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Lauren Haygood is a PhD student at Oklahoma State University, studying marine geochemistry and metal biogeochemical cycling in Dr. Natasha Riedinger’s lab. How does one become a chemist after failing chemistry in undergrad? We talked to Lauren about figuring out...

Renee Weber is the Chief Scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which basically means she represents all science at the center- pretty cool if you ask us! We talked to Renee about the importance of seismology, building personal relationships...

Michael Freilich, Director of NASA's Earth Science Division, shares about his life studying the oceans and Earth as a system. While still in his high school's oceanography club, he started exploring a question about how waves move that later became...

Gina Zwicky love lizards. And frogs. And turtles. Basically, all sorts of amphibians and reptiles. The love has turned into a career looking at how lizards fight off parasites and how those parasites evolve to be, well, better parasites. And...

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...

Micropaleontologist and biostratigrapher Christopher Lowery shares his experience on a mission-specific platform for Expedition 364 during the drilling of the Chicxulub K-Pg impact crater. Hear how he describes how ocean drilling is like flipping the pages of a book backwards...

Michael Hesse is the Director of Science at NASA’s Ames Research Center, focusing on space biological science. We talked to him about being a good leader, doing science all over the world, and the joys of racing cars.

Dr. Stephen Rinehart is the Director of Planetary Research Programs at NASA. We talked to him about how his love for destroying things as a kid led him to a career in science, walking away from failure, and working with...

Aidan Leetz joined JOIDES Resolution as a thin section technician for Expedition 390 in 2022. In this conversation, he shares his journey to joining the JR, his reaction to the news of the end of JR operations, and why he's...

Geochemist Jeff Ryan shares two highlights from his first time sailing on JOIDES Resolution for Expedition 352, involving luggage at the airport, coffee, and why it is good to pack an extra towel. Photo of/from J. Ryan: Working in the...

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,...

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...

Philips Aizebeokhai talks about the path his career has taken, turns and all. Although he started out working in the oil and gas industry, he found himself drawn to academia and the chance to be excited every day through his...

Nannofossil paleontologist Claire Routledge highlights the need for a work-life balance while working 12-hours shifts, 7 days a week, for two months. After sailing on the South Atlantic Transect (Expedition 390), Claire shares her work responsibilities with nannofossils (along with...

Elizabeth Schaeffer hasn’t followed the most straight-forward route into the geosciences but that’s allowed her to discover the field she most wants to study. She’s a non-traditional undergraduate studying applied geology and talks about recent internships she’s done that have...

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...

David Shiffman is a shark guy first, marine conservation biologist second. Sharks are in his Twitter handle, he’s writing a book about them, and he was wearing a shark shirt the day we interviewed him. We talked with David about...

Tabitha Mason, 22, asks her step-mother Stephany Mason, 46, about her career as well as the challenges of joining a family.

His application to be an astronaut may have been turned down, but Paul Hertz is playing a big role in helping us understand how the universe works as the Director of Astrophysics at NASA. He found his passion for astrophysics...

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,...

Melissa Trainer is a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and is working on the upcoming Dragonfly mission. We talked to her about pitching Dragonfly and finding out whether it got accepted on TV, accepting opportunities you didn’t...

For Paula Buchanan, disaster scientist and emergency management researcher, the whole point of science is to share it with others so that it can benefit everyone. We talked to her about being a “degree collector,” persevering and setting boundaries in...

Andrew McIntyre and Laura Guertin both sailed on JOIDES Resolution for the first time during Expedition 390 (South Atlantic Transect I). Four months after they departed the JR, they reconnected to discuss and compare the events and moments that made...

Maryalice Yakutchik was the Onboard Outreach Officer for JOIDES Resolution Expedition 392 (Agulhas Plateau Cretaceous Climate). During this conversation, she shares the fears she faced from the application process to her time on the ship. Quote from Maryalice: "All those...

Erica Bickford’s advice to early career scientists or students is to look outside academia and explore all the potential career options available to scientists. She is particularly aware of the importance of science in daily life and in the policy...