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

Dr. Katrina Steiling is a physician-scientist and Assistant Professor of Medicine and Bioinformatics in the Section of Computational Biomedicine at Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her Doctorate of Medicine at Boston University Medical School, and her Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at Boston University Medical Center followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship with The Pulmonary Center. Concurrent with her clinical fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Boston University Medical Center, Katie completed a Masters of Science in Bioinformatics through the Boston University College of Engineering. Katie is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Alexandra Harmon-Threatt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and completed an NSF postdoctoral Fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Alex is today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Irving R. Epstein is the Henry F. Fischbach Professor of Chemistry and a member of the Volen Center for Complex Systems at Brandeis University, as well as a Professor of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received his Masters degree in Chemistry and his PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard University. Irving then completed a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University before joining the faculty at Brandeis. Irving has received a number of honors and awards during his career, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Grass Fellowship of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. Irving is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Emily Cross is a Senior Lecturer of cognitive neuroscience and a dancer who shares a dual appointment at the School of Psychology at Bangor University in North Wales and the Department of Social and Cultural Psychology and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She studied psychology and dance as an undergraduate at Pomona College, and went on to complete a MSc in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand as a Fulbright fellow. She returned to the USA to complete a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth College, and then moved on to postdoctoral positions at the University of Nottingham in the UK and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. Emily is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Nan Arens is an Associate Professor of Geosciences at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York. She received her Masters degree in Geology from Pennsylvania State University as well as a Masters degree in Biology from Harvard University. Nan then went on to complete her PhD in Biology at Harvard. She served as a faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley and Curator of Fossil Plants at the University of California Museum of Paleontology before joining the faculty at Hobart and William Smith. Nan is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Steve Ormerod is a Professor in Ecology in the Cardiff School of Biosciences at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. He is also Chair of Council of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Chair of the Science Development Group of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Vice-Chair of the Welsh Water Environment Advisory Panel, and Co-Chair of the Cardiff Water Research Consortium. Steve received his PhD in River Ecology from Cardiff University. He has been recognized with many awards and honors, including being an elected Fellow of the Society of Biology, the Learned Society of Wales, and the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, as well as a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Steve has also received the Ralph Brown Expedition Award from the Royal Geographical Society, the Past-President’s Medal of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, and the Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation from the Zoological Society of London. Steve is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Ralph Adolphs is the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology. He received his PhD in Neurobiology from Caltech and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Iowa. Ralph is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. David Klahr is the Walter van Dyke Bingham Professor of Cognitive Development and Education Sciences in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the Training Director of the Program in Interdisciplinary Education Research and is on the Executive Committee and is the Education Director for the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. After completing his undergraduate at MIT, he worked for a few years before returning to graduate school, receiving his Masters Degree from the Carnegie Institute of Technology and his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Klahr served briefly on the faculty of the University of Chicago, before joining the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University where he remains today. David has received many awards and honors during his career. He is a member of the National Academy of Education, an Inaugural Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, a Fellow of both the Developmental and Experimental Divisions of the American Psychological Association, and also a Founding Fellow of the American Psychological Society. David is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Michael Snyder is the Stanford Ascherman Professor and Chair of the Department of Genetics at Stanford University, as well as the Director of the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine. Mike is also a co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including Protometrix (now part of Life Technologies), Affomix (now part of Illumina), Excelix, and Personalis, and he presently serves on the board of a number of companies. He received his PhD from the California Institute of Technology and completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University. He served on the faculty at Yale University for over 20 years before joining the faculty at Stanford. Mike has received many awards and honors during his career, including the Burroughs Wellcome Scholar Award, the Connecticut Medal of Science, and the Pioneer Award from the Human Proteome Organization. Mike is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Ray Arvidson is a James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Director of the Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing Laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis. He is also the Deputy Principal Investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission as well as a member of the Science team of Curiosity Rover Mission of 2012. He received his Masters and PhD from Brown University and joined the faculty at Washington University afterwards. He has received many awards and honors in his career, including three NASA Public Service Medals, a Washington University Distinguished Faculty Award, Washington University Advisor of the Year Award, the Missouri Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Student Union Professor of the Year Award, the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award, the Arthur Holly Compton Award for Faculty Achievement, the Whipple Award from the American Geophysical union, and a number of NASA citations and awards from Washington University in Saint Louis. In addition, Ray was recently inducted into Williamstown High School Hall of Fame. He is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union. Ray is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.