Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to Earth on the Rocks, a show where we get to know the person behind the science over drinks. Each episode will highlight a new scientist in the earth and atmospheric sciences to learn more about their journey, what interests them, and who they are outside of their science.
Host: Shelby Rader
Producer: Cari Metz
Artwork: Connor Leimgruber
Board Operator: Kate Crum, Betsy Leija
Funding for this podcast was provided by the National Science Foundation grant EAR-2422824.
Hi, folks, and welcome back to Earth on the Rocks, the show where we get to know the person behind the science. I'm your host, Shelby Rader, and joining us today is a graduate student in the department, Diya Kamnani. Diya, welcome to the show.
Diya:Hi, Shelby. Thank you so much.
Shelby:So as we get to know you, what would be your drink of choice, or as Kaj liked to introduce last season, your drink of non choice if you had one?
Diya:So my go to drink is a gin and tonic. And as of yesterday, I learned that tonic was actually used for medicinal purposes and gin was added to make it a little more appeasing. Also, with a twist of lime to prevent scurvy back in the day. But I just make do with gin and a bit of Topochico with a twist of lime in it. And, yep, that goes really hard.
Shelby:Nice. Yeah. Mean, it sounds like it's it's a health benefit depending on how you look at it too. Absolutely. And so if someone were to ask you, like, what sort of scientist are you?
Shelby:How would you classify yourself?
Diya:So I would call myself an atmospheric scientist. And I'd like to go further and describe myself as someone who's really interested in understanding the long term changes in weather patterns.
Shelby:And so would that be considered climate, or is it not long term enough to to fall under the sort of climate name?
Diya:It does fall under the climate name. So, yeah, typically, anything that goes above thirty five to forty years, depending on how much data we have, is what I would consider long term and falls under the climate bracket.
Shelby:And so as an atmospheric scientist, what sort of things are you interested in or what sort of questions are you hoping to answer?
Diya:So, some of the questions that interest me are mainly related to this weather phenomenon known as an atmospheric river and how this weather phenomenon's intensity changes depending on location, depending on time, depending on the presence of other weather phenomenon that interact with it and how best can we go about answering these questions, given that we're trying to look for a pattern in a fluid system.
Shelby:And so what is an atmospheric river?
Diya:I am so glad you asked. An atmospheric river, if we go by textbook definition, is this long narrow band, a water vapor, and it transports water from the tropics to the extra tropics. So we definitely see it as well. And a lot of people depend on it for a source of water, but basically, if it stalls at a given location, then you're drowning. So it's really a question of a drown.
Diya:And motivated by that is how best can we seasonally predict it and look at the seasonal patterns associated with atmospheric rivers. It's very much like the weather phenomenons you see around you, like a cold front coming in right now. It's super cold because we have a cold front or a tropical cyclone that you might see in Florida. It's it's just a weather phenomenon like all of these.
Shelby:And so it's basically transporting moisture at sort of what elevation are we talking about where these atmospheric rivers are existing? Are they near the surface? Are they at some height within the atmosphere?
Diya:So the way you identify an atmospheric rivers is you calculate the total amount of water vapor in an entire column all the way up to the top of the troposphere is a good way to think about it as the height at which long haul flights fly at. And so the total amount of moisture in that column gives you a sense of the presence of an atmospheric river coupled with the shape of it. So if you were to look at it from one of the satellite views of the Earth, they look like long narrow bands with a little bit of a tail. And so combining these two aspects, you will be able to identify an atmospheric river.
Shelby:And so when you're talking about these phenomena, you're mentioning moisture content from basically surface up to where you might be on an airplane. And what makes an atmospheric river? So what tells you this area is an atmospheric river versus just some other no offense, regular run of the mill air column?
Diya:The shape is a great indicator. So if you see a lot of the area covered by this, then that would be a good indication of an atmospheric river. So that's one way you can identify it.
Shelby:So like a big area that has a lot of moisture in it?
Diya:Yes. And if it's more blobby, then it could be just like a huge cloud system, like a convective system. But if it has this very particular slender shape to it, that's how you differentiate between different types of similar moisture containing weather systems.
