People Behind The Science Podcast - Stories From Scientists About Science, Life, Research, And Science Careers

Dr. Ohara Augusto is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of São Paulo. In addition, she is the Director of a network studying the redox process in biomedicine. She completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry and her PhD in Biochemistry at the University of São Paulo. Afterwards, Ohara conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley and at the University of California, San Francisco before returning to the University of São Paulo to join the faculty. She has received many awards and honors for her work, including being named a Fellow of the Oxygen Society, as well as a Member of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo, the World Academy of Sciences, and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Ohara is also the recipient of the Silver Medal for Biology and Medicine from the International Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Society and has been named Commander of the Order of Scientific Merit by the Presidency of the Republi

Dr. Antoine van Oijen is a Distinguished Professor and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow in the School of Chemistry at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Antoine received his MSc and PhD in Physics from Leiden University in the Netherlands, where his graduate work was recognized with the C.J. Kok prize for best doctoral thesis. Afterwards, he conducted postdoctoral research in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Antoine served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Groningen University in the Netherlands before his recent move to the University of Wollongong where he is today. Antoine has received a wide array of honors and awards for his research, including the Armenise-Harvard Junior Faculty Award, a Searle Scholarship, a NSF CAREER Award, a Vici Award from the Dutch Science Foundation, the Dutch Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Award for the most promising young scientist, and the prestigious Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship. Antoine is

Dr. Erin Conwell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Coordinator for the PhD program in Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience at North Dakota State University. She received her undergraduate degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT and her PhD in Cognitive and Linguistic Science from Brown University. Her dissertation research received the Peter W. Jusczyk Award. Afterward, Erin conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Erin is with us today to tell us about some of her experiences in life and science.

Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum is the Malcolm Gillis University Professor of Bioengineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. She is also Director of the award-winning Rice 360 Institute for Global Health and founder of Beyond Traditional Borders Program at Rice University. Rebecca received her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and went on to receive her M.S. in Physics and PhD in Medical Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She served as a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin, where she was the Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and a Distinguished Teaching Professor. Rebecca has received many awards and honors during her career, including very recently being named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Some of her other recent awards include the Pierre Galletti Award (the highest honor from The American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineering), the Lemelson-MIT Award for Glob

Dr. Christopher Castro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at the University of Arizona. He received his B.S. degree in Meteorology, with the highest distinction, from Pennsylvania State University and went on to be awarded a M.S. and PhD in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University. Christopher conducted postdoctoral research at Colorado State University before joining the faculty at the University of Arizona in 2006. Christopher is here with us today to talk a little about his research and tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Gemma Reguera is an Associate Professor in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Oviedo in Spain and received her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Afterward, Gemma conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst before joining the faculty at MSU where she is today. Gemma is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Tamara Bogdanović is an Assistant Professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics, as well as a member of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics . She received her B.Sc. in Astrophysics from the University of Belgrade in Serbia and her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Pennsylvania State University. Tamara conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland, where she received a NASA sponsored Einstein Postdoctoral Fellowship as well as an Astronomy Prize Theory Postdoctoral Fellowship. She has also been named an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, a Cottrell Scholar, and a Cullen-Peck Fellow in recognition of her research and teaching. Tamara is with us today to share stories from her life and science.

Dr. Stacey Harmer is a Professor of Plant Biology in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis. She received her BA in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and was awarded her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco. Afterwards, Stacey conducted postdoctoral research at the Scripps Research Institute in La Joya before joining the faculty at UC, Davis where she has been since 2002. She is the recipient of the American Society of Photobiology’s New Investigator Award and was selected as a Chancellor’s Fellow at UC Davis. Stacey is with us today to share her exciting experiences in life and science.

Dr. Shannon Manning is a Michigan State University (MSU) Foundation Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She earned her B.S. in biology from the University of Michigan, her M.P.H. in Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology, and her Ph.D. in Molecular Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. Afterwards, Shannon was awarded an Emerging Infectious Disease Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Shannon is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Christopher Cederroth is an Assistant Professor within the laboratory of Experimental Audiology working on tinnitus within the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. He received his PhD from the University of Geneva, Switzerland for which he was awarded the Denber-Pinard Prize from the University of Geneva. During that time, he also contributed to the launch of the start-up company Amazentis S.A. Before joining the faculty at the Karonlinska Institute, Chris was awarded a Swiss National Foundation Advanced Fellowship for his postdoctoral work conducted at Rockefeller University, as well as the Wenner Gren Foundation and Nicholson Postdoctoral Fellowship to support his research efforts at the Karolinska Institute. Chris is here with us today to talk a little about his research and tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Adam Summers is a Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences and Department of Biology at the University of Washington, and he conducts research in his lab within the Friday Harbor Laboratories there. He completed his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and engineering at Swarthmore College, and afterwards worked as a SCUBA instructor in Australia. Adam next decided to pursue graduate school, receiving his master’s degree in Biology from New York University and his PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Massachusetts. He received a Miller Research Postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research at the University of California, Berkeley and went on to serve as a faculty member at UC, Irvine before joining the faculty at the University of Washington. Adam has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition, he was awarded the Bartholmew Prize for physiology research from the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology, the UC,

