UCSD Postdoc PITCH Competition (Apr 2025)
This was the inaugural “Three Minute Thesis”-style competition for postdocs at UC San Diego. I talked about my research on endogenous viruses in cephalopods. I placed first in this competition.
Torrey Pines Training Consortium (TPTC) Postdoc Pitch Competition (Oct 2025)
This was the mesa-wide follow up to the UC San Diego competition. The top two finalists from UC San Diego, Scripps Research, Salk Institute, and Sanford Prebys were selected as contestants. I came in second place at this competition, and also won the People’s Choice Award.
Fleet Science Center presents Suds & Science (Mar 2026)
I presented a public lecture at the “Suds & Science” event organized by the Fleet Science Center in San Diego, CA. The event brings scientists face-to-face with the public at local breweries. Here’s what I talked about:
Weathering Change: Life in the Face of a Changing Climate
Human activities have led to major alterations to the environment. Although we are only now coming to appreciate how, the effects of these changes have been felt by all living creatures for more than a century. In this talk, I will share three hot topics of research on how climate change affects us and the ecosystem we are embedded in. First, I will share how global warming is making us hotheaded, with potentially disastrous consequences for our society. Second, I will discuss how climate change is helping spread old diseases to new areas, and also leading to the emergence of never-before-seen pathogens. And finally, I’ll try to switch from doom to mood by telling you about how our jellyfish and cephalopod cousins might be coping with climate change. Come prepared to learn something new, “weather” you like it or not.
Fleet Science Center presents Sharp Minds (May 2026)
“Sharp Minds” is a series of monthly lectures aimed at sharing science and research advances with senior citizens. Here’s a summary of my talk:
Viruses: From a 2020 vision to a 20/20 one
Viruses have a bad reputation – we associate them with illness, blights and now pandemics. However, viruses are not simply agents of disease. They shape the natural cycles of our environment (e.g. the carbon cycle); they are our evolutionary partners, helping make our biology work; and they are a source of new medicines and therapies. In this talk, I will describe how we discovered viruses, how they function, and the many ways they co-exist with us and the wider living world. My goal is not to downplay the harm viruses can cause, but to offer a clearer, broader perspective. I hope to convince you that viruses are not something to be feared, but something to understand and appreciate – but only if we look at them with 20/20 vision, and not a 2020 one.