Floyd Shockley started off his undergraduate career as a pre-med student with every intention of going to medical school. Late into his degree, he took a few courses in entomology and was immediately hooked. He went on to earn a master’s in insect-plant interactions and host plant resistance, as well as a doctoral degree in…

Although she’s only recently started doing digital artwork, Christi Cummings has loved art since she was a little kid, especially painting, watercolor and fine detail pencil work. Over the summer, she interned with a NASA-funded program for beginning engineers at Arizona State University. The internship landed her job with the program, working with finances and…

Derek Hoffman, originally from Buffalo, New York, is a researcher in the University of Arizona Department of Geosciences. He has earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geology. His research focuses on the evolution of the Carpathian Mountains in eastern Europe (tectonically speaking), how the mineral titanite is formed, and how chemicals found in…

Tyler Meng is a graduate student in the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. His research focuses on debris covered glaciers, and how they can be buried by different types of rockfall. The hope for this data is to be able to compare it with satellite data from Mars, where scientists have been observing…

Zoe Zeszut always knew that her major would be in geology, planetary science or something similar. Her passion for exploring our world and the universe beyond led her to where she is now, as an analyst for the OSIRIS-REx mission. Likewise, Zeszut has always been interested in art. Submitting her some of her work, titled…

Leslie Hale started studying science early in her education. She attended a magnet high school for science and engineering and in college, she participated in honors program of her state university. In 1989, she graduated with a BS in geology. Since then, Hale has traded research for collections management. She now works as collection manager…

Steve Kortenkamp is a professor in the University of Arizona Department of Planetary Science. Although some of his research focuses on orbital dynamics of asteroids and comets, he’s also researching science education for people with disabilities. As a part of that research, Kortenkamp has helped create hundreds of 3D printed models of structures related to…

As a kid, Rose Gulledge loved the beach—not to go in, but to collect critters. In college, Gulledge took a hodgepodge of courses in the sphere of biology. Her master’s degree is in marine, earth and atmospheric sciences, with a concentration in biological oceanography. Her main research focuses have been phytoplankton and isotopic changes in…

Before being hired at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Erika Gardner was a biology student. During her undergraduate career, she realized that she was more interested in plants than in medicine, or any other part of biology. After spending some time interning in an herbarium, Gardner earned a master’s degree in botany from…