Category: interview

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Interview with Steve Croft, Ph. D. on Black Holes

By Angel Zhou, Branson School


Black holes. Don’t let the name fool you: a black hole is anything but empty space. Rather, it is a great amount of matter packed into a very small area. Scientists can’t directly observe black holes with telescopes that detect x-rays, light, or other forms of electromagnetic radiation. They can, however, infer the presence of black holes and study them by detecting their effect on other matter nearby.

Steve Croft, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, uses a new radio telescope, the Allen Telescope Array to study. He grew up in England, where he received a PhD in astrophysics from Oxford University in 2002, before moving to California to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Read the following interview to learn more about Dr. Croft’s life and work as an astronomer.  


Steve Croft, Ph. D.

1) How did you decide to enter your field of work?
I’ve always been fascinated to understand how things work. We’re all born scientists and explorers at some level. Even as babies we learn about the world around us by trying things out, taking things apart, and performing experiments. I got particularly interested in space when a neighbor bought me a book about astronomy when I was probably about eight years old. My parents bought me a small telescope at about twelve that I used to look at craters on the Moon and the rings of Saturn. I continued to read astronomy books and watch astronomy TV shows, as well as being fortunate to learn math and science from some great school teachers.
I chose to study astrophysics for my undergraduate degree at University College London in the UK, and particularly enjoyed hands on experience with large telescopes at the University of London Observatory. That really confirmed for me that I wanted to be an observational astronomer, so I ended up doing a PhD at Oxford University, using some of the world’s largest telescopes to study the growth and environments of supermassive black holes. I moved to California in 2002 and worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab for 5 years where I was a member of a small astronomy research group. I got to use the Keck Telescopes in Hawaii – the largest optical telescopes in the world – as well as the Hubble Space Telescope and many others. I’ve been at Berkeley since 2007, and I’m currently working on one of the most cutting edge radio telescopes in the world as part of a big international team. 
2) Describe your typical day at work as an astronomer. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of your job?
I travel a lot for work. I just got back from a month in Australia. I spent most of the time there working with colleagues at the University of Sydney, but I also traveled to Melbourne for a couple of days to give talks, as well as out to the site of the telescope I’m working on, in the remote Australian outback. Last year I traveled to South Africa and Italy for conferences, as well as several trips within the US for meetings. The travel is one of my favorite parts of the job. Meeting new people and exploring new ideas, as well as seeing new places, are important to me.

When I am in the Bay Area I go into the office most days, although sometimes I work from home or have meetings offsite. I work in a regular office which I share with another astronomer. Most of my work is done using an iMac computer with two big screens, but I log in remotely to more powerful computers (including one with 256 GB of RAM and many TB of storage) to analyze the data from the telescopes I’m using. More often than not I’ll have a meeting or two, or attend a seminar. Sometimes I’ll have informal discussions with colleagues over lunch. I read papers written by other astronomers to keep up on research in my field. I also do a lot of education and outreach programs, including working with high schoolers. Last year we launched two high altitude weather balloons with GoPro cameras attached to the edge of space. That was really exciting.

I guess my least favorite part of the job is that I always have so much going on, including a ton of emails waiting for me to respond to. It’s great to be in a job that’s stimulating but sometimes I feel like I will never get to the bottom of my to-do list.
4) What are black holes and why do they play an important role in the universe?
There are two main varieties of black holes. One kind is about the same mass as our Sun. These result from the violent deaths of massive stars. There are probably millions of these in our Galaxy. The other kind, the ones that I research, are supermassive black holes that can be millions or billions of times as massive as the Sun. These monsters lurk at the centers of galaxies, typically only around one per galaxy, and we’re starting to understand that the way they get to be so big has a profound influence on the galaxies themselves. The forces that they produce are so incredibly powerful that they can rip stars apart and send out blast waves that shape the gas and stars that make up the galaxies in which they live.
5) What aspect of black holes are you particularly fascinated by and why?
One thing that I’d like to understand better is why some black holes lurk around not doing very much, sometimes for billions of years, and then switch to violent phases of growth. Understanding how they launch jets of material moving at close to the speed of light, and how collisions of black holes disturb spacetime itself, are areas of active research that I hope we’ll get closer to understanding with the new generation of telescopes that we’re building.
Join us on Wednesday, March 11th for Steve Croft’s seminar, “Snacking, Gorging, and Cannibalizing: The Feeding Habits of Black Holes“ of UC Berkley in Room 207 at Terra Linda High School in San Rafael. For more information, visit Marin Science Seminar’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1540138222921928/.
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Interview with Art Wallace, MD PhD on Big Data and Medical Innovation

By Angel Zhou, Branson School


Mobile technologies, sensors, genome sequencing, and advances in analytic software now make it possible to capture vast amounts of information that could transform medicine. The question is: can Big Data make health care better?

In the upcoming Marin Science Seminar, “Big Data and Medical Innovation,” Dr. Art Wallace, Chief of Anesthesia Service at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and a Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care at UCSF Medical Center, will discuss applications of Big Data in medicine and how Big Data has changed epidemiology, quality improvement, and drug discovery. Read the following interview to learn more about Dr. 

Wallace’s thoughts on Big Data and its impact on medical innovation.
Art Wallace, MD PhD

What is Big Data and what is its significance to medicine?  What makes Big Data different from other data that people work with in the healthcare industry?
Big Data is data that is acquired for other purposes that can be analyzed to understand processes, people, and systems. Big Data includes many things: cell phone records, super market purchase card records, credit card records, medical records, internet search terms, medication usage, hospital admissions, social security records, etc. This data can be used for epidemiology to identify associations between factors and outcomes.
Big Data gives additional power to identify factors associated with rare outcomes. I can now easily do a study in 1 million people using data collected for administrative purposes. Doing a study in 1 million patients used to be enormously expensive, now it just requires computer programming and epidemiologic analysis. Before Big Data, the cost of collecting data was prohibitive, so many studies could not be done. With Big Data, there is little to no cost of collecting the data, making the analysis the entire cost for large studies. The profoundly lower costs with Big Data techniques make studies that were previously impossible, possible at minimal cost.
How does Big Data impact professionals in the medical field? Can Big Data be used to improve healthcare?
We have identified factors associated with adverse outcomes, identified medication practices that are associated with increased mortality, identified medications that can reduce morbidity and mortality, and we have identified possible therapies for diseases that have no current therapy. We can reduce morbidity, mortality, cost, and assist in the development of new therapies.
  
