"I am satisfied by simply being able to help out in whatever way I can." an interview with Claire Parkinson

Dr. Claire Parkinson, senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center since 1978, discusses using satellite data to monitor sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic and serving as project scientist for the NASA satellite Aqua, which makes measurements of...

"[Science] lets us imagine things we hadn't thought possible." an interview with Sarah Vines and Robert Allen

Sarah Vines and Robert Allen once drove twenty hours to see a spaceship launch. Now, Sarah and Robert are married, post-doctoral students working in the laboratories of Johns Hopkins University. Sarah researches how magnetic fields form, and what earth’s magnetic...

"It's hard to isolate cause and effect – we have to take nature on its own terms." an interview with Mary Hudson and William Lotko

Mary Hudson and Bill Lotko are both professors at Dartmouth University and researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Both study space physics, with Mary focusing on Van Allen radiation belts, and Bill looking at interactions between the magnetosphere...

"Starting Out in Science Before Your First Birthday." an interview with Nicola Fox

Just a few short months ago, Nicola Fox took over as Director of NASA’s Heliophysics Lab. She’d been prepping for the role a lifetime, however, recounting how she started her scientific career when she was eight months old, thanks to...

“One of the most rewarding parts of my job has been opportunities to mentor people like you” An interview with Linda Geiser and Peter Nelson

Linda Geiser and Peter Nelson tell their own stories and reflect on the impact they’ve had on each other lives. They’re both currently with the US Forest Service but first met when Linda hired Peter after he finished university to...

"I've been a professional astronomer for over 20 years, [and it] still gives me goosebumps." an interview Michelle Thaller

Michelle Thaller, science communicator at NASA Goddard, discusses how she persisted in following her scientific passions even after being discouraged by teachers and guidance counselors. She also talked about why non-scientists should care about things so far away from Earth:...

“I'm proud my…perseverance of curiosity has gotten me to be [with] people who talk about life in the universe.” Interview w/ Julia DeMarines

Julia DeMarines is a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley in the Earth and Planetary Science department, an educator at the Mentoring Academy, a National Geographic Explorer, and a science communicator who runs a space comedy event...

"Working Together to Prepare for the Unknown." an interview with Gari Mayberry

For the last 14 years, Gari Mayberry has put her volcanology background to work as a disaster response coordinator at USAID. Disasters come in many shapes and sizes so that specialty is a start, but often Gari finds herself connecting...

"You need to get into the storm, install it close enough to the lightning, and then run back to the car." an interview with Tim Lang

Putting up tall PVC pipes with pointy sensors to measure electrical fields in an approaching lightning storm may seem reckless, but it’s all part of the job for Timothy Lang. The NASA research scientist spends a lot of time in...

“How is it that we collect stories [and] create spaces for those stories to be told?” An interview with Michele Koppes and Heidi Roop

Michele Koppes and Heidi Roop met “on an incredible landscape on the edge of the Greenland ice sheet about two years ago.” The conversation that followed made both of them think more closely about the value of science communication and...

"Magnetic fields are used in many of the devices we carry around with us." an interview with Laurie Brown

Laurie Brown, Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, has been a member of AGU for 46 years. She shares her observations on the growth of paleomagnetism at AGU and its importance in helping address climate. She also discusses how...

"Points that fall off the curve are either a mistake or the Nobel Prize." an interview with Glenn Orton

Glenn Orton, a senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, discusses his career exploring the outer Solar System that started with the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions, and extended forward to Cassini and more recently Juno. Interested in space...

“The measurements are telling us a critical component of climate change.” an interview with Norman Loeb

Clouds are among the most unpredictable components of climate models. But Norman Loeb is working hard to sort out the shape of cloud patterns in order to improve the accuracy of long-term weather predictions. As far as understanding how all...

"It was fun to think about how all the puzzle pieces fit together. How is this organization going to work?" An Interview with Anita Dey

Anita Dey is the strategic partnerships manager of outreach and engagement for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and co-chair of NASA headquarters' Asian American and Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group. Anita spends her days working with underserved communities and using the...

“Be informed about the whole process… and be curious.” An Interview with Gael Cascioli

Gael Cascioli is a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center where he focuses on planetary geodesy — the measuring of the gravity field and shape of a planet — and is working on the upcoming VERITAS mission which,...

"Celestial events are always a winner.” an interview with Kristen Erickson

Kristen Erickson, Director of science engagements and partnership, recently helmed NASA’s efforts to involve over 154 million adult Americans with direct participation with the 2017 total eclipse – the largest engagement effort in NASA history. But in her more than...

"The Rise of Informatics." an interview with Peter Fox and Sarah Ramdeen

In the mid-2000s, a small group of leaders at AGU, including Peter Fox, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, saw an opportunity to shape or reshape how geoscientists work together under a new cross-cutting discipline. As a result, “Earth and space Science Informatics”...

“I enjoy knowing that a lot of people do care about [the climate] and they care to learn about it.” an interview with Shelby Hurst

Shelby Hurst grew up in northern Michigan where she spent plenty of time poking at and asking questions about the rocks in her grandparents’ backyard, which eventually led her to a PhD in geochemistry. She discusses the importance of women...

"Sharp Observations from a Keen Observer." an interview with Susan Loizer

We won’t say how long Susan Lozier has been shaping young minds at Duke University (she may let it slip), but she talks about amazing changes that have happened during her tenure. She grew up wondering how rivers get polluted,...

"If I can be welcomed in this group, doing this work, maybe they can too." an interview with David Crisp

David Crisp, senior research scientist at NASA, recounted his adventures, from going from a physics education major who had a paper on Venus winds published by Carl Sagan to a doctoral student at Princeton to helping fix Hubble. He described...

Getting to know my Mom

In this interview I talked with my mother and asked her many things about her childhood and adult life. We talked about what she was like as a child and what she did. She gave advice to her teenage self...

“I was drawn to geophysics because, through technology, you can look at the things you’re studying.” An interview with John Booker Grab

John Booker Grab grew up in New Mexico and remembers, at the age of 8, running out the back door into the Santa Fe National Forest to go and collect fossils. He then went on to study at Montana State...

"Using space to help us dream.” an interview with Margaret Kivelson with Fran Bagenal

In begin in 1979, when Margaret Kivelson, UCLA, was part one of three women presenting a talk in which Fran Bagenal, University of Colorado Boulder, was sitting in the audience. They have been space scientists and collaborators for many years...

"I just kept learning more things or finding a niche." An Interview With Michael King.

Michael King is a Senior Research Associate in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado. He previously worked at NASA for 3 decades in a variety of roles, including Senior Project Scientist of NASA’s Earth...