“I spent my childhood driving around the most beautiful place in the world.” an Interview with Jim Pizzuto

For Jim Pizzuto, a career in science was never the plan. His father was a landscape painter, and he grew up surrounded by art and the majestic landscape paintings that his father produced. By the time he entered college, he...

"Kicking and Perturbing Your Way to Discovery." an interview with Doug Jerolmack

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...

"In Search of New Chapters in a Rich Life Story." an interview with Ho-Kwang (Dave) Mao

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...

“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...

"When we met, it was a Reese's Peanut Butter moment: we had the peanut butter & he had the chocolate." an interview with David Young

David Young, Director of Science at NASA Langley Research Center, discusses his life's work studying the earth's climate. After an early interest in astrophysics, he focused in on earth science due to his desire to do research to help humans....

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” an interview with Catherine McCammon

Catherine McCammon, staff scientist at Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, Germany and longtime AGU volunteer discusses collaboration and explains how she has found that the “the whole is great than the sum of its parts,” is truly an accurate statement....

“It'd be a great job to be the person who gets someone excited to go into science in the future.” An interview with Zachary Wolff

Zachary Wolff talks about how his path to studying and creating models as a graduate student at UC Irvine was not straightforward: he first considered medicine and meteorology before working on a CICE radiation study and discovering his interest. While...

“You get the space bug and … it just opened a whole new world to me. " An interview with Delia Santiago-Materese.

Delia Santiago-Materese is a program scientist at the NASA’s Planetary Space Division in Washington, D.C., where she helps facilitate science and works with the community to make decisions about where NASA’s scientists should be exploring next. She spends her days...

"Science is a universal language, which helps us bridge language and cultural gaps." an interview with Emily Wolin

Emily Wolin is almost singe-handedly trying to upgrade Myanmar’s national seismic network. As a student, Emily saw the Mount Saint Helens eruption. Today, she helps scientists in Myanmar prepare their country for the aftermath of the next hurricanes to come...

"The things that make me proud are working every day to make life better for the people around me. "

Paths Through Science Interview for AGU's Centennial with Carolyn Brinkworth, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

“Volcanoes are where we’re making new earth, every day." an interview with Lori Glaze

Lori Glaze, Acting Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, works with everything from understanding asteroid trajectories and material make up to the InSight mission which recently landed a rover on Mars. It’s no exaggeration to say Lori...

"Revisiting the Early History of `Sprite’ Observations." an interview with Geoff McHarg

Sprites are electrical discharges like lightning, but up in the middle atmosphere. Having only been in the scientific literature since the 1990s, sprites captured Geoff McHarg’s imagination while observing the Aurora in Alaska. Perfect for a guy whose view of...

"We're going to be able to help the planet." An Interview with Cynthia Rosenzweig.

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...

"A magnetic storm…can damage many electrical systems on Earth like communications and power grids." an interview with Walter Gonzalez

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...

“It's very exciting to think about how we can have more voices at the table." An interview with Cynthia Hall

Cynthia Hall is the community coordinator for NASA’s Transform to Open Science program, where she works with organizations and communities to build diverse scientific collaborations with NASA. She works to make scientific research and processes more inclusive and accessible to...

"Don't take yourself too seriously. Try and always put yourself in a new perspective." an interview with Lara Patricia Sotto

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...

“We lower the barrier to collaboration and innovation so people do work that might not have been done.” An interview with Erin Robinson

Erin Robinson is the Executive Director of the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP). She knew from early on that she was interested in science and her field of remote sensing, from good science teachers in middle and high school to...

"Most of these happenings have been because technology became available that could realize the vision." An interview with Eric Lindstrom.

Meet Eric Lindstrom, a former Physicial Oceanographer for NASA who now works with Saildrone, Inc to map the ocean floor. Eric spent his first day at the beach when he was 3 days old and has been fascinated with marine...

"If you don't get it right, this planet is going to be very different before the end of this century" an interview with John Geissman

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...

"We were seeing Christmas lights from space, and seeing people praying on Mount Arafat during the Haaj." an interview with Miguel Román

Miguel Román, a Physical researcher Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, shares his journey from his childhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico to NASA. Seeing the impacts of hurricanes and urban growth where he grew up, and the practical...

“People don't fully understand what climate science is. It's a significant achievement to make them aware.” An interview with Bidyut Goswami

Bidyut Bikash Goswami has found that people are very interested in his field of climate science and meteorology, even if they don’t fully understand it at first. He notes that people tend to assume that climate science means climate change...

"Biology is a planetary process. Biogeoscience is earth & space together." an interview with Diane McKnight, Dork Sahagian & Mary Voytek

How did Biogeoscience become a recognized field of study, with its own journal and sections at AGU? What obstacles did its organizers have to overcome in order to make it a viable field and a welcome presence at AGU? In...

“When you do these missions, they can take decades to come to fruition.” An interview with Louise Prockter

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...

"We can always do something and we should always do what we can when we can." An interview with Brian Cairns.

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,...