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

Dr. Andy Piacsek is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Physics Department at Central Washington University. He received a B.A. in Physics from Johns Hopkins University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Acoustics from the Pennsylvania State University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory before joining the faculty at Central Washington University. Andy is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. David Spergel is the Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy, Professor of Astrophysical Sciences, and Chair of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. He is also involved in the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science and the Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe in Tokyo. He completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University and received his Master's degree and PhD in Astronomy from Harvard University. After two years as a long-term member at the Institute for Advanced Study, he joined the Princeton faculty in 1987. David has received a number of awards and honors during his career, including the Shaw Prize, being named a Science Citation Laureate, a MacArthur Fellowship, a Sloan Fellowship, the Presidential Young Investigator Award, and the Gruber Prize (awarded to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe team). In addition, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the National Academy of Sciences. Time Magazine has l

Dr. Michael Scharf is a Professor and the O. Wayne Rollins/Orkin Endowed Chair in Urban Entomology at Purdue University. He received his Masters Degree in Urban Entomology and his PhD in Insect Toxicology from Purdue University. Afterward, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Nebraska. Mike worked as a Research Associate at Cornell University, a staff member at Purdue University, and a faculty member at the University of Florida and the University of Nebraska before joining the faculty at Purdue. Mike is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Jeffrey Diamond is a Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the National Institutes of Health. He received his PhD in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Francisco and University of California Berkeley. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Vollum Institute before joining NINDS. Jeff has received a number of honors during his career, including the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. Jeff is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Cary Pint is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He received his Masters and his PhD in Applied Physics from Rice University. He completed his postdoctoral training in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He worked at Intel Labs in the Extreme Technologies Research Group before joining the faculty at Vanderbilt. Cary has received many awards and honors during his career, including the the American Institute of Chemical Engineers STS section Best Applied Paper Award, the American Vacuum Society Dorothy M. and Earl S. Hoffman Award, Intel Corporation’s “High Five” patent Award, and the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. Cary is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and was named one of Forbes Magazine’s “30 under 30” disrupters in the field of science and innovation. Cary is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Michael Hagan is an Associate Professor of Physics and Chair of the Biological Physics Program at Brandeis University. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003. After completing a a postdoctoral fellowship in theoretical Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley, he started as an assistant professor at Brandeis in 2007. Mike is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Iliana Baums is an Associate Professor of Biology at Pennsylvania State University. She received her Masters Degree from the University of Bremen in Germany and her PhD from the University of Miami. Afterward, Iliana completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Miami and the University of Hawaii before joining the faculty at Penn State. Iliana is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Stephen Curry is a Professor of Structural Biology and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London. He received his PhD from Imperial College London. Stephen is a Fellow of the Society of Biology and was recently awarded the Peter Wildy Prize for Microbiology Education from the Society for General Microbiology. Stephen is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Professor Dame Kay Davies is the Dr. Lee's Professor of Anatomy at Oxford University and a fellow of Hertford College. She is also the Honorary Director of the MRC Functional Genomics Unit, a deputy chairman of the Wellcome Trust, and Executive Editor of the journal Human Molecular Genetics. Kay is also a co-founder of a biotechnology company and is a director of another. She completed her undergraduate studies at Somerville College and served as a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College in Oxford. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Saclay Nuclear Research Center, and went on to serve as a research fellow at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School and John Radcliffe Hospital and then as a faculty member at John Radcliffe Hospital and the University of London before joining the faculty at Oxford. Kay has received many awards and honors during her career, and to name just a few, she was elected as a founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society. She was also