Dr. Alicia Kowaltowski is a Professor of Biochemistry at the Chemistry Institute at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. She was awarded her PhD in Medical Sciences from The State University of Campinas in Brazil, and she conducted postdoctoral research at the Oregon Graduate Institute (now known as Oregon Health and Sciences University). She is a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow (2006) and recipient of the CAPES-Elsevier Award (2014). Alicia is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Melik Demirel is a Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at The Pennsylvania State University. He received is B.S. and M.S. in Engineering from Boğaziçi University in Turkey and was awarded his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Afterwards, Melik conducted postdoctoral research at Los Alamos National Laboratory and was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute in Gottingen, Germany. He accepted a faculty position at Penn State in 2003. Melik was a recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research within the Department of Defense, was selected as a Wyss Institute Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, and was awarded the Outstanding Research Award from Penn State, among other honors during his career. In this episode, he tells us about his experiences in life and science.

Dr. Sapna Sharma is an Associate Professor in Biology at York University. She received her PhD in Ecology and evolution from the University of Toronto and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Montreal and the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She served on the faculty at Loyola before joining the faculty at York where she is today. Sapna is also founder of a science outreach program at York University for refugee children called SEEDS. She is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. David Stern is the President of the Boyce Thompson Institute and Adjunct Professor in the Plant Biology Section at Cornell University. He conducted his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, received his Master’s degree in Biochemistry from Cambridge University, and was awarded his PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. Afterward, David conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley before accepting a position at the Boyce Thompson Institute where he is today. David has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science as well as Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists for his distinguished and long-term contributions to plant biology. David is here with us today to talk a little about his research and tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Haley Oliver is an Associate Professor of Food Science at Purdue University, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Texas Tech University. She received her B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Biology from the University of Wyoming, and she was awarded her PhD in Food Science from Cornell University. Next, Haley received a postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research in food science at Cornell University. Haley is the recipient of the New Teacher Award and the National Early Career Teaching Award from the United States Department of Agriculture, as well as the Outstanding Academic Counseling and Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Awards from Purdue University. She is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Suzana Herculano-Houzel is a Professor of Psychology and Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University. She received her B.S. in Biology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and completed her M.S. in Neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University. She was awarded her PhD in Neuroscience from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, and conducted part of her graduate work at the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research. Suzana served on the faculty of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro before joining the faculty at Vanderbilt where she is today. She is the recipient of the Scholar Award in Understanding Human Cognition from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, as well as the José Reis Prize of Science Communication. In addition, Suzana has authored seven books for the general public on neuroscience, including her recently published book The Human Advantage: A New Understanding of How Our Brain Became Remarkable. She has written and presented the TV series Neurológica, has contribut

Dr. Madhur Anand is a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph. She received her BSc and PhD from Western University and went on to conduct postdoctoral research at the University of Trieste, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Utrecht University, and the University of New Mexico. Madhur served on the faculty at Laurentian University before accepting a position at the University of Guelph where she is today. Madder is the recipient of many awards and honors, including Premier’s Research Excellence Award, two Canada Research Chairs, Western University’s Young Alumni Award of Merit, the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce Female Professional of the Year Award, and she was named a Young Scientist of the World Economic Forum. In addition to the accolades she has received for her science, Madhur is also an accomplished poet. Her first book of poems “A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes” was published in 2015 and nominated for a Trillium Book award for poetry in 2016. Madhur is with

Dr. Don Bryant is the Ernest C. Pollard Professor in Biotechnology and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The Pennsylvania State University. Don completed his undergraduate training in Chemistry and Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received his PhD in Molecular biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was awarded an NSF-CNRS Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research at the Institut Pasteur in France, as well as a DOE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Cornell University, before joining the faculty at Penn State. During his career, Don has received many awards and honors. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, an elected Member of the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Microbiology, as well as a Member of the Board of Directors for the Rebeiz Foundation for Basic Research. Don is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science

Dr. Gail Ashley is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University. She is Undergraduate Program Director and Director of the Quaternary Studies Graduate Certificate Program. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geology from the University of Massachusetts and completed her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. After receiving her Ph.D., Gail accepted a faculty position at Rutgers, and she has been a faculty member there for 39 years. Gail has received many awards and honors during her career including the Sedimentary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America’s Laurence L. Sloss award for her lifetime achievements in sedimentary geology, as well as an Outstanding teaching award from the Association of Women Geoscientists. She has also served as President of the Society for Sedimentary Geologists, President of the Geological Society of America, President of the Society of Economic and Petroleum Mineralogists, and President of the America