Driven to Discover

When social work researcher Patricia Logan-Greene sought out introductory readings for her students on the topic of gun violence, she was shocked to find there weren’t any. Every day, social workers are in the homes of those most at risk of gun violence. Who better to prevent it? Now Logan-Greene, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo and an expert on violence and victimization, is co-leading a national initiative to put social workers front and center in the effort to make people safe in a country rife with firearms. In this episode, host Vicky Santos talks to Logan-Greene about the scourge of gun violence in America (mass shootings are a tiny fraction of the problem), the immeasurable impact it is having on our collective mental health, and why social workers are uniquely positioned to help stop it without restricting anyone’s Second Amendment rights.
Credits:
Host: Vicky Santos
Guest: Patricia Logan-Greene
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group

Coming April 8: Almost 10% of Americans are expected to be taking Ozempic, Wegovy or a similar weight-loss drug by 2035. Pharmacy researcher Nicole Albanese, an expert on diabetes, weight loss and nutrition, has mixed feelings about these meds. She explains the pros and cons to host Laurie Kaiser in the next episode.

As a young boy, LaGarrett King loved history, but he couldn’t figure out where he fit in the narrative he was being taught at school, nor how enslaved people could possibly have been as content as his teachers portrayed. Now a renowned authority on the teaching of Black history, King directs UB’s Center for K-12 Black History and Racial Literacy Education, a thriving hub of research, professional development, networking and advocacy. In this episode of Driven to Discover, King talks to host Vicky Santos about the real meaning of “history” (it’s not what most people think), why it’s important that every student learn Black history, and the innovative ways his center is advancing Black history education around the world.

Credits:
Host: Vicky Santos
Guest: LaGarrett King
Writer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group

Coming April 8: Almost 10% of Americans are expected to be taking Ozempic, Wegovy or a similar weight-loss drug by 2035. Pharmacy researcher Nicole Albanese, an expert on diabetes, weight loss and nutrition, has mixed feelings about these meds. She explains the pros and cons to host Laurie Kaiser in the next episode.

Working nights during college as a bouncer, Mark Frank discovered he could learn a lot about people by observing their facial expressions and body language. Now, as a professor of communication at the University at Buffalo, he’s an internationally recognized expert on nonverbal communication who advises the FBI and CIA on interviewing techniques and whose research helped inspire the TV crime drama “Lie to Me.” In this episode of Driven to Discover, Frank talks to host Tom Dinki about the involuntary gestures and expressions that give our real feelings away, the universally accepted yet completely bogus connection between eye contact and the truth, and why building rapport is the best way to snag a criminal.
Credits:
Host: Tom Dinki
Guest: Mark Frank
Writer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group

Coming April 8: Almost 10% of Americans are expected to be taking Ozempic, Wegovy or a similar weight-loss drug by 2035. Pharmacy researcher Nicole Albanese, an expert on diabetes, weight loss and nutrition, has mixed feelings about these meds. She explains the pros and cons to host Laurie Kaiser in the next episode.

As a young clinical audiologist, Henry Louis Taylor Jr. found that the socioeconomic realities of many of his Black patients affected his ability to help them. To truly serve his community, he realized, he would need to understand the root causes of their circumstances. So he quit his job and went back to school to study urban history. Now, as the founding director of UB’s Center for Urban Studies at the School of Architecture and Planning, and associate director of the Community Health Equity Research Institute at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Taylor is on a mission to reverse the historic inequities that have created such a wide gap between Black lives and white lives. In this episode, the self-proclaimed activist scholar talks to host Ellen Goldbaum about his latest and most ambitious effort: The East Side Neighborhood Transformation Project.
Credits:
Host: Ellen Golbaum
Guest: Henry Louis Taylor Jr.
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group

Coming April 8: Almost 10% of Americans are expected to be taking Ozempic, Wegovy or a similar weight-loss drug by 2035. Pharmacy researcher Nicole Albanese, an expert on diabetes, weight loss and nutrition, has mixed feelings about these meds. She explains the pros and cons to host Laurie Kaiser in the next episode.

As a young girl growing up in suburban Los Angeles, Joyce Hwang loved seeing how urban animals would create little moments of disorder in the highly manicured landscape. Now the intersection between animals and the built environment is at the very heart of her work as a professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo and as director of the ecologically focused practice Ants of the Prairie. Hwang’s projects, from bat towers to bee elevators to multispecies installations, have been on display throughout the world and have won multiple awards. In this episode, she talks to host David Hill about incorporating animals into our constructed spaces—what it entails, why it’s critical (for us as well as them), and what everyday people can do to make their homes and yards more accommodating to our non-human friends.
Credits:

Host: David Hill
Guest: Joyce Hwang
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group

Coming April 8: Almost 10% of Americans are expected to be taking Ozempic, Wegovy or a similar weight-loss drug by 2035. Pharmacy researcher Nicole Albanese, an expert on diabetes, weight loss and nutrition, has mixed feelings about these meds. She explains the pros and cons to host Laurie Kaiser in the next episode.