Meet the Team

Erik Aker

Web Developer

Erik Aker grew up in San Diego and was educated in the Bay Area after which he worked as an English instructor at various community colleges in San Diego. During his time as a teacher, Erik also worked as a freelance writer, but gave up both occupations in order to take a job in the corporate world, where he soon discovered a passion for computer programming. He's a San Diego native and he spends a lot of time at the beach and area tidepools.

RECENT STORIES ON KPBS

Politics

UCSD study finds stock trades by Congress ruin public faith

Amita Sharma

UC San Diego researchers discovered that when people learn details about investment returns by members of Congress, their trust is reduced and so is their inclination to abide by the law.
Matteo Mancuso - Drop D (Official Music Video)

I had so much fun shooting my first official video In Sicily! This magical location is called "finestra sul mare" and it is part of a series of artistic buildings and sculptures called "fiumara d'arte."
Arts & Culture

'One Pie at a Time' questions what a woman is expected to be — and who gets to decide

Julia Dixon Evans

At the 2025 San Diego International Fringe Festival, a contemporary dance performance packs a powerful, contemplative punch, reflecting on the unrealistic standards placed on women — from beauty to perfection — while also recognizing whose voices are often excluded from these stories.
IN HER NATURE: Camouflage Queen: Decoding Chameleons

Jennifer Robinson

Stream now with YouTube. Despite cultural taboos, herpetologist Fandresena Rakotoharimalala is on a mission to save chameleons in Madagascar. Possessing an uncanny ability to spot camouflaging chameleons, she hopes to ensure protections for the island's dwindling species.
IN HER NATURE: Saving the World’s Rarest Lemurs

Greater bamboo lemurs, recently thought to be extinct, are critically endangered. One Malagasy woman is on a mission to restore lemur populations while also helping local communities, including young children, thrive by focusing on one resource: bamboo.
IN HER NATURE: The Rhino Whisperer

The tragic loss of her mother to a rhino attack hasn’t stopped Doma Paudel from her fearless conservation efforts. Instead, it inspired her to become Nepal's first female nature guide and to fight to save Nepalese rhinos from near extinction, double Nepal’s tiger population, and teach Nepalese communities how to compassionately coexist with wildlife.