Big Data can be used to reduce morbidity, mortality, cost, and improve efficiency. Big Data can be used to ask questions that are morally, politically, technically, socially, ethically, or legally impossible to answer with randomized trials. Big Data is being used to improve quality of life while lowering costs.
Describe how Big Data is reshaping the drug industry?
Big Data can be used to identify medications that reduce or increase risks. Post marketing testing can identify medications that have significant associated morbidity and mortality. For example, we identified a drug that increased mortality risk 5 fold (increased from 3 to 15% with drug use). This use of Big Data led to a medication being taken off the market. It had been used in Europe for 30 years, in the U.S. for 10 years, and it increased the risk of death from 3 to 15%. Big Data was used to identify a very serious risk to patients and led to the medication being taken off the market.
How will Big Data accelerate innovation in medicine?
Big Data will be used to identify new uses of medications. It will identify risk factors for morbidity and mortality. It will lead to further randomized trials.
What are the benefits and dangers of providing Big Data online as the “ever expanding cloud of information” becomes more accessible?
It is easy to identify people from their digital detritus. It is easy to identify very personal things about people from their data trails. Factors such as financial status, interests, sexual orientation, political beliefs, religious beliefs, health status, pre-existing medical conditions, drug and alcohol use, pregnancy status, and proclivities can all be assessed via Big Data. Big Data can be used to manipulate, track, and market to people. At the same time, Big Data can identify very serious risks to patients’ health. Scientific method is an approach; Big Data is a tool. Both can be used for good or bad purposes. Big Data is simply a new and extremely powerful scientific tool.   

Join us Wednesday, February 11th, 2015 to learn more about “Big Data and Medical Innovation” with Dr. Art Wallace from 7:30 – 8:30 PM Terra Linda High School, San Rafael in Room 207.

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Interview with Alex Gunderson, Ph.D: The Price is Wrong

Join us Wednesday, November 19th, 2014 for:

Interview with Alex Gunderson Ph.D.
by Isobel Wright, MSS Intern, Tamalpais HS

How can you compare a game show to climate change and its effect on animals? Well, Alex Gunderson has. Alex Gunderson, Ph.D is a physiological ecologist who specializes in thermal biology and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley. His current research is aimed at answering these questions. How do physiology and behavior interact to influence the vulnerability of ectotherms to climate warming?  How do divergent climatic habitats shape physiological phenotypes, and how does physiological divergence contribute to evolutionary radiations? To answer these questions, he has studied the Caribbean Anolis lizards but is now exploring the crustacean systems. Read the following interview to learn more about his life and work as a physiological ecologist. 

Alex Gunderson, Ph. D.

1.    How did you decide to enter this line of work, as it is so specialized?
I think I gravitated toward biology as a profession because I love being in nature. I grew up in a very rural part of the Midwest where I spent a lot of time outside, on lakes and in the woods. That led me to be interested in how the natural world works.
2. Why did you decide to use the Price is Right as an analogy for the effects of global warming?
The Price is Right was as easy choice for me because it is one of my favorite game shows. When I was in grade school and would get sick and stay home, it was the show I looked forward to watching most. I have always wanted to spin the big wheel!
Anole Lizard

3. What have you learned from working with the Caribbean Anolis lizards?

I have learned a lot! Maybe one of the biggest things is how subtle nature can be. On Puerto Rico there are ten different species of Anolislizard and to most people they all just sort of look like a generic lizard. But when you look closely, you see that they have evolved all of these small differences that allow them to live and thrive in different habitats. It really is amazing!
4. What level of education do you need to do what you do?
It depends on what your ultimate goal is. You can get paid to do biology with a Bachelor’s degree, but many positions require graduate degrees like a Master’s or PhD. My goal is to be a college professor, so a PhD is required.  
5.  If there was one thing you could tell us to do to prevent climate change, what would it be?
The biggest road-block to making progress on climate change is political inaction, so speak up about it through your vote (if you are 18!), letters to politicians, and outreach activities. On a personal level, there are a lot of things you can do to reduce your contribution to climate change. The Nature Conservancy has a great website where you can calculate your carbon footprint and learn about ways to reduce it: http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/ 
6. What was your biggest “Aha” moment in life so far, relating to your work?
I think the biggest “Aha” moment I had was when I decided that I wanted to study how animals adapt to different climates. It was my first year as a PhD student, and I was in Puerto Rico for the first time. I thought I wanted to study the evolution of animal signals, or how animals communicate with one another. I had been studying one species in northern Puerto Rico, but I knew the same species also lived in southern Puerto Rico so I decided to drive down there. I was driving south through the mountains with my cousin Neil (he was helping me do my research) and all of a sudden, the landscape changed dramatically. It went from cool, shady tropical rainforest to hot, dry desert in just a few miles. I thought there was no way the same species could live in such different conditions. But sure enough, the same species was there. I wanted to know how they did it, and my fascination with thermal biology was born!
7. What are the best parts of your job? What are the worst parts?
There are two things that I think are best about my job. First, my job takes me amazing places to study amazing animals. Over the years, I have studied lizards in the Caribbean, frogs in the back-country wilderness of Montana, and seabirds in the Galapagos, to name a few. Hard to beat. Second, in many ways, I am my own boss. With some caveats, I get to decide what I study, where I study it, and how I study it. That kind of freedom is hard to come by in many professions.
The worst part of my job? Writing grants. Because most scientific research doesn’t generate profits like a business, you have to convince other people to give you money to do it. Those “other people”are usually government agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. It’s fantastic that they give the money, but the grant writing itself is often extremely tedious. 

