City Lizards with Princeton Vaughn Feb 10th, 2026 1pm Eastern RSVP here! Princeton Vaughn is a PhD candidate at Princeton University. He is interested in understanding how animals, specifically anole lizards, are adapting to life in cities. Cities are very unique habitats and animals that live in them have to deal with a variety of challenges. Crested anole lizards have adapted to life in the city in numerous ways and Princeton studies how and why these adaptations arise.
Helping the Ocean with Ocean Wise March 5, 2026 1pm Eastern RSVP here
We'll be talking with a group of people who work for Ocean Wise,a global conservation organization on a mission to build communities that take meaningful action to protect and restore our ocean. We'll be joined by educators Mala Sharma and Kayla Jones, Seaforestation Specialist Max Wolf, Microplastics and Ocean Pollution expert Emily Anderson, and Data Analyst on the Fisheries and Seafood team Taryn Scarff.
Freaky Flowers with Molly Edwards April 21, 2026 1pm Eastern RSVP here! Molly Edwards is a science communicator and plant biologist. She recently earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University, where she studied the weird and wonderful 3-D petals of columbine flowers. She goes by ‘Science IRL’ on the internet, where you can catch her climbing giant robots and sniffing stinky corpse flowers to show the world what being a scientist is like, in real life!
Physics with Alexa Lachmann and Jamie Xia May 11, 2026 1pm Eastern RSVP here Jamie is also a third-year PhD student at Columbia's Plasma Physics Laboratory. She originally earned a B.S in Applied Physics at the University of Washington. Her journey to fusion research involved volunteering at the HIT-SI lab and going to the SULI program at DIII-D when she was an undergraduate. Now Jamie focuses on researching and modeling disruptions with tokamak plasmas. Having lived in Atlanta, the Bay Area, Seattle, and now NYC, Jamie enjoys D&D, climbing, and spending time with cats.
Alexa is a third-year PhD student at Columbia's Plasma Physics Laboratory, focusing on magnetic confinement fusion and the study of stellarators. With a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from NYU, Alexa transitioned from JPMorgan and particle physics to fusion research. Originally from Long Island, New York, she enjoys hiking, playing the violin, writing, and collaging in her free time.