Shelby:Okay. And say that, know, I, which I'd never be able to do this, but I wanted to see if I could identify an atmospheric river. Where are these data coming from that help you identify one? Like, how are these observations coming to be?
Diya:Yeah. This is a really fun question from my research too because it brings us to the question, how do you identify an atmospheric river? And the answer very much is, it depends on who you ask. And so we have a lot of detection algorithms, as we call it, to identify an atmospheric river. And this is based off of data that comes from satellites, other sorts of data collection methods, and then incorporated into these large models that calculate the state of the atmosphere.
Diya:And using this, the models give you the wind directions as well as how much moisture is in the atmosphere. And different people have come up with different ways to identify this. And so we have these built detection algorithms to identify where an atmospheric river might be. Some of these are based on a threshold. You set a threshold for how much moisture is in the atmosphere and say anything about this threshold with this particular shape is an atmospheric river.
Diya:And some of them look for anomalies in the atmosphere, in the moisture content in the atmosphere, and then say, okay, based on this, this is an atmospheric river. And then we have the state of the art, now machine learning based algorithms as well, where these machines, these methods are trained on atmospheric rivers identified by meteorologists. And then once the computer can learn the way the meteorologist identifies these patterns, that's another detection method. And so we use these wide arrays of detection methods to do any sort of atmospheric river analysis.
Shelby:So it sounds like you said it depends on who you ask, you sort of quantify these things. As somebody who's working in the field, is that frustrating or is that exciting that there's some variability in how these things are identified?
Diya:I do think it's really exciting because there is no single answer to a question, which is what makes it a difficult answer to maybe a simple question like, what season can we see these the most in? And just to answer this very simple question, we have all these different methods to identify an atmospheric river and by comparing them you have some form of an answer to better understand a rather complex system of fluids moving around above the Earth. And I think that's what I like about this aspect of it.
Shelby:And so when we sort of started this conversation, you mentioned that there's also these other things that may impact whether or not you have an atmospheric river or how long or big it is. You said things like other weather phenomena. Can you talk a little bit more about that? So it's like the interplay of of these other variables and how that impacts these atmospheric rivers and ultimately sort of their moisture transport because that seems like the real important aspect of these is where are we getting a lot of precipitation versus where are we not. Is that accurate?
Diya:Absolutely. That hits at a very important point. If we start off with a question like, how can we see where these happen seasonally? And then you begin to realize that seasonal patterns are often driven by other transport drivers coming from other weather phenomenon as well. In fact, take California for example.
Diya:California gets atmospheric rivers, but they also get extratropical cyclones. And so for a long time, thought, hey, since the two are tied together so closely, maybe since extratropical cyclones peak in winter, atmospheric rivers also peak in winter, and that is one way in which two weather phenomenon can happen simultaneously. There are a lot of fun terms for it as well. If you look up bomb cyclone, that's another way, another circumstance in which you see see an atmospheric river happening simultaneously with a low pressure system. Another example is in Bloomington, in, I would like to say, June 2021, if I'm wrong, we had a flood here.
Diya:And that also had simultaneously happening weather events. We had a cold front that brought in moisture and then we also had an atmospheric river that dumped a whole bunch of moisture and we had downtown kind of flood because of that. And so these are some circumstances where atmospheric rivers sort of happen with other weather events that lead to extreme intensity. And then there are more consistent scenarios like the East Asian Monsoon. They're often tied with an atmospheric river and that happens around the same time in summer, year after year.
Diya:And so that's a little more of a solid scenario in which you see the two core occurring and that kind of drives each other.
Shelby:Right. And so you're sort of focused on this connection between atmospheric rivers and future weather climate patterns. Can you talk a little bit more about sort of the things that you're evaluating and the sort of science that you're doing with that?
Diya:Yeah, I'm happy to do so. The first sort of phase of my research was trying to quantify these seasonal patterns associated with atmospheric river, put a number down as to how often can we rely on the seasonal predictiveness of it. Can we expect the same season of atmospheric rivers year after year, or does it actually vary a lot? So California, it does in fact vary a lot even though we thought atmospheric rivers are tied to extratropical cyclones and they both peak in December, it isn't quite true. Even though they're tied to extratropical cyclones, they do in fact peak in a different season than them.
