Today we’re talking with Dr. Dana Skorupa, whose research interests at the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University, include thermophiles, which are microbes that thrive in extreme environments such as the ever hot and caustic waters of Yellowstone National Park’s Geothermal Geyser Basins. We’ll also focus on Dana’s work getting young scientists involved with hands-on research. She regularly takes undergraduate researchers into Yellowstone to bioprospect for these thermophiles – specifically those that are capable of degrading plastics.