UC Santa Barbara (Audio)

Moderator Diane Fujino joins activist and documentary subject Mike Africa Jr. for a discussion of Tommy Oliver’s new documentary, 40 Years A Prisoner. A riveting chronicle of the controversial 1978 Philadelphia police raid on the radical back-to-nature group MOVE, 40 Years a Prisoner follows Africa Jr.’s decades-long fight to free his parents from prison in the aftermath. Together, Fujino and Africa Jr. discuss how Oliver’s documentary situates the MOVE raid within a longer history of police violence against Black communities in Philadelphia, and the lasting impact of MOVE’s radical philosophy. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37108]

Actor, director, producer, and comedy icon Henry Winkler joins moderator Matt Ryan for a discussion of his work on the hit HBO comedy, Barry. Barry stars Bill Hader as a depressed, low-rent hitman from the Midwest who reluctantly travels to Los Angeles to execute a hit on an aspiring actor. In conversation with Ryan, Winkler provides an in-depth look at his character Gene Cousineau, while also recounting some highlights from his prolific, multi-decade career in television and film. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37110]

Writer/director Catherine Hardwicke discusses her directorial debut film, Thirteen, a realistic drama of an innocent teenage girl thrown into a curious world of rebellion, sex, and drugs. In conversation with moderator Matt Ryan, Hardwicke discusses the process of working with co-writer Nikki Reed to capture the reality of Reed’s own teen years, and to transform them in turn into this harrowing yet relatable film. Hardwicke also discusses the joys and challenges of directing, touching briefly on her other directorial work, Twilight. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37106]

Hester Blum, David Clark, and Korenna Estes discuss the film Frozen Obsession, which follows the 18-day, 2,000-mile Northwest Passage Project expedition through the stunningly beautiful and extreme Canadian Arctic, aboard the Swedish research icebreaker Oden. In conversation with Ian Kellett, Blum, Clark, and Estes discuss the process of making the documentary and the lessons they learned as a part of this project, as well as larger issues of climate change. Frozen Obsession follows the expedition of some of the many scientists who are racing to understand a fast-warming Arctic, exploring how environmental changes currently unfolding in the polar regions will affect life on a planetary scale. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37105]

In conversation with moderator Sara Pankenier Weld, filmmaker Holly Morris discusses her 2015 documentary, The Babushkas of Chernobyl. The film offers an intimate look at the remarkable women who continue to live, fish, and forage in the shadow of the ruined Chernobyl nuclear power plant, having refused to leave their homes following the 1986 explosion at reactor 4. Morris details the triumphs and challenges of making this film, the ongoing impacts of the Chernobyl disaster, and the power of community in the face of adversity. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37107]

We all know how good a dog's sense of smell is, from sniffing out explosives to all sorts of contraband and even disease in humans. Tommy Dickey, emeritus professor from UC Santa Barbara, and service dog expert Heather Junquiera explain why and how dogs are being trained for COVID-19 screening. [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 36937]

Colin Gunckel and Mirasol Enríquez discuss the impact and importance of the 1983 epic film El Norte, directed by Gregory Nava. In conversation with moderator Ross Melnick, Gunckel and Enríquez reflect on the production and reception of the film in the context of Chicanx filmmaking in the 80s. El Norte tells the story of a Guatemalan brother and sister who flee persecution and journey north along the length of Mexico, with a dream of finding a new home in the United States. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37066]

Director Sanjay Rawal and editor Alexander Meillier discuss their new documentary Gather, which explores the growing movement among Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, all while battling the trauma of centuries colonial genocide. In conversation with Greg Johnson, Rawal and Meillier discuss the process of making the film, addressing in particular the complicated ethics of documentary representation. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37065]

This discussion considers the contemporary politics of wireless communication, with special attention paid to the cultural and governmental imaginaries that accrue to emerging wireless infrastructures like 5G. In conversation with Tyler Morgenstern, Marisa Duarte, Shannon Mattern and Rahul Mukherjee explore how wireless ICTs shape historical and current understandings of uncertainty, conspiracy, and development. Together, panelists considered how dreams of untrammeled, high-speed connectivity tend to obscure or crowd out alternative imaginaries of relation. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 36885]

The challenges of the past year have shaped the way we think about and watch television. Moderated by Patrice Petro, this conversation explores how television continues to mediate urgent debates over questions of community, racial justice, and protest. In addition, panelists consider how the pressures of the current moment—viral pandemic, social unrest, and political upheaval—are reshaping our understanding of news, sports, and celebrity culture. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 36828]

Trent Atkinson and Brandon Stansell discuss their new film Three Chords and a Lie, which explores the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in country music. In a conversation with Tyler Morgenstern, Stansell and Atkinson discuss the process of making the documentary and the challenges it presented, as well as larger issues of representation and diversity in the country music industry. Three Chords and a Lie follows Stansell as he returns to his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, ten years after coming out as gay to his family. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 36815]

Mahnoosh Alizadeh is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC Santa Barbara. Alizadeh’s research is focused on designing scalable control and data analytic frameworks and market mechanisms for enabling sustainability and resiliency in societal infrastructure systems. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 36796]

A Normal Girl director Aubree Bernier-Clarke, activist/producer Pidgeon Pagonis, and Ponyboi director River Gallo discuss their experiences creating these innovative portraits of contemporary intersex life. In conversation with moderator Xiuhe Zhang, Bernier-Clarke, Pagonis, and Gallo address the challenges that intersex media makers, performers, and writers face in telling their stories, but also highlight how documentary and fiction filmmaking can help to shift popular (mis)conceptions about intersex people and their communities. Ponyboi tells the story of a young intersex sex worker struggling to navigate the terrain's of intimacy and identity, while A Normal Girl focuses on the work of activist Pidgeon Pagonis, who advocates for intersex peoples’ rights to medical non-conformity and bodily self-determination. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 36821]

Chandra Krintz is a professor of Computer Engineering at UC Santa Barbara. SmartFarm is a research project that investigates the design and implementation of an open source, hybrid cloud approach to agriculture analytics for enabling sustainable farming practices. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Agriculture] [Show ID: 36803]

Debra Perrone is an Assistant Professor of UCSB’s Environmental Studies Program. Deb integrates research methods from engineering, physical science, and law to inform water sustainability and policy. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 36804]

David Erne leads smart grid research for the California Energy Commission’s Energy Research and Development Division. In this role, he manages a portfolio of research initiatives to improve electric system reliability and resilience for customers. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 36797]

In this roundtable discussion, professors Stephen Groening, Maggie Hennefeld, Brian Jacobson, and Jocelyn Szcepaniak-Gillece reflect on how pandemics past shed new light on how the current COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping the world of cinema. Moderated by Patrice Petro, this conversation addresses questions of risk and exposure in the media industries, the movie theater’s role as public space, and how pandemic-induced streaming changes our understanding of cinema. Participants also explore how fears of viral infection reshape the literal and figurative “atmosphere” of moviegoing. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 36820]

Raj Yavatkar is Chief Technology Officer at Juniper Networks. He leads and executes the company’s critical innovations and products for intelligent self-driving networks, security, Mobile Edge Cloud, network virtualization, packet-optical integration, and hybrid cloud. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 36798]

John Bowers is a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at UC Santa Barbara. He is interested in energy efficiency and the development of novel low power optoelectronic devices for the next generation of optical networks. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 36801]

Katharine Schmidtke is Director of Sourcing for ASICs and Custom Silicon at Facebook, the world’s largest social network and one of the five largest hyperscale-datacenter operators in the world. In this role she directs sourcing strategy for Facebook’s inference and video transcoding ASICs, and next generation interconnect technology. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 36799]