Learn more about Alex Gunderson and his research here. 

Join us and Learn! 

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Saving Our Ocean Friends: An Interview with Dr. Claire Simeone of the Marine Mammal Center

by MSS Intern Isobel Wright, Tamalpais High School

From sea lions with cancer to stranded motherless seal pups, Dr. Claire Simeone knows just what to do. Dr. Simeone works as a Conservation Medicine Veterinarian at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California and at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington, DC. In addition to tending to sick animals, she travels the world to attend Unusual Mortality Events, international training programs, and works on the Marine Mammal Health Map. Dr. Simeone attended the University of Maryland College Park to receive her BSc in Physiology and Neurobiology, and graduated from veterinary school at Virginia Tech. Read the following interview to learn more about life at the Marine Mammal Center and working with animals. 
Claire Simeone, DVM
            Could you walk me through your typical day at The Marine Mammal Center?
One of the best things about working at The Marine Mammal Center is that every day is different. Some days, you’re caring for harbor seal pups that have been separated from their mother. Another day, you’re treating California sea lions with cancer. You might be medicating elephant seals that are dying of lungworms. Some days, you’re treating all of those animals, plus caring for the two hundred additional animals that are ALSO onsite. 
As a veterinarian, I usually start my day walking around the pens to check in on all of the animals on-site, and then our team starts procedures, which include blood draws, x-rays, and surgeries. If animals die, we perform post-mortem exams to determine why they died. At the same time, our volunteer crews (more than 1,000 committed people!) are preparing fish, feeding the animals, and cleaning their pens. Our night volunteer crews take care of the animals into the night, and the veterinarians and technicians are on-call 24 hours a day to make sure all of the animals receive the care they need.
What are the best and worst parts of your job?
There are so many best parts of my job. First, I’m lucky to be able to travel around the world to care for marine mammals and learn more about them. Second, I really feel that I’m making a difference with the work I’m doing – whether it’s saving a seal pup or training the next generation of marine mammal veterinarians. Third, I’m constantly learning new things – about marine mammals, their habitats, and what affects their health. 
Because I do work with animals, a difficult part of the job can be seeing animals that are suffering, often because of things humans do – but it helps to know that we are doing everything we can to bring that animal back to health.
What does it feel like to rescue an animal?
Imagine getting a call from someone who was on vacation, and saw a California sea lion that had fishing line around his neck. First, you feel focused – you take down the description of the animal from the citizen, check your maps, and plan out your strategy. Your rescue volunteers have confirmed that this animal is one you’ve been watching for months, and he’s asleep on the beach. You load up the truck, and make the drive to meet your team. You feel hopeful – he’s still snoring away. Holding your breath, you sneak up slowly, and then with a leap you throw the net over his head. He roars as he jumps up and finds himself trapped. With swift action your team boards him into a carrier, and as stealthily as you came, you load him into the truck. You feel elated as you watch him resting calmly on the way home. 
After a quick procedure to remove the line, it’s clear his wound will heal on its own, and he’s ready to go back to the ocean. After driving him back to the beach, you open the carrier, and he strides out into the waves and dives under the break. You feel proud that you’ve saved this animal’s life, and returned him to his ocean home. 
What’s the most common injury/disease you see in marine mammals? How can we prevent this?
Unfortunately, we commonly see injuries that are due to something called human interaction – entangled in fishing line, nets, or plastic packing straps; ingesting pieces of plastic; struck by a boat; or gunshot. In 1972 the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed, making it illegal to harass or harm a marine mammal. However, many marine mammals are still harmed in passive ways from our trash or discarded items. You can prevent these entanglements by properly disposing of plastics, and helping to keep beaches clean by picking up any trash you see. Just a few weeks ago the annual International Coastal Cleanup Day brought 54,000 volunteers to California’s coasts. They removed over 680,000 pounds of trash in one day!
What level of education and experience do you need to obtain a job like yours?
As a veterinarian, I have a bachelor’s degree, as well as a DVM – Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. However, there are many ways that you can be involved with marine mammals or ocean conservation – through a Master’s or PhD, if you’re more science-focused, or you can have a completely unrelated career, and get your fill through volunteering at a facility like TMMC. We even have a Youth Crew volunteer program for teenagers 15-18 years old (learn more at http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/Get-Involved/volunteer/youth-crew ). As far as experiences go, I would recommend doing as much as you can to get a variety of experiences, which will help you decide what is really right for you. I’ve worked with dogs and cats, horses and cattle, birds and seals, and each experience set me up for the next step in my career. 
What have you learned from working with these animals?
I’ve learned that in order to conserve energy while diving, some seals can lower their heart rate to 10 beats per minute, and right before they surface, their body speeds the rate back up to 120. I’ve learned that a sea otter, if left alone, will unscrew all of the screws on a drain – that were placed with an electric drill! – with its bare paws. And I’ve learned that a harbor seal, blind from cataracts, can find fish by sensing the water movement with its vibrissae (whiskers). Each one of our patients has given me great stories with which to share the knowledge I’ve learned. 
What is an Unusual Mortality Event? What is it like to attend one? Tell me about the most recent one you attended? 
If a group of marine mammals are sick, they may strand on the beach near one another. Unusual Mortality Events (UMEs) are declared when the number of sick or dying animals is larger than expected in that area or time frame. A panel of experts is then called to lead a response to care for the animals, and to try to figure out why they are dying. A recent UME was close to home – in 2013, more than 1500 starving California sea lion pups washed up on southern California beaches. Thanks to the UME response team, it was determined that the reason the pups were starving was because the fish their moms were feeding on had moved farther offshore – meaning they had to go farther to forage. This caused moms to either lack the milk they needed to nurse them, or abandon their pups completely. Caring for hundreds of sea lion pups at a time is exhausting – most need to eat 3-4 times a day, and they may need treatment for vomiting, diarrhea, or pneumonia. It was thanks to hard-working rehabilitation centers, like TMMC, all along the California coast, that we were able to save so many pups. 
What is the Marine Mammal Health Map? How do you contribute to it?
Think about all of the animals we’ve talked about – starving sea lions, entangled elephant seals, gunshot animals or animals with cancer. Each one of these animals provides a unique look at what is happening in the ocean at that location. All of the animals that come through TMMC have a record with all of their health information. Similarly, all of the stranding centers across the country have records on all of their animals. However, there is no centralized database to collect these data, or display them for all to see. The Marine Mammal Health Map will be that space – so that biologists, veterinarians, and members of the public will know what’s happening to marine mammals in their area. I’m working with scientists from around the country to develop the Health Map and ensure that all of our marine mammals are represented. You’ll have to come to the talk to learn more!

