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

Dr. Mark Martin is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles and his PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. Mark then completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Diego. Afterward, Mark worked in the biotech industry for several years. He spent some time as a science fiction author before accepting a teaching position at Occidental College in LA where he worked for about 10 years before joining the faculty at the University of Puget Sound. Mark is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Woodward Fischer is an Professor of Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. He received his PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech before joining the faculty there. Woody is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. David Baltrus is an Assistant Professor in The School of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona. He received his PhD in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Oregon, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dave is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Murray Blackmore is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Sciences at Marquette University. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Minnesota. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami, where he remained for two additional years as a Research Assistant Professor before assuming his current position. Murray is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Laurence Packer is a Professor of Biology at York University. He received his PhD in Zoology from the University of Toronto. He completed a postoctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary and then joining the faculty at York University. He leads one of the largest wild bee research labs in the world and looks after an impressively large collection of over 300,000 bees. Laurence is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Christine Floss is a Research Professor in Physics at Washington University in St. Louis. She received her PhD in Geochemistry from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and spent five years working as a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg before joining the faculty at Washington University. Christine is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Richard Hardy is a Professor of Biology and Associate Chair of Teaching at Indiana University, Bloomington. He received his PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis before joining the faculty at Indiana University. Richard has received a number of awards and honors during his career, including the Indiana University Trustees' Teaching Award three times. Richard is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Neo Martinez is an Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and The University of Arizona and Director and Founder of the Pacific Ecoinformatics and Computational Ecology Lab in Berkeley. He is also an Affiliated Researcher of the Energy and Resources group at the University of California Berkeley. Neo received a Masters degree in Oceanography and Limnology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and his Masters and PhD degrees in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley. Afterward, he accepted a National Science Foundation and Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship working as Principal Investigator at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab. He was also a faculty member at San Francisco State University before joining the faculty at The University of Arizona. Neo is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Marla Sokolowski is a University Professor in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology  as well as Canada Research Chair in Genetics and Behavioral Neurology at the University of Toronto. She is also Academic Director of the University of Toronto Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development and Co-Director of the Child & Brain Development Programme of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research where she is the Weston Fellow. She received her PhD in Zoology from the University of Toronto and served on the faculty at York University before joining the faculty at the University of Toronto. Marla has received many awards and honors during her career. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Senior Fellow at Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. She has also received the Genetics Society of Canada’s Award of Excellence, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Award of Excellence from the International Society of Behavior and Neurogenetics. Marla is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Rob Phillips is the Fred and Nancy Morris Professor of Biophysics and Biology at the California Institute of Technology. He received his PhD in Physics in condensed matter physics from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in physics at Sandia Labs in Livermore California and at Cornell University. Rob served on the faculty at Brown University for 7 years before joining the faculty at Caltech. Rob is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.