Diya:And that is something we were able to find out by putting this sort of quantification to how consistent an atmospheric river season is year after year. And this brings us to the next question, which is now that we know that this is not consistent in some regions and a season is consistent in some regions, then what are the moisture transport phenomenons feeding into this or what are the most common co occurrence patterns we we see and is one coast of The US more driven by the front atmospheric river combination or is it more low pressure system atmospheric river combination like say in Florida. And so I basically try to identify what regions see what weather phenomenon and then try to perform some sort of statistics to kind of look at how these two co occur in time and how that pattern sort of changes in time.
Shelby:And so it sounds like some areas maybe have more consistent patterns with the presence of these atmospheric rivers and others have less consistent patterns. Does that So seem what does that mean for, like, trying to predict these sorts of things? Because it it feels like, you know, knowing when they may happen and where is really important to understand all these weather events, especially with, you know, like, big precipitation events. Mhmm. So what is how does this sort of consistency versus inconsistency play into your interpretations of of how you apply this information?
Diya:So, unfortunately, I haven't got a chance to apply it as yet. But I the way I would imagine someone could use it is, say, if you're working with a a dam on the West Coast and you need to know how much your reservoir needs to store water. And now that you know in California, atmospheric rivers don't have the same consistent seasonal cycle, you know that you cannot rely completely on the fact that you are going to have an atmospheric river in winter predominantly. You'll have to start thinking of other ways to deal with the fact that atmospheric rivers are not going to be consistent there. But in British Columbia, say it's pretty consistent.
Diya:And so you know that most likely, we're going to have atmospheric rivers in September, October, November. And so we can prepare for that that way and adjust sort of dam practices or any sort of water storage practices with regard to that. Or a simple other example is I was once on a flight where the flight was delayed because an atmospheric river was in California. Even a pilot might find that information useful when to prepare for some delays, perhaps.
Shelby:Did they announce with a delay, like, this is delayed because of the presence of an atmospheric river?
Diya:Yes. How cool would that I was so excited. So
Shelby:do you have a sense of what controls why these are consistent in some regions versus not consistent in other regions?
Diya:We did try digging a little bit into that, and that would require a lot more research. But what we thought that kind of helps us understand why this might be the case is you have these large scale flow patterns in the atmosphere that contribute to the transport of moisture, and then you have tiny, tiny disturbances in the atmosphere that kind of grow and contribute to this moisture. And so it's harder to predict when these tiny disturbances in the atmosphere grow and pick up moisture and contribute to an atmospheric river, so the two kind of play into each other, which results in some areas being more affected by this interplay between the two versus other areas that maybe don't see as much of those tiny disturbances.
Shelby:Very interesting. So this is a field that I think a lot of people probably haven't really thought about. So like most folks on that flight you were on when they heard this delayed because of an atmospheric river probably said, Wow, what is that? So how did you get into the field? Sort of what brought you along this path from when you were younger?
Diya:Honestly, this was by chance. It is a story of chance. I did my undergraduate in engineering physics. And at that point, I was very deep into physics. I was extremely interested in astronomy and astrophysics.
Diya:I would still say I am. Interesting. Most so from a research perspective back then.
Shelby:And where were you for your undergraduate?
Diya:I was in India. I did my undergraduate at National Institute of Technology, Calicut. I did try out a few research projects in core physics. I did a little bit of theoretical physics. Realized very quickly that was not for me.
Diya:That's fair. And then I was leaning towards planetary atmospheres and planetary studies. I did quite enjoy that a lot. And when it came down to picking a topic for a bachelor thesis, I had a really nice professor in my department who was working on Earth's atmosphere and I thought this is the closest I can get, so why not go with And I ended up working for about a year on my bachelor's thesis on this very topic. I enjoyed it a lot.
Diya:At that point, I had no idea what an atmospheric river was either. I hadn't even taken a class in atmospheric sciences. I ended up learning all about it on my personal time, and that's kind of how I knew I really enjoyed it. Cut to grad school. I still initially applied to astronomy schools and astrophysics schools, but then COVID hit.
Diya:And I realized I was not going to have access to an observatory in that year, so it might not be the best time to do astronomy research. So I deferred for a year and continued working atmospheric sciences.
