Dr. Stephanie Poindexter is a biological anthropologist at the University of Buffalo specializing in primatology. Doctor Poindexter conducts field, lab, and desk-based research into how primates use and navigate their habitats. More specifically, Doctor Poindexter investigates primate movement, morphology, and cognition. Of particular interest is the slow loris. Dr. Poindexter investigates how the environment, other animals, and their own cognitive and physical capacities influence the nocturnal slow loris's movement.

In this episode, we learn how Dr. Poindexter loved primates as a child, planned for medical school, then rediscovered and fell in love with primatology as an undergrad. We also learn how Dr. Poindexter came to specialize in the slow loris, and how she expands the scope of thinking about evolutionary drivers of movement and cognition.

Episode Resources:

• Faculty Page, University at Buffalo
• Check out Dr. Poindexter’s conservation work at Project Chimps

Stay up to date on the latest in science at ⁠Labroots.com⁠.

Kinesiology Professor Shilo Nelson’s story highlights the important point that there is no one correct way to approach a career in STEM.

Our conversation covers a range of topics, including the following:

• Prof. Nelson’s experience in the United States Air Force
• How Prof. Nelson parlayed her discipline and physical fitness into a stint as a Seattle Sea Hawks cheerleader;
• The importance of seeing – and taking – opportunities that don’t seem obvious fits with one’s background;
• How Prof. Nelson’s path as a kinesiology major at Eastern Washington University led to body building, work as an aerobics instructor, goat yoga, and more!

Stay up to date on the latest in science at ⁠Labroots.com⁠.

Tomi Akingbade is the founder of the Black Women in Science Network and a Ph.D. student in Neurochemistry at the University of Cambridge. Tomi’s scientific research centers on the inflammatory mechanisms of aggregates in Alzheimer’s disease. Interested in science since childhood, Tomi founded the Black Women in Science Network as a response to the lack of frank conversations about being a Black woman in science, and the supportive community such conversations generate. The image of what it is to be a scientist is changing, and must continue to do so, if the sciences are to achieve a comprehensive understanding of nature. Partly to that end, Tomi is working to expand the Black Women in Science Network into a global organization.

Cambridge University neurochemistry Ph.D. student, Tomi Akingbade is founder of the Black Women in Science Network. Tomi’s scientific research centers on the inflammatory mechanisms of aggregates in Alzheimer’s disease.

Our conversation covered a range of topics, including the following:

• How Tomi discovered neuroscience early in high school, but didn’t study in the field until years later because she didn’t know it was a career path
• The trials and tribulations of finding your way to – and through – a Ph.D. program, and the importance of supportive mentors throughout
• How Tomi started work in a virology lab in February 2020 – just before the COVID pandemic started
• How Tomi decided to start the Black Women in Science networking group in 2018

Episode Resources:

• Tomi Akingbade on LinkedIn
• Black Women in Science Network

Stay up to date on the latest in science at ⁠Labroots.com⁠.