Watch this video below to see the process of the rescuing, rehabilitation and release of a sea lion…

Join us for “Sick Seals and Seizing Sea Lions: What Marine Mammals Can Tell Us About the Health of Our Oceans” with Claire Simeone DVM of The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito – Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at Marin Science Seminar

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Mission Control with Jay Trimble

by Gillian Parker, Tamalpais HS         
Have you ever wondered what happens down at mission control? Who supports astronauts from below? Jay Trimble leads the User Centered Technology Group at NASA Ames Research Center (NASA-Ames Website). The UCT Group is a collection of people with various specialties from  anthropology to computer science that work together to create software for mission control. Jay also led another team called Mars Exploration Rover Human Centered Computing Project, which worked on Mar Rover Operations. Read the following interview with Jay Trimble to find out more about mission control.
Jay Trimble

1. What are some of the projects that the User Centered Technology (UCT) Group at NASA Ames Research Center has worked on?
The UCT Group has focused on component software that allows users to build their own software with compositions, meaning users can essentially assemble their own software using drag and drop. The software is open source, it’s called Open Mission Control Technologies. You can learn more about the software at http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/OpenMCT/, or on GitHub at https://github.com/nasa/mct. The UCT group has also built software to assist scientist in archiving planetary science data. 


2. What is the process of making software at the UCT Group like?
The process for making software is focused on the users. We use a range of methods to connect with users and translate what we’ve learned into the design of the software. We observe users doing their work in their own environment. This is important because observing users gives you a perspective that you won’t get by talking to them, though talking to users is also important. We interview users as well to better understand their work. We develop prototypes and iteratively improve them. Ideas are communicated and tested visually before committing to code. 

3. How did the Mars Exploration Rover Human Centered Computing Project improve the process and technology of Mars Rover Operations?
For Mars Rover Operations we worked with the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). We were part of a team looking at science processes. We developed software that ran on large touch screens that allowed the scientists to plan several days out what they wanted to be doing. 

4. What are your favorite/ least favorite parts of your job?
My favorite parts of my job are being part of space exploration and the people I work with. My least favorite part of the job is the uncertainty of the federal budget process. 

5. What do you see in the future of the UCT Group, and space-related technology in general?
That’s a very broad question. My group is working on a Lunar Rover Mission to conduct surface exploration in polar regions to prospect for water and other resources. That’s our focus at the moment. We are also continuing to work with JPL on software for monitoring solar system exploration spacecraft. I think space technology in general in focused on moving us beyond low Earth orbit and out into the solar system. 
6. How did you decide your career path?
I decided my career path based on my interest in the space program that began in grade school when we were landing on the Moon. 

Come to the Marin Science Seminar on Wednesday May 21 at Terra Linda High School, San Rafael; Physiology Lab 207 from 7:30-8:30 to learn more
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High Tech Mannequins

by Gillian Parker, Tamalpais HS   
Oftentimes it is nerve-wracking or even dangerous for new medical staff to carry out certain procedures on real patients. At the VA Medical Center in San Francisco, the Simulation Center has high tech mannequins to help train staff in a low-risk environment. These mannequins simulate a normal patient and allow new staff to practice various procedures like chest tube insertion and IV catheter insertion, among others. They can also be hooked up to monitors that are often used to observe patients.

     Abi Fitzgerald practices one day every week in the emergency department at the SFVA as part of her one year fellowship in advanced clinical simulation. She is an RN and achieved her MSN at San Francisco State University. Read the following interview with Abi Fitzgerald to find out more about her experience with the simulators!


1. What is the best part about having the high tech mannequins to practice on?
    
    The manikin’s ability to simulate human functions allows clinicians to practice going through the physical motions assessing patients in both emergent and non-emergent situations, as opposed to verbally walking through the process.  This develops muscle memory and skills for recognizing normal vs. abnormal breath sounds, heart sounds, mental status, neurological functions and more.  

2. How would medical staff be trained without these medical robots?
    They could practice on actors, in which case the abnormal functions such as wheezes or heart murmurs are difficult to simulate.  They would also practice on real patients, which they still currently do, but using a manikin allows them more freedom to perform procedures and other tasks that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to do on a live patient. Working with manikins allows students and clinicians to refine their skills before working with actual patients.
3. What procedures have you performed on the simulators? Could you describe some?
This year the VAMC sim lab acquired a few new simulators that have allowed us (the simulation fellows) and the clinicians who train on them, to become more familiar with a lot of new procedures.  We now have an endovascular trainer which simulates procedures that take place in the cath lab such as non-open heart valve replacements.  This is when the doctors access the heart valve through a long wire and tube that is inserted in the leg and follows the artery all the way up to the aorta and into the heart where they can replace replace a heart valve using fluoroscopic imaging. We also have a new manikin that simulates ultrasounds and displays a three dimensional virtual reality image on a computer screen.   
4. Are there any flaws/negatives to the simulators?
   
