“I was drawn to geophysics because, through technology, you can look at the things you’re studying.” An interview with John Booker Grab

John Booker Grab grew up in New Mexico and remembers, at the age of 8, running out the back door into the Santa Fe National Forest to go and collect fossils. He then went on to study at Montana State...

Joe Houston & Scott Acord

Joe shares the story his rise from humble beginnings in DC. He was primarily raised by his sister before getting lured into a lifestyle that led to him being incarcerated at 16 to turning his life around and is now...

“I have friends that do kinds of jobs that you wouldn't expect scientists to do if you didn't know better.” An interview with Erica Bickford

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...

In conversation with Bay Butler, May 7, 2016

Story Corp conversation with Bay Butler, about six months before his death from a progressive heart condition. Bay was a dear mentor, guardian angel and friend. In this discussion, he talks about his life, his values, and our relationship.

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Simone Woods and Diamond Howard

Simone Woods (37) has a conversation with her friend Diamond Howard (29) about being "generational course breakers," the value of mentorship, growing up in a "surviving state of mind,"and their learning journey in 2020 after experiencing the uprisings of the...

"Whould've thought that a billion miles from earth we'd have biological activity in the bottom of an ocean?" an interview with Tom Krimigis

Tom Krimigis works at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, and was previously the principal investigator for the Voyager I and Voyager II missions. A student of Van Allen, Tom built detectors to search for Van Allen belts on...

"My greatest contribution is the students that come through my program." an interview with Emily Schaller

Emily Schaller, project manager at NASA's National Suborbital Research Center at Ames, discusses her Ph.D. work studying the clouds on Titan and her work as a science and education. She recalled how as a young child, she would study illustrations...

"A lot of teachers that I had as a child they inspired me and I was like man, I really like what they do." An interview with Brian Campbell

Meet Brian Campbell, a NASA Senior Earth Science Specialist who works with satellite missions like ICESat-2, SMAP, GPM and with the NASA GLOBE Program, including the NASA GLOBE Observer Citizen Science App. He is passionate about making the plethora of...

"If you want something bad enough, you can work hard and get it or you can at least try." An Interview with Shobhana Gupta.

Dr. Gupta was unsure of what she wanted to work on after finishing medical school, but she found her calling and is now the Open Innovation and Community Applications manager at NASA headquarters. Listen to Dr. Gupta talk about her...

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Junior Correa and Orlando Clemons

Junior Correa (33) talks to his friend Orlando Clemons (42) about his childhood, and his determination to overcome obstacles to pursue his goals. He talks about starting a candy business as a kid, and the positives and negatives of that...

"We look at life in extreme environments and learn about what life can do, how it adapts." An interview with David Smith.

Dr. David Smith is a microbiologist at the NASA Ames Research Center. David led the design, construction, and validation of two NASA Balloon Program payloads carrying biology experiments (E-MIST and MARSBOx) as well as the use of a bio-aerosol collector...

"I was a B+ student, but I was a B+ student with a lot of grit." An Interview with Karen St. Germain

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...

"Always remember that we professors are all smart, but what will set you apart is being kind.” an interview with Rafael Loureiro

Rafael Loureiro may confess to being an introvert, but he has no fear of people. He started off talking about AGU’s Voices of Science bootcamp, which he is participating in this year to develop his spokesperson skills. That segued into...

“You are every bit as capable and competent as other people.” An Interview with Wendy Bohon

Dr. Wendy Bohon is an earthquake geologist and the Senior Science Communication Specialist for the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, or IRIS for short (not the IRS). But how did she end up there if she went to school for...

An oceanographer and chemist working on space missions at NASA. An interview with Tori Hoehler.

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...

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Jaime Thom and Linda Lentz

Jaime Thom (40) speaks with her colleague Linda Lentz (72) about her long career as a science teacher, and volunteer at the South Carolina aquarium and what she hopes will be her legacy.

"I grew up in a place where I was the first to go to college – not just in my family, but in the village." An interview with Charles Gatebe.

Dr. Charles Gatebe's research focus is on clouds aerosols, ecosystem structure and function, albedo, and feedbacks to climate. In this interview, we chat about his science journey pursuing science, starting with his interest in studying Kenya’s air pollution, and how...

“Science is something that you can learn and that you can achieve through hard work.” An interview with Michelle Newcomer

Michelle Newcomer is now a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab but her first degree was in French and Sociology. She talks here about the fear that comes with changing careers, taking risks, and pursuing the path that you...

"There is humor and wonderment in all these great people." An interview with James Garvin.

James Garvin is the Chief Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Garvin has been at NASA for 35 years in a variety of roles and missions, and is well known for his incredible work in NASA's Mars explorational...