Search Interviews

Partners in crime, friends, and colleagues Farley McDonough (58) and Natalie Johnson (47) discuss their collaborations and community work in Manitou Springs, Colorado. They also reflect on their life paths and where they are headed next, particularly as Farley moves...

Sarah and Glenn discuss the importance of collaborating with and speaking to others about the importance of sustainability and eco-friendly actions. We also discuss the positive internal benefits of voluntarily changing behaviors to address climate change and how this can...

John Haynes, Program Manager of Health and Air Quality applications in the Applied Sciences Program at NASA headquarters, talks about catching the “weather bug” at a young age. In first grade, he told his teacher that he wanted to be...

Friends and colleagues, Faye Cooper (67) and Genevieve Goss (67), discuss their personal development and involvement in land conservation and easements.

Marcia Rieke has had to take a break from her job as a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona recently because she is currently the principal investigator of the Near Infrared Camera being launched on the James Webb...

American Space Program, Apollo 11 and 13

Beth Moeller sat down with Ed Kowalchuk just after the Space X Dragon Launch to discuss lessons learned from immigrant parents, his own immigration to the US from Canada, a career at IBM including little known back room experiences from...

Dr. Tori Hoehler is a scientist at NASA Ames, with a background in chemistry and oceanography. He now studies the interaction of microbial communities with their environment, with an emphasis on the habitability of environments beyond Earth and the detectability...

I take some time to reflect on the course, Psychology of Environmental Stewardship taught by Dr. De Young at the University of Michigan's School for the Environment and Sustainability. I talk about my main take-aways from the course like the...

Doug Archer has a rock collection, only he’s never actually held any of the stones, and they are hundreds of millions of miles away on Mars. As a research scientist working with the Curiosity Mars rover in NASA’s Johnson Space...

Nina Fefferman is a professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in the departments of Mathematics and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, where she is also the director of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis. In her varied...

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!...

Jeffrey Walker (54) interviews his father, Norman Walker (89), about his career in the U.S. Navy and the University of Idaho Extension, as well as about the advice that he'd like to pass on to future generations of their family.

As a radio astronomer at the Jet Propulsion lab at NASA, Joseph Lazio walks us through his work in radio astronomy and career at NASA. He helped design radio telescopes to solve the mystery of why a hidden star was...

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....

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...

Ed Weiler only answered to one person when he was the Associate Administrator for Science at NASA Headquarters- the President of the United States. And after decades long career in astronomy, working on everything from the Hubble Telescope to the...

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,...

Chris Hain from the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center helps turn NASA data into information that non-scientists can use. One of his big projects is monitoring plant stress from space, which can give farmers a 2-4 week early warning...

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...

Claudia Crowley interviews her parents Claude and Carolyn Crowley about their careers and personal interests.

Not every scientist can boast about putting an end to Biblical-level plagues. But NASA Senior Earth Scientist Compton Tucker helped to end periodic locust swarms which pop up in dry parts of the world and go onto wreak havoc on...

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...

Dante Lauretta, Regents’ Professor of Planetary Science and the principal investigator for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, has been working on bringing back samples from Asteroid Bennu since 2004- and he still has two more years before he might...