People Behind The Science Podcast - Stories From Scientists About Science, Life, Research, And Science Careers

Dr. Dennis Bente is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He received a doctor of veterinary medicine degree and PhD from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover, Germany. He completed postdoctoral research at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio and served as a research fellow in the Special Pathogens Program at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg Canada. Dennis is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Diana Percy is a Research Entomologist at the Natural History Museum, London, UK. She received her Masters degree in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh, and her PhD in Plant-Insect Interactions from the University of Glasgow. Afterward, she undertook a postdoctoral Leverhulme Trust fellowship at CSIRO, Australia, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. She then served as a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia before joining the research staff of the Natural History Museum. Diana is here with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Paul Breslin is a Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University, a Member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology of the School of Dental Medicine at University of Pennsylvania. He received his PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Paul has received many awards and honors during his career, including a Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges Explorations Award in 2009 for Malaria Research as well as one in 2011 for Childhood Nutrition Research. He has also received the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in the area of perception and motor performance and was  recently awarded the 2014 North America service award from the Food, Nutrition, and Safety Program of the International Life Sciences Institute. Paul is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Duane Diefenbach is an Adjunct Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Pennsylvania State University and Leader of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. He received his Master's degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Maine and his PhD in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia. Afterwards, Duane worked as a Biometrician for the Pennsylvania Game Commission for about seven years before accepting positions with the Pennsylvania Unit and Penn State. Duane is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Brian Romans is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech. He received his Masters degree in Geology from the Colorado School of Mines and his PhD in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University. He then worked as a Research Scientist at Chevron Energy Technology for a few years before accepting his current position at Virginia Tech. Brian is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Rachel Wong is a Professor in the Department of Biological Structure at the University of Washington. She received her PhD in Vision Neuroscience from Australian National University. Afterward she served as a Research Associate at the National Vision Research Institute of Australia. Rachel then conducted postdoctoral research as a CJ Martin Fellow at Stanford University and then an RD Wright Fellow at the Vision, Touch, and Hearing Research Centre. She served on the faculty Washington University in St. Louis before joining the faculty at the University of Washington. Rachel is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Marc Cadotte is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the endowed TD Professor of Urban Forest Conservation and Biology at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. Marc is also the Executive Editor of the journal Applied Ecology. Marc received his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara. Marc is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Lily Wang is a Professor of Architectural Engineering in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction and the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Faculty Development in the College of Engineering at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She received her PhD in Acoustics from Pennsylvania State University. She then worked as a research fellow in the Department of Acoustic Technology at the Technical University of Denmark before accepting a faculty position at UNL. Lily has received many awards and honors during her career, including the R. Bruce Lindsay Award, the top award given by the Acoustical Society of America to a person under 35 years of age. Lily has also been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award as well as numerous awards from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln for teaching and mentorship.

Dr. Zachary Hambrick is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University. He received his Masters degree and PhD in Experimental Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology before joining the faculty at Michigan State University. Zach is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. James "Jacy" Bird is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Boston University. He received a Masters of Engineering Science in Coastal Engineering from James Cook University in Australia and a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University. He earned a PhD in Engineering Science from Harvard University as well and completed an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the faculty at Boston University. James has received a number of awards and honors during his career, including a Fulbright Scholarship and an NSF CAREER Award. Jacy is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Dawn Bazely is a Professor of Biology and former Director of the Institute for Research Innovation in Sustainability at York University. She received a Masters degree in Botany from the University of Toronto and her PhD in Zoology from Oxford University. Afterward, she completed an Ernest Cook Research Fellowship at Somerville College at the University of Oxford and a Trevelyan Research Fellowship at Selwyn College at the University of Cambridge before joining the faculty at York. Dawn is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Norman Ellstrand is a Professor of Genetics in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside and Founder and past Director of the center for conservation biology and the Biotechnology Impacts Center there. Norm received his PhD in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University before joining the faculty at the University of California, Riverside in 1979. Norm has received many awards and honors during his career, including a Fulbright Fellowship, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. He is also an accomplished author noted for writing the book Dangerous Liaisons?: When Cultivated Plants Mate with Their Wild Relatives. Norm is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Patrick Moore is an American Cancer Society (ACS) Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, the Pittsburgh Foundation Chair in Innovative Cancer Research, the Director of the Cancer Virology Program, and Co-Director of the Cancer Virology Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. He received a Master's degree from Stanford University, followed by a medical degree and Master's Degree from the University of Utah College of Medicine, and a Master's of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. Patrick also trained at the Centers for Disease Control as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer. He worked for the U.S. Center for Disease Control and New York City Department of Health before returning to academia as a faculty member at Columbia University where he remained for eight years before accepting his current position at the University of Pittsburgh. Patrick has received many awards and honors, including the Meyenburg Foundation Award for Cancer Research, the

