"I've always had an interest and a fascination with space." A conversation with Jonathan Hale.

Jonathan Hale is one of 25 students in the new Student Airborne Science Activation (SaSa) program at the NASA Ames Research Center. Students at SaSa are undergraduates from minority-serving institutions, competitively selected across the United States. Over the course of...

"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...

“Be open to change. Build a team that has all different aspects and is interdisciplinary.” An interview with Ella Sciamma-O'Brien.

Dr. Ella Sciamma-O’Brien is a research scientist in laboratory astrophysics and planetary science. As a member of the Astrophysics and Astrochemistry Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center, Dr. Sciamma-O’Brien has been working on the Titan Haze Simulation (THS) experiment, developed on the...

“There were locations that I went to that no human has ever been to before.” An interview with Dr. Mary Beth Wilhelm.

Dr. Mary Beth Wilhelm is a research space scientist at NASA Ames Research Centre. In this interview, Mary Beth talks about lab hopping, visiting five continents in five months, winning the Ames Early Career Researcher Award, and her hopes for...

"With Earth Observations I saw it as a great challenge and opportunity to study our planet." An interview with Vince Ambrosia.

Vince Ambrosia is a Senior Research Scientist at NASA Ames, Adjunct Faculty Member in the Department of Applied Environmental Sciences, College of Science, California State University – Monterey Bay, and also serves as the NASA Applied Science Program, Associate Program...

“Mentoring makes me happy, I never tire of it.” A conversation with Alicia Hoffman.

Alicia Hoffman is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She is studying air quality and how to model the chemistry that impacts our air, using the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model — developed by the Environmental...

"You just go wherever there are interesting patterns." An interview with Dr. Rama Nemani.

Dr. Rama Nemani, Senior Earth Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, works on ecological forecasting. In this interview, we discuss how Rama’s career trajectory moved from farming to supercomputing, NASA Earth Exchange (NEX), the difference between simulation modeling and...

"I was one of those kids who always wanted to be a scientist." An interview with Egle Cekanaviciute.

Dr. Egle Cekanaviciute is a Principal Investigator and Research Scientist in the Radiation Biophysics Laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center. She is also one of the Course Directors for STAR (Spaceflight Technologies, Application and Research), an intensive training course...

"Persistence is necessary to have a career in the sciences." An interview with Laura Iraci.

Dr. Laura Iraci is a research scientist in the Earth Sciences Division at NASA Ames, where she leads a group focusing on air and where human pollution goes. In this interview, we discuss her early interest in high school chemistry...

Examining geomicrobiology in caves and mines, with a side of space exploration and astrobiology. An interview with Penny Boston.

Dr. Penny Boston is a woman of many talents! A notable academic with a background in microbiology and geology, Penny has investigated microbial life in the lab and in the field as a speleologist -- someone who studies cave science....

“It wasn’t a big leap from there to the ocean.” An interview with Dr. Dan Whitt.

Dr. Dan Whitt studies currents and the circulation of nutrients in ocean ecosystems. Dan describes his Ph.D. research on internal waves ‒ oscillations found where the ocean is stratified by density ‒ and compares this effect to an expertly-poured Arnold...

"Dealing with science, it's like having a detective job." An interview with Meloe Kacenelenbogen.

In this interview, Dr. Meloe S. Kacenelenbogen discusses her expertise in ‘aerosols,’ suspended particles in the atmosphere. These small particulates can affect air quality and human health and can also impact the Earth’s radiation balance. We also discuss why she...

“How far you go [in your science career] depends on how big your curiosity is." A conversation with David Moore.

David Moore is a first-year graduate student at UCLA. He is studying tropical cyclones, also known as typhoons or hurricanes, on Earth. In his graduate research work, David is researching how to bridge the gap between planetary atmospheres and meteorology...