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Dan Parker, associate professor of linguistics, researches psycholinguistics, the scientific study of how people understand, produce, and learn language. He explains that while language feels effortless, it relies on complex cognitive processes that allow humans to rapidly interpret words, sentences, and meaning. A major focus of Parker’s research is understanding how people process language in real time. Using experimental methods such as eye-tracking, he examines how readers move through text, revisit information, and resolve ambiguities while constructing meaning. These methods provide insights into the hidden mental processes that support communication. Professors Parker and host David Staley also discuss the growing role of large language models such as ChatGPT in linguistic research. Parker views these systems as useful tools for studying cognition because they share certain behaviors with humans, including using context, memory, and prediction to process language. Voices Dan ParkerDownload

Associate professor of molecular genetics and 2026 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching recipient Guramrit Singh researches RNA, temporary copies of DNA used to make proteins. His lab studies mRNA quality control/surveillance that destroys faulty messages, noting links to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and to cancer strategies. He also describes how he got into the field and what is next for his research, including differentiating  stem cells into different lineages to measure the presence and impact of specific proteins in surveillance pathways. Guramrit SinghDownload

Jeanne Serb, professor and chair of the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, grew up fascinated by animals. She turned that interest into a successful career researching how organisms sense environmental cues and how sensory systems evolve. She describes to host David Staley how eyes evolved independently across animals, and outlines her research on marine bivalves (scallops, oysters, mussels), showing five independent origins of eyes. If you didn’t know that scallops and jellyfish have eyes, this is the podcast for you!

Shuai Huang, assistant professor of molecular genetics and NSF CAREER awardee, researches how plants defend themselves. Although plants lack specialized immune cells, each cell has immune receptors and can mount responses against bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, and other pathogens. Huang’s lab identifies genes, pathways, and signaling molecules involved in plant defense and discovered that many cellular molecules rapidly cluster into membrane-free “biomolecular condensates” via liquid-liquid phase separation, assembling quickly under stress and disassembling when the job is done. Huang aims to engineer condensates to improve resistance without reducing growth and to study roles in mechanical and abiotic stress responses relevant to climate change and food security. Voices Shuai HuangDownload

Kristen Lindquist, professor of psychology, shares her research with host David Staley. Lindquist researches what emotions are and how the brain creates them. She challenges the common view that emotions are triggered, instinctive packages generated by dedicated brain centers like the amygdala. Lindquist summarizes neuroimaging evidence that the amygdala is neither consistent nor specific to fear and that emotions involve whole-brain patterns including regions linked to language, memory, and abstract knowledge. She argues emotions are constructed through predictive processes shaped by personal experience, social learning, and cultural narratives, with implications for treatment. Lindquist closes by describing lifespan research using daily-life sampling, physiology, brain scans, and planned longitudinal follow-up. Voices LindquistDownload

Charles O. Anderson, OSU’s fourth artist laureate, professor of dance, and founder of the Afro contemporary Charles O. Anderson Dance Theater X, discusses being a “kinetic storyteller.” Anderson prefers this term because it understands movement as knowledge production, memory transmission, and meaning-making shaped. His choreography is influenced by Black church and club cultures and emphasizes how bodies carry histories somatically through gesture, rhythm, and proximity. Anderson’s choreography embodies behavior from sources like tension, social anxiety, and everyday observations . and defines “Afro contemporary” as embracing experimental identity beyond “traditional African dance.” Anderson describes Recurrent Unrest, developed amid early Black Lives Matter influences and set to Steve Reich, as a cumulative, polyrhythmic exploration of civil unrest that also included a reparations initiative to bring impacted communities into concert dance; it became a film during the pandemic. He outlines his laureate project Croatoa: Re-Singing America’s Next 250 Years, with statewide community testimony, “wailing wall” artifacts, and inclusive performance, and shares his late start in dance, career path, and current work Re-Singing From the Underspace with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. VoE Charles O AndersonDownload

Danielle Schoon, assistant teaching professor of sociology, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) fellow, and recipient of the Ohio State University’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, discusses her many areas of expertise with host David Staley. Schoon, trained in cultural anthropology with earlier work in dance studies and Middle Eastern studies, emphasizes culture and power and explains how metacognition and transparent course design help students become partners in learning. She describes COIL, which connects OSU students with peers at international institutions for 5–8 week collaborative projects, and discusses challenges such as time zones, unequal language burdens, tool selection, accessibility, and differing definitions of success, with emphasis on learning processes over polished products. Voices Danielle Schoon PodcastDownload

Nick Passalacqua, associate professor of anthropology, discusses how anthropologists recover and analyze skeletal remains to build biological profiles including age, sex, stature, and ancestry. He contrasts real methods with those of TV dramas (such as Bones), noting the field relies on careful measurement and collaboration rather than flashy technology. Ethics remain central, guiding respectful treatment of the dead and their families. Ultimately, forensic anthropology serves a humanitarian mission: returning individuals to their communities. The program at Ohio State is expanding rapidly and training the next generation of professionals.

