"[Science] lets us imagine things we hadn't thought possible." an interview with Sarah Vines and Robert Allen

Sarah Vines and Robert Allen once drove twenty hours to see a spaceship launch. Now, Sarah and Robert are married, post-doctoral students working in the laboratories of Johns Hopkins University. Sarah researches how magnetic fields form, and what earth’s magnetic...

"It's hard to isolate cause and effect – we have to take nature on its own terms." an interview with Mary Hudson and William Lotko

Mary Hudson and Bill Lotko are both professors at Dartmouth University and researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Both study space physics, with Mary focusing on Van Allen radiation belts, and Bill looking at interactions between the magnetosphere...

“One of the most rewarding parts of my job has been opportunities to mentor people like you” An interview with Linda Geiser and Peter Nelson

Linda Geiser and Peter Nelson tell their own stories and reflect on the impact they’ve had on each other lives. They’re both currently with the US Forest Service but first met when Linda hired Peter after he finished university to...

"You need to get into the storm, install it close enough to the lightning, and then run back to the car." an interview with Tim Lang

Putting up tall PVC pipes with pointy sensors to measure electrical fields in an approaching lightning storm may seem reckless, but it’s all part of the job for Timothy Lang. The NASA research scientist spends a lot of time in...

“How is it that we collect stories [and] create spaces for those stories to be told?” An interview with Michele Koppes and Heidi Roop

Michele Koppes and Heidi Roop met “on an incredible landscape on the edge of the Greenland ice sheet about two years ago.” The conversation that followed made both of them think more closely about the value of science communication and...

"Magnetic fields are used in many of the devices we carry around with us." an interview with Laurie Brown

Laurie Brown, Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, has been a member of AGU for 46 years. She shares her observations on the growth of paleomagnetism at AGU and its importance in helping address climate. She also discusses how...

"There would not be life without geosciences." an interview with Dwayne Brown

How can scientists tell the story of science so that the public listens and understands? Dwayne Brown is the Senior Communication Officer for the Science Directorate at NASA and works with hundreds of scientists to communicate their ideas on television,...

"I got a little periodic table wallet card. So, I really am a card-carrying chemist." an interview with Jack Kaye

Jack Kaye, associate director for research at NASA's Earth Science Division, discuss his origins as a chemist and earth scientist, and how he was recruited to Goddard to be a chemist among meteorologists. "My boss would advertise me as his...

"Points that fall off the curve are either a mistake or the Nobel Prize." an interview with Glenn Orton

Glenn Orton, a senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, discusses his career exploring the outer Solar System that started with the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions, and extended forward to Cassini and more recently Juno. Interested in space...

“The measurements are telling us a critical component of climate change.” an interview with Norman Loeb

Clouds are among the most unpredictable components of climate models. But Norman Loeb is working hard to sort out the shape of cloud patterns in order to improve the accuracy of long-term weather predictions. As far as understanding how all...

“I enjoy knowing that a lot of people do care about [the climate] and they care to learn about it.” an interview with Shelby Hurst

Shelby Hurst grew up in northern Michigan where she spent plenty of time poking at and asking questions about the rocks in her grandparents’ backyard, which eventually led her to a PhD in geochemistry. She discusses the importance of women...

"The Rise of Informatics." an interview with Peter Fox and Sarah Ramdeen

In the mid-2000s, a small group of leaders at AGU, including Peter Fox, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, saw an opportunity to shape or reshape how geoscientists work together under a new cross-cutting discipline. As a result, “Earth and space Science Informatics”...

"Celestial events are always a winner.” an interview with Kristen Erickson

Kristen Erickson, Director of science engagements and partnership, recently helmed NASA’s efforts to involve over 154 million adult Americans with direct participation with the 2017 total eclipse – the largest engagement effort in NASA history. But in her more than...

"Finding New Ways to Build the Paleo Story." an interview with Melanie Perello

There’s a bit of a culture change moving from Ohio to New Hampshire, which Melanie Perello, Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University, did as part of her studies. Would you be surprised that going from either to Tibet to study paleoclimate...

"Working Together to Prepare for the Unknown." an interview with Gari Mayberry

For the last 14 years, Gari Mayberry has put her volcanology background to work as a disaster response coordinator at USAID. Disasters come in many shapes and sizes so that specialty is a start, but often Gari finds herself connecting...

"When something changes your understanding, that's why you go into this field." an interview with Brian Day

Brian Day, of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Virtual Institute, leads a group of scientists in visualization and analysis of spacecraft data. Brian was taught that there’s no water on the moon, there’s no atmosphere on the moon, and the moon...