I read once that bravery required feeling tangible fear. A Shackleton-style blistering confidence that barrels into harsh landscapes is not, by definition, brave, because it refuses to acknowledge the contextual realities around one's experience. Today's guest, on the other hand, looks with clear eyes at challenging field experiences, the inherent risks of life and severe discomfort, and she goes anyway. Joanna Lambert, professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, is a conservation rock star. Known more recently for her research on Colorado's reintroduction of gray wolves, on today's episode she discusses her unexpected journey from commercial art into conservation, her love of the Rolling Stones and the music she finds in tracking wildlife through Yellowstone's extremes.

Joanna's website

Joanna's research

Wolves in Colorado

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

A moment of honesty: This producer shies from conflict. Most often, when someone disagrees, I perceive it as intellectual arm-wrestling—the more clever person winning the day and their opponent (usually me) hunched in a walk of shame away from the table. Imagine our delight when we began to work with today's guest, Megan Stephenson, who not only sees conflict as a means of connection and a path toward equity, but finds the reconciliation of differing views to be one way we can work toward a shared understanding. Megan is the College of Arts and Sciences' director of academic operations and student records, the college's hidden email voice and the person who helps students navigate academic policies. On today's episode, she discusses her take on conflict, how she arrived at this distinct stature, the way she sings through life and, yes, the sheer number of game shows on which she's competed.

For more about Megan, see her CU Boulder About me page.

See Megan's announcement on Family Feud.

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

The Ampersand is a production of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

ANDers, today's episode is a doozy. Today, we sit with Ed Chuong, associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and researcher at CU Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute. Ed discusses his research exploring unexpected conflict, even in the womb, and his more recent exploration of the long-overlooked transposons. He also shares his journey into biology—from a love of science-fiction to an interest in developing video games, to a devastating discovery while snorkeling leading to original, career defining work in a lab. This conversation is a case study in ANDing's array.

For more on Ed Chuong's research, visit the Chuong Lab or his profile at the BioFrontiers Institute.

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

The Ampersand is a production of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.