Shelby:And so for people that are listening, can you just sort of tell us a little bit about what is an observatory and why might that be necessary for the work you're initially planning on doing so they have some framework for why COVID impact for that would be would be tough to overcome.
Diya:Absolutely. The aspect of astronomy I was interested in was using large telescopes to be able to observe stuff and gather data to be able to do any sort of analysis on it. And the program was a really cool program where they would take you to a lot of these large observatories, but COVID happening, people wouldn't be able to go out there to these observatories and take any measurements, and so that would mean you were essentially doing a degree with not a lot of opportunity for research given the circumstance. And so I still wanted to continue doing research, and I did in the topic I had the opportunity with, which I could do research, which was atmospheric science. I just continued working on my bachelor thesis, which was looking at how clouds change over the Indian sub continent region.
Diya:And I thought to myself, I have been really enjoying something for two years with no trouble at all and learning most of it on my own, so why not try grad school in this area? So I reached out to a bunch of people and I realized I was super interested in atmospheric rivers and here I am.
Shelby:Here you are. So I'm going to jump back a little bit. Whenever I was a grad student, I was in Tucson, Arizona and was part of an outreach event where we would sort of take K-twelve students over the course of anywhere from one to four days up a nearby mountain range. And so along the way, we would sort of stop and there were lots of people involved that would talk about their areas of expertise. So I would talk about the geology of the area.
Shelby:There might be folks from environmental science that would talk about the hydrology of the area, folks from entomology that would talk about the insects of the area. And when we got to the top, there was a collection of observational telescopes that were typically used for research, but there was one that they would let us utilize for this outreach program. And so at night, would go in and there would be somebody there who would, you know, set the telescope for us to be able to look at different things. I had never done that before in my entire life. It is so crazy.
Shelby:It's so amazing, impressive, the things that you can see. And so it sounds like you still have some interest in that. Do you ever go sort of observing with smaller telescopes?
Diya:I actually don't own a telescope, but I do often go to the observatory nights that IU hosts with our observatory in town, and they point to different things based on the time of year you go see them. And it has been quite a fun experience. I just go with a bunch of people who are interested in this and we go sometimes look at a binary star system which is just two stars going around each other or sometimes it's just the moon. But, yeah, I do do that still from time to time.
Shelby:That's really fun that you can still have that opportunity while you're here. So you end up, you know, sort of taking a little bit of a detour from what you had initially thought you might wanna do, mostly so that you still had access to some of the research tools that you would need after COVID. And so you end up applying to atmospheric science programs and focusing on these atmospheric rivers here at IU. What was that like moving over to Bloomington?
Diya:It was a fun experience. I think I love the aspect of meeting new people. It was really fun when I was an undergrad. We had people come in from all over the country, really, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. And it was amplified when I moved here because I met a whole lot of new people with a lot of new perspectives that I hadn't come across before.
Diya:And I would say the transition was interesting from physics to atmospheric rivers, also considering I hadn't taken a class in it. And there were some points where I was really excited because I could see the physics being applied to real stuff. It wasn't just an abstract concept anymore. It was real stuff on the ground that you were getting to do. And that was what kept me going even when things got maybe a little harder than I anticipated.
Diya:And there are a lot of people actually who have also made a similar transition, and they have been wonderful guides throughout it. And I would attribute the smoothness of that transition to them.
Shelby:And so you bring up an interesting point that I think has been explicitly or implicitly talked about on this show in previous episodes that, like a lot of times folks in Earth and atmospheric sciences come from very different backgrounds. I think it's probably from folks we've had on less common to say, I knew when I was an undergrad I wanted to go into atmospheric sciences or I knew I wanted to go into this subfield of earth sciences, and so I sort of majored in that. And so you came in with this sort of physics heavy background, but I would imagine that a lot of what you do depends on physics, and so it probably gives you a really distinct perspective, and like you said, sort of reflects how this information that sometimes can feel pretty vague is actually applied in the real world. So has that been the case and has that been a rewarding aspect of the work that you've gotten to do?