The cost of acquiring the simulators and the repair costs can be high, but the quality of training and knowledge gained are very much worth it.  Additionally, ongoing research projects have resulted in the acceptance of grant proposals which has made the acquisition of some of the simulators possible. 
5. What are some things that the simulators can’t fully prepare you for?
  Even though we do our best to make simulated scenarios as real as possible, there are always some elements such as smells and unexpected outcomes that can be difficult but not impossible to simulate well.

Come to the Marin Science Seminar on Wednesday, May 14th, 7:30-8:30 to hear Abi Fitzgerald and Richard Fidler talk about medical education robots at Terra Linda High School in Room 207, 320 Albion Way, San Rafael, CA 94903
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The Adorable, Rewarding, and Sometimes Difficult Task of Birthing Babies

 by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS

A common misconception is that the only job of a midwife is to deliver babies. In reality, the duties of a midwife begin long before the baby is born. A midwife can screen for diseases, prescribe certain 

medications, help the mother stay healthy during pregnancy, monitor the baby’s growth before and after 
birth, provide emotional support, discuss care options and breastfeeding, support the mother and
her child after birth, and provide many more services in addition to the delivering the baby. As a 
midwife, upcoming MSS speaker Sheri Matteo is responsible for the health and wellbeing of a woman
and her baby for the entire length of the pregnancy and beyond. The video below shows the benefits of 
midwifery for women. 



 Matteo explained that midwifery in the U.S. has undergone many changes throughout history.
“Before the early 20th century, most babies in the US were delivered by midwives at home. Then 
medicine, mostly male doctors, brought birth into hospitals and birth became a medical condition. 
Women were put to sleep and babies were delivered with forceps. Moms were encouraged to bottle 
feed. Midwifery pretty much vanished. In the 1970’s, with the rise of feminism and the “natural birth” 
movement, midwifery as a profession started to grow again. Unlike many other industrialized countries
with better childbirth statistics where midwifery care is the norm, midwifery in the US has stayed on 
the fringe and been seen as an “alternative” birth option. In the 15 years that I have been practicing, 
I have seen many midwifery services grow and disband based on whatever economic issue was driving
healthcare at that time. Healthcare in the US is still largely driven by economics and legislation, but 
midwives and other “mid levels” or “allied health professionals” are rising in use and stature. We 
have rigorous education and certification maintenance programs and are fully integrated into healthcare
teams with nursing, case managers and social workers, as well as doctors. The profession is growing in
numbers and strength and our good outcomes are more commonly recognized by clients and medicine
professionals.” According to Time magazine, approximately 8% of babies born in the U.S. – a record 
high – and about 24% of babies in New Mexico were delivered by midwives in 2009. While delivery in 
the U.S. usually takes place in a hospital in the presence of obstetricians, more and more women are 
turning to midwives. 

Read the rest of the interview with Sheri Matteo for a sneak peek preview of her upcoming MSS 
presentation “Birthing Babies: What it Takes to be a Nurse Midwife”. 



How did you decide to become a midwife?  
I was premed in college and always thought I wanted to be an obstetrician. I was also a singer and performed in HS and college plays. I spent my junior year abroad studying acting in London and when I returned I realized I no longer wanted to go to med school. I received my BA in Theatre Arts at Brown University. I worked as an actress in NYC, off-Broadway and as a member of a theatre company. Working on a play with an older actress, I discovered her daughter was a midwife. I didn’t even know midwifery was a profession at that time! Shortly after, I met a woman who was an obstetrician. I was really inspired hearing about her work. She invited me to “take call” with her one night at the hospital. I saw a birth and I was hooked! Midwifery appealed to me more than medicine because of its emphasis on childbirth as a natural part of life, not a medical condition that needs to be “treated”.


How does one become a midwife? What sort of training or education is necessary?  
There are many different kinds of midwives in the US and several different ways to become one. There are “lay” midwives who receive traditional training as an apprentice of another lay midwife. These midwives are sometimes state licensed and sometimes not. They are not eligible to work in hospitals so they only do home birth.  To be a Certified Nurse Midwife, I had to enroll in nursing school with the plan to continue onto graduate school. I went to Columbia University School of Nursing in NYC. They have a special nursing program for people who already have a baccalaureate. Instead of four years, I earned my BSN (Bachelors of Science in Nursing) in one and a half years. I continued on to complete my Masters in Nursing (MSN) in another one and a half years, for a total of three straight years and two degrees.
What are the responsibilities of a midwife? What is a typical day?  
Certified Nurse Midwives can perform nearly all aspects of women’s health primary care. We screen for diseases, including cervical cancer, breast cancer and STDs. We can prescribe medicine including birth control and antibiotics. We perform prenatal care, making sure moms stay healthy in pregnancy and their babies are growing well.  We can deliver babies in the hospital, in birth centers, or at home. We support women with breastfeeding and take care of them postpartum. We do a lot of client teaching about their health, bodies, and care and treatment options. Though we do not perform surgery like c/sections, we are hands-on surgical assistants. A typical day involves either working at the clinic seeing prenatal patients (between 12-20 in 8 hours) or working in the hospital supporting moms in labor and delivering babies. Because I am the Director of my group of 12 midwives, I also have office work and a lot of meetings to attend. I work on marketing my group’s services, hospital quality and safety and employee satisfaction and performance.



What is the most exciting, rewarding, or difficult aspect of being a midwife?  
Watching new families grow! Helping women be and stay healthy. Meeting all kinds of people from all different cultures. Working with women and empowering them to believe in their natural ability to birth and mother.
What advice do you have for young people aspiring to be in a healthcare profession?  
It is very hard work but also very rewarding. Never forget to treat all people with dignity and respect.

