As part of the “broader impacts” component of a National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant, two 1C undergrads and an alumna — junior Linda Seymour, sophomore Shante Stowell and Elise Hens ’12 — are working with CEE lecturer Ari Epstein to make a series of three podcasts about the research of Professors Martin Polz and Scott Manalis (biological engineering) covered by the grant. Episode 1: World’s Tiniest Diving Board (8.5 minutes) tells how the researchers are using microfluidics technology and a miniature diving board to measure the mass of microbes to learn how much a microbe grows before it splits apart to replicate. Episode 2 will focus on the recent findings that microbes exhibit social cooperation, episode 3 on the ways scientists communicate their research findings — formally and informally — within the scientific community and to the public, and the final episode will summarize the research supported by the grant. Epstein said he hopes that other CEE principal investigators will want to incorporate similar projects in their NSF proposals. “It’s a relatively low-cost and interesting opportunity for outreach that provides a nice educational experience for the undergraduates,” said Epstein. The podcast series, “Measuring Marine Microbes,” is available on Soundcloud.