Diya:Yeah, I would definitely think so. I think being able to come in with that physics background is definitely a pro because you're able to understand how the entire fluid system of the atmosphere moves, which is a whole subfield in physics, and you make a bunch of assumptions, and there you go. You have an applied version of our theoretical framework to an applied framework, and it did really help knowing a lot of that stuff. And everyone has a different style of learning, and I very quickly learned that for me, equations spoke concepts better than perhaps words, as might be the case for some other people. And the people who taught me also understood that very quickly and were kind enough to translate things for me that way.
Diya:So I think it was overall extremely rewarding.
Shelby:I would say that that perspective you just shared has probably been really helpful for the rest of your group too, for you to sort of assist other people. Because I think, I don't know, that having equations speak to you might be more rare than having words speak to you. And so the fact that you can sort of think of things that way is a really fun approach and an impressive way to think about some of the stuff that you're working on.
Diya:Thank you. Yeah. I think sometimes it helps to get a new perspective when talking to other people, and maybe this way can contribute when you feel stuck with words. And so when you shifted gears and decided I want to
Shelby:go into this sort of atmospheric science field and focus on atmospheric rivers, did you go straight from undergrad into the program that you're currently in?
Diya:Yes, I did get into a direct PhD program right out of my undergrad, not counting the COVID year. And I think that decision was mostly motivated by the fact that I always knew I wanted to do research. And so I was pretty sure about grad school right from the start. There was no doubt about that. And low key also wanted the doctor title.
Diya:Yeah. But I think now going through the program, it has more meaning than just the title. I think I've really enjoyed doing research and I'm glad I made that decision.
Shelby:And this is, you know, maybe a dreaded question for folks depending on where they are in their PhD program, but what do you hope to do after you graduate? What do you want to do with your doctorate after you finish up? I think I would like to shift towards more applied work.
Diya:I have already moved from physics to atmospheric science, which is an applied origin of physics, and get to further applied work and actually use the tools I have come across across my graduate career to being able to help people make decisions, being able to do research is directly guided by questions that the community might face or a lot more actionable research is what I would like to move towards.
Shelby:Can you talk a little bit about that? I know that that's sort of a broad concept and so maybe hard to hone in on, but I think so much of what we in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences do is really applied. And so what are some of those applications that you envision that you could help out with or that you want to help out with? Sort of how does your framework as this now atmospheric science specialist play into things like decision making?
Diya:Absolutely. So this was a foreign concept to me too when I started the program. But over just last summer, I actually had an opportunity to work with a team where we did something closer to actionable science, where we worked with an organization that was looking to eradicate an invasive species. And that is so different from what my research at IU is at. But I realized that a lot of the skills I've developed in graduate school have been so broad that I was able to use Earth satellite observation data to be able to identify areas that might have this invasive species, and that could just help that local organization hone down on these areas and send out people to take care of it rather than just going out and searching in the wild.
Shelby:What organization was this that you were working with?
Diya:The Great Lakes Phragmites Collaborative.
Shelby:Okay. So this was in the Great Lakes region?
Diya:Yes. It was this really fun program by NASA actually that gives you an opportunity to help address a local question and work with local organizations as well as people from universities and just a very interdisciplinary team to sort of understand the struggles of the community and try to figure out ways to solve them.
Shelby:What a fun application for some of your skills that you develop, and I think that's such an important thing to bring up too is, you know, oftentimes I was like this too whenever I was going through graduate school. You're so focused on your project and your research questions that sometimes I would lose sight of, like, the skills that I'm learning for this very focused research can actually be applied to all sorts of things. Know, it's just a matter of perspective and thinking about how you sort of frame what you're working on. And this is a great example of using these skills that you had previously applied for understanding atmospheric rivers to now look at an invasive species, which is so different.
Diya:Absolutely. And even within the realm of atmospheric rivers, I feel like there are a lot of opportunities. Speaking to some of the earlier stuff we talked about is being able to more directly help, say, reservoirs or dams make these decisions on how to deal with water storage or, say, help with insurance rates in areas that are more prone to floods or just any real question that drives the community as an atmospheric scientist. I believe you have a wider understanding of how things work in the weather system, and so maybe, hopefully, that can be something you can put towards solving community challenges.
Shelby:Yeah. So do you want to sort of go into a position like one of those that you described, where you're you're actively trying to solve these problems in an applied way through some company or organization?
