Season Two of 'Does Compute' Now Available SCS Podcast Brings Research Stories From the Lab to Listeners
Marylee WilliamsMonday, September 8, 2025Print this page.
From Oscar-winning work in computer graphics to solving problems inside the human genome, Carnegie Mellon University's top-ranked School of Computer Science is using computer science to transform our world.
Season two of the SCS "Does Compute" podcast, which launches today, brings listeners into conversations about creativity, innovation, safety, medicine and education. The podcast explores how computer science is building useful stuff that works, and delves into the latest innovations and real-world impact of these technologies.
Over the course of 10 episodes, SCS faculty, students and alumni will share how computational tools are transforming disease treatment, what's needed for fully immersive VR, how game development improves empathy, why teaching computer science should be fun, and the reasons you should read your car's terms of service.
This season's episodes include:
- Sept. 8: "Bringing Big Screen Magic to a Startup" with Kiran Bhat, a Robotics Institute (RI) alumnus who is the senior technical director at Roblox.
- Sept. 8: "How Do I Build Glasses To See Inside the Body?" with Oana Carja, faculty in the Ray and Stephanie Lane Computational Biology Department.
- Sept. 15: "There's No Age That's Too Old To Play" with Jessica Hammer, faculty in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII).
- Sept. 22: "A Wide-Open Question in the Music-AI Conversation" with Chris Donahue, faculty in the Computer Science Department (CSD).
- Sept. 29: "We Actually Built an Actuated Wall" with Alex Ion, faculty in the HCII.
- Oct. 6: "Teaching Models To Forget Information" with Virginia Smith, faculty in the Machine Learning Department.
- Oct. 13: "You Can't Understand It Until You Feel It" with Vivian Shen, an RI doctoral student and faculty in CMU's Entertainment Technology Center.
- Oct. 20: "Read Your Car's Terms of Service" with Sarah Scheffler, faculty in the Software and Societal Systems Department.
- Oct. 27: "What You End Up With Is a More Skilled Workforce" with HCII faculty members Nik Martelaro and Sarah Fox.
- Nov. 3: "The Magic Comes From the Human Connection" with CSD faculty Anil Ada.
SCS partnered with GeekWire Studios for another season of bringing stories from the lab to listeners — no homework required.
Find episodes of "Does Compute" on GeekWire's website, YouTube and popular podcast platforms.
Aaron Aupperlee | 412-268-9068 | aaupperlee@cmu.edu