Dr. Philip Metzger is a Planetary Scientist in the Florida Space Institute at the University of Central Florida. He received his Masters degree and PhD in Physics from the University of Central Florida. He worked on the Space Shuttle launch team before entering the planetary research world. Philip recently retired from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where he co-founded the KSC Swamp Works and led the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Laboratory. He also co-founded NASA’s biannual Workshop on Granular Materials in Lunar and Martian Exploration and is a founding member of the ASCE Technical Committee for Regolith Operations, Mobility and Robotics. He received the astronaut's Silver Snoopy award in 2010 and was selected as the Kennedy Space Center’s NASA Scientist/Engineer of the Year for 2011. Philip is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Vincent Racaniello is the Higgins Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He received his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT before joining the faculty at Columbia. In addition to his academic research career, Vincent is also a co-creator of BioCrowd (a social network for scientists), he runs the Virology Blog at virology.ws, and he hosts the fantastic “This Week in Virology”, “This Week in Parasitism”, and “This Week in Microbiology” podcasts. Vincent is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Joel Levine is an Associate Professor of Biology and the Canada Research Chair in Neurogenetics at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. He received his PhD in Dr. Richard Miselis Anatomy and Structural Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. He then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship with Rob Jackson at the Worcester Foundation for Biological Research, a postdoc fellowship with Dr. Steven Reppert at Harvard University, and a postdoc with Dr. Jeffrey Hall at Brandeis University before joining the faculty at the University of Toronto. Joel is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Michael Cole is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University. He received his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Afterward he completed postdoctoral research at Washington University In St. Louis before joining the faculty at Rutgers. Michael is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Sharon Swartz is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the School of Engineering at Brown University. She received her Masters and PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Chicago. Afterward, she served as a faculty member at Northwestern University for a few years before joining the faculty at Brown University. Sharon has received many awards and honors during her career, including the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from the University of Chicago, the Karen T. Romer Prize for Excellence in Advising, the Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award from Brown Medical School, the American Medical Women's Association Gender Equity Award, and the Mary Putnam-Jacobi Award for the Outstanding Woman Medical Faculty Member from Brown University Women in Medicine. Sharon is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Charles Nelson is the Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research and Director of Research of the Developmental Medicine Center at the Boston Children's Hospital. He is also a Professor of Pediatrics and Education at Harvard University. Charles received Masters Degrees in Psychology and Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin and his PhD in Child and Developmental Psychology from the University of Kansas. Afterward, he completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Univeristy of Minnesota. Charles served on the faculty at Purdue University and the University of Minnesota before moving up to Boston where he remains today. Charles has received a number of awards and honors during his career, including an honorary doctoral degree from Bucharest University, an honorary masters degree from Harvard University, and he is an Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Charles is here with us t

Dr. Sara Soderstrom is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Studies and Program in the Environment at the University of Michigan. She received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Afterward, Sara worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company before entering graduate school, receiving her PhD from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan before joining the faculty there. Sara is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.