People Behind the Science Podcast - Stories from Scientists about Science, Life, Research, and Science Careers

Dr. Jennifer Graham-Engeland is an Associate Professor in the Biobehavioral Health Department at The Pennsylvania State University. She graduated from Cornell University majoring in Psychology and English and went on to receive her M.A. and Ph.D. in Social and Health Psychology from Stony Brook University. Jennifer then conducted postdoctoral research at The Ohio State University before joining the faculty where she is today at Penn State. She has been awarded the American Psychosomatic Society Scholar Research Award as well as the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society Scholars Award. Jennifer is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Benjamin Zaitchik is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Ben received his undergraduate training in Biology at Harvard University and went on to receive his M.S. in Crop and Soil Sciences from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University. Afterward, Ben conducted postdoctoral research as a Research Associate with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Hydrological Sciences Branch and the University of Maryland. He served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Diplomacy fellow in the U.S. Department of State Office of Global Change before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins. Ben has received the Meritorious Service and Superior Honor Awards from the U.S. State Department, the Peer Award for outstanding Research Associate from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and has been named a PopTech Science Fellow. Ben is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Robert C. Malenka is the Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Pritzker Laboratory, and Deputy Director of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University. He received his Bachelor's degree from Harvard College and his MD and PhD in Neuroscience from the Stanford University School of Medicine. Rob conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco and completed his residency in Psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He served on the Faculty at the University of California, San Francisco for 10 years before joining the faculty at Stanford where he is today. Rob is a recipient of the Medical Research Award in Neuropsychiatry from the Pasarow Foundation, the Julius Axelrod Mentorship Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and the NARSAD Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Cognitive Neuroscience Research. In addition, Rob is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Rob is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Jan Westpheling is a Professor of Genetics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia. She received her B.S. degree in Microbiology from Purdue University. Jan worked as a  Research Technician at Eli Lilly before going back to graduate school to earn her Ph.D. in Genetics from the John Innes Institute. She worked for a year for Biogen in Geneva, conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University, and served on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School before joining the faculty at the University of Georgia where she is today. Jan is a two-time recipient of the Creative Research Medal from the University of Georgia, and she served as a Member of the National Research Council Committee on the Development and Acquisition of Medical Countermeasures against Biological Warfare Agents in 2005. Jan is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. C. David Remy is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a Diploma in Engineering Cybernetics from the University of Stuttgart, and his Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. David is a recent recipient of a 2015 NSF CAREER Award. He is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Maureen Murphy is a Professor and Program Leader in the Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program of the Wistar Institute Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She is also the Associate Vice president for Faculty Affairs and Associate Director For Education and Career Development there. Maureen received her B.S. in biochemistry from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After graduate school, she completed postdoctoral research at Princeton University. Maureen served on the faculty at the Fox Chase Cancer Center before accepting her current position at the Wistar Institute. Maureen is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. David Pizarro is an Associate Professor in Psychology at Cornell University and Chief Science Officer at BeWorks which applies scientific thinking to marketing and operational challenges in business. He also hosts the Very Bad Wizards podcast that explores human morality. David received his B.S. From Pacific Union college and his M.S., M.Phil, and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Yale University. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, Irvine before joining the faculty at Cornell University where he is today. David is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society in Behavioral and Brain Sciences and served as the Nannerl Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor at UNC, Chapel Hill and Duke University last spring. David is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Wakenda Tyler is an Associate Professor in Orthopaedic Oncology and Metabolic Bone Disease and Adult Reconstruction at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She was awarded her M.D. And M.P.H. from John Hopkins University and completed residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Wakenda then completed a fellowship in musculoskeletal oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center before joining the faculty at the University of Rochester where she is today. Wakenda is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Rupal Patel is a Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders as well as the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University. She is also Director of the Communication Analysis and Design Laboratory and a Co-Founder and Core Faculty member of the interdisciplinary doctoral program in Personal Health Informatics there. She received her B.Sc. in Neuropsychology from the University of Calgary and her M.H.Sc. and Ph.D. in Speech Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. Afterwards, Rupal completed postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a faculty member at Columbia University before joining the faculty at Northeastern University where she is today. Rupal is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Stuart Firestein is a Professor and Chair in the Department Biological Sciences at Columbia University. He received his B.S. Degree in Biology from San Francisco State University and his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California, Berkeley. Afterward, Stuart completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University. He has received the Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award for scholarship and teaching as well as being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an Alfred Sloan Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. Stuart is also an advisor for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's program for the Public Understanding of Science and the author of the book Ignorance: How it Drives Science and the upcoming book Failure: Why Science is So Successful that will be released in October 2015. Stuart is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.