The Yale Peabody Museum’s Speakers Bureau is kicking off its 2024-2025 programing with an evening of Lightning Talks at Koffee?, located on Audubon Street, Wednesday, November 20 at 5:30 pm. Each graduate student will have five minutes and five slides to describe an important aspect of their studies. Listen to rapid-fire talks, engage with early-career scientists, and support the Speakers Bureau as they embark on their science communication tour.
Jon Gewirtzman
PhD Student, School of the Environment
While we know that methane emissions are a major cause of climate change, scientists still have many questions about the natural processes that add or remove methane from the Earth’s atmosphere. Contrary to what one might expect, trees play a role in methane emissions, but it is unclear how. Gewirtzman’s research explores the hidden world of microbes living inside trees that may be the culprit behind their unexpected methane emissions, and how these microbes may matter for the health of our forests and our climate.
Samantha Miller
PhD Student, Anthropology
When human ancestors began their journey out of Africa, they encountered and reproduced with species that are closely related to modern humans, known as archaic humans. As a result, most humans today carry segments of DNA that can be traced back to archaic humans. Miller’s research focuses on some of these segments that helped our ancestors adapt to the new environments they encountered outside of Africa, and shaped human biology in ways that continue to impact us today.
April Pruitt
PhD Student, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program
How can understanding the genetics of autism spectrum disorder open new possibilities for personalized therapies and early interventions? In this talk, we will explore ongoing research on the genetics of autism spectrum disorder. By examining genetic mutations that lead to changes in brain activity and behavior, we shed light on key pathways that affect brain development and function and can guide plans for care.
Will Rogers
PhD Student, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Animals constantly battle unseen enemies – parasites. But how do they respond to a world full of invisible threats? In this talk, Rogers will explore the complex relationships between the ways that animals behave and disease. He’ll focus on his work with wild African buffalo and how their behavior determines - and is determined by - their parasite threats. We’ll dive into the clever ways animals both avoid parasites and cope with their costs, even how parasites hijack behavior for their own benefit. By understanding these dynamics, we gain new insights into the “whys” of animal behavior and potentially learn how we, as humans, can better respond to our own disease threats.
Riley Wadehra
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
News about wildfires has been increasing, describing "more extreme" and frequent fires all around the planet, especially in the US. However, fires are not the same everywhere. Wadehra’s aim is to give context to what natural wildfires look like and their roles in different ecosystems, and to help people interpret information about wildfires from both a human and scientific perspective.