FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Haven, CT (November 23, 2015) - Ainissa Ramirez, a self-described "science evangelist", award-winning scientist and science communicator has launched a free new two-minute science podcast. Ramirez’s Science Underground cultivates curiosity in kids of all ages.

Science Underground -- listed on iTunes’ New & Noteworthy -- answers questions from how leaves change color to how scientists will create car tires from lettuce. Ramirez packs engaging and useful science explainers into 120 seconds. Each episode is filled with information adults can use in their everyday lives and can share at a cocktail party. However, what spurred Ramirez to create this humorous series was a desire to support educators and help provide them with relevant and fun science topics for their classrooms. Many of the podcast episodes are consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and show these subjects within a science story.

Ramirez has a tireless commitment to sharing the thrill of discovery and is helping to change public perceptions of science. She earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University and her undergraduate degree from Brown University, both in Materials Science & Engineering. She proved her mettle as a researcher, first at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, and then as an associate professor at Yale University. MIT's Technology Review named her as one of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators.

Throughout her career she has looked outward, nurturing a talent for educational outreach from the beginning. While at Yale, she founded a popular science lecture series for families called Science Saturdays and hosted two series of short science videos: Material Marvels and Science Xplained.

Ramirez now devotes herself to this mission of communicating science full-time. She gave a TED talk on the importance of STEM education, and co-authored Newton's Football: The Science Behind America's Game, an exploration of the physics of football.

Science Underground is free and is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Soundcloud. A new podcast comes out weekly and is two minutes in length.

ABOUT AINISSA RAMIREZ, Ph.D.
Ainissa G. Ramirez, Ph.D. is a "science evangelist" who is passionate about getting the general public excited about science. She co-authored Newton's Football: The Science Behind America's Game (Random House) and authored Save Our Science: How to Inspire a New Generation of Scientists (TED Books).

Ramirez received her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Stanford University. She worked as a research scientist at Bell Laboratories before joining the faculty at Yale University. At Yale, she was the director of the award-winning science lecture series for children called Science Saturdays and hosted two popular-science video series called Material Marvels and Science Xplained.

She now devotes her full energy to communicating science to the public. Besides writing books, she speaks internationally on the importance of making science fun and has served as a science advisor to the American Film Institute, WGBH/NOVA, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and several science museums.

ABOUT THE SCIENCE UNDERGROUND PODCAST
The Science Underground podcast is a 2-minute science podcast designed to make science fun and understandable to listeners of all ages. This podcast is available on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher. The subjects covered are from why woodpeckers don’t get concussions to the science behind chocolate. Science topics range from astronomy to zoology. For more information, see: http://www.scienceunderground.org

Questions: [email protected]
Web: www.scienceunderground.org
Twitter: @scienceundrgrnd

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