  

To learn all about midwifery and birthing babies, attend the Marin Science Seminar presentation “Birthing Babies: What it Takes to be a Nurse Midwife” with Sheri Matteo, RN, CNM of Prima Medical Foundation, Marin General Hospitalon Wednesday, March 26, 2014, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207. See the flyer here

For more information go to:
Our Bodies Ourselves Health Resource Center
Dimensions Healthcare System
Student Medics
Time Magazine

Image credits:
https://drewstarr.wordpress.com/pictures/early-american-midwifery/
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/birthanddeath/childbirthandmedicine.aspx
http://healthsciencetechnology.wikispaces.com/Midwife

http://organichomebirth.com/
http://firststepskent.org/welcome-home-baby/welcome-home-baby-book/

~Claire Watry

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A Renewed Sense of Porpoise – An Interview with Jonathan Stern

by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS
Harbor porpoises have returned to the San Francisco Bay after a 65-year absence. What does their return mean for the other animals of the bay? Why did they leave? Why might they have returned? This week’s Marin Science Seminar speaker Jonathan Stern will address these questions and provide insight into the world of local harbor porpoises. The video below is a tribute to the harbor porpoise’s return to the bay by the National Wildlife Federation California.



Fast Fasts about the Harbor Porpoise from the National Geographic Society:

Terra Linda High School graduate Jonathan Stern is a lecturer and adjunct professor in the Biology Department at San Francisco State University. He has studied minke whales since 1980 and currently serves as a Co-Principal Investigator at Golden Gate Cetacean Research, where he studies harbor porpoises, bottlenose dolphins, and minke whales locally in the San Francisco Bay. He has also studied an assortment of whales including gray whales, killerwhales, fin whales, humpback whales, and pilot whales. He was the first volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center when it opened in 1975.

How did you decide to study marine life?

My father was a ship captain, who traveled all over the world. When he would come home, he would bring me seashells from the places he traveled. I also watched Sea Hunt and Jacques Cousteau when I was a child and was fascinated by the sea.

From left: Lloyd Bridges stars in Sea Hunt, Seashell collection, Explorer Jacque Cousteau

How do you conduct your research?

This varies depending on what specifically I am studying. I do my observations from the shore and a boat. I also spend a considerable amount of time doing data analysis. I sit with my computer and books about statistical analysis and modeling.


Harbor Porpoise sighting near the Golden Gate Bridge


What is the most difficult aspect of your work?
My works is not difficult; it is challenging physically (being out on the water in a small boat on the open ocean takes its toll over the years) and the data analysis and the writing of papers take time to get things right. The challenge is fun!
What is one of the most surprising or exciting thing you have discovered about porpoises?
We have seen porpoises mating. This sounds like it is not a big deal, but given that these porpoises are among the most commonly seen marine mammal, we are the first to see them mating. The real surprise though is that we can do most of our observations from the Golden Gate Bridge.


What advice do you have for aspiring young scientists?
Prepare yourself! Prepare yourself by taking as many math and science classes as possible. Prepare yourself by learning to keep your focus, but keep your eye on other branches of science. Prepare yourself by learning to ask questions. that is the most important part of science, asking questions. Do not be afraid of the challenge. Prepare to study, work, and have fun. Science is a process.



Report your porpoise sightings! Golden Gate Cetacean Research’s page for Porpoise, Dolphins & Whale sightings in SF Bay & the NorCal coast. http://www.ggcetacean.org/Contact_Us.html



To learn more about the return of the harbor porpoise and its ecological implications, attend the Marin Science Seminar presentation “San Francisco Bay Has a Renewed Sense of Porpoise” with Jonathan Stern Ph.D. of San Francisco State University, January 29, 2014, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207. See the flyer here

Want more information? Check out the websites below.
National Wildlife Federation California 
Golden Gate Cetacean Research
National Geographic
NPR 
SF Gate Article

~Claire Watry

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A Behind the Scenes Look into the Lawrence Berkeley Lab with Polite Stewart

by Jessica Gerwin, Drake HS

What makes Polite (pronounced “po-leet”) Stewart stand out from any other person working in the Advanced Light Source department at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab? The answer is that Polite is only nineteen years old. His remarkable story begins with a young boy who has a knack for learning.


Ever since an early age, Polite’s parents could tell that he picked up new concepts at a much faster rate than other kids. After being enrolled in the Baton Rouge University at fourteen years old, Polite entered the Timbuktu program there which is designed to focus on studying advanced subjects of English and math. Polite excelled in his academic experience there and became one of the youngest graduates of the university’s 132 year history. His passion for physics can be expressed in his current work with the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab.

What is the Advanced Light Source?  “Think of it as one of the world’s most powerful microscopes. With such a tool, scientists and industry can study materials at the molecular level, such as improving the physical structure of pharmaceutical drugs to increase effectiveness, studying the degradation of materials in batteries to build energy storage devices that last longer, and identifying how the molecular structure of solar cells impedes energy conversion efficiency.” [1]

In the interview below, Polite talks about his work at the lab and provides valuable insights on how to strive reach your highest potential level of success.  His topic is highly specific so some here are some explanations of terms.

Terms:

  • Postbac – Post Baccalaureate (a college level degree)
  • ALS –  The Advanced Light Source is a specialized particle accelerator that generates bright beams of x rays for scientific research. [2]
  • How the ALS works – Electron bunches traveling nearly the speed of light, when forced into a circular path by magnets, emit bright ultraviolet and x-ray light that is directed down beam lines or tubes to different research labs. [2]
  • How Bright Is It? – The ALS produces light that is one billion times brighter than the sun. This tool offers research in materials science, biology, chemistry, physics, and the environmental sciences.  
The Berkeley Lawrence Lab

Interview:

1. What first sparked your interest in physics?
  • My interest in physics is related to kinetics (motion) Newtonian physics, and that interest was piqued because I knew it would be useful to know about force transmission in the martial arts. It also helped me gain a better understanding of mathematics, engineering, and chemistry via research and self-study; everything is connected. My true interest is bio-engineering. I plan to research neuro-muscular theory to help people improve and repair lost neuron connection.
2. What specific topic are you studying?   

