Episode Two: How Technology Has Changed Fields of Daily Life

Episode Two

Title:  Moving, Growing, Healing: How Technology Has Changed Fields of Daily Life

Student Producers:

• Krishna Jaswal (member of the class of 2027)
• Lynn Lee (member of the class of 2026)

Episode Description:

In this episode, we showcase how technology has transformed the fields of transportation, agriculture, and health care — three fields important to daily life. This episode explores advancements and the impacts that come with new technology in these fields, including the introduction of artificial intelligence technology. 

Featuring:

Paula Kaufman, now retired, moved to Champaign-Urbana in 1999 to become the first Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Illinois. She also was the first recipient of the Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson University Library Deanship. 

Dennis Wenger, a local, central Illinois farmer who lives and farms in Fairbury.

Margaret Lovell, a retired science writer who has lived all over the United States, settling in Urbana, Illinois in 2022.

Maria Goncalo grew up in Guatemala City and later moved to California where she worked in finance at Intel. She is now retired and has lived in Champaign since 2016. 

Grant Henry, an Illinois native, first lived in Central Illinois in 1975 when he came to the University of Illinois to get his PhD. A retired school administrator, he now lives in Champaign. 

Cope Cumpston, a retired book designer who grew up in Massachusetts and later moved to Urbana in 1996 to follow a job with a publishing company. She currently hosts the show “Womyn Making Waves” on Champaign-Urbana’s community radio station WEFT 90.1 FM.

Ann Reisner grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Mass Communications and now serves as Associate Professor Emerita in the Department of Media & Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois.

John Dudley, a Professor Emeritus in Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois who grew up on a farm in eastern Indiana. After receiving his PhD in plant breeding and genetics, he worked with the U.S Department of Agriculture on sugar beets and alfalfa and later returned to the Midwest to work on corn genetics. 

Keith Kelley, a Professor Emeritus of Immunophysiology at the University of Illinois.