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

Dr. Sara Skrabalak is the James H. Rudy Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University. She received her B.A. in Chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis. She went on to receive her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was awarded the T.S. Piper Thesis Research Award for her dissertation research. Next, Sara conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Washington in Seattle before joining the faculty at Indiana University. Sara was the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, the Department of Education Early Career Award, the American Chemical Society Pure Chemistry and Baekeland Awards, and she has also been named a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar, a Sloan Research Fellow, and a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar. She was recently named a Fulbright Fellow in 2017. Sara is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Cullen Buie is an Associate Professor and the Esther and Harold E. Egerton Career Development Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Afterwards, Cullen was awarded a University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research at the University of California-Berkeley. Cullen joined the faculty at MIT in 2010. He has received many awards and honors in his career, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the DARPA Young Faculty Award, the DuPont Young Professor Award, and the NSF CAREER Award. Cullen was also named a Stanford Distinguished Alumni Scholar, and, in 2016, Cullen was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans by The Root. Cullen joins us to give us an inside look into his life and science.

Dr. Sterling Nesbitt is an Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Virginia Tech, as well as a  research associate/affiliate of the American Museum of Natural History, the Vertebrate Paleontology Lab at The University of Texas at Austin, the Virginia Museum of Natural History, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and the National Museum of Natural History. He received his BA in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and went on to complete his MA, MPhil, and PhD in Geosciences at Columbia University. Afterwards, Sterling conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Washington, and the Field Museum before joining the faculty at Virginia Tech where he is today. Sterling is the recipient of the 2016 Virginia Tech College Award for Outreach Excellence from the College of Science. Sterling is here with us today to speak to us about his life and science.

Dr. Mike Blatt is the Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow and Adjuct Professor at Pennsylvania State University. He conducted his undergraduate studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he received his BS with honors in Botany and Biochemistry. Next, Mike was awarded a PhD in Plant Biology from Stanford University while working in the Department of Plant Biology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. During his graduate work, Mike received a Fullbright-Hays Graduate Fellowship to study at the University of Nürnberg. Afterwards, Mike traveled to Yale University Medical School to accept an NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship and then to the University of Cambridge to accept a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship. He has served on the faculty at the University of London and Imperial College London prior to joining the faculty at the University of Glasgow. Mike has received many awards and honors throughout his career, including being named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the James Hutton Institute, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the premier international journal Plant Physiology. Mike joins us to discuss his experiences in life and science.

Dr. Erin E. Carlson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. Erin received her B.A. in chemistry from St. Olaf College and her PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Subsequently, Erin was awarded an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research at The Scripps Research Institute. She served on the faculty at Indiana University before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota where she is today. Among her many awards and honors, Erin is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), a Pew Biomedical Scholarship, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the Indiana University Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, an NSF CAREER Award, and the Cottrell Scholar Award. In addition, she was named a Sloan Research Fellow, an Indiana University Dean's Fellow, and an American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee Rising Star. Erin is with us today to tell us about her experiences in life and science.

Dr. Andrew Pelling is a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in the Departments of Physics and Biology, as well as the Institute for Science, Society, and Policy at the University of Ottawa. Andrew is also the co-founder and CTO of Spiderwort, a company developing open source platforms to enable the widespread and global adoption of biological research in all environments and economic contexts. In addition, Andrew founded pHacktory, which is a a street-level research lab amplifying community ideas through craft, serendipity, and curiosity. Andrew received his B.S. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Afterwards, he conducted postdoctoral research at the London Centre for Nanotechnology at University College London before joining the faculty at the University of Ottawa. Andrew has been the recipient of various awards and honors over the course of his career, including an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement Award, the Province of Ontario Early Researcher Award, and election as a Member of the Global Young Academy. In 2016, Andrew was named a TED Fellow, and just recently he was named a TED Senior Fellow. Andrew is here with us today to talk about his research and tell us all about his experiences in life and science.

Dr. Adam Abate is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California San Francisco. He is also a co-founder of the startup company Mission Bio. Adam received his B.A. in Physics from Harvard College, his M.S. in Physics from the University of California Los Angeles, and his PhD in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania. Afterwards, Adam conducted postdoctoral research in Physics and Engineering at Harvard University, and during this time, his research became the foundation for the sequencing company GnuBIO. Adam is currently a member of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) program that helps launch start-up companies on the UC campuses. He has received a number of awards and honors during his career, including the NSF CAREER Award, the NIH New Innovator Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award. Adam is here with us today to share stories about his life and science.

Dr. Imogen R. Coe is the founding Dean of the Faculty of Science at Ryerson University.  She is also a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology and an affiliate scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Keenan Research Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital. In addition, she is a well-known advocate, speaker, and writer for equity, diversity, and inclusion in STEM. She received her BSc in Cell Biology from the University of Exeter in the UK. She received her MSc and PhD in comparative molecular neuroendocrinology from the University of Victoria in Canada. Afterwards, Imogen conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California San Francisco and was later awarded an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Alberta. She served on the faculty at York University before joining the faculty at Ryerson University. In addition, Imogen is the recipient of Ontario's Premier's Research Excellence Award (now known as the Early Researcher Award). Imogen is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.

Dr. David Coyle is a Forest Health Specialist with the The Southern Regional Extension Forestry (SREF) Forest Heath Program. He received his undergraduate training in Biology from Luther College. After receiving his M.S. in Entomology and Forestry from Iowa State University, David worked as a Biological Science Technician for about four years with the USDA Forest Service. He was awarded his PhD in Entomology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Georgia before accepting his current position. David is here with us today to talk a little about his research and tell us all about his experiences in life and science.

Dr. Molly Peeples is an Aura Assistant Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her B.S. in Physics from MIT and went on to complete her MS and PhD in Astronomy at Ohio State University. Molly was then awarded a Southern California Center for Galaxy Evolution Fellowship during which she worked at UCLA. In 2013, Molly joined the Space Telescope Science Institute as a postdoctoral fellow, and a year later she became a member of the staff and continues to do amazing research there. Molly is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.