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Interested in building an instrument to fly to Mars? Listen in as Dr. Dave Blake - race car engine builder, biologist, geologist, and spacecraft instrument designer extraordinaire - describes his science journey.

How will we search for life beyond Earth? If we do find life, what are the implications? As an Astrobiologist, Dr. Alfonso Davila travels to 'planetary analogue environments' that are remarkably similar to areas on other planets -- Chile's Atacama...

Woody Turner, the program scientist for biological diversity and manager for ecological forecasting programs at NASA, and one of the few people in the world who directly harness the power of space to solve a whale of a problem –...

Brian Cairns works for the NASA Goddard Institute for space studies in New York, where he focuses on developing instruments that will make better measurements of small particles in space. In this interview Dr. Cairns discusses his start in engineering,...

Next Generation Sequencing Scientist Dr. Lovorka Degoricija works on NASA's GeneLab Project where she studies biology that changes in the environment of space. She extracts DNA from spaceflight samples that have been returned to Earth and processes them so sequencing...

Dr. Ved Chirayath is the director of the Laboratory for Advanced Sensing (LAS) in the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Silicon Valley. There, he develops and invents new instruments for NASA missions on Earth and in space, with much of his current work focusing on creating technology that will increase our...

It took 21 years for Trevor McDougall to leave Australia, but when he did, he was on a plane headed to the University of Cambridge and a masters and Ph.D. in Oceanography. Besides the life-changing event of going from one...

Lawrence Kuznetz shares his Moon Landing story for the Moon Landing in Context Project at Framingham State University. Lawrence discusses his personal experiences working for NASA, the Apollo programs, and the night of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. He also...

John Geismann, professor of geosciences at the University of Texas Dallas, shares his discovery into the science field and favorite aspects of working with students. He discusses the critical point we are in society and need for the global community...

Cynthia Rosenzweig has been studying earth's changing climate and its impacts on agriculture for over 2 decades, yet she continues to be fascinated by the subject on a daily basis. Dr. Rosenzweig currently heads the Climate Impacts Group at NASA's...

While many of the interviews at the conference were with experienced professionals with a career spanning several decades, this interview is with a young up-and-coming PhD student who traveled all the way from the Philippines to attend her first AGU...

Padma Yanamandra-Fisher, a research scientist at the Space Science Institute, shares stories of her career in planetary science. She recounts how defining the launch of Voyager was and the significance of the growth in the field since. Padma shares her...

Trena Ferrell’s story with NASA all started with an email requesting an in class visit for her students. Now as a Public Outreach Lead for NASA, she sits down with us to talk about the importance of STEAM (emphasis on...

Nicholeen Viall is a research astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with her research focus being the sun and solar wind. Listen to Dr. Viall talk about her start in space science, her greatest accomplishment, and her hopes for...

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but Andi Brinn Thomas is dealing with thousands of pictures of the world. The Image Data Scientist in the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit within the Astromaterials Research Exploration and Science Division...

This Sao Paolo, Brazil based senior space research scientist is best known for explaining geomagnetic storms. In 2017, he received an AGU prize for “cutting-edge work” on space weather and processes. He remembers being a UC Berkeley graduate student in...

Louise Prockter knows a thing or two about logistics and planning. When the first image of the unseen hemisphere of Mercury popped onto the screen during a flyby mission, her first thought was, "oh thank God, it's in the middle...

William Putman, research meteorologist with NASA , was always fascinated by the way meteorologists on television could predict what was going to happen. But instead of comparing weather reports with the blowing of the trees outside his house, Putman now...

Kenneth Jucks, Program Manager for the Upper Atmosphere Research Program at NASA Headquarters, has gone from launching weather balloons, what he calls a “poor man’s satellite” to take measurements up to 25 miles above the Earth’s surface, to managing five...

Peter Falcon is an Earth Science communications specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with an atypical background: behavioral science. As a communications specialist, Peter acts as a liaison between NASA projects – such as the CloudSat program – and students,...

Ross Stein is CEO and Co-Founder of Temblor, Inc., Adjunct Professor at Stanford University, a scientist at the Unites States Geological Survey, creator of films about earthquake science, and president of the AGU’s tectonic physics section. In this interview, Margarete...

The potential downside of a career in always seeking discoveries is that it may stunt the development of your confidence. Even as someone who walked into NASA, living the dream in his mind, Nathan Kurtz experiences that downside, politely calling...

After one spends 50 years with the same organization, what’s next? That’s the question Dave Mao is attempting to answer after a highly-decorated career at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Born in Shangai and raised in Taiwan, Mao came to...

Scott Tyler, hydrology engineer at the University of Nevada Reno and AGU Hydrology section president, shares his work on Antarctic ice shelves, nuclear waste, and stream restoration. Do we need to build sea walls in ten years or in one...

Ashley Greeley is a research scientist in the Heliophysics Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center where she studies particles trapped in the magnetic field surrounding Earth. She sits down with us to talk about overcoming imposter syndrome, building innovative...