Steve MacEachern, distinguished professor of statistics, discusses his field, how he got into statistics, and what feature he has to have in his job. MacEachern earned a doctorate at the University of Minnesota, researching Bayesian methods, a way to use probability to represent uncertainty via prior and posterior distributions informed by data. He sees statistics as different from data science/analytics because statistics emphasizes modeling and inference, while data science adds large-scale data capture and wrangling, often from computer science. MacEachern discusses modern statistics’ growing focus on prediction in platforms like search and e-commerce, contrasts hard-science versus human-centered data, and outlines current research challenges driven by AI and massive predictor sets.

“I’ve loved dinosaurs since I was a little kid. A lot of kids like dinosaurs. It’s sort of like measles: most kids get it, most kids get over it. I never got over it. I still love dinosaurs.” Dale Gnidovec, collections manager and curator of the Orton Geological Museum, received the Ohio Department of Natural Resources 2025 Cardinal Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to conservation and environmental education in Ohio. This episode features Gnidovec giving David Staley a tour of the Orton Museum, something you can do in person almost any weekday or any time at all online.

Ryan Joyce, assistant professor of French and Francophone Studies, researches decolonization, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic World. His scholarship foregrounds the study of creolization, gender and sexuality, diaspora and migration, performance, and marronage (slaves escaping captivity). Joyce is especially interested in decolonization, the ways former colonies reclaim their economic, political and cultural autonomy. Joyce argues for the contemporary relevance of this process in Ohio due to its continued influence on large Haitian communities in Springfield and Columbus. Joyce discusses his decolonization seminar that was supported by OSU Special Collections, his Engaged Scholars Academy experience, and his plans for an expanded free public Creole course and a marronage monograph.

What’s causing yellow perch to disappear from Lake Erie’s waters? Ohio State professor of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology Stuart Ludsin is on the case. One part of his research is a look at Lake Erie where he suspects the spiny water flea, a half-inch invasive zooplankton with a barbed spine, to play a role in the declining catch rates of yellow perch. The flea’s abundance may seem like a positive for hungry perch but its impact on perch digestive may causing problems. Elsewhere in the lake, an exploding walleye population may also be devouring young yellow perch after eliminating their preferred prey like gizzard shad and emerald shiners. Listen in to hear how Ludsin’s team uses novel genetics approaches to track walleye diets and understand these ecosystem shifts.

Lucia Dunn, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Economics, studies a wide range of topics in the realm of empirical economics. She talks about her vast body of research, which covers topics from baseball cards and credit cards to wages in the U.S. Army. Dunn discusses her research emphasis on labor market economics, where she’s employed many unconventional methodologies like in-person interviews to provide more comprehensive data and conclusions. She also talks about the value of survey data generated by the OSU Center for Human Resource Research, which allowed herself and her fellow researchers unique access to valuable, more specific data. VoE – Lucia DunnDownload

John E. Davidson, Professor of Germanic Languages and Literature and Founding Director of OSU’s Film Studies program, discusses film as a field of study and its power to shape social memory. Davidson outlines recent research on the postwar “disappearance of race” in Germany and the work of Dadaist Hans Arp and his contemporaries. He also talks about his role as Faculty Athletics Representative, which he’s held since 2015, advising on academic issues, compliance, and student-athlete wellbeing, offering views on NIL and skepticism about a proposed “sports” major. VoE – John E. DavidsonDownload

Felecia Ross, Associate Professor in the School of Communication, discusses her research and writing on the history and influence of the Black press. She describes her field research contributions to the PBS documentary Bombshell, particularly journalist Charles Loeb and his reporting on the truth about radiation casualties in Hiroshima. Ross also describes other projects, including one on Booker T. Washington’s influence on the Black press and the remembrance of the Reconstruction Era and the Civil War. VoE – Felecia RossDownload