People Behind The Science Podcast - Stories From Scientists About Science, Life, Research, And Science Careers

Dr. Benjamin Halpern is a Professor in the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California Santa Barbara and Chair in Marine Conservation at Imperial College London. He also serves as the Director of the Center for Marine Assessment and Planning (CMAP) at UC Santa Barbara and as a Research Associate at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Ben received his PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara. Afterwards, he held a joint postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and the Smith Fellowship Program sponsored by The Nature Conservancy. He then worked as a Research Biologist at the Marine Science Institute and was a Center Associate of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis before accepting his current positions. Ben is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Dustin S. Siegel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Southeast Missouri State University. He received his Masters in Biology from Southeastern Louisiana University and his PhD in Biology from Saint Louis University. Dustin is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Patrick Hart is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Biology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. He received his Ph.D. in Zoology (Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and joined the faculty of the University of Hawaii in 2005. Patrick is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Laura Burkle is an Assistant Professor of Ecology at Montana State University. She received her PhD in Biology from Dartmouth College. Laura then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis before joining the faculty at Montana State. Laura is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Scott Fruin is Assistant Professor in Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine. Scott worked as a Mechanical Engineer at Bell Labs for a few years before earning his Bachelors and Masters degrees at the University of Minnesota. He also spent a year traveling the world before working as a Consulting Environmental Engineer before returning to the academic world to get his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also worked for the government on the Air Resources Board for 7 years. Scott is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Peter Wilf is a Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. After graduating college from the University of Pennsylvania, Peter spent a few years teaching math and science in a middle school and then spent some time as a professional performing musician. He then entered the academic research world, receiving his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently completing a postdoctoral fellowship with the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Peter also served as a Michigan Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan before joining the faculty at Penn State. Peter is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Cameron Thrash is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University. After completing his undergraduate studies at UC San Diego, Cameron worked as a technician at the Scripps Research Institute. He then started graduate school, receiving his PhD in Microbiology from UC Berkeley, followed by postdoctoral training at Oregon State University. Cameron is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Jack Horner is the Regents Professor of Paleontology and Curator of Paleontology of the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University. Jack is known for making many groundbreaking discoveries in paleontology, including the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, the first evidence of dinosaur colonial nesting, the first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs, and the first dinosaur embryos. He has received many awards and accolades during his career, including the MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant”, and honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Montana and Pennsylvania State University. Jack also has served as the technical adviser for all of the Jurassic Park movies and is the model for movie's lead character, Dr Alan Grant. Jack is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Mike Barlow is a Professor and Head of Astrophysics at University College London. He received his PhD in astrophysics from the University of Sussex. Afterwards, he completed a European Space Research Organisation and NASA fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley and also a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado. Mike worked as a Staff Scientist Anglo-Australian Observatory before coming to University College London. Mike is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Ingrid Parker is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Jean H. Langenheim Endowed Chair in Plant Ecology and Evolution at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is also a Research Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. After working as an environmental educator, Ingrid completed her PhD in Botany from the University of Washington. She served as a Miller postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley before joining the faculty at UC Santa Cruz. She has received many awards and honors during her career, including being named a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. Ingrid is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Jennifer White is an Associate Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Kentucky. She received her PhD in Ecology evolution and behavior from the University of Minnesota. Afterwards, Jen completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona. Jen is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Jacob Israelachvili is a Professor in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his PhD in Experimental Physics from the University of Cambridge. Afterwards he completed postdoctoral training and conducted research at Cambridge, the University of Stockholm, and Australian National University. After spending over a decade in Australia, Jacob joined the faculty at UCSB where he remains today. In addition to his academic appointments, Jacob has served as a consultant for chemical and pharmaceutical companies and is President of a company called SurForce LLC that manufactures and sells the Surface Force Apparatus that he pioneered in his graduate days. Jacob has received a number of honors during his career, including election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Engineering, a member of the US National A

Dr. Donna Nelson is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma. She received her PhD from the University of Texas, Austin and completed her postdoctoral training at Purdue University before joining the faculty at the University of Oklahoma. Donna has received many awards and accolades during her career, including the Oklahoma Chemist Award, the American Chemical Society Stan Israel Award for Diversifying the Chemical Sciences, the American Chemical Society Ann Nalley Volunteerism Award, the NSF ADVANCE Leadership Award, the National Organization of Women Woman of Courage Award, and she was inducted to the Minority Health Professions Foundation Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Higher Education hall of Fame. She was also been awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship as well as the Ford Fellowship, and has been named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Donna also served as the science advisor for t

Dr. Kurt Thoroughman is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Biomedical Engineering as well as Director of Undergraduate Studies of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis. He is also the creator of an innovative online learning environment called Engineering Virtual Studio. Kurt received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brandeis University before joining the faculty at Washington University. Kurt is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Cary Savage is the Director of the Center for Health Behavior Neuroscience as well as the John H. Wineinger Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He received his PhD in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University. He completed an internship in clinical psychology and postdoctoral fellowships in neuropsychology and functional neuroimaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School. He remained on the faculty of MGH and served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and as the Director of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH. Dr. Savage moved to Kansas City in 2003 to serve as Director of Functional MRI in the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center and as a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at KUMC. He was recently named Director of the Center for Health Behavior Neuroscience at KUMC and the John H. Wineinger Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Scie

Dr. Denise Montell is the Duggan Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University, and afterwards completed an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institute of Science. She served as a faculty member at the Carnegie Institute and Johns Hopkins University before joining the faculty at UC Santa Barbara. Denise is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Yu-Shang Lee is an Assistant Staff Scientist in the Department of Neurosciences at the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic. He received his PhD from UC Irvine and did a postdoc at UC Irvine before accepting a position at the Cleveland Clinic. Yu-Shang is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Allison Miller is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Saint Louis University as well as a Research Associate at the Missouri Botanical Garden. She received her Masters Degree in Botany from Colorado State University and her PhD in Evolution, Ecology, and Population Biology from Washington University in St. Louis. She then accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Colorado Museum. Allison is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Philip Motta is a Professor of Biology at the University of South Florida. He received his PhD from the University of Hawaii in Zoology. He served as an instructor at the University British Columbia and faculty of the University of Montana and the University of the Virgin Islands before coming to USF. Professor Motta's research has been featured in National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and The Daily Planet in Canada. Professor Motta is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Donald Price is a Professor in Biology and the Director of the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) Graduate Program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. He completed his B.S. in Biology at the University of Minisota, received his M.S. from Illinois State University in Biology, and was awarded his PhD in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After graduation he was a National Institutes of Health post-doctoral research trainee at the University of Tennessee and a National Science Foundation post-doctoral research associate at the University of Oregon in genetic mechanisms of evolution before joining the faculty at the University of Hawaii. Donald is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.