Aaron Scott and Regina G. Barber join Short Wave

January 18, 2022; Washington, D.C. — Short Wave, NPR's daily science podcast welcomes two new members to the team: Environmental reporter Aaron Scott will join Emily Kwong as co-host in late February. Astrophysicist Regina G. Barber joins the team this week as the podcast's first Scientist in Residence.

"The world we live in is full of wonder," Scott says. "Science journalism to me is the most direct way to explore it. I think Short Wave is doing one of the best jobs of sharing that exploration with a broad and engaged audience — and having a damn fun time along the way," Scott says. "I got my start as an intern on NPR's Science Desk long ago and I am honored and excited beyond words to join the Short Wave team and to collaborate with the Science Desk (and everyone else we can enlist, for that matter) for daily adventures through all things science."

Regina Barber added, "I like to say I am a Mexican-Chinese-American-female Conan O'Brien. I admire how Short Wave has successfully combined smart and silly by not taking itself too seriously but highlighting weighty topics with humor. I have spent the last decade of my life trying to combine racial and gender equity, science and pop culture into one career."

"I am grateful to the Short Wave team - past and present, as well as our incredible hiring committee and to Anya Grundmann, Neal Carruth and Andrea Kissack for their support," said Gisele Grayson, Supervising Senior Editor of Short Wave. "The entire team is really excited about this next chapter."

Aaron Scott hails from Oregon Public Broadcasting, where he is currently Producer/Reporter for OPB's Oregon Field Guide and Science & Environment Team. In the last two years, he hosted the ten-part podcast Timber Wars, about how a conflict over old growth trees and the Spotted Owl transformed the Northwest. The series was developed with help from NPR's Story Lab and has been downloaded more than a million times. His reporting has appeared on Radiolab, This American Life, NPR, Reveal and How to Save a Planet. He has won numerous journalism awards, including a Gracie, Murrow, National Headliner, NLGJA, and Mark Twain award. Scott holds a Master's Degree in broadcast journalism and science writing from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Regina G. Barber will contribute original reporting on STEM and will guest host the show, as Short Wave's first Scientist In Residence. Barber completed her PhD in Physics in 2011 at Washington State University with a focus in astrophysics, studying globular cluster systems. She taught physics and astronomy at Western Washington University, where she is also WWU's first STEM Inclusion and Outreach Specialist. In this role, Barber organizes programs to recruit and retain underrepresented faculty and students in STEM fields. In the last seven years, she has been the Host and Executive Producer of the podcast Spark Science, featuring interviews with STEM professionals. For seven seasons, she has mentored a student production team in science communication and storytelling. In 2019, Barber won WWU's Womxn of Color Empowerment Faculty Award. She is also an alumna of the SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science) Leadership Institute and a former Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellow.

Short Wave is an Ambie Award winning podcast that explores new discoveries, everyday mysteries and the science behind the headlines. Short Wave launched in October 2019 and is one of NPR's daily podcasts alongside Up First, Consider This, The Indicator from Planet Money, Pop Culture Happy Hour, and the NPR Politics Podcast, and Book of the Day.

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