Ariel Lavery
Producer, In The NoCoAriel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. Ariel graduated Magna Cum Laude with her BFA from the University of Colorado Boulder (2007) and received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2013).
She served as the Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Watkins College of Art Design and Film in Nashville until 2018. She left her teaching job to begin her family and quickly found her way into the podcast world. With a grant from PRX, she co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station.
Ariel won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.
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Astronomers searching for Earth-like planets outside our solar system will soon get a boost from a new space telescope. Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder are working with NASA to design and build the new observatory. Hear more about how this could change our understanding of the universe. -
If you’ve taken your kid to see Santa at a local mall, or hosted Santa at your work party, you may have wondered where that Santa learned his magic. There’s a good chance they trained at the Professional Santa Claus School, based here in Colorado. The school’s founder says they’ve trained thousands of Santas over the past four decades. -
Colorado writer X. Ho Yen remembers loving science fiction as a child. He’s autistic – and he liked science fiction that depicted a futuristic society where people like him were treated equally. Now he's a published author who just released his third book. -
A Loveland kindergarten teacher has published more than 20 children’s books. They teach life lessons for young kids and aim to get them thinking about how their actions impact other people. She talks about her newest book — and how she’s still writing and teaching at the age of 87. -
An unusual art project is headed for the moon next year. It’s an 80-page book that’s roughly the size of your thumbnail, filled with contributions from artists and writers around the world. The Colorado artist who helped create the book shares the challenges of making it – and why he thinks art deserves a home on the moon. -
A 'Goldilocks foot' designed by CSU students could offer new options for people who wear prostheticsStudents at Colorado State University have designed an innovative prosthetic foot. The design uses 3D printing technology that allows them to customize each prosthetic they make for the person who will wear it. Hear the story of the CSU engineering students who created the award-winning design. -
The world’s largest wildlife overpass is being built over a section of I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs. It’s a stretch of highway that averages one vehicle crash involving wildlife every day. Hear how wildlife overpasses save animals and reduce crashes – and why this one needed to be so large. -
It’s tough to confront uncomfortable emotions like anxiety or shame. But a Denver artist has created an immersive exhibit that she hopes will encourage visitors to do just that – with the help of some giant, cuddly monsters made entirely of yarn. We hear more about her exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, and the psychology behind it. -
Kevin France, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado Boulder, discusses the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a new space telescope that could help us find new worlds.
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For 20 years, a Boulder duo known as “Jeff and Paige” have performed interactive songs about nature and science for children. And now they plan to bring their live performances to a TV show called “Rainbow Socks.” Jeff and Paige share how they approach making the outdoors fun for kids.