  •       At the moment, I work with hard X-Ray Scattering, specifically Small-Angle(SAXS) and Wide-Angle(WAXS). X-ray scattering is an analysis technique that uses x-rays to determine the structural formation of an object. At my beam line, 7.3.3, we specialize in protein, block co-polymer, polymer, and semi-conductor based samples. Transmission SAXS/WAXS is used to view a sample’s interior; whereas, Grazing Incidence(GISAXS/GIWAXS) is used to look at the surface structure of a sample.

    X-Ray Scattering machine
    Image Credits: http://www.saxswaxs.com
    3. You are working with very sophisticated machines and ideas. Can you explain to high schoolers what the synchrotron does?
    •       A synchrotron is a huge particle accelerator that uses magnets to control electron bunches. The electron bunches are what make up the particle beam that each beam line end station (workplace) uses. The particle beam at our synchrotron is only a few micrometers wide and over 10x brighter than the sun.
    4. Why is a synchrotron important?
    •      Well, that has a very long answer. The simplest answer would be to state that the aforementioned electron bunches are necessary to irradiate samples and therefore extract data…but, let’s go deeper than that. First, a synchrotron is a just another version of the particle accelerator. So, we must determine why a particle accelerator is useful. Fundamentally, it is known that everything in this world is made up of atoms and molecules. There are smaller particles but we will only concern ourselves with the structures, for now, and not their components. Atoms and molecules are, of course, too small to see with the naked eye so, in essence, particle acceleration is our window into the world of the micro- and nano-structures.
    •       How does this work? The electron bunches are sped up to a very high constant speed and then the bunches are sent down each individual beam line’s lead tunnel. The light is then rammed into your sample. When this occurs, the electrons in the beam will then collide with atomic and molecular structure of your sample. This will cause photons (light emission from the bouncing of electrons in particle space) to be emitted. This emission is then recorded and visualized as a scattering profile. This means that a synchrotron is very useful for allowing us to see the unseen. It is one of the many windows that helps us to understand the results of biology, chemistry, and engineering as a whole.

    5. What do you hope to learn from this research?
    •       This research has only one real goal. It is to speed up the progress of science. At the synchrotron, there is something called beamtime. Beamtime is the experiment time given to each scientist who writes a proposal to use our beam line. This implies that many research groups frequent our beam line and the synchrotron itself. My job, and my employers’, is to aid in the experimentation process. This increases (research) paper output, which in turn increases the output of scientific knowledge, and eventually improves consumer life (i.e. you).

    6. Is this something that will help everyday people or businesses? Or both?
    •       The research that we do at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) is designed to help the commercial (consumer) and financial (business) sectors because helping the commercial automatically helps the financial.
    7. How long do your projects take? 
    •       I have two jobs as a student researcher on the beam line: help the users (various research groups) at the beam line and write programs/make changes to enhance, and increase the efficiency of, the beam line. User assistance only lasts as long as the given research group’s experiments. On the other hand, enhancement of the beam line will never stop.
    8. What is a typical day in the lab like?
    •       There is no such thing as a typical day, but I would say days normally start off with determining whether users are present. If they are, the whole day is generally devoted to helping them with experiment setup and execution. If there are no users, then the morning might be spent cleaning the beam line and the remaining afternoon would be devoted to programming.
    9. Where do you see yourself going?
    •       Currently, I see myself working for another year. Hopefully, it will be with Lawrence Berkeley Lab in the life sciences department. If not, I will apply to other labs and try to get a biological position. In the future, I would like to get a Masters in Bio-Engineering, possibly from Berkeley, and then go overseas to get my PH.D. and do my post-doc in Japan.
    10. What do you recommend high school students do to get involved in research?
    •       This is a difficult question. The first step is to cultivate and maintain a self-driving spirit and will. From a different take, I’m saying that, first and foremost, the level to which you want to learn determines how much you learn. Effort and excellence are proportional; even you don’t see the results immediately.
    •       Now that effort has been determined as the essential element, let us discuss the limiting factor: resources. Resources (lab equipment and opportunities) are hard to acquire and difficult to locate. However, there is a hack…and then there’s a cheat code. I know they sound the same but they most certainly are not. The cheat code are summer programs. Look up as many as you can, find the ones that interest you, and apply with all the initiative you can possibly muster.
    •       Finally, the hack is the ability to network. How do you develop this hack? Talk to anyone and everyone who gives off a positive light. In school, on the street, in the store, at home, and especially at a place you would love to work at in the future. The key to your success is your voice and your ability to use it. When you see a person who could benefit you, address him/her, introduce yourself, and begin to discuss how you could help them and they can help you. Only practice can make you adept at communication, but once you can talk with poise and demonstrate mental rigor…there will be no limiting you or the passion which you hold in your heart.

        References:

       [1] The Collective Energy.  “Part 2: The Mad Scientists at the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories”  Sept 23, 2013. <http://theenergycollective.com/mstepp/277291/pt-2-mad-scientists-department-energy-s-national-laboratories>.

       [2] “Advanced Light Source.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 July 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Light_Source>.   

        The Advanced Light Source – A Tool for Solving the Mysteries of Materials.” Advanced Light Source. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/>. 

        Further Reading:

        Learn more about Polite by clicking on the links below.
        What is the Berkeley Lawrence Lab all about? To learn more about getting involved, click here.

       Click here to see an interactive map of the Lawrence Berkeley Lab!
       See the Advanced Light Source Quick Facts in a pdf here.
       
       See the flyer for Polite’s upcoming presentation here.

