Join us for our next show in the Boston area, where we'll present five stories about leaving your comfort zone in science.
Stories by:
James Barnes is the Farm Director for Cape Abilities, a nonprofit that supports over 350 adults living with disabilities on Cape Cod. His farm produces flowers, vegetables, and opportunities to have a meaningful work day. When James is not navigating the collision of human services and agriculture, he likes to tell stories about his colorful upbringing, the struggles of farming, and the horrors of being trapped in vacationland. James is a self-proclaimed late-bloomer and probably likes tomatoes more than you.
Danielle D'Ambra grew up in the South Shore of Massachusetts. After attending Boston College for her undergraduate degree, she worked at a nonprofit organization called MitoAction for two years. She then went to Simmons College to get her Master's degree in teaching. She has been teaching high school biology at City on a Hill Charter Public School since 2012. In her free time, she likes to dance, practice yoga, volunteer at the MSPCA, and play with her cat Marley!
Selam Gano is an MIT undergraduate studying Mechanical Engineering with Robotics. She also blogs professionally for MIT Admissions and around the internet. When not in class, she is an undergraduate researcher at the MIT Media Lab and the principal researcher for the Muti Water Project. Born in the United States to an immigrant family, she has her heritage in China and Ethiopia and speaks four languages. She has a passion for robots, international projects, and writing.
Cherie Ramirez’s love of teaching and science blossomed when she was a Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and Classical Studies double major at Rollins College in Central Florida. With the goal of being involved in teaching full-time someday, she participated in several teaching and mentoring activities throughout graduate school while earning her PhD in genetics at Harvard studying site-specific nucleases and their applications in genome engineering. After graduating in 2012, she completed her post-doctoral training at the Harvard School of Public Health and worked for several years supporting faculty and graduate students teaching global health across Harvard University.
Thom Young’s affinity for the outdoors developed into a brief career as an ecologist, during which he worked as a tropical forest guide, studied coral reef fish and kelp forests, and traveled to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Since then, he has managed two organic farms, worked on a commercial fishing vessel, sailed across the Pacific using celestial navigation, and worked as the First Mate of a Maine windjammer. He maintains his tenuous grip on sanity with open water swimming, ultra-marathon running, and classical piano. He lives with his wife, Skylar, and their two dogs in Maine.