The Vandal Theory
“The Vandal Theory” podcast asks, “What gets University of Idaho researchers’ brains buzzing ... besides coffee?” These award-winning stories showcase researchers exploring and solving real-world problems. With interviews on all things Vandal, discover the world of U of I research with hosts Leigh Cooper and Danae Lenz.
Episodes
April 22, 2024 • 28 mins
Question: Did you ever nerd out about geology as a kid?
Meet Erika Rader (go.uidaho.edu/3Q4YVqz), an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences (go.uidaho.edu/448B2Ej) at University of Idaho. We’re going to discuss how scientists are studying the geology of Mars, how astronauts will need to navigate when they get to the moon and even how to go on a geology field trip online.
Visit our website uida...
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April 15, 2024 • 28 mins
Episode 7.6: Education Inequalities and Student Mental Health
Question: What types of things do you imagine are harder for first-generation students to navigate while attending college, versus their peers whose parents also attended?
Meet Krista Soria (go.uidaho.edu/4aMFjzn), an assistant professor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling (go.uidaho.edu/3J9QIxh) at University of Idaho. Her research focuses on the conditi...
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April 8, 2024 • 26 mins
Question: Can you name types of diversity that could influence a team’s working dynamic?
Meet Yun Chung (go.uidaho.edu/3vEnbc5), professor of management and human resources (go.uidaho.edu/4cM2pI4) at University of Idaho. Chung is going to walk us through several studies about diversity in the workplace including how diversity on a company board affects the company’s success and some nuances behind different types of diversity in t...
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April 1, 2024 • 29 mins
Question: How do you feel about running?
Meet Sharon Stoll (go.uidaho.edu/3vzwCJP), the director of the Center for ETHICS (go.uidaho.edu/4cwwVFQ) at University of Idaho and a leading authority in competitive moral education intervention techniques for college-aged students in America. She has been a consultant with many well-known organizations, including the U.S. military. Today she is going to discuss moral development in athle...
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March 25, 2024 • 26 mins
Question: Today we are talking about soil, so I want you to imagine digging a hole. How do you think the soil might change as you dig farther and farther down?
Meet Michael Strickland (go.uidaho.edu/3VuJr2r) and Zachary Kayler (go.uidaho.edu/4aub5Bf), associate professors in the Department of Soil and Water Systems (go.uidaho.edu/3PAgcYu) at University of Idaho. They are leading a national contingency of scientists in building wh...
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March 18, 2024 • 29 mins
Question: Do you think the dead have power over the living, either literally or figuratively?
Meet Kate Kolpan (go.uidaho.edu/3TBacBh), an assistant professor in the Department of Culture, Society and Justice (go.uidaho.edu/3TA3uv8) at University of Idaho. Kolpan is a bioarchaeologist and forensic anthropologist whose research focuses on migration, violence, warfare and the politics related to the exhumation, identification and ...
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March 11, 2024 • 29 mins
Question: What does your favorite sports team jersey mean to you?
Meet Bill Smith (go.uidaho.edu/3wPE1oz), a clinical professor and director of the Martin Institute (go.uidaho.edu/3ValAF9) at University of Idaho. When athletes playing at the international level walk onto pitches, courts and fields, the politics of their countries tag along. Listen as Smith explains how cultural identity and politics are woven into soccer jerseys....
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May 1, 2023 • 24 mins
Question: Why do agricultural teachers stay in, or leave, their profession??
Meet Kattlyn Wolf (https://go.uidaho.edu/3n4iTX6), interim head of the Department of Agricultural Education, Leadership and Communications (https://go.uidaho.edu/41JDqj0) at University of Idaho. Wolf researches what motivates agricultural educators to keep teaching or leave the field. By and large, she and other researchers found that agricultural teacher...
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April 24, 2023 • 25 mins
Question: When it comes to complex social issues like gun violence, health care or in this case, the missing and murdered Indigenous population, how do we even begin tackling these problems?
Meet Omi Hodwitz (go.uidaho.edu/3mULvlz), an associate professor in the Department of Culture, Society and Justice (go.uidaho.edu/3oBoe8C) at University of Idaho. Hodwitz and her students are compiling the most comprehensive database to date o...
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April 17, 2023 • 21 mins
Question: What would you send to space?
Meet Matthew Bernards (https://go.uidaho.edu/3ZS7I0Z), an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (https://go.uidaho.edu/41j7P6P) at University of Idaho and the director of the NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium. He sends things to space to track how germs spread. And he explains how the search far and wide for answers that could make medicine more effecti...
