Roots to STEM Podcast Stephanie Caty

In this episode, we’re hearing from Dr. Gonzalo Giribet, who is a Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Curator of Invertebrates and Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Gonzalo received his bachelor’s degree and his PhD from the University of Barcelona, then did his postdoc at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. While there, his postdoc advisor convinced him to apply for a faculty position at Harvard, which he got, and he has been at Harvard ever since. Gonzalo was an early adopter of the idea of molecular phylogenetics, which he has used to help clarify our understanding of the invertebrate tree of life. 
In this episode, we chat about: 
What a postdoc at a museum is like and the types of research you can do at a museum
What a science museum curator does (and doesn’t do)
Underrated invertebrates, including velvet worms
How studying rare animals has enabled Gonzalo to travel the world
Gonzalo’s vision for the future of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology
Some of the pros and cons of studying non-model organisms
The value of being disciplined with how you use your time
Finding a project you’re really passionate about
Windsurfing! 
Get in touch with Steph:
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Get in touch with the podcast:
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Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.com
Website: rootstostempodcast.com

In today’s episode we’re talking to Dr. Paula Welander, an Associate Professor in the Earth Systems Science Department at Stanford University. Although she is now a tenured professor at Stanford, this certainly wasn’t the plan from the start. Paula’s parents immigrated from Mexico in the hopes of giving their family a better life, and they really encouraged her to go to college and to pursue one of two careers, medicine or law. So Paula went to Occidental College with medicine in mind, however that path shifted when she worked in a microbiology lab and realized that research like that could actually be a career. Paula has been working with microbes more or less ever since (although with a short hiatus that we talk about in the episode). After getting her undergrad at Occidental College, Paula worked for a few years (this is where the non-microbial work comes in) and then got her PhD in microbiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Bill Metcalf. She then did a postdoc at MIT, where she was co-advised by Dianne Newman (who later moved to CalTech) and Roger Summons. After going through three cycles of faculty applications during her postdoc, Paula got her current position at Stanford Earth, where she studies geologically relevant microbes. 
Some of the things we cover in this episode:
How can you use molecular biology and microbiology to understand geology and the earth’s history?
What are archaea?
The two body problem (aka having a partner who is also an academic)
Having kids in grad school
Some pros and cons of taking time off after undergrad
How to come up with good questions
Practicing for faculty interviews 
The best and worst parts of Paula’s PhD
The excitement of adding new knowledge to the world
Get in touch with Paula: 
Twitter
Welander Lab Website
email: welander@stanford.edu
Get in touch with Steph:
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Get in touch with the podcast:
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Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.com
Website: rootstostempodcast.podbean.com
 

In this week’s episode, we’re hearing from Dr. Rebecca Shaw, the Chief Scientist at the World Wildlife Fund. Rebecca received her MA in environmental policy and her PhD in energy and resources from UC Berkeley. After finishing her PhD, Rebecca did a postdoc at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford, and then worked at the Nature Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund before moving to her current role at WWF. 
Some of the things we talk about in this episode include:
Rebecca’s decision to turn down a faculty position and instead pursue a career that enabled her to combine her interests in climate change science and non-profit work 
How PhD training equips you to be successful at all sorts of other careers
What gives Rebecca hope when it comes to climate change (including the wonderful poem Earthrise by Amanda Gorman)
Rebecca’s advice for women in science
Why staying positive has been a key part of what has made Rebecca successful, and how she takes care of herself to be able to stay positive
The importance of constantly improving both your hard skills and your soft skills
Get in touch with Rebecca:
LinkedIn
Twitter
Get in touch with Steph:
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Get in touch with the podcast:
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Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.com
Website: rootstostempodcast.podbean.com
 

In this bonus episode, Steph shares some tips for grad school interviews, including what to do before, during, and after the interviews.

In this episode, we’re talking with Nixon Arauz, who is a PhD Student in Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Nixon’s personal experiences have shown him how important things like housing, education, and local politics are for health and wellbeing and has prompted him to become a passionate advocate for improving social determinants of health through his research. Nixon got his bachelor’s degree from Cornell, and a Master’s degree from Columbia. After this he worked at the Office of Health Equity within the Division of STD Prevention at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. While working there, Nixon realized he wanted to hone his technical skills, and so returned to school to get his PhD, where he is now researching HPV-related cancers and beliefs about the HPV vaccines in Hispanic/Latino populations in the US. 
Some of the topics we discuss in this episode include: 
The nitty-gritty of what a PhD in health policy looks like
Nixon's approach to community-engaged research
How relationships can help foster community resilience 
ORISE Fellowship
The National Academies of Science Mirzayan Fellowship
The value of being able to unlearn things
How to find the silver linings of being told no
Get in touch with Nixon: 
Twitter
Get in touch with Steph:
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Get in touch with the podcast:
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Facebook
Instagram
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.com
Website: rootstostempodcast.com

Dr. Jorge Ramos is the Associate Director for Environmental Education at the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve of Stanford University. Jorge earned a Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Texas at El Paso and a Master of Science degree at the University of Washington. He then completed his PhD at Arizona State University where he studied biogeochemical cycling in wetland ecosystems. After his PhD, Jorge worked for the non-profit Conservation International, where he developed and managed coastal ecosystem conservation projects around the world. Jorge now combines his scientific expertise with his teaching and communication skills in his current job at Jasper Ridge.



Some of the things we talk about in this episode include:



The Ecological Society of America’s SEEDS program (Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity and Sustainability)The difference between mentors and advisorsHow being in academia can bias our idea of what types of jobs are availableWorking as a scientist in a non-profit, including:How to engage communities in conservation workAttending the UN Climate Change Conference The benefits of teaching and learning in outdoor spacesHow frequently checking in with a community that reflects your values can help you figure out what you want to do in lifeThe importance of writing a lotGet in touch with Jorge:



Email: jorge.ramos@stanford.eduTwitterGet in touch with Steph:



TwitterGet in touch with the podcast:



TwitterFacebookInstagramEmail: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.com