Search Interviews

Beth Moeller sat down with Ed Kowalchuk just after the Space X Dragon Launch to discuss lessons learned from immigrant parents, his own immigration to the US from Canada, a career at IBM including little known back room experiences from...

Claudia Crowley interviews her parents Claude and Carolyn Crowley about their careers and personal interests.

Dr. Dan Whitt studies currents and the circulation of nutrients in ocean ecosystems. Dan describes his Ph.D. research on internal waves ‒ oscillations found where the ocean is stratified by density ‒ and compares this effect to an expertly-poured Arnold...

Dr. Naseem Rangwala is an astrophysicist and project scientist for the SOFIA mission. SOFIA, or the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a modified Boeing 747 airplane carrying a large telescope. SOFIA observes the universe through long infrared wavelengths. As...

Dr. Tori Hoehler is a scientist at NASA Ames, with a background in chemistry and oceanography. He now studies the interaction of microbial communities with their environment, with an emphasis on the habitability of environments beyond Earth and the detectability...

Dr. Penny Boston is a woman of many talents! A notable academic with a background in microbiology and geology, Penny has investigated microbial life in the lab and in the field as a speleologist -- someone who studies cave science....

Kennedi White is one of 25 students starting in the new Student Airborne Science Activation (SaSa) program at the NASA Ames Research Center. Students at SaSa are undergraduates from minority-serving institutions, competitively selected across the United States. Over the course...

Karen Blizzard (60) interviews her aunt Polly Prickett (85) about her life and family in, and around, Birmingham and Sylacauga, Alabama.

Frederic Bien (56) interviews his friend and neighbor Ekkehart Rausch (74) about Ekkehart's father's life, fighting as a non-supportive German in the Nazi army in World War II, and his eventual emigration to the United States in 1958, where he...

Dr. Charles Gatebe's research focus is on clouds aerosols, ecosystem structure and function, albedo, and feedbacks to climate. In this interview, we chat about his science journey pursuing science, starting with his interest in studying Kenya’s air pollution, and how...

Jesselle (61) interviews her son, Erik (18), about his struggles with Asperger’s syndrome and Bipolar disorder.

Bill talks to his son about his career in the military before he was forced to change careers. His subsequent life as a civil engineer allowed him to stay closer to his family.

Weena (34) interviews her grandparents, Margaret (85) and John (88), about how they grew up and how they met at NASA.

Andrew Agustin (19) sits down to have a chat with his dad, Roy-Alan Agustin (55), about his long career in the Air Force.

Jonathan Karpoff (63) interviews his father, Fred Karpoff (98), about his experiences with social justice efforts, anti-Communist sentiments and his hopes for the future.

Dr. Egle Cekanaviciute is a Principal Investigator and Research Scientist in the Radiation Biophysics Laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center. She is also one of the Course Directors for STAR (Spaceflight Technologies, Application and Research), an intensive training course...

Dr. Rama Nemani, Senior Earth Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, works on ecological forecasting. In this interview, we discuss how Rama’s career trajectory moved from farming to supercomputing, NASA Earth Exchange (NEX), the difference between simulation modeling and...

Dr. Paul Mahaffy is the director of NASA's Solar System Exploration Division at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Raised in Eritrea, Paul became fascinated with the diversity of life at a young age, but did not have his sights set...

Dr. Matthew Johnson's research is in atmospheric chemistry, a branch of atmospheric science, which looks at the composition and chemistry of Earth's atmosphere, such as aerosols and trace gas emissions, and how particles may impact human health. Dr. Johnson's research...

John Painter shares his Moon Landing story for the Moon Landing in Context Project at Framingham State University. John discusses his experience serving as an Air Force Navigator in the late 1950s, working as an Electrical Engineer at the NASA...

Ozzie talks about his space travel dreams, becoming interested in space, and his love of his ham radio.

In the summer of 2015, Bob Conover led a team of 12 volunteers to restore a 50-year-old Ranger spacecraft at the California Science Center. Bob is a retired JPL engineer who originally worked on the Ranger at JPL in its...

Dr. Amber McCullum is an Applied Research Scientist for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) at NASA Ames who is currently co-developing a drought tool with the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources that includes remote sensing and ground-based...

I interviewed my father Allen bout what historical event had the greatest impact on his life, he chose the Russian satellite Sputnik.

Ryan Scott followed a nontraditional path to NASA Ames Research Center. From his passions for social justice and rugby to his start in exercise physiology and teaching college anatomy, Ryan is a biological research scientist. He works to get bio-specimens...