The Academic Minute from 7.29 – 8.02
Monday
Micki Olson – University at Albany
Understanding the Heat Index
Micki Olson, senior research scientist in the college of emergency preparedness, homeland security and cybersecurity at the University at Albany, explores how to simplify this language to keep people safe.
Micki Olson is a risk communication expert who specializes in how to design alert and warning messages for risks ranging from natural hazards to public health emergencies.
Tuesday
Jon Rosales – St. Lawrence University
Indigenous Knowledge and Practice as Scientific Methodology
St. Lawrence University Professor of Environmental Studies Jon Rosales is a climate change scientist focused on the impacts of climate change on native peoples in the Arctic. His expertise and scholarly focus are on developing scientific field methods that measure traditional ecological knowledge of arctic climate change. Threaded through his work is a call to align human institutions within natural limits by challenging “monocultures of the mind,” or fossilized ways of thinking, that overwhelm the planet. Indigenous ways of living can offer one such version.
Wednesday
Douglas Wolf – Syracuse University
COVID-19 Physical Distancing Restrictions Contributed to Increases in Drug Overdoses
Douglas Wolf is a demographer, policy analyst, program evaluator and gerontological researcher with many years of experience studying the economic, demographic and social aspects of aging, disability and long-term care.
Thursday
Douglas Dowland – Ohio Northern University
Three Simple Words That Shape A Nation
Douglas Dowland is associate professor of English at Ohio Northern University, where he teaches a wide array of literature and humanities courses. His book We, Us, and Them was recently published by the University of Virginia Press.
Friday
Wesley Chang – Drexel University
Optimizing Electric Vehicle Battery Performance in Cold Weather Climates
Wes Chang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, and an affiliated faculty member of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, at Drexel University. Prof. Chang completed his B.S. (2014) and M.S. (2016) in Chemical Engineering at Stanford, and his Ph.D. (2021) in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Princeton. After completing his doctoral thesis, he continued working on lithium metal batteries as a Postdoc at Columbia University (2021 – 2022). He spent the following year (2022 – 2023) as the Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech, where he worked on lithium-mediated electrochemical ammonia synthesis. He is the recipient of the Electrochemical Society F.M. Becket Fellowship and the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship. Outside of academia, he has previously worked in the battery industry and management consulting for energy and utilities, and regularly serves as a technical advisor to energy-focused startup companies and investment firms.
