE Science Center)

Follow Dr. Randall's journey from earning her PhD in chemistry to working on the Hubble Space Telescope and, now, to leading a new NASA DRIVE center working at the leading edge of next-generation space weather prediction.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Matthew Druckenmiller (Navigating the New Arctic Community Office)

In this episode, we'll learn about how Dr. Druckenmiller's family-centered upbringing in rural Pennsylvania formed the foundations for his lifelong work exploring the relationships between the physical environment and the communities—especially indigenous communities—that dwell there.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Iain Boyd (Center for National Security Initiatives; Hypersonics; Aerospace Engineering)

Meet Dr. Iain Boyd, director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at �� Boulder, and hear about how he followed his early interest in math from Scotland to England to the U.S., where he’s now regarded as pioneer in hypersonics and a key figure in deploying computation and technology to solve our most pressing challenges.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Qin (Christine) Lv (ASPIRE; Computer Science)

Meet Dr. Qin (Christine) Lv and hear about her journey from China to Princeton and eventually to �� Boulder, where her interdisciplinary research intersects with domains such as Earth sciences, transportation electrification and sustainability—the focus of a new NSF center that is exploring transportation challenges facing our world today.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Noah Fierer (Center for Microbial Exploration; Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; CIRES)

Dr. Fierer shares his natural curiosity for learning with us, and his unexpected and enduring passion for ... SOIL! Get a glimpse into the hidden world of microbes, the functions they serve, and how new research can help us understand and improve the health of our environment and ourselves.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. Heather Reed & Dr. Pete Withnell (Emirates Mars Mission; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics)

In this episode, we’ll learn from engineering and management team members—and married dynamic duo—Heather Reed and Pete Withnell about the extraordinary international collaboration that made the Emirates Mars Mission Hope spacecraft possible, and the more terrestrial effects of the mission on their family.

Buff Innovator Insights Podcast: Dr. John Crimaldi (Odor2Action; Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering)

In this episode, we’ll learn about Dr. Crimaldi's early fascination with sailing and how it set the course for his lifelong interest in fluid mechanics. As the Network Lead for the ambitious Odor2Action project, he also tells us about this international network working to understand how brains organize and process information from odors to guide behaviors.

Questions or feedback about this podcast can be directed to rio@colorado.edu.

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