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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...

Steve Montzka has been at NOAA for 28 years, working on atmospheric science, atmosphere chemistry, and trace gases in the atmosphere. He started there as a post-doc, drawn by the work he saw NOAA scientists doing on the hole in...

Adeena Teres is a high school science teacher in Florida, although she tried a few different careers before following her passion for teaching. As a teacher, there are always opportunities to inspire students either into science careers or towards other...

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...

Daniel Irwin’s first direct connection with NASA started in the small town of Flores in Guatemala. Amidst work dodging snakes and spiders in the jungle, he had a chance encounter with a researcher who handed him satellite mapping images of...

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...

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...

Laurie Cantillo, the Deputy Director of Communications and Education at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, talks about her journey to become a science communicator. She developed an interest in science at an early age spending time in the outdoors with her...

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...

Chasing storms is “a lot of boredom, and a little bit of excitement”, as Don MacGorman says. He discusses the planning that goes into storm chasing and all the precautions he and his team take to ensure they remain safe...

Bruce Wielicki, a NASA Langley climate scientist, discusses his collaboration with economists to help non-scientists understand how climate change will hit them in the wallet, and how they could reduce that risk with modest investments in improved climate science. He...

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...

The only interviewee to describe her chosen field as a “hoot,” Sonja Behnke, Los Alamos National Laboratory, has been actively involved in atmospheric electricity research since 2008. Before that, she was a math instructor as an AmeriCorps volunteer. As a...

Gail Skofronick-Jackson, Program Manager at NASA Headquarters, Science Mission Directorate, knows more about snow than most Tallahassee, Fla. residents. In fact, it may be safe to say that the program manager at NASA Headquarters knows more about snow than most...

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...

Laura Kong is the director of the International Tsunami Information Center and, given that her organization is based in Hawaii, she directly understands the importance of a tsunami warning system. Tsunamis might be infrequent but can be deadly when they...

President-elect of AGU natural hazards focus group and Northwestern University seismologist delights in getting away from conventional wisdom and pointing out when there’s Much Ado about Nothing. He reflected on his career trajectory from research on space to the depths...

Jill Marshall, Assistant Professor of Geology at the University of Arkansas thought she was ready to go to college, but there she was on the campus of Boston University as a freshman overwhelmed by her surroundings and on shaky financial...

Kim Cobb loves being out in the field. She talks about the euphoria and passion she has for it, saying “It's like nothing I've ever experienced literally, and I've given birth to four children.” In this interview, she talks about...

With great data comes great responsibility. Ruth Duerr, a self-described scientific “generalist,” and Steve Diggs, an ocean data specialist, take on years of efforts by scientists to inform the public while stopping short of being policy advisors. As data improves,...

Sonia Esperanca, Program Director for the National Science Foundation, supports earth-science research in the academic community. She shares her journey from Rio de Janeiro to the United States, Israel, Australia, and elsewhere. Having an understanding of landscapes across the world...

How rare is it for women to be lead investigators on robotic space missions? This conversation featured two of the very first women to hold that distinction. So, of course, they’re close friends. The lead investigator role requires bringing a...

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...

Frédéric Ouattara, Universite de Koudougou, knows the practical implications of his research into the ionosphere. Our mobile phone signals become worse due to the weakening of the ionosphere. In Burkina Faso, he helps train the next-generations of geoscientists. The 2018...