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April 10, 2023 • 24 mins
Question: Nationally, where do you think Idaho ranks in the amount of water used for irrigation?
Meet Karen Humes (bit.ly/3melehO), a professor in the Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences (bit.ly/3UdU33k) at University of Idaho. Idaho uses water for irrigation and to make energy. Idaho also uses energy to pump irrigation water. Humes models this convoluted water, energy and irrigation nexus and studies how to delicately balanc...
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April 3, 2023 • 28 mins
Meet Helen Brown (http://bit.ly/3LVBSx7 ), a clinical associate professor in the Department of Movement Sciences (http://bit.ly/3TRb6YS) at University of Idaho, and Erich Seamon (http://bit.ly/3FQOt0z), a research scientist in the Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation (http://bit.ly/3JPAg5n). They’ve teamed up to track and publish data about health trends in Idaho. Before their project, this information was only avail...
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March 27, 2023 • 27 mins
Question: What makes an outdoor experience satisfactory?
Everyone has opinions about how Idaho’s natural resources should be used. Wallen teams with Idaho Fish and Game to figure out what those opinions are.
Visit our website uidaho.edu/vandaltheory. Email us at vandaltheory@uidaho.edu. Learn about Idaho’s premier research university, University of Idaho, at uidaho.edu.
More CNR Stories
U of I and IDFG Partner to Improve Idaho’s...
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March 20, 2023 • 29 mins
Question: How do you conserve energy in your home?
Meet Damon Woods ( http://bit.ly/3mZRs0j), interim director of the Integrated Design Lab ( http://bit.ly/3ZKGev7) and a research professor at University of Idaho. Woods has helped state officials drill down which energy regulations — among hundreds on the books — protect Idahoans from wasting energy and money in their homes, businesses and elsewhere. He’ll break down the tedio...
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March 13, 2023 • 24 mins
Question: What barriers stop people from getting help when it comes to mental health issues?
Meet Adolfo Carmona, a second-year medical student at Idaho WWAMI (bit.ly/41y7yOk). Between his first and second year of medical school, Adolfo worked in Jerome, which has a large Latino population. He discusses the barriers to help many Latinos face when experiencing mental health challenges and how he is attempting to help the community...
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January 2, 2023 • 24 mins
What role does creativity play in our lives?
Meet Jason Dykstra (https://bit.ly/3Goymbl), a member of the band The Plagiarists and visiting faculty and director of University of Idaho’s Housing Clinic. The Boise law professor studies why creativity is important — in life, and in law. As shown by a creativity test designed for the Apollo space program, people begin life as creative geniuses, only to see their creative roots shrink ...
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December 26, 2022 • 24 mins
Question: When you imagine a farmer, what picture do you have in your head?
Meet Colette DePhelps (bit.ly/3WzzXAA), an area extension educator specializing in community food systems for University of Idaho. As part of the Idaho Woman in Ag (bit.ly/3FJxbBN) project, DePhelps is interviewing and surveying Idaho’s female farmers — who earn $1 for every $2.50 earned by male counterparts — and identifying the support they need.
Vis...
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December 19, 2022 • 26 mins
What changes people’s minds about politics?
Meet Florian Justwan (https://bit.ly/3YpXHsm), a professor of political science at University of Idaho, who studies political psychology. Drawing on years of research into how people process political information, Justwan shows we often rely on our identities and social networks to interpret new political data. People may not weigh new facts as heavily as expected and Justwan offers advi...
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December 12, 2022 • 28 mins
Question: Just how much is Idaho growing?
Meet Jaap Vos (https://bit.ly/3WdJYTU), a professor of planning and natural resources at University of Idaho, where he also serves as interim head of the Natural Resources and Society department. Vos used novel data on driver’s license registrations and turnovers to create a fuller picture of Idaho’s unprecedented rates of population change. More than one in every four Idahoans are new to ...
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December 5, 2022 • 27 mins
Question: What kind of tools come to mind when you think about wildlife conservation?
Meet Lisette Waits (bit.ly/3GvWMQM), a distinguished professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences (bit.ly/3GucDPQ) at University of Idaho. Whether she is tracking an endangered population of pygmy rabbits, watching wolves spread across the West, or trying to identify a tent-smashing bear, Waits uses genetics to conserve wildlife.
Vi...
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