Diya:Absolutely. I would love to be in a position that allows me to still do some form of research, but research motivated by these sort of community applied challenges.
Shelby:You just have a lot of really interesting applications for what you are now an expert in, and even applications outside of that like we just mentioned with this sort of invasive species. So were there other aspects during your time at IU where you were able to sort of branch out and do things like you mentioned with this invasive species project? Or do you have sort of advice for students that that might be in a graduate program about taking opportunities like you just described?
Diya:I did have one other opportunity, which was to go to the National Center for Atmospheric Research. I was still doing my IU based research, but at a different location and interacting with more people within the realm of atmospheric sciences, was incredible. I got to meet a lot of other peers as well who had different trajectories like me and I also got to meet with incredible scientists who taught me how to use complicated Earth system models to look at how the weather works, basically. And I thought that was incredibly rewarding to just being able to do the same research you would do, just at a different location. And that kind of helped me formulate the thought that, yes, you specialize in this very specific area, like atmospheric rivers, but there's also a lot more opportunities to grow in graduate school than just your area of research.
Diya:And I think that's really important to remember because it's not a life commitment. It's a five year commitment. And then beyond that, you can do something maybe a little different if you want to or just stick to the same thing. And I think that's important to remember when you come into grad school.
Shelby:Yeah. Think that's a great way to look at it. And so the center that you you mentioned is also known as NCAR. Where is it located, and sort of how long were you there whenever you were part of this program?
Diya:So this is located in Boulder, Colorado on top of a hill. And it was an incredibly gorgeous location. I had an amazing view at lunch every day. You were literally out in the mountains outside, and I was there for five months. So it was a lot of hiking, which I was new to.
Diya:I would climb up one floor and realize how incredibly out of breath I was the first month. But towards the end of it, it got a lot better, and I got the opportunity to explore with other people who were there to look at just things that Colorado had to offer.
Shelby:Yeah, think that's something I always try to express when I'm talking with students who may be interested in graduate school. One is that for Earth and Atmospheric Science programs, more often than not, your degree program is paid for. And so it's an opportunity to get this advanced learning and develop these skills without having to go into serious amounts of debt. But it also provides these really fun sort of extracurricular opportunities like workshops or going to these national centers or participating in the invasive species project that you were working on that, yeah, just give you different perspectives on how to apply things and you get to work with a lot of different people. And so it's a really good chance to sort of branch out and explore new areas of intellectual thought, new areas geographically, you know, new things that you might not get to try otherwise.
Shelby:And so it sounds like you have really taken advantage of that.
Diya:Yeah. It was a pleasant surprise for me. I did not know that going into the program that that would be the case, but it absolutely has been quite the fun experience as well.
Shelby:For people who are listening that may think, you know, this idea of atmospheric rivers is really fun. Maybe I wanna think of pursuing graduate school. Do you have any advice for folks that may be in that boat?
Diya:I would genuinely say go for it because if you even are mildly interested by something and can see yourself doing it for a while, you should absolutely do it. But like I mentioned, at the end of the day, you learn a lot more as well. And so I can say I have thoroughly enjoyed my research with atmospheric rivers. I think the questions are very fulfilling in the area because you know you're at least contributing to helping some people who might be expecting floods or anything in that realm. And so it makes me feel good at the end of the day as well.
Shelby:Yeah, and through your time here, has there been anything that has been maybe surprising to you with your graduate education or that might surprise other people who are less familiar with what graduate research is like?
Diya:I think what I recognized was surprising is that you're in this program for so long and you kind of forget how much you are growing in this period. Like, yes, I have more gray hair now, but also, I I just went to an outside world experience or, like, buy an internship or something, and you realize there is so much you can do. There's so much you have inherently developed, like learning how to manage a project, learning how to manage your time, learning how to read fast. It's just small things that honestly make your life a lot easier in the real world that you don't even realize you're learning along the way.
Shelby:Yeah, I think that's a really it's a fun thing if you ever get the chance towards the end, which it sounds like you're doing, to sort of reflect back on where you were when you started this journey to see how much you've grown professionally and personally a lot of times. So it's a really formative experience.
