Podcasting meets science in interdepartmental collab

To make a podcast, you'll probably need someone to interview. And to be a scientist, you'll probably need to explain your research at some point - to secure funding, to garner public support, or just because it's cool.

So, a match between undergraduate podcasting students and graduate researchers is more likely than you think.

In the Spring 2026 semester, Lee Emmert, clinical faculty in the Department of Media, and Stephanie Galla, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, brought together science and media students to share stories of research. In this collaboration, undergraduates in Emmert's Advanced Media Topics Podcasting course (MEDIA480) seized the opportunity to interview graduate students taking Galla's Science Communication and Leadership course (EEB604).

The collaboration resulted in 23 podcasts - all produced from the Albertsons Library Podcast Studio - spanning disciplines including ecology, biomolecular research, raptor biology and computer science.

"Media professionals often have to translate complex ideas for public audiences," Emmert said. "Stephanie and I entered this territory together last spring when my video students documented her lab's fieldwork with sharp-tailed grouse. It feels natural to keep expanding the collaboration into new areas."

Both media and science communications students considered the collaboration illuminating. Ecology, evolution and behavior PhD student Jaycee Fahrner said that sitting in the podcasting studio was the "most important" she's ever felt in her life.

"To have someone ask me questions not just about my research but about me as a person was really cool and special," Fahrner said.

In her PhD, Fahrner studies microbes - specifically, what makes bacteria and bacterial communities resilient under stressful conditions. She'd like people to understand that microbes aren't necessarily "bad": although some bacteria can make us sick, most of the bacteria we encounter on a day-to-day basis are essential for how we live. Think of the "good" bacteria in yogurt or the gut microbiome.

Listening back to the podcast, Fahrner said, there are some things she would have phrased differently. The experience gave her a stronger understanding of what works and what doesn't when it comes to translating high-level research for a general audience.

"Something I'm taking away from the experience is, your audience doesn't have to get all of the complexities of your research," Fahrner said. "If they can walk away with some idea of what you do and why it's important … if they learn one thing, that's a success."

Senior media communications major Grace Stark, who interviewed Fahrner, enjoyed the challenge of familiarizing herself with a new topic. Before recording the podcast, Stark reviewed Fahrner's research so that she could ask specific, relevant questions.

"Whether it's actually podcasting itself, or being able to interview different types of people in different lines of work, or understanding something about an industry that I have no previous knowledge of, there's just a lot that I can take away from this," Stark said. "I think succeeding in my future career wouldn't be the same without if I hadn't taken this class."

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