“Science for me is a passion. I tell my students, if you're not having fun, do something else” An interview with Gregory Cutter

Having an idol is important in science so you can see yourself doing something similar. Gregory Cutter met his idol, Jacques Cousteau, when he was an assistant professor at Old Dominion University. As an oceanography professor, he worked with different...

“I want to do good science, which to me, doing good science and with great people makes it fun.” An interview with Susan Bates

Susan Bates has always been interested by the physical world and especially the ocean. She remembers standing on the beach as a kid in North Carolina wondering where the waves came from. Now, she gets to predict what the ocean...

"The best way to get ahead is to plant seeds of ideas in other people & watch them take off & run with it." an interview with Bruce Wielicki

Bruce Wielicki, a NASA Langley climate scientist, discusses his collaboration with economists to help non-scientists understand how climate change will hit them in the wallet, and how they could reduce that risk with modest investments in improved climate science. He...

"Kathy vs. The Volcano" an interview with Katharine Cashman

Kathy Cashman, professor at the University of Bristol, worked on the 1980 eruption at Mount St. Helen’s in Washington, one of the first monitored volcanic eruptions in the world (“it was a ‘who’s who’ of volcanology and geology”). Thanks to...

“We’re looking forward to the evolution of missions to the outer solar system.” an interview with Glenn Orton

Glenn Orton is so deep in Jupiter mission information that he gets envious when he’s not involved in a space project studying the gas giant. The senior research scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory studies the composition and structure...

"What other profession allows you to ask questions, chase those things that give you intellectual itches." an interview with Robert Swap

On the football field, Bob Swap learned to read the field, look at the play, assess the information, and move forward. Today, those same skills help him manage over 250 scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center with NASA’s Pandora...

"The 6 Mentors You Meet in Life" an interview with Chuck McClain

By his own count, Chuck McClain has had six mentors in his career. His first may have been a teacher in Kansas City who took him to his first physics demonstration. Since 1978, he’s worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight,...

"Returning and Relearning in Bejing, China." an interview with Qingyun Duan

When Quinyan Duan was a student in China, he found his way into hydropower engineering. He wanted to pursue a graduate degree but couldn’t find the right professor to guide him. He took the difficult step of applying in the...

"A Label by Any Other Name." an interview with Andrew Binley and Lee Slater

A conversation between student and professor, this discussion reveals the subtle dynamics between good friends, even when they outwardly seem to be very similar. Lee Slater met Andrew Binley when the former asked the latter for a job at Lancaster...

"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,...