The STEM Read Podcast The STEM Read podcast explores the connections between STEM and storytelling. Join hosts Gillian King-Cargile and Dr. Kristin Brynteson as they dive into a hot topic in K-12 education with an educator or STEM expert. After that, they talk with an author whose books can ignite enthusiasm for reading and learning. Get great reading recommendations, spark stemtastic ideas for your classroom or library, and geek out with Gillian and Kristin about science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math.
The STEM Read Podcast

The STEM Read Podcast

From Northern Public Radio

The STEM Read podcast explores the connections between STEM and storytelling. Join hosts Gillian King-Cargile and Dr. Kristin Brynteson as they dive into a hot topic in K-12 education with an educator or STEM expert. After that, they talk with an author whose books can ignite enthusiasm for reading and learning. Get great reading recommendations, spark stemtastic ideas for your classroom or library, and geek out with Gillian and Kristin about science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math.

Most Recent Episodes

The STEM Read Podcast: Fighting Mental Parasites with Dr. Andy Norman

Host Gillian King-Cargile talks to Dr. Andy Norman, author of Mental Immunity, about how bad ideas spread like viruses and how we can inoculate our minds against them.

STEM Read Podcast: The Sky Isn't the Limit

Aerospace Engineer Mishaal Ashemimry, the first Saudi woman to work for NASA, and children's author Suzanne Slade discuss their love of STEM and all things space.

The STEM Read Podcast: Springboards For Wonder With John Green And Melanie Koss

Author John Green has chronicled love, loss, and mental illness in his award-winning young adult novels like The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, and Turtles All the Way Down. He weaves wonderful stories in his novels and his YouTube series' like Mental Floss, Crash Course, and the Vlogbrothers videos he exchanges with his brother Hank Green.

The STEM Read Podcast: Springboards For Wonder With John Green And Melanie Koss

The STEM Read Podcast: Math And Physics Are My Superpowers

In this episode of the STEM Read Podcast, host Gillian King-Cargile (@gkingcargile) gives you an encore excerpt from one of NIU's Future Telling Webinars. These free events bring together great minds from the worlds of writing and STEM to explore bleeding-edge research and its impact on our society and our sci-fi. Our guests are author S.L. Huang and physicist Rebecca C. Thompson.

The STEM Read Podcast: CRISPR, COVID, and Pure Curiosity with Walter Isaacson and Mike Jones

On this episode, host Gillian King-Cargile (@gkingcargile) explores the gene editing tool CRISPR, used to create the breakthrough mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. First, she talks with biographer Walter Isaacson (@WalterIsaacson), author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs, about his new book The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race. The book chronicles the discoveries surrounding CRISPR and the brilliant scientists racing toward publications, patents, and prizes.

The STEM Read Podcast: CRISPR, COVID, and Pure Curiosity with Walter Isaacson and Mike Jones

The STEM Read Podcast - Batman Is A Maker

From clever costumed superheroes to persistent little girls, makers come in all shapes and sizes. Host Gillian King-Cargile (@gkingcargile) will highlight new stories that focus on thinking, tinkering, and making. First, she'll interview Ruth Spiro (@RuthSpiro), author of Made By Maxine and the Baby Loves Science series, about her latest book Maxine and the Greatest Garden Ever. The book explores the friendship between two very different makers who want to build, grow, and make the world a little more functional and fabulous.

The STEM Read Podcast - Fake Ghosts and Meddling Kids

It's a Halloween Bonus! On this episode of the STEM Read Podcast, we'll explore America's deep-seated literary tradition of rationalism as it has played out in more than 150 years of pop culture, from the Dime Novels of the 1870s to Scooby-Doo to the horror novels of today. STEM Read Director Gillian King-Cargile (@gkingcargile) talks with authors and experts who explore, update, and upend our traditions of fake ghosts and meddling kids. Our guests are archivist and Dime Novel Expert Sata

The STEM Read Podcast - Past, Present, And Futurism

In this episode of The STEM Read Podcast, we're bringing you an excerpt from the Future Telling Webinar series , STEM Read's collaboration with NIU's University Libraries. STEM Read Director Gillian King-Cargile (@gkingcargile) talks to experts in history and speculative fiction to hear how pandemics have shaped art and how this turbulent moment in world history is transforming the future of publishing and the genre. Speakers include Valerie Garver (Professor of History, Northern Illinois

The STEM Read Podcast - It Was Supposed To Be Zombies! With Daniel Kraus And Carolyn Ciesla

Some people are complaining that COVID-19 is not the pandemic they signed up for. It was supposed to be Zombies! E ven though we don't have zombies, many of us have a roadmap for survival because of horror. In this episode, Gillian King-Cargile (@ gkingcargile ) talks with Carolyn C iesla (@ papersquared ) , dean of the Library and Learning Resources and Assessment at Prairie State College and part of Summer Scares, a committee that creates book lists and resources to help libraries connect

The STEM Read Podcast - It Was Supposed To Be Zombies! With Daniel Kraus And Carolyn Ciesla

The STEM Read Podcast - The Space Station Mom And The Stunt Woman

On May 30, 2020, The United States launched a manned spacecraft into low-earth orbit for the first time in nine years. SpaceX is now the first private company to launch NASA astronauts into space from US soil. The astronauts are heading to the International Space Station. And how did this happen? With a whole lot of math. As we celebrate this historic flight that could be the next step in human exploration of the Moon and even Mars, we're highlighting two women whose love of math took them on