Brian I. Crother is the Catherine and Duane Shafer Endowed Professor of Biological Sciences and Assistant Dean of the College of Science and Technology at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. He earned his B.S from California State University at Dominguez Hills, Ph.D. from the University of Miami (FL), and conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Texas, Austin. He spent a year as environmental consultant before joining the faculty at Southeastern Louisiana University. Brian is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Douglas Weibel is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He received his PhD from Cornell University, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. Doug has received many awards and honors during his career, including the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Pound Research Award, and the Vilas Associate Award all from UW-Madison, as well as the Early Career Life Scientist Award from the American Society for Cell Biology, the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, the Basil O'connor Award from the March of Dimes Foundation, the DuPont Young Professor Award, and a Sloan Research Fellowship. Doug is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Sandra Schmid is the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from Stanford University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cell Biology at Yale University. Sany then accepted a position at the Scripps Research Institute, and advanced in the ranks there. She is Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at the Scripps Research Institute in addition to her appointments at UT Southwestern. Sandy has also recently earned a master’s degree in executive leadership from the University of San Diego School of Business Administration. Sandy has received many awards and honors during her career, including an NIH Merit Award, the Athena Pinnacle Award in Biotechnology from UCSD, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the William C. Rose Award from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, she was the elected President of

Dr. Ralph T. Muehleisen is the Principal Building Scientist and Technical Lead of the Building Energy Decision and Technology Research (BEDTR) program in the Decision and Information Sciences Division of Argonne National Laboratory. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Ralph completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Ralph received his PhD in Acoustics at Pennsylvania State University and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Penn State in Applied Research and at the Naval Postgraduate School studying Physics. Afterwards, he served on the faculty at the University of Colorado and then the Illinois Institute of Technology. During this time he was also President and Principal Consultant for Muehleisen Consulting. Ralph is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Michael J. Mueller, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is Professor at the Program in Physical Therapy and Department of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. He also is Division Director of Research for the Program in Physical Therapy and Director of the Applied Biomechanics Laboratory. Michael Received his Masters in Physical Therapy and conducted clinical research and worked as a physical therapist before going back to graduate school. He received his PhD in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis before joining the faculty at Washington University. Michael is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Jelle Atema is a Professor in the Biology Department and Marine Sciences at Boston University and an Adjunct Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan studying Sensory Biology. Jelle has received a number of awards and honors during his career, including being named a Fellow of the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, as well as a a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Jelle is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. James Berger is a Professor in the Department of Biophysics and Biopysical Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received his PhD in Biochemistry and Structural Biology from Harvard University in 1995. Afterwards he was an independent research fellow at the Whitehead Institute of MIT until 1998. James then joined the faculty at UC Berkeley, where he remained for 15 years until coming to Johns Hopkins University in 2013. James has received many awards and honors during his career, including the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, the American Chemical Society Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Schering-Plough Scientific Achievement Award, a Packard Fellows award, and election to both the American Academy of Arts and sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Sergio Pellis is a Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge. He received his PhD in Zoology and Ethology from Monash University in Australia. Afterwards he completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Monash University, followed by training in animal movement analysis at Tel Aviv University, and then a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Serge also served as an Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Florida before joining the faculty at the University of Lethbridge. Sergio is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Robyn Klein is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Anatomy and Neurobiology and Pathology and Immunology at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. She received her Masters in Neuroscience from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and went on to complete her MD and PhD in Neuroscience there as well. Robyn obtained clinical specialty training in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and subspeciality training in Infectious Diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in immunology at Harvard Medical School. Robyn is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Eva Harris is a Professor of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology as well as Director of the Center for Global Public health at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also the founder and president of the Sustainable Sciences Institute. Eva received her PhD in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship and served as an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Francisco before joining the faculty at UC Berkeley. Eva has received a number of awards and honors during her career, including the McArthur Genius Fellowship, being named a Pew Scholar, receiving a National Recognition Award from the Nicaragua Minister of Health, being named a Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and being awarded the Prytanean Faculty Award for outstanding women faculty. Eva is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Jennifer Dunn is a Biofuel Life Cycle Analysis Team Lead and Principal Environmental Analyst at the Argonne National Laboratory. She received her Masters degree in Sustainable Chemical Engineering Systems and her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  Postdoc at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Afterward, Jennifer spent two years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and later worked as as an environmental consultant at URS Corporation before accepting a position at Argonne. Jennifer has received a number of awards and honors during her career, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Bronze Metal for Commendable Service and the URS Corporation Pyramid Award. Jennifer is here with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.