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Alex Filippenko - the accelerating expansion of the universe

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Professor Filippenko has an almost unparalleled academic career in the field of astronomy. Having been a professor at UC Berkeley for over 30 years, Alex has won a flurry of awards including the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2015, the Gruber Cosmology Prize in 2007, and “Best Professor” on the Berkeley campus a record 9 times!

In this podcast, Professor Filippenko speaks to some of the milestones of his incredible academic career, in addition to the current projects and initiatives he’s working on.
 

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A few topics we touch on include:

  • Filippenko’s role on the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe, and the connection that has to dark energy
  • The current uncertainties that astrophysicists tackle How the discipline of astronomy is broken up
  • and how computer science plays a role Filippenko’s legendary proposal story and much, much more!

If you’re interested in learning more, watch any of Professor Filippenko’s speaking engagements online, or consider taking one of his flagship courses, Astronomy C10.

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#28 Mariel Goddu | UC Berkeley Developmental Psychology PhD Candidate
#28 Mariel Goddu | UC Berkeley Developmental Psychology PhD Candidate

Mariel Goddu is a third year PhD student at UC Berkeley's Cognitive Science department. Her research is focused on developmental psychology - in other words, she studies how children think.

In this episode, she sheds light on some of the latest developments in her research with causal reasoning abilities in toddlers, and then we get...just a little bit deeper.

For more of Mariel's research, visit: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mariel_Goddu

#27 Seelam Reddy | 24th District CA Assembly Candidate, Democrat
#27 Seelam Reddy | 24th District CA Assembly Candidate, Democrat

Seelam Reddy immigrated to the States from India at the age of 20, and has since worked for much of his career in the aerospace industry, most notably at Aerojet, Northrup, and Hughes/Boeing. He is now a State Assembly write in candidate for the June 2018 primary.

In this episode, we’ll get a

#26 Tax and Marriage | The Feminist Interviews
#26 Tax and Marriage | The Feminist Interviews

Join us this week for a chat with UC Berkeley Professor and Economist Hilary Hoynes! We analyze the changing labor market, the break down of the cash welfare system, and...marriage?

Lead writers on this episode include Ava Davis, Lina Craighill and Anna Zhao. Assistant writers include Alex Tellez, Alanna Zhang, Kaitlin Weinstein. Produced by Kaitlin Weinstein and Anna Zhao. Created, hosted, and edited by Lina Craighill.

#25 Reddit and the Women's March Walk into a Bar | The Feminist Interviews
#25 Reddit and the Women's March Walk into a Bar | The Feminist Interviews

We sit down with two UC Berkeley undergrad students of seemingly opposite political affiliations, to discuss topics surrounding feminism and how we participate in political discourse.

#24 John Denero | Ethics (& Memes) for Computer Science
#24 John Denero | Ethics (& Memes) for Computer Science

Professor Denero recently joined the UC Berkeley faculty after a stint as a senior researcher on the Google Translate team. John Denero has also become sort of a cult hero among the Computer Science students at UC Berkeley, regularly being featured on a popular Facebook group, UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens. We ask him how he feels about this in the podcast.

In this podcast, we delve into many interesting facets of John Denero’s life ranging from his viewpoints on philosophy, the ethics of computer science, artificial intelligence’s impact on society, Google translate’s progress, CS61A and how great students prepare for the class, and much more. Enjoy!

#23 - Ken Goldberg | Robots are Reflections of Ourselves
#23 - Ken Goldberg | Robots are Reflections of Ourselves

Ken Goldberg is a professor and chair at UC Berkeley's Industrial Engineering and Operations Research department. His research specializes in robotics and automation. He and his team have published over 170 papers on robotics and automation to date. 

#22 - Alexander Coward | how might we better approach education?
#22 - Alexander Coward | how might we better approach education?

Alexander Coward holds a bachelor's and a PHD in Mathematics from Oxford University and an Honorary Doctorate of Education from Thai Nguyen University in Vietnam. Before starting his current education startup, EdeeU, he was a lecturer of Mathematics at UC Berkeley. He was dismissed from his position after a controversial spat with the administration for his highly acclaimed, passionate style of teaching. You can read about this in the excerpt below. 

Space.coop is building a DAO for funding space missions
Space.coop is building a DAO for funding space missions

In this episode, Jeff speaks with Yalda Mousavinia, cofounder of Space Cooperative, about the potential for blockchain to lower the barrier to entry into involvement in funding missions to space. Yalda graduated from Cal with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2008, and was working as a Senior Product Manager at Oracle before leaving her job to start Space Cooperative.

Erik the Wandering Poet
Erik the Wandering Poet

Erik Thursson was born to a single mother living in a rural town in New York. He never knew his father, but he did know that each one of his siblings had a different father. By the time he could walk, he had moved more times than most of us have moved in our entire lives. He doesn’t remember much, but he does remember eating rotten food. And he does remember trying to kill himself by jumping in front of a car. When he was 7.  Erik's passion for literature has been with him at his darkest times, and continues to be present in his daily life.  He can be seen in Berkeley selling poems, and spreading love to the Berkeley community. 

Richard Muller - Climate Change & the Physics of Time
Richard Muller - Climate Change & the Physics of Time

Professor Muller has had an incredibly illustrious career, and to cover all of his accomplishments in a single podcast would be impractical. To name just one, he led the project which eventually led to the Nobel Prize winning discovery of dark energy. 

This podcast is focused on his current and ongoing ventures, as well as some of his yet to be confirmed theories, and some general life lessons.