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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...

John Bolten doesn’t need to get his hands dirty to learn about crop yields. Using satellite images, the Associate Program Manager of Water Resources for the NASA Applied Sciences Program has worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to directly...

Dr. David Lagomasino, assistant research professor at the University of Maryland and researcher at the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, discusses his life in science, studying coastlines and the effects of sea level rise, erosion, deforestation, and other factors on complex...

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...

Jonathan Bamber has always loved to climb mountains. It’s why, when he wrote an essay about ice crystal formation in clouds as an 18-year-old undergrad, he found his calling studying glaciers and the natural environment. He’s traveled the world as...

Michael Wong is just as comfortable talking about science as he is with working on it. Currently a post doc at the University of Washington in Seattle, he talks about his work and path through science, from being inspired as...

Steven Clarke, NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration, discusses his life in science and engineering. Currently tasked with bridging NASA's efforts on human and robotic missions to coordinate scientific requirements for going to the Moon and Mars, he has seen...

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,...

Kristin Lawrence is reimagining how children of all ages can learn and discover science. She is the CEO and Founder of The Hopper, a science discovery playground coming soon to Boulder, Colorado. Kristin changed direction from a career in paleomagnetism...

As a mission scientist with NASA's Operation IceBridge, John Sonntag has been keeping an eye on the polar ice caps for the better part of 20 years. The good news is, he is very well-versed in the science and analysis...

Richard Stolarski, research professor shares the journey of his involvement with the movement to address ozone depletion. He discusses how a multi-disciplinary team of scientists came together to heal the ozone layer, and how the world came together with the...

What starts as a conversation about arctic change is actually an all-encompassing discussion about career growth, patience, and personal growth. Walt Meier, National Snow, and Ice Data center, introduces us to Jackie Richter-Menge, US Arctic Research Commission, who has spent...

Alan Gorchov Negron and Colten Petersen, University of Michigan, share their stories of becoming scientists, and their hopes for their continued research and involvement in geosciences. What is the role of an earth scientist? What is the role of climate...

Through his work with SERVIR, Ashutosh Limaye could be described as one of Earth’s watchdogs. The project scientist at the Marshall Space Flight Center’s job is to take NASA satellite data back down to the Earth and help people use...

Cloud scientist Steven Platnick is trying to learn how clouds may magnify—or minimize—the effects of climate change. He first got excited about clouds when his Ph.D. advisor, who "treated us like equals," started asking questions about clouds. "He asked questions...

Dawn Wright, ESRI and Mark Parsons, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, share with us their journeys into data mapping, and how the field has grown, including at AGU. Before AGU embraced mapping scientists, people were starting to leave AGU. Now, they’re back,...

The realization that a purple sunset in Wisconsin traced back to the 1991 volcanic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines fueled Chip Trepte’s interest in the movement of volcanic aerosols in the upper atmosphere. “It was a stunning revelation...

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...

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...

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...

Casey spoke with her good friend, Courtney, about living with invisible disabilities. Casey has myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), formerly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, which was triggered by a COVID infection in 2021. In addition to ME and Long COVID, Casey...

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”...

Amber Soja’s career is on fire. The resident at NASA’s Langley Research Center studies fire regimes and how they are being affected by climate change. “Every fire season is worse,” she says, adding that the changing fire regime is proof...

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...

Why do people feel they way they do about issues? Why do lawmakers and policy leaders seemingly act against their better interests? And how can information be developed in a way that leads not just to greater understanding, but to...