Lucas Willard
Assistant News Director, Host/Producer, The Best of Our Knowledge and WAMC Listening Party/ReporterLucas Willard graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Communications. He also attended the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in 2010, where he studied audio and multimedia storytelling.
Prior to joining WAMC in 2011, Lucas worked with the Sound and Story Project of the Hudson Valley, the Big Shed Audio Documentary Podcast, the Albany Broadcasting Company, WDVL & WCVF-FM Fredonia, and WSUC-FM Cortland.
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Playlist as aired on December 27th, 2025
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The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.This week we’ll celebrate the best of The Best of Our Knowledge in 2025.We’ll learn about a new color that humans normally can’t see, a project that created one of the most advanced maps of the brain, and research that uncovers truths to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
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The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.On this episode, we’ll learn how an endangered antelope was born to a mother of a separate species.A new report from New York examines declining public-school enrollment.And lawmakers are celebrating the return of whole milk to the cafeteria.
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Nearly 90 percent of school districts in New York state are experiencing a decline in student enrollment. That’s according to a new Cornell University study, which examined enrollment data from 2013-2014 to the 2023-24 school year.
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The Nation’s Report Card shows a drop in average scores for eighth graders in science and for 12th graders in math and reading.And liberal arts colleges are going through a challenging time, but one private college in Massachusetts is "reimagining" education.
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Playlist as aired on September 13th, 2025
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A common dragon fly has an ability to not only survive in polluted water, but thrive.We’ll explore how one private college is developing a strategy to safely integrate artificial intelligence into instruction.And a public college in Massachusetts is taking a big step to combat food insecurity on campus.
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The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education and research.Scientists are studying how the small, seemingly ordinary Zebrafish could one day help people restore their hearing.And why knot? We’ll speak with a researcher who says knots and string tell stories of human history.
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Playlist as aired on September 6th, 2025