The Ampersand

Fear of failing stops many of us from tackling curiosities or opening doors on new adventures, but what if we could live without that anxiety of falling from heights? For today's guest, Rachel Suter, mitigating that fear comes down to confidence in her plans, counting from three and leaping from the (in this case literal) precipice. Suter, an undergraduate at the University of Colorado Boulder, is majoring in neuroscience and art p...

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (a rabbit hole courtesy of today's guest Camden Sharkey) defines sonder as "the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own." While this may feel sad for some, Sharkey, who is an undergraduate at the University of Colorado Boulder majoring in political science and dance, finds the concept invigorating. Whether it means treating every individual coming to ...

On The Ampersand, we love to highlight stories of people who bring together their widest interests, research and making. In most cases, these disparate facets of being shine from our brightest sides—but how can we find compassion for our darker corners? Today’s guest, Lauren Lewis, walks listeners through her journey navigating an eating disorder while learning to cook from the heart as a nutritionist and chef, guiding others to he...

How do you pass your values on to those you love? Or live out those same values in your workplace?

On today's episode, Bernadette Stewart, assistant dean of people, engagement and culture at the University of Colorado Boulder, discusses the manner we not only articulate what we hold most dear, but live out our "North Stars" on a daily basis. From growing up in a military family to parenting to music/streaming lists to self-care and...

On The Ampersand, we take pride in the ground each episode covers. Today's guest, though, sets a high standard for the breadth through which we can meander in 30 minutes. Mathias Nordvig is a teaching professor in the University of Colorado Boulder's Department of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures. He specializes in pre-Christian Nordic mythologies, folklore and Neo-paganism. From the far right's co-opting of Norse iconog...

Today's guest, Mikayla Huffman, is pursuing a PhD in astrophysical and planetary sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Huffman's research delves into numerical modeling of impacts onto icy bodies, crater mapping on rocky bodies and cometary spectroscopy. She is also an exceptional dungeon master (DM) who leads epic, year-plus campaigns through a variety of Dungeons and Dragons worlds. Tune in to hear more about astrophysi...

What happens when you not only collaborate on a project, but you also meet your creative work and research bestie?

The result, in the case of today's guests, is We Are Coming, a project by Yumi Janairo Roth and Emmanuel David about Filipino pasts and futures. In 1899, Buffalo Bill's Wild West hired three Filipinos to join the Congress of Rough Riders of the World. Although the Filipino Rough Riders were largely forgotten to history...

At what point does the drive for positivity become toxic? This week’s guest, June Gruber, studies moments that people deny themselves the full complexity of their emotions in order to try and stay happy, even when their experiences warrant feeling anything but joy. Gruber, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder, studies the dark side of happiness, but in today’s interview she als...

We're back! Our lovely listening ANDers made season one such a huge success that we're spending this summer recording seasons two and three of The Ampersand! While we're hanging out at Interplay Recording in Boulder learning about toxic happiness, playing with gender in Dungeons and Dragons and the way music can mobilize people toward a just and equitable society, we wanted to offer listeners something to satiate their thirst for t...

Sammy Ramsey’s interests have always been wide, but many mentors told him to keep those passions private and choose one professional lane. On The Ampersand’s final episode of season one, Ramsey, who is an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado Boulder, discusses how he navigated these pressures, chose to embrace his full self even if it got him kicked out of graduate school and how fig...

Why is it challenging to tell our stories, even when we are deeply passionate about the subject matter? On today’s episode of The Ampersand, Sarah Sohkey, an associate professor of political science at the University of Colorado Boulder, reflects on her fascination with Russia, policy reversals and territories within the former Soviet Union and the strategies she has tried to convey her research to students, colleagues and the publ...

On The Ampersand, we highlight stories of people who dive into their interests. Equally important is the way we tell our stories. Today’s guest is Aliya Trapp, an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder majoring in ethnic studies and international affairs. Aliya loves to cook, garden and plays bass in a Grateful Dead cover band while diving deep into her studies. Besides chasing her interests with abandon, thoug...

When Christopher Lowry told us there is correlation between the number of plants you eat and emotional well-being, we stopped. Lowry, who is an associate professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder, has spent his career digging into the manner microbiome diversity in the gut affects our mental health. On today’s episode of The Ampersand, you’ll hear about his research, the childhood experiences that se...

A mid-career pivot is terrifying enough, but what if you decided on a new interest midway through your PhD’s field research? That’s part of Karen Bailey’s story, who is today’s guest on The Ampersand. Bailey, who is an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, discusses her training as an ecologist that took her to Africa, the effect of seeing parallels between one of the largest droughts i...

How do you talk to your kids about their interests? For kids who become college students, that conversation often affects the major they choose first—a process that many worry abound in implications on rest of their lives. In the case of our guest, her major choice simply led to more interests, questions and opportunities to dive into new fields of research. Leilani Arthurs is a hydro-geo-chemist who studies volcanoes, water, educa...

What does seeing your community in films accomplish? For today’s guest Gabby Mejia, the experience galvanized her desire to create visual stories that give voice to her experiences and bring positive societal change. Mejia discusses her background, her emotional response to seeing movies like Black Panther and the possibilities she sees when she collides her interest in film and social justice. 

For more information on Mejia's crea...

In an era of specialization, many of us feel pressure to pick a thing—one skill, interest or passion that sets you apart. This one thing characterizes our identities, the way we talk, how we perceive ourselves and the stories we tell. But what happens when your one thing doesn’t pan out as planned and you need to pivot? That’s the story of our first guest in The Ampersand’s inaugural season. Hayley Muth graduated from the Universit...