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

Dr. Birgit Kaufmann is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at Purdue University. Her visiting appointments include the Physics Department of Princeton University. She received her Masters and PhD from Bonn University in Germany and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Southern California and at Bonn University. She also has served as a visiting faculty member at Oklahoma State University and the University of Connecticut before joining the faculty at Purdue. Birgit has been honored with awards for excellence in both research and teaching, including a National Science Foundation Career Award, she is a recipient of the Simons Fellowship in Theoretical Physics as well as the Teaching for Tomorrow Award and the Ruth and Joel Spira Teaching Award both from Purdue University. Birgit is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Julian Meeks is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He received his PhD in Neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis and completed a postdoctoral fellowship afterwards at Washington University as well before accepting a faculty position at UT Southwestern. Julian is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. John Harte holds a joint pro­fes­sor­ship in the Energy and Resources Group and the Ecosys­tem Sci­ences Divi­sion of the Col­lege of Nat­ural Resources at the University of California at Berkeley. He received his PhD in Theoretical Physics at the University of Wisconsin. He completed a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at CERN in Geneva and a Post­doc­toral Fel­lowship at the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia. He served on the faculty at Yale University before accepting a position at UC Berkeley. John has received many awards and honors during his career, including elected fellowship to the Amer­i­can Phys­i­cal Soci­ety and the California Academy of Sciences, a Pew Schol­ars Prize in Con­ser­va­tion and the Envi­ron­ment, a Guggen­heim Fel­low­ship, Phi Beta Kappa and University of Colorado Dis­tin­guished Lec­tureships, the Leo Szi­lard prize from the Amer­i­can Phys­i­cal Soci­ety, the UC Berke­ley Grad­u­ate Men­tor­ship Award, a Miller Pro­fes­sor­ship, and a George Polk award in investigative journalism. John is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Gautam Dantas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology & Immunology, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology, at Washington University School of Medicine. at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. He received his PhD from the University of Washington and afterwards completed a research fellowship in Genetics at Harvard Medical School before joining the faculty at Washington University. Gautam is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Shirley Sahrmann is a retired Physical Therapist and Professor emeritis of Physical Therapy, Cell Biology and Physiology, and also of Neurology at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. She received her Bachelors degree in Physical therapy and her Masters and PhD in Neurobiology from Washington University in St. Louis. Shirley is the author of Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, which is a great resource for clinicians. Shirley has also received many awards and honors during her career. She was named the Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association and received the Association's John H.P. Maley Lecture and Mary McMillan Award, the highest honor of the association, Marion Williams Research Award, the Lucy Blair Service Award, the Kendall Practice award, and the Bowling-Erhard Orthopedic Clinical Practice Award from the Orthopaedic Section of the APTA. Dr. Sahrmann has also been honored with the Washington University's Distinguished Faculty Award, the School of Medicine’s Excellence in Clinical Practice Award, as well as an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Indianapolis. Shirley is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Brian Allan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology and School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his PhD in Evolution, Ecology, and Population Biology from Washington University in St. Louis and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Tyson Research Center at Washington University before joining the faculty at the University of Illinois. Brian is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Louis Muglia is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati, as well as the Director for the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth and the Co-Director of the Perinatal Institute Cincinnati childrens hospital. He received his PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Chicago and his MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Lou completed his Residency in Pediatrics and a Fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology at Children’s Hospital in Boston. He served as an instructor at the Children’s Hospital in Boston and at Harvard Medical School, before accepting a faculty position at Washington University in St. Louis where he worked for over 10 years. Lou spent a few years as a Professor at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center before joining the faculty at the University of Cincinnati. Lou has received many awards and honors during his career, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Development Award in the Biomedical Sciences, the Society of Pediatric Research Young Investigator Award, and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians. Lou has also been elected as a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Lou is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Clifford Beall is a Research Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University. He received his Bachelor's in Biology from the California Institute of Technology and his PhD in Biological Chemistry from Harvard University. Cliff later received a Masters in Intelligent Systems from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. Cliff is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Stephen Blake is the coordinator of The Galapagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Programme (www.gianttortoise.org). He currently works for the St. Louis Zoo and is an adjunct scientist with the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, the University of St. Louis in Missouri, and the State University of New York, and is also a visiting scientist with Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his MSc PhD from the University of Edinburgh. Before starting his work in the Galapagos, Stephen worked on forest elephant conservation for the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Congo Basin for about 15 years, primarily on forest elephant ecology and conservation. Stephen is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Julie Kauer is a Professor of Medical Science and Professor of Neuroscience at Brown University. She received her PhD from Yale University completed a postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California San Francisco and at Stanford University. Prior to coming to Brown University, Julie served on the faculty at Duke University School of Medicine. Julie has received many honors during her career, including being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Julie is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.