Diya:Absolutely. Yeah, I've heard a lot of people say it is kind of emotional towards the end, and I would be curious to see how that pans out.
Shelby:Yeah. I think for me personally, the end of my graduate career was sort of interesting because you're sort of like rushing to wrap up and I had something that was lined up for what was next, but then there was this part of me too that was like, Well, I kind of really want to just have some time to really appreciate this place that I've been living for several years now and I go out and do all these things that are on my last few weeks bucket list. And so it is sort of a mixed emotions experience. You're really excited for what's next and really proud of what you've done, but also, yeah, there's a lot you want to try to hold on to because it's been a a good time.
Diya:Yeah. I'm looking forward to it.
Shelby:Yeah. So, Diya, thank you for coming on. This has been really great. We always end each episode with our yes, please segment where we each get a minute to talk passionately about something that's excited us in the moment. And so you have the option to go first or to go second.
Shelby:I'll leave that up to you.
Diya:You can go ahead.
Shelby:Okay. Yes. If you don't mind to time me then. Sure. Ready?
Shelby:Alright. This is my yes, please segment. Yes, please, let's all continue to moisturize. It's that time of year for me personally. You know, we're recording this in sort of late February.
Shelby:I work in a lab as frequent listeners of the show might know. And part of doing lab work with chemicals is you have to wash your hands so frequently. So every time you leave the lab, you should wash your hands. If you have handled particularly dangerous substances, you should wash your hands in between. And so all that washing your hands, especially when it's winter and the air is dry because all the buildings are heated, it really takes a toll on your skin.
Shelby:At in addition to that, I also have been working with a personal trainer and have been weightlifting and like holding weights and holding bars is also really torturous on your hands. And so I try to moisturize all the time. I don't do it as often as I probably should. So this is just my public service announcement. Everybody should be more mindful of moisturizing.
Diya:100% agree to your yes, please.
Shelby:And it you know, I I sometimes I am not as good about it as I should be. And after a, you know, a couple of days of being in the lab like that, I pay the price. Aw. Diya, are you ready for your Yes, Please segment?
Diya:Let's do it.
Shelby:Alright. This will be Diya's Yes, Please. Take it away.
Diya:Yes, Please to American fast food outside the country. Now, little bit controversial, but hear me out. I do like some of the fast food restaurants like KFC, Domino's, McDonald's in India more than here. And it's almost like they have adjusted to my palate over there. But also, I genuinely think there are a lot more vegetarian options in India, which I really like.
Diya:There's the McAloo Tikki, which is a potato patty, and a McCanir, which is a cheese patty. And honestly, that really slaps. But also, the one thing that I do like here more than anywhere else is Taco Bell. Taco Bell is my go to fast food restaurant in The US, but I definitely urge people to try other fast foods outside the country.
Shelby:Excellent. I love that perspective. I've I have traveled internationally somewhat frequently just for conferences and things, and it's always interesting to see, like, the variety of meal offerings at American based chains elsewhere because I'm like you. I think they usually are better quality and and, like, have more opportunity to sort of expand your palate. I am curious to ask, though, as someone from Kentucky, you know, we have very few claims to fame, but but arguably KFC is one, depending on how you look at it.
Shelby:What would be your go to Indian KFC recommendation?
Diya:I love their chicken sandwich, their basic chicken sandwich. I think they really got the southern flair right because it does have spice to it. It's not just fried bland chicken. It's got a coating of spice in it, and I honestly enjoy that a lot.
Shelby:Okay. I'll have to try it sometime. I'll I'll put it to the test. Diya, thank you again for coming on. This has been great to have you, and it's been a lot of fun to get to hear more about what you're working on and what your plans are, and so you'll have to keep us posted.
Diya:Thank you so much for having me. I always wanted to be on a podcast, and I'm glad I got to do that.
Shelby:I'm glad we got to have you. Thanks. And for listeners, join us next week when we'll have a new guest. We'll see you then. Earth on the Rocks is produced by Cari Metz with artwork provided by Connor Leimgruber with technical recording managed by Kate Crum and Betsy Leija.
Shelby:Funding for this podcast was provided by the National Science Foundation grant EAR dash 2422824.