🎙️ National Champion Radio | Dr. Eduardo Brondízio
🏅 2025 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
🎖️ Two-time National Champion
📚 Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University Bloomington

What can the Amazon teach us about coexisting with nature—and one another? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Eduardo Brondízio, Brazilian-American anthropologist and 2025 Tyler Prize laureate, about his groundbreaking work on the Amazon as both a vast “urban jungle” and a living laboratory of governance, economics, and ecology.

As a pioneer in coupling Indigenous knowledge with scientific research, Dr. Brondízio shows us how community-led management of forests offers a model for sustainable production and dignified livelihoods. He joins us to explore how trade in açaí and other forest products can drive economic development while preserving ecosystems—and what that means for our collective future.

🏛️ Highlights:

• From Indiana to the Amazon: bridging academic insight and on-the-ground practice

• Rethinking the Amazon as an “urban jungle” shaped by Indigenous cities, markets, and cultures

• How açaí trade exemplifies ethical, community-driven economies

• Lessons in multi-level governance: local autonomy, national policy, global impact

• Why Indigenous stewardship is key to future sustainability

📺 WATCH / LISTEN
Spotify | Apple | YouTube

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with National Champions—our guests are America’s most impactful thinkers, creators, and pioneers.

#EduardoBrondízio #TylerPrize #AmazonStudies #IndigenousGovernance #SustainableEconomies #NationalChampionRadio #Anthropology #EnvironmentalStewardship

Dr. Arogyaswami Paulraj joins us to unpack the future of wireless communication and the journey behind one of the most important breakthroughs in modern technology. As the inventor of MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology, Dr. Paulraj’s innovations have become the foundation of high-speed wireless networks from Wi-Fi to 5G impacting billions of devices around the world.A professor emeritus at Stanford University, Dr. Paulraj’s contributions to signal processing and wireless systems earned him the prestigious IET Faraday Medal in 2023, one of the highest honors in engineering. His visionary work continues to shape the landscape of global connectivity and inspire new generations of innovators.WATCH / LISTENhttps://youtu.be/zryEAyMlDUICONNECT WITH DR. PAULRAJStanford Profile: https://profiles.stanford.edu/arogyaswami-paulrajCONNECT WITH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSTWITTER: X.com/Nat_ChampionsINSTAGRAM: instagram.com/nat_championsPATREON: patreon.com/NationalChampionRadio

34567890123456789 views Jun 20, 2025🎙️ National Champion Radio | Dr. John M. Owen IV🏅 2025 Grawemeyer Award Winner for Ideas Improving World Order📚 Professor of Politics, University of VirginiaWhat shapes world order—military power, or the battle of ideas? In this episode, we speak with Dr. John M. Owen IV, winner of the prestigious 2025 Grawemeyer Award, about the enduring impact of political ideologies on international affairs.As a leading scholar at the University of Virginia, Dr. Owen has shown how ideas—liberalism, fascism, communism—spread across borders and reshape alliances. He joins us to explore how ideological rivalries still define the global balance of power and what lessons we can learn to build a more stable, just international system.🏛️ Highlights:Why ideas—not just interests—shape world orderThe Cold War’s ongoing legacyHow authoritarianism and liberalism compete todayWhat policymakers get wrong about ideology📺 WATCH / LISTENSpotify | Apple | YouTube🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with National Champions—America’s most impactful thinkers, creators, and pioneers.#JohnOwen #GrawemeyerAward #WorldOrder #PoliticalIdeology #UVA #NationalChampionRadio #InternationalRelations #Liberalism #Authoritarianism

2025 Wolf Prize Laureate | Pioneering Plant Immunologist | HHMI Investigator.Dr. Jeffery L. Dangl joins us to delve into the intricate world of plant immunity and its profound implications for global agriculture. As a leading figure in plant biology, his research has revolutionized our understanding of how plants defend themselves against pathogens, paving the way for sustainable crop protection strategies.A distinguished professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dr. Dangl's groundbreaking work has earned him numerous accolades, including the 2025 Wolf Prize in Agriculture. His collaborative efforts have been instrumental in developing models that explain plant immune responses, which are now foundational in the field.WATCH/LISTENYouTube: https://youtu.be/hL8V51qveGcCONNECT WITH DR. DANGL UNC Biology Department: https://bio.unc.edu/people/faculty/dangl/------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONNECT WITH NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: TWITTER: X.com/Nat_ChampionsINSTAGRAM: instagram.com/nat_championsPATREON: https://www.patreon.com/NationalChampionRadio

2024 Stockholm Prize Laureate | Founding Director, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) Dr. Gary LaFree joins us to unpack the patterns, causes, and consequences of political violence.

As one of the world’s foremost experts in criminology, his work has transformed how we understand terrorism—not just as isolated acts, but as data-rich phenomena with global implications.A distinguished professor and sociologist, Dr. LaFree has pioneered empirical approaches to studying conflict, drawing from massive global datasets to illuminate trends in political instability, state repression, and public safety.

Honors & Awards

🏆 2024 Stockholm Prize in Criminology

🏅 Founder, Global Terrorism Database (GTD)

🏅 President, American Society of Criminology (2005)

🎧 WATCH/LISTEN

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACjSF95feAI

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4af3gnXEaaJqxBRci1QCcE?si=57c0b3b10da946a1

📚 Connect with Dr. LaFree

START Consortium: https://www.start.umd.edu

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONNECT WITH NATIONAL CHAMPIONS:

TWITTER: https://x.com/Nat_Champions

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nat_champions/

Christopher Bailey is an American track and field athlete and 2024 Olympic gold medalist running the 1st leg in the Men's 4x400 relay. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Bailey attended Carver High School before competing for Mississippi Valley State University, the University of Tennessee, and finally the University of Arkansas. While at Arkansas, Bailey broke the school’s 400-meter record with a time of 45.09 and anchored the team to an NCAA Indoor Championship 4x400-meter relay victory in 2023. Bailey was a key part of Team USA’s gold medal-winning 4x400-meter relay team at the Paris 2024 Olympics, setting an Olympic record of 2:54.43. His speed and precision have solidified him as one of the top talents in American track and field. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WATCH/LISTEN: Youtube: •https://youtu.be/1SrOJ5n3b8c --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONNECT WITH CHRIS BAILEY INSTAGRAM : https://www.instagram.com/cb400m/ TWITTER : https://x.com/Cb400m_ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONNECT WITH NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: Support us: National Champions Institute on Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/NationalChamp... X: @Nat_champions Instagram: @Nat_champions Facebook Group: / 464891635869440

Winner of the 2024 Gruber Prize in Genetics a $500,000 Prize from Yale University Hugo Bellen has revolutionized our understanding of human diseases through groundbreaking work with fruit flies.

His lab has a promising cure for Alzheimer's that already works for mice and for fruit flies, yet because the drug is already generic no one wants to fund the clinical trial. At Baylor College of Medicine and the Duncan Neurological Research Institute, his innovations in genetic tools and screening methods have uncovered over 40 genes causing rare diseases. His lab's discoveries of how neurons interact with glial cells have provided crucial insights into common conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. His freely shared genetic resources have empowered hundreds of researchers worldwide.