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

Dr. Jane Kenney-Hunt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Westminster College in Missouri. She received her Ph.D. in Evolution, Ecology, and Population Biology from Washington University in Saint Louis.  She performed postdoctoral research at the University of South Carolina and at Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis. Jane is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Jon Godbout is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center as well as a faculty member of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and the Center for Brain and Spinal Cord Repair. He received his PhD in Population Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana and completed a postdoctoral fellowship there afterwards before joining the faculty ranks at OSU. Jon is joining us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Joan Luby is a Professor of Child Psychiatry and Director and Founder of the Early Emotional Development Program at Washington University in St. Louis. She received her Medical Degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Michigan and completed her Residency in Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. Afterwards, Joan went on to do a Fellowship in Child Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine before coming to St. Louis. Joan has received many awards and honors throughout her career, including the Academic Women’s Network Mentor of the Year Award, the CHADS Coalition for Mental Health Research Award, and the NARSAD Gerald Klerman Award for Outstanding Clinical Research in Depression. Joan is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Josh Sanes is a Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the founding Director for the Center for Brain Science at Harvard University. He received his PhD from the Program in Neurobiology at Harvard University. After graduating he worked for the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress. Josh returned to research, taking a postdoctoral fellowship at University of California, San Francisco. Afterwards, he was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine for over 20 years before accepting a faculty position at Harvard. Josh has received numerous honors and awards during his career. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was also awarded the prestigious Alden Spencer Award of Columbia University which recognizes outstanding research contributions. Josh is joining us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Yehuda Ben-Shahar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his Masters and PhD in Entomology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He then served as a Howard Houghes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Research Associate in Neuroscience at the University at Iowa College of Medicine. Yehuda is with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Niklas Elmqvist is an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University and Director of the Pivot Laboratory. He received his Masters and PhD from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Niklas then accepted a position as a Posdoctoral Researcher at the INRIA Saclay in Pairis. Niklas has received numerous honors and awards during his career, including the NSF Career Award in 2013, Google Research Awards in 2009 and 2010, the Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Teacher Award in 2012, and the Purdue Student Government Best Graduate Mentor award in 2014, the Purdue ECE Chicago Alumni New Faculty in 2010, and two best paper awards in premier venues in his field. Niklas is joining us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Brad Bushman is a Professor of Communication and Psychology at The Ohio State University, where he holds the Margaret Hall and Robert Randal Rinehart Chair of Mass Communication. He is also a professor of Communications Science at the VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Brad received a Masters degree in Secondary Education from Utah State University as well as Masters Degrees in Statistics and Psychology from the University of Missouri in Columbia. He completed his PhD in Psychology from the University of Missouri in Columbia as well. Brad has held faculty positions at Iowa State University and the University of Michigan as well as served as a Visiting Professor at the Warsaw School of Social Psychology in Poland. Brad has also received numerous awards and accolades throughout his career, including in 2013 the Ig Nobel Psychology Prize for research that makes people laugh, then think. He was also awarded the Weber State University Outstanding Psychology Alumni Award in 2013 and recently received the Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Media Psychology and Technology Award in 2014.

Dr. Lisa Monteggia is the Ginny and John Eulich Professor in Autism Spectrum Disorders within the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She received her Masters Degree in Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Afterwards, she spent several years working in the industry world for a pharmaceutical company. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from the Chicago Medical School and went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University before joining the faculty at UT Southwestern. Lisa has received a number of awards for her excellence in research, including recently in 2011 the Rising Star Award from the International Mental Health Research Organization and the Daniel H. Efron Award for outstanding basic or translational research by the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Lisa is with us today to tell us about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Mike Angiletta is a Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University as well as the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs there. He is also a Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Global Institute of Sustainability. Mike received his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a faculty member at Indiana State University before accepting a position at ASU. Mike has received a number of awards and honors throughout his career, including the Marsh Book-of-the-Year Award from the British Ecological Society in 2010 and the Theodore Dreiser Distinguished Research Award from Indiana State University. Mike is with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Ken Olsen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis as well as a Research Associate at the Missouri Botanical Garden. He received his Masters Degree in Botany from the University of Texas at Austin and his PhD in Population and Evolutionary Biology from Washington University in St. Louis. He then went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Genetics at North Carolina State University. Ken is joining us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.