Month: July 2025

Sultana Nahar: Eye on the Sky

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Sultana Nahar, research professor in the Department of Astronomy and 2025 recipient of the William Fowler Award for Research from the Eastern Great Lakes Section of the American Physical Society, discusses her innovative research in atomic astrophysics, including her notable contributions to the NORAD atomic database and the book Atomic Astrophysics and Spectroscopy. She explores the interdisciplinary bridge between physics and astronomy, explaining how her work helps understand astrophysical plasmas and their applications. Profs Staley and Nahar review her work detecting extraterrestrial life through phosphorus spectroscopy, her unique method of using x-rays in medical applications derived from black hole studies, and the study of the sun’s opacity for better astronomical standards.

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Ashley Hope Pérez: Exploring Uncomfortable Narratives in Literature

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Ashley Hope Pérez, Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Studies, discusses her latest book, Deformative Fictions: Narrative Ethics and Cruelty in Twentieth-Century Latin American Literature. Pérez explores difficult and uncomfortable narratives in literature and explains how these fictions challenge readers and why such narratives are important. She and host David Staley discuss her experience with book banning, particularly her novel Out of Darkness, and explore the impact of book censorship on readers and authors. Additionally, Pérez describes editing the anthology Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers Rights and leading her Unite to Read project.

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Kate Shannon: A Picture is Worth (More Than) a Thousand Pixels

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Kate Shannon, Associate Professor of Art and the Ohio State University 2025-26 Artist Laureate, focuses on photography, and digitally manipulating and recontextualizing existing photographs to explore their connection to time, history, and the digital age. Shannon is fascinated with the physical deterioration of photographs and how it contributes to their stories. Host David Staley and Shannon discuss her works, including “Construction/Destruction,” in which she animates decayed Wright Brothers’ glass plate negatives, and “The Insignificant,” in which she treats rejected Farm Security Administration negatives. She also reflects on her students’ interactions with both historical and modern digital photography and the implications of generative AI in the art world.

Photograph by Carlos G. Vertanessian

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Kentaro Fujita Asks, “Can YOU Resist a Marshmallow?”

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Ken Fujita, Professor of Psychology, researches self-control in the Ohio State University Motivation and Cognitive Science Laboratory. He explores how motivation and cognition intersect to affect decision-making and behavior, such as the influence of thinking patterns on desires, as famously shown by the marshmallow test (can a child resist eating a marshmallow for 15 minutes?). Fujita looks at situational factors and strategies for self-control, arguing that self-control is a skill developed through practice rather than an innate ability. The interview ends with Fujita sharing his journey into psychology and discussing his commitment to mentoring students.

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