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

Dr. Steven Churchill is a and past chair of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University. He also holds a secondary appointment as an Honorary Reader in the Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa). He received his B.S. from Virginia Tech and Masters and PhD from the University of New Mexico. Afterwards, Steve served as a Teaching Associate and Visiting Professor at the University of New Mexico before joining the faculty at Duke University in 1995. He has also worked as an Associate at the Bernard Price Institute of Palaeontology at the University of Wits in South Africa. Steve is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Jennifer F. Biddle is an Assistant Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of Delaware. She received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Pennsylvania State University. Jen then went on to complete postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State and in the Department of Marine Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before joining the faculty at University of Delaware. Jen is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Katrina Steiling is a physician-scientist and Assistant Professor of Medicine and Bioinformatics in the Section of Computational Biomedicine at Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her Doctorate of Medicine at Boston University Medical School, and her Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at Boston University Medical Center followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship with The Pulmonary Center. Concurrent with her clinical fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Boston University Medical Center, Katie completed a Masters of Science in Bioinformatics through the Boston University College of Engineering. Katie is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Alexandra Harmon-Threatt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and completed an NSF postdoctoral Fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Alex is today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Irving R. Epstein is the Henry F. Fischbach Professor of Chemistry and a member of the Volen Center for Complex Systems at Brandeis University, as well as a Professor of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received his Masters degree in Chemistry and his PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard University. Irving then completed a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University before joining the faculty at Brandeis. Irving has received a number of honors and awards during his career, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Grass Fellowship of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. Irving is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Emily Cross is a Senior Lecturer of cognitive neuroscience and a dancer who shares a dual appointment at the School of Psychology at Bangor University in North Wales and the Department of Social and Cultural Psychology and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She studied psychology and dance as an undergraduate at Pomona College, and went on to complete a MSc in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand as a Fulbright fellow. She returned to the USA to complete a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth College, and then moved on to postdoctoral positions at the University of Nottingham in the UK and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. Emily is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Nan Arens is an Associate Professor of Geosciences at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York. She received her Masters degree in Geology from Pennsylvania State University as well as a Masters degree in Biology from Harvard University. Nan then went on to complete her PhD in Biology at Harvard. She served as a faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley and Curator of Fossil Plants at the University of California Museum of Paleontology before joining the faculty at Hobart and William Smith. Nan is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Steve Ormerod is a Professor in Ecology in the Cardiff School of Biosciences at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. He is also Chair of Council of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Chair of the Science Development Group of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Vice-Chair of the Welsh Water Environment Advisory Panel, and Co-Chair of the Cardiff Water Research Consortium. Steve received his PhD in River Ecology from Cardiff University. He has been recognized with many awards and honors, including being an elected Fellow of the Society of Biology, the Learned Society of Wales, and the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, as well as a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Steve has also received the Ralph Brown Expedition Award from the Royal Geographical Society, the Past-President’s Medal of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, and the Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation from the Zoological Society of London. Steve is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Ralph Adolphs is the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology. He received his PhD in Neurobiology from Caltech and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Iowa. Ralph is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. David Klahr is the Walter van Dyke Bingham Professor of Cognitive Development and Education Sciences in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the Training Director of the Program in Interdisciplinary Education Research and is on the Executive Committee and is the Education Director for the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. After completing his undergraduate at MIT, he worked for a few years before returning to graduate school, receiving his Masters Degree from the Carnegie Institute of Technology and his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Klahr served briefly on the faculty of the University of Chicago, before joining the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University where he remains today. David has received many awards and honors during his career. He is a member of the National Academy of Education, an Inaugural Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, a Fellow of both the Developmental and Experimental Divisions of the American Psychological Association, and also a Founding Fellow of the American Psychological Society. David is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.