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When Christa Peters-Lidard cold-called the head of NASA’s hydrology lab as an undergrad, she wasn’t thinking she’d eventually land that very position. Now as the Acting Director for Sciences and Exploration at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Christa oversees several...

As a Program Manager for NASA Headquarters Earth Science Division, Barry Lefer helps fund important global research and field campaigns that are measuring air quality and greenhouse gases. And judging by these studies, Barry thinks the future is looking good!...

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,...

Growing up in Chicago, Gary Jedlovec dreamed of running his own weather station and becoming the next great TV weather forecaster. However, that all changed when he discovered meteorological research. Now well into his career as the Chief of the...

Being a Hydrologist was never on Matthew Rodell’s radar, let alone working for NASA. But he always trusted the path ahead. Now as their Deputy Director of Earth Sciences for Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HGB) at Goddard Space Flight Center,...

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...

In this interview, Senior Engineer Alok Shrestha discusses his career path as both engineer and scientist, now working for the Airborne Science Facility at NASA Ames. He also discussed how his background helped aid the 2015 earthquake recovery in Nepal,...

Dr. Laura Iraci is a research scientist in the Earth Sciences Division at NASA Ames, where she leads a group focusing on air and where human pollution goes. In this interview, we discuss her early interest in high school chemistry...

NASA Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Caroline Dang analyzes particles in the atmosphere and compares them with particles collected from flight observations to better understand aerosols in Earth's atmosphere and how they interact with clouds and radiation.

Gabriel Filippelli is a professor of earth sciences at Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, and the executive director of the Environmental Resilience Institute. We talked to him about how the first moon landing and the environment he grew up in...

Judy Pu is currently a grad student at the University of California, Santa Barbara studying Earth Science. We talked to her about moving forward from failure and criticism, the importance of education, and dealing with the loss of a mentor.

From a childhood filled with archeology lessons from his dad, to graduate studies measuring gases from active volcanoes, and then designing early warning systems to detect volcanic activity, Dr. Florian Schwandner's life goal has been to make a difference in...

How does one go from being a B+ student who got dressed down by her 8th grade softball coach to the Division Director of the Earth Science Division at NASA? While this might sound like the plot of an inspirational...

Ana Jeleapov studies landscape geography and hydrology at the Institute of Ecology and Geography in Moldova. She and a small team of scientists are trying to decrease flooding in Moldova. “Floods are a natural phenomenon” with sometimes deadly impact on...

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 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...

Karen Prestegaard is a professor of hydrology at the University of Maryland, and she studies rivers, wetlands, watersheds, water quality, minerals, floods, and rainfall and watershed management. As a graduate student, the California Coastal Commission hired Karen to study Los...

The next time you see a young kid skateboarding through the neighborhood, possibly listening to punk rock on their earbuds, remember that one day that kid could be your local science professor. Doug Jerolmack’s sturdy voice and love of experimenting...

Atanas Dommo shares his experiences as a Ph.D. student from Cameroon Africa. He discusses how his desire to learn more inspired him to pursue a career in the sciences. His speaks of his passion and motivation for understanding our changing...

Jill Marshall, Assistant Professor of Geology at the University of Arkansas thought she was ready to go to college, but there she was on the campus of Boston University as a freshman overwhelmed by her surroundings and on shaky financial...

Who says work ends when you retire? For Tom Dunne, University of California Santa Barbara, the work is still finding him. Instead of heading off to the Amazon to find discovery, these days he need only look out his window...

How can scientists capture the public’s imagination with science? In this interview, Gordon Grant, a research hydrologist with the US Forest Service and President-elect of AGU'S Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Section, shares his experience of bringing a river to...

James Famiglietti, hydrologist and Director of the Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, discusses his work with NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experience (GRACE) and the evolution of technology throughout his career including its impact on water security....

Catherine Mushi, PhD student studying Water Resources Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam discusses her work in the Congo River Basin and collaborating with peers both in the field and within the community. She shares her experience as...

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...