The idea behind this show is pretty simple: We invite scholars, makers, and professionals out to brunch for an informal conversation about their work, and then we turn those brunches into a podcast.

It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Jenni Heissel is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Defense Management at the Naval Postgraduate School. Her research at the intersection of economics, public policy, and psychology has been covered by The Atlantic, The New York Times, NPR, the Brookings Evidence Speaks series, and a number of other outlets. She just received a large grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study the Department of Defense’s parental support policies.

A 2007 graduate of Notre Dame, Jenni holds a master of public policy degree from Duke and a Ph.D. in human development and social policy from Northwestern. Her interdisciplinary expertise has driven her to pursue some really interesting and highly applicable research not only in the area of parenting but also education, including on in-person versus online instruction and what impact, if any, school start times have on students’ academic performance.

In addition, she and host Ted Fox discussed a paper she has forthcoming in The Journal of Human Resources focused on how the siblings of teen moms are affected by the arrival of the baby, a dynamic that hasn’t been closely studied to this point.

As you would expect these days, the conversation was a virtual one, and that was thanks to Jenni’s husband seeing a tweet we sent looking for guests, and then her taking the time to reach out.

We’re thrilled that she did.