Gator TAILS (Talking About Inquiry, Learning, and Scholarship) is a podcast that explores the many flavors of research, scholarship, and creative work at Allegheny College, home of the Allegheny Gators. Allegheny College has a longstanding tradition of undergraduate research that dates back to the college’s founding in 1815 and our award-winning research program is woven into the fabric of the Allegheny experience. Your host, Dr. Matt Venesky, will talk with current undergraduate students at Allegheny and chat about the research and scholarship that they are involved in while attending Allegheny. You’ll hear from students across all disciplines, all academic years, and at various stages of their project as we discuss what it means to participate in research and creative expression at Allegheny.
Season 2 of Gator TAILS has officially launched — the 1st episode was dropped in September 2023! If you are new to the podcast, you can use the toolbar on the right to catch up with Season 1. Alternatively, you can use the links below to listen to, and subscribe to, Gator TAILS from your favorite podcast platform.
Interesting in Participating?
Are you a current Allegheny student interested in participating in this podcast? If so, Dr. Venesky would love to chat with you! Complete this Google Form (which contains a brief questionnaire and also a media release) and Dr. Venesky will be in contact with you.
Your Host
Matt Venesky is an Associate Professor of Biology and the Director of the Office of URSCA (Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities) at Allegheny College. Matt is an infectious disease ecologist who studies host-parasite interactions at different ecological scales, including the organism (e.g., stress physiology, metabolic ecology, and nutrition), populations (e.g., the distribution and abundance of parasites within different environments), and ecological communities (e.g., how parasite-infected hosts affect the structure and function of communities). Most of the research in my lab uses amphibians and the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (the fungus that causes the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis) as a study system; however, he also works with snails and their trematode parasites as well as ticks and the bacterium that causes Lyme Disease.
Click below to hear Matt talk about his vision for Gator TAILS.