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

Dr. David Weiner is Executive Vice President, Director of the Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, and W.W. Smith Charitable Trust Professor in Cancer Research at The Wistar Institute. He is also Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He works to create drugs using the same DNA codes and signals that our bodies use naturally. These drugs are natural compounds that can prevent people from getting sick or help them be healthier. David and his wife enjoy reading and going walking with their dog Ruby.

Dr. Ana Spalding is Assistant Professor of Marine and Coastal Policy and Affiliate Faculty at the Pacific Marine Energy Center at Oregon State University. She is also a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute as well as the Coiba Research Station. As a social scientist who works in marine and coastal policy, Ana focuses on the intersections of people, the environment, and policies. She used to row in college, and she's recently been having fun rowing again in her local rowing club.

Dr. Simon Sponberg is Dunn Family Professor and Assistant Professor in the School of Physics and the School of Biological Sciences, as well as Adjunct Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Simon is interested in understanding how the brain works with muscles to make bodies move. Animals move gracefully in nearly all environments on Earth, and many types of movement can be difficult to perform in robotics and other created systems.

Dr. Kristen Lani Rasmussen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. Research in Kristen’s lab focuses on studying extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, hail storms, and other events that have a big impact on humans and society. She studies these extreme systems in our current climate and how they may change in the future. In addition to spending quality time with her family, Kristen enjoys playing jazz trumpet in local bands.

Dr. Laurel Buxbaum is Associate Director of Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Director of the Cognition and Action Lab, and Research Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. Laurel’s studies how the brain controls perception and action. She studies stroke patients to see where in the brain strokes may cause certain difficulties. Laurel also enjoys reading, going for walks, attending dance fitness classes, hanging out with friends, and listening to her husband’s funk

Dr. Tim Long is Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Macromolecules Innovation Institute at Virginia Tech. His work developing macromolecular structures has applications across many industries, including the development of chemotherapy treatments and electro-active devices important for prosthetics. Tim spends a lot of time at work inside, so he likes to spend his free time outside. There are beautiful mountains in Virginia, and he has fun hiking, mountain biking, and enjoying nature with his family.

Dr. Yolanda Chen is a Gund Fellow in the Gund Institute for Environment and Associate Professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont. She is working to understand the origins of insects as pests in agriculture. She is interested in understanding how insect pests have become so successful, including invasive insect pests like the swede midge that impacts local growers. Yolanda has fun running and exploring the world through food with a local cookbook discussion group.

Dr. Andrew Friedman is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. He is also a Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Andy uses observations of astronomical objects in other galaxies to learn about fundamental physics and quantum mechanics. When he’s not at work, you can find Andy hanging out with his wife and dog, or enjoying good food and good conversation with friends and family.

Dr. Sonia Contera is an Associate Professor of Biological Physics at the University of Oxford Physics Department and a Research Fellow of Green Templeton College. Sonia is interested in biology and the mechanics of biology across space and time scales. She studies the physics that allow biological systems to build nano-scale molecules into cells, organs, tissues, and organisms. Outside science, she enjoys spending time with people she loves, cycling, walking, exploring art, and learning new languages.

Dr. Donovan German is Associate Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. He studies how things move through the gut, what enzymes are secreted, what microbes are present, and what role the microbes play. Donovan focuses on animals with unusual diets, such as fish that eat wood or algae, to determine how animals survive on low quality foods. He also loves sports and music. He played football in college and now enjoys coaching his kids' baseball and soccer teams.

Dr. Mary E. Power is Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley as well as Faculty Manager at the Angelo Coast Range Reserve and Director of the California Biodiversity Center. In her career, she has studied the ecosystems and food webs of four different rivers. Mary loves to listen to and play folk and rock and roll music. She has been learning to play Celtic music on the mandolin as well as rock and roll music from the ‘60s and ‘70s on the guitar.

Dr. Gayle Schueller is the Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President of Sustainability and Product Stewardship at 3M. In her work, Gayle has the opportunity to use science to have an impact on the world through the development of innovative products that span electronics, healthcare, consumer products, and other areas. In her free time, Gayle enjoys biking, food, festivals, and spending time with family. She is also an avid gardener, and she particularly likes growing flowering plants to attract bees

Dr. Jennifer Ross is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Syracuse University. Through her research, Jenny is working to better understand how living things can organize themselves. Jenny and her lab are working to identify simple rules and develop models using physics to explain how biology works. In her free time, Jenny enjoys doing science-related activities with her two kids. She also loves watching TV, listening to podcasts, and reading, particularly when the subject is science fiction.

Dr. John Talley is Co-Founder and CSO of Euclises Pharmaceuticals. He is also Co-Founder, Partner, and VP of Chemistry at Emmyon. John is developing non-opioid treatments for acute and chronic pain and developing a new medicine to be used with immune checkpoint inhibitors to slow or reverse tumor growth in cancer. In his free time, John enjoys cultivating vegetables and flowers in his garden, as well as growing indoor plants. He also likes to travel, go camping with his family, and play with his three cats

Dr. Jim Estes is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Dept of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. He is also author of Serendipity: An Ecologist’s Quest to Understand Nature and a contributing scientist in the documentary film The Serengeti Rules.  Jim studies coastal marine ecosystems, kelp forests, and the kelp forest ecosystems in the North Pacific Ocean. One of his major passions outside of science is fly fishing. He also enjoys hiking, reading, writing, and spending time with friends