People Behind the Science

Dr. Michael Levin is Professor and Vannevar Bush Endowed Chair in the Department of Biology at Tufts University. He is also Director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts and Director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. In addition, Mike is a Visiting Scholar at the Wyss Institute at Harvard. Mike seeks to better understand how living things work. Specifically, he studies how cells and tissues make decisions, computations that occur in living systems, and the...

Dr. Tuomo Suntola is a co-owner and Board Member of the Finnish atomic layer deposition technology company Picosun Ltd. He is also Chairman of the Finnish Society for Natural Philosophy, Chairman of the Physics Foundations Society, and author of the books The Short History of Science, The Dynamic Universe, and Theoretical Basis of the Dynamic Universe. Most of Tuomo’s career has been spent working on a technology called atomic layer deposition (ALD). This technology is based on a saturated...

Dr. Jo Dunkley is a Professor of Physics and Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. Jo is a cosmologist who conducts research to approximate how space behaves as a whole. This includes looking into space and taking measurements to determine how the universe began, what it’s made of, how it’s growing, and what is going to happen to it in the future. Physics and family are two of the major pieces in Jo’s life. She loves spending time with her two young daughters. Lately, her older...

Dr. Kurt Hankenson is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School. Kurt is a veterinarian and a scientist. His research focuses on developing new treatments to improve bone healing as well as to treat bone loss conditions like osteoporosis. Outside of research, Kurt enjoys running, spending time with his wife and son, eating good food, drinking West Coast IPAs, traveling, listening to music, and reading. He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine...

Dr. Marcie O'Malley is the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Mechanical Engineering, as well as a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Marcie is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. In addition, she is Director of the Mechatronics and Haptic Interfaces Lab at Rice University, Director of...

Dr. Justin Barad is the CEO of Osso VR, a virtual reality surgical training software company. Justin and the team at Osso VR are developing a surgical training platform that uses virtual reality and gaming technology to solve critical training challenges for surgeons and healthcare providers around the world. In his free time, Justin enjoys sipping on a good cup of coffee, going for a run with his dog, and playing the piano and flute. He also enjoys traveling to new places around the world...

Dr. Daniel Whiteson is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is also co-author of the book We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe. As a particle physicist, Daniel is working to discover how the universe began and what things are made of at their most fundamental levels. When not in the lab, Daniel engages in experimental baking to create a wide variety of desserts. He’s currently perfecting his recipe for chocolate babka, a type of sweet...

Dr. Lori Hosaka LaPlante is an Associate Professor of Biology at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. Her research focuses on how and why animals use color signals during communication. In particular, Lori is interested in better understanding color signals used by female fish to communicate readiness to mate, dominance, and health status. When not at work, you can often find Lori doing yoga or playing volleyball. During the winter she plays indoor volleyball three times per week, and in...

Dr. Samarth Swarup is a Research Assistant Professor working in the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory at the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech. In the lab, Samarth studies human behavior by making computer models of people moving and interacting. These are called social simulations, and they can be used to forecast outcomes and mitigate risks in a wide variety of applications from epidemic outbreaks to disaster scenarios. In his free time, Samarth enjoys reading,...

Dr. Nicole Garneau is a Curator of Human Health, the Department Chair of Health Sciences, and Principal Investigator of the Genetics of Taste Laboratory at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. In addition, Nicole is Co-Founder of Beer Flavor Map and DraughtLab Brands, a company that creates accessible, affordable, and powerful sensory systems to help ensure quality and consistency of products for craft brewers. She also has her own speaking and consulting company called Dr. Nicole...

Dr. Douglas Futuyma is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. He also holds an appointment as a Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History. Throughout his career, Douglas has been fascinated by evolution and how species adapt to their environments. Much of his research has examined the ways in which insects that eat plants have evolved (or failed to evolve) in their ability to eat different kinds of plants. Beyond...

Dr. Sunny Wong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Dermatology and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Sunny’s lab studies skin biology. Skin is a complex organ that covers our entire body and is composed of different cells and systems. He is interested in understanding how skin develops and what can go wrong in skin, particularly in skin cancer. His lab is working on projects examining how basal cell carcinoma...

Dr. Francisca Ikuenobe is a Professor of Geology and Geophysics at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. In her research, Franca studies rocks to understand the clues they can reveal about the living things, environments, and climates of the past. Franca is particularly interested in the microfossils of pollen, spores, and phytoplankton that are preserved in rock. She uses these to help determine the age of rocks and what they can tell us about the history of an area. Outside...

Dr. John Aitchison is President and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research, the largest independent, non-profit organization in the U.S. that is focused solely on infectious disease research. In addition, John serves as an affiliate or adjunct Professor at the University of Washington, the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, and the Institute for Systems Biology. John’s research investigates the systems biology related to infectious disease by using...

Dr. Madhav Marathe is a Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory within the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Chalmers University, the Indian Institute of Public Health, and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. Madhav's research focuses on understanding the general principles that govern large networks, particularly networks that have social and...

Dr. Eurie Hong is the Senior Director of Genomics at AncestryDNA. In her position, Eurie works on the algorithms that interpret the DNA provided in customer samples to tell people the regions of the world their ancestors may come from. She develops methods to analyze a person’s DNA and compare it to reference panels of DNA from other individuals. When she’s not at work, Eurie spends her time with her husband and six year old daughter. It’s exciting for Eurie to see her daughter trying new...

Dr. Brian Keating is a Professor of Physics at the University of California, San Diego. Additionally, he is the Co-Director of the Ax Center for Experimental Cosmology and Director of the Simons Observatory. Brian is also author of the book Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science’s Highest Honor. As a cosmologist, Brian studies the universe using a variety of different tools. In his research, he examines the stars, how the universe originated, and...

Dr. Thijs Heus is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Cleveland State University. Thijs’s research focuses on clouds and the impact they have on weather and climate. Some of the effects clouds can have include reflecting sunlight (which lowers temperatures) and transporting heat and moisture through the atmosphere. However, clouds remain one of the major sources of uncertainty in climate and weather predictions, partly due to their relatively small size and varying...

Dr. Jennifer Ramp Neale is Director of Research and Conservation at the Denver Botanic Gardens. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Biology at the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Colorado Denver. The Denver Botanic Gardens is an accredited museum, a public nonprofit organization, and a research institution, so Jenny has a variety of different roles. She oversees the research conducted there, communicates their findings and the importance of science to different...

Dr. Chris Barrett is Executive Director and Professor at the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech, as well as a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. Chris lives on a small farm in the Blue Ridge area of Virginia, and the they daily chores keep him quite busy. He also enjoys playing guitar and riding his motorcycle in his free time. At the Biocomplexity Institute, Chris and his colleagues are using computational methods to better understand our very...