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

Dr. Iliana Baums is an Associate Professor of Biology at Pennsylvania State University. She received her Masters Degree from the University of Bremen in Germany and her PhD from the University of Miami. Afterward, Iliana completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Miami and the University of Hawaii before joining the faculty at Penn State. Iliana is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Stephen Curry is a Professor of Structural Biology and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London. He received his PhD from Imperial College London. Stephen is a Fellow of the Society of Biology and was recently awarded the Peter Wildy Prize for Microbiology Education from the Society for General Microbiology. Stephen is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Professor Dame Kay Davies is the Dr. Lee's Professor of Anatomy at Oxford University and a fellow of Hertford College. She is also the Honorary Director of the MRC Functional Genomics Unit, a deputy chairman of the Wellcome Trust, and Executive Editor of the journal Human Molecular Genetics. Kay is also a co-founder of a biotechnology company and is a director of another. She completed her undergraduate studies at Somerville College and served as a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College in Oxford. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Saclay Nuclear Research Center, and went on to serve as a research fellow at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School and John Radcliffe Hospital and then as a faculty member at John Radcliffe Hospital and the University of London before joining the faculty at Oxford. Kay has received many awards and honors during her career, and to name just a few, she was elected as a founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society. She was also named Commander of the Order of the British Empire and then Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Kay is also an Honorary Fellow of Sommerville College, and had the honor of giving the inaugural Rose lecture at Kingston University in 2012 and the Harveian Oration at the Royal College of Physicians in 2013. Kay is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Brian I. Crother is the Catherine and Duane Shafer Endowed Professor of Biological Sciences and Assistant Dean of the College of Science and Technology at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. He earned his B.S from California State University at Dominguez Hills, Ph.D. from the University of Miami (FL), and conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Texas, Austin. He spent a year as environmental consultant before joining the faculty at Southeastern Louisiana University. Brian is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Douglas Weibel is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He received his PhD from Cornell University, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. Doug has received many awards and honors during his career, including the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Pound Research Award, and the Vilas Associate Award all from UW-Madison, as well as the Early Career Life Scientist Award from the American Society for Cell Biology, the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, the Basil O'connor Award from the March of Dimes Foundation, the DuPont Young Professor Award, and a Sloan Research Fellowship. Doug is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Sandra Schmid is the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from Stanford University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cell Biology at Yale University. Sany then accepted a position at the Scripps Research Institute, and advanced in the ranks there. She is Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at the Scripps Research Institute in addition to her appointments at UT Southwestern. Sandy has also recently earned a master’s degree in executive leadership from the University of San Diego School of Business Administration. Sandy has received many awards and honors during her career, including an NIH Merit Award, the Athena Pinnacle Award in Biotechnology from UCSD, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the William C. Rose Award from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, she was the elected President of the American Society for Cell Biology in 2009, was elected as a foreign member of European Molecular Biology Organization, and she received the Senior Career Award from the Women in Cell Biology. Sandy is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Ralph T. Muehleisen is the Principal Building Scientist and Technical Lead of the Building Energy Decision and Technology Research (BEDTR) program in the Decision and Information Sciences Division of Argonne National Laboratory. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Ralph completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Ralph received his PhD in Acoustics at Pennsylvania State University and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Penn State in Applied Research and at the Naval Postgraduate School studying Physics. Afterwards, he served on the faculty at the University of Colorado and then the Illinois Institute of Technology. During this time he was also President and Principal Consultant for Muehleisen Consulting. Ralph is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Michael J. Mueller, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is Professor at the Program in Physical Therapy and Department of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. He also is Division Director of Research for the Program in Physical Therapy and Director of the Applied Biomechanics Laboratory. Michael Received his Masters in Physical Therapy and conducted clinical research and worked as a physical therapist before going back to graduate school. He received his PhD in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis before joining the faculty at Washington University. Michael is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Jelle Atema is a Professor in the Biology Department and Marine Sciences at Boston University and an Adjunct Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan studying Sensory Biology. Jelle has received a number of awards and honors during his career, including being named a Fellow of the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, as well as a a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Jelle is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. James Berger is a Professor in the Department of Biophysics and Biopysical Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received his PhD in Biochemistry and Structural Biology from Harvard University in 1995. Afterwards he was an independent research fellow at the Whitehead Institute of MIT until 1998. James then joined the faculty at UC Berkeley, where he remained for 15 years until coming to Johns Hopkins University in 2013. James has received many awards and honors during his career, including the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, the American Chemical Society Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Schering-Plough Scientific Achievement Award, a Packard Fellows award, and election to both the American Academy of Arts and sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.