Dr. Johanna Beam

Johanna stands wearing a blue, green, and coral floral dress and is holding a pen case that has Dr. Johanna Beam engraved on the front, while smiling. She has long blond curled hair and teal painted nails.

I successfully defended my PhD two days ago! It’s been a whirlwind these last four years but I am so thankful to have finished strong.

RFK Jr. spouted dangerous vaccine falsehoods on national TV. As a parent and infectious diseases doctor, I couldn't stay silent. Here's what the data actually shows. 🧵

A black-and-white warbler in the hand (top) showing its black throat patch. On the bottom, the spread wing of the warbler shows all the flight feathers.

A hooded warbler in the hand (top) showing its characteristic black hood on a yellow head and yellow/olive body. On the bottom, the spread wing of the warbler shows all the flight feathers.

A blackburnian warbler in the hand (top) showing its bright orange throat, supercillium, and crown, with a black mask. On the bottom, the spread wing of the warbler shows all the flight feathers.

A red-eyed vireo in the hand (top) showing its striking red eye and cryptic olive plumage. On the bottom, the spread wing of the vireo shows all the flight feathers.

Been thoroughly enjoying some local PA field work.
Bonus: try ageing all the birds!
All birds handled with extensive training and state & federal permits.

image contains same information as post

image contains same information as post

Congratulations to our AOS 2025 William Brewster Memorial Award winners, Drs. Kristen Ruegg and Hugh Drummond.
americanornithology.org/aos-announce...
#AOSAwards

I will be defending my dissertation this Friday at 10am ET! If you are interested in watching the public seminar DM me for a link!

Drug overdose deaths plummet to pre-pandemic levels during fentanyl crisis Just over 80,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in 2024, a 27% decline from a year earlier.

🚨 Overdose deaths in the U.S. dropped nearly 30% in 2024, saving 30,000+ lives.

This progress is thanks to public health efforts: wider access to naloxone, addiction treatment, and funding from opioid lawsuit settlements.

Public health works. It's worth fighting for. Let's keep saving lives.

My ongoing request:

If your NSF or NIH grant was terminated--whether at Harvard or elsewhere--please report it here.

NSF: grant-watch.us/submit-nsf.h...

NIH: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h...

Our trackers are actively used in lawsuits and are often the only record that terminations ever occurred.

12 highly motivated undergraduate STEM scholars had been offered funding (20 hrs/wk) this summer from the @NSF LSAMP program at Missouri State University.

As far as we know, they no longer have summer funding or any funding going forward.

This was the next generation of NSF scientists.

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund

Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.

Trump’s new budget proposal would slash funding for national parks, monuments, historic sites, seashores, and trails by nearly 25%, cutting more than $1.2 billion from the $4.8 billion Park Service budget.

The first crime is that all of this wildly illegal & unconstitutional & requires immediate impeachment & removal.

The second crime is that we, the richest country in world history, only spend $9 billion in a $1.7 <trillion> budget on the NSF. But that’s a discussion for once we stop the fascism.

As an incoming PRFB Fellow, I’m terrified not knowing if I’m going to have funding or not.

Jay is the lead author on a fascinating paper I was involved in, about how male mimicry by female hummingbirds provides the first example of a type of signaling system that we predicted from theoretical principles over a decade ago.

This is infuriating.

And I believe it's due to anti-trans bias.

Oh my god. I’m so so sorry. This is horrendous.

Trans women are women.

A cone shaped piece of graupel (tightly packed snow) sits in my hand.

@nws.noaa.gov @rhyall.bsky.social sudden severe thunderstorm with graupel in State College! Didn’t see much “true” hail.

A yellow bird with a red and orange head and black wing sitting on a branch with a dabbled green and ochre background. The bird is painted with gouache, and the background is watercolor.

Here Bluesky, have some art. I haven’t had much time to paint recently (thanks to this PhD!). This #WesternTanager in #gouache was done for my parents as a Christmas gift.

This is gorgeous!!

ITS SHUT THE FUCK UP FRIDAY

This is a very important message you should share with the people in your life that may be hitting the streets to protest: never talk to the police! WATCH:

In an extraordinary display of public support, heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers from all over Europe and Canada are posting in support of Ukraine in response to the Oval Office meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy, and Vance.

We want to send a message to the world: what has happened today is an absolute disgrace. It is completely un-American.

What happened today was unamerican.

U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails.

“People will die, but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/h...

YOUR FAVORITE WEATHER APP IS JUST A PRETTY DISPLAY OF NOAA DATA

Ppl seem to think that "NOAA weather forecasts" means climate-, boat-, or "in addition to my app"-weather. But the weather forecasts *we all use* are made from the NOAA data *we all paid for*

Make that part clear when you ⬇️

Trump to sign order Friday designating English as the official language of the US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Friday designating English as the official language of the United States.

22% of Americans speak a language other than English at home, 13% speak Spanish at home, according to the Census Bureau.

Agencies will now (presumably) remove all non-English language support from informational websites.

I honestly can't imagine a defense of this that isn't racist.

Trump is expected to declare English the nation's official language. America is an Italian word. California, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, and Florida are Spanish, and a bunch of other states have Indigenous names.

We’re live!!!!
No dictators. No autocracy. No kings.
Enough is enough.

Illustration of a purple gloved hand in a fist holding a micropipette with the words “hands off our science” around the fist. There is a blue background in an organic shape around the hand and pipette.

Hey friends!
We all know science is under attack. And what better way to help than to support a scared anxious grad student?

www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/1688...

As always, 10% profits go to conservation/mutual aid/science/etc.

I’m mostly here for the suggestions. I retired my last lifeproof case after the camera cover broke down the 3rd or 4th time, and have used otterbox (bulky!!) and Pela (currently) since. The Pela is nice but it’s no lifeproof.