       – Jessica Gerwin

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    Public Health Plays More Roles In Your Life Than You May Think

    by Jessica Gerwin, Drake HS

    When you hear the term public health, ideas that may come to mind might be about immunizations or food recalls. However, many of us don’t realize how big of a role public health plays in our everyday lives.  From the faucets that we fill our drinking cups with to the seat belts that we wear in our cars, almost all aspects of our well being relate to Public Health in some way. On October 16th, 2013 Julie Pettijohn did an exemplary job of explaining the topic of public health and talked about what being in the field really involves. As an industrial hygienist, a typical work day for Julie is not just filling out paperwork in an office. Wearing a full outfit of protective gear, Julie often goes to a site to detect possible lead amounts in a work environment. Her job keeps us safe by enforcing the proper health requirements. The work and service of people like Julie in the public health field may often be taken for granted. Nevertheless, by attending the seminar many of us learned that being in the field is not just a job, it is establishing safe and healthy ways of life. I had the honor of asking Julie some questions about both herself and her field. Our interview is below.


    1.) I’d like to learn a little about you. What made you decide to go into biology and then public health?


            I have been interested in science since junior high (now called middle school). I had a fantastic physical science teacher that really brought science to life for me. His teaching was unconventional, and his class time was spent mostly applying scientific principles through experiments instead of reading a text book. I was also a child of parents that went to community college while my sibling and I were kids. My parents met a fantastic professor that later became our good family friend. He was a Native American expert and professor of astronomy and geology. We would spend evenings at his home looking through his telescope and I often attended his college geology field trips along with my parents. While in college, I first majored in biological sciences and completed internships at the local community health center; I was thinking of going to medical school after graduation. I was fortunate to attend UC Santa Barbara, a university that is well known for aquatic biology coursework. I switched majors midway through college from biological sciences to aquatic biology and graduated with a degree in this major. This was done to pursue my due to my deep love of the ocean. My first ‘real’ job was with a state department, where I was a contractor working on public health issues related to fish contamination. My mentors at that position encouraged me to get a Master’s Degree in public health, where I could continue to learn about issues related to health, but also environmental issues, thus combining two of my interests (health and the environment).

    2.)  I think that public health and public policy are difficult subjects for teenagers to relate to. Can you explain the role of public health in Marin County?


            I work at the state level, so I’m not as knowledgeable about public health issues in Marin County. However, the County Public Health Department provides a number of direct services to Marin residents and the one that I am most familiar with is Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention. County public health nurses and environmental health specialists conduct home visits where children have elevated blood lead levels, putting them at lifelong risk for learning and behavioral problems. The purpose of these site visits is to determine possible sources of the lead in the child’s environment, so that they can be reduced or eliminated.. See http://www.marinhhs.org/content/public-health-updates for some public health updates for Marin. My talk will include asking teens questions, and by the responses that I anticipate, I’m pretty sure that most of them know quite a bit about public health already, but may not automatically associate this knowledge with the field of public health.
    3.)  Can you talk a little bit about the sampling equipment you are bringing? What are you sampling for? What personal protective equipment are you bringing?

            I’m bringing with me air monitoring equipment. I use the air monitoring equipment to measure lead in workplace air to assess if workers are being excessively exposed above legal limits and to make recommendations on lead safety. I’m also bringing lead check swabs which are used for immediately assessing the presence of lead surface contamination or the presence of lead in paint. I’ll be demonstrating the use of these during the talk. I’ll also be bringing wipe sampling equipment that can be used for quantitatively determining the amount of lead (or other metals) on surfaces in workplaces, homes, and other places of interest. As for personal protective equipment, I’ll be bringing respiratory protection used for reducing the amount of a chemical of concern (like lead) that may breathed in by workers in workplace air. I’ll also be showing tyvek coveralls which are worn in many industries to keep lead (also other contaminants) from contaminating your street clothes while working. I’ll be bringing a hard hat, gloves, and a traffic safety vest too.
    4.)  What are a few examples global climate change that are impacting Marin County?

            Extremes in weather, flooding, and water quality issues.
    5). What do you consider to be the largest public health issue involving teens in Marin County?

            This is a great question. From my perspective, public health issues that affect Marin teens are wellness and injury prevention. What I mean by this is that teens should be thinking about personal physical fitness and nutrition. Many teens in our Country are unfortunately overweight putting them at risk for lifelong health issues, particularly as they age (heart disease, diabetes, etc.). In addition, teens are often new and inexperienced drivers, new to employment outside the home, may become sexually active for the first time and may have peer pressure to drink alcohol or take illegal substances. As a result, teens are at greater risk for accidents, particularly on the road, in the workplace, and may be exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, which if left untreated, can have serious health consequences. Besides this, a goal of my talk is to get teens to also think about global climate change and things that they can do to help.
    6.)  What steps can our community take to better ourselves on these issues?

    Get informed and get involved in the issues, and take care of your health to prevent or reduce future injury or illness.
    7.)  Is there anything else that you’ll be talking about?

                  The field of industrial hygiene, the program that I work for (Occupational Lead Poisoning Prevention Program of the California Department of Public Health), how lead impacts your health, where lead is found in various industries, and recent work by CDPH on making recommendations to reduce the allowable levels of lead in workplaces, which would be a major change in public health policy for lead workplaces. Also, I’ll briefly cover some career opportunities in public health.

    Julie is one of the many people that work in the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). If you are interested in learning more about these fields or just science in general, attending a Marin Science Seminar can be a great way to expose yourself to new topics and learn about a few different environments. Come check out our next seminar on October 23rd “Making Medicine Safer – Drugs, Devices, Software and More” presented by Dr. Wallace. The seminar will take place at Terra Linda High School in Room 207 so come check it out!

    October is Nova’s “Innovation Month”. You can learn more about different seminars that are taking place by clicking on the link below.

    -Jessica Gerwin

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