Author: Amanda Rush

Andreas Stefik is an associate professor of computer science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

For the last decade, he has been creating technologies
that make it easier for people, including those with disabilities, to write computer software. He helped establish the first national educational infrastructure
for blind or visually impaired students to learn computer science and invented the first evidence-based programming language, Quorum.

The design of Quorum is created from data derived through methodologies similar to those used in the medical community. Stefik has been a principal investigator on 5 National Science Foundation funded
grants, many of which related to accessible graphics and computer science education. Finally, he was honored with the 2016 White House Champions of Change
award and the Expanding CS Opportunities award from Code.org and the Computer Science Teachers Association. Click here to follow Andreas Stefik on Twitter.

As always, Episode 20 of Making Better is fully transcribed, and you can click here to consume Episode 20 in text form.

Lainey Feingold is a disability rights lawyer who focuses on digital accessibility, an author, and an international speaker
and trainer. Lainey’s book, Structured Negotiation, A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits, is available in print and accessible digital formats.

In 2017 Lainey was selected as one of 13 “Legal Rebels” by the ABA Journal, the national flagship magazine of the American Bar Association.

In 2017 Lainey was also the individual recipient of the John W. Cooley Lawyer as Problem Solver Award, given annually to one individual and one organization by the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association. In both 2014 and 2000 Lainey was honored with a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award. Lainey is a frequent and highly regarded speaker and trainer at conferences, webinars, law school classes, and other programs and events.

As always, this episode of Making Better is fully transcribed. Click here to read the full transcript.

Science writer Brian Dunning is the host and producer of the Skeptoid podcast and the author of seven books on scientific skepticism.

Skeptoid is one of the longest running and consistently most popular independent podcasts, having surpassed 100 million downloads in January 2017.

Dunning is the writer and presenter of the documentary films Here Be Dragons and Principles of Curiosity. He has appeared on numerous radio shows and television documentaries, and also hosts the science video series inFact with Brian Dunning

A computer scientist by trade, Brian uses new media to showcase the rewards of science and critical thinking. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers and lives in central Oregon.

As always, this episode of Making Better is fully transcribed, and you can https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Making-Better-18-Brian-Dunning.mp3

Dr. Lisa Willis holds a PHD in immunology, is the present assistant professor of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. She focuses on helping women achieve their goals in STEM fields: Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics, and she describes something that she calls “the glass obstacle course” which is a lot more complicated than a glass ceiling, and she provides a number of good examples as to the things a woman needs to navigate in academia. Read her full bio here, follow Dr. Willis on Twitter, and as always, read a full transcript of episode 17.

Michael Bungay Stanier is at the forefront of shaping how organizations around the world make being coach-like an essential leadership behavior and competency. His book The Coaching Habit is the best-selling coaching book of this century, with over 700,000 copies sold and 1,000+ five-star reviews on Amazon. In 2019, he was named the #1 thought leader in coaching, and was shortlisted for the coaching prize by Thinkers50, the Oscars of management. Michael was the first Canadian Coach of the Year and has been named a Global Coaching Guru since 2014. He was a Rhodes Scholar.

Michael is the Founder of Box of Crayons. Box of Crayons is a learning and development company that helps organizations transform from advice-driven to curiosity-led.

Michael is a compelling keynote speaker, combining practicality, humour, and an unprecedented degree of engagement with the audience. He’s spoken around the world in front of crowds ranging from ten to ten thousand.

En route to today—and these are essential parts of his origin story—Michael knocked himself unconscious as a labourer by hitting himself in the head with a shovel, he mastered stagecraft at law school by appearing in a skit called Synchronized Nude Male Modelling, and his first paid piece of writing was a Harlequin Romance-esque story involving a misdelivered letter … and called The Male Delivery.

Click here to watch Episode 15 on YouTube.
Click here to read a complete transcript of Episode 15.
Michael’s new book, The Advice Trap, is available for your reading pleasure.

Amber D. Miller is the 22nd dean of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. She holds the Anna H. Bing Dean’s Chair and a faculty appointment in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Click here to read her full biography and click here to read a transcript of this episode.

Jennifer Michael Hecht is a poet, historian, and commentator. She is the author of the bestseller Doubt: A History, a history of religious and philosophical doubt all over the world, throughout history. Her newest book is Stay: A History of Suicide and the Arguments Against It (Yale University Press, 2013).

Read some of Hecht’s writings on the blog at her website,
Read Hecht’s bio and enjoy some of her quotes at Wikipedia,
Follow Hecht on Twitter and finally Read a transcript of Episode 12 of Making Better.

https://www.makingbetterpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Making-Better-12-Jennifer-Michael-Hecht.mp3