Matthew Clapham
Posted on May 21st, 2021
Professor and Department Chair, Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz
Like so many kids Matthew loved dinosaurs when he was growing up in Vancouver, B.C. It wasn’t a direct route from “dinos” to his current career, though. He was lucky enough to take a geology class in the 12th grade and discovered he was fascinated by fossils and rocks and geology. And, like many future paleontologists, Matthew enjoyed the outdoors, boy scouts and hiking. In college he liked chemistry and geology but wasn’t thinking paleontology until he took a class in it and thought: “I can do this!”
For all of you who always dreamed of working in an aquarium taking care of the animals, Megan Olhasso gives us a solid picture of what that looks like.
Dr. Edie Widder is one of the best known marine biologists in this country and a hero of ours. When we asked her how she got into science, Edie said, “all school taught me to do was daydream.” Luckily, when she was 11 she traveled the world with her mathematician parents while her dad was on sabbatical and that opened up a world of possibilities for Edie.
Dr. Cristina Diaz has become famous in marine science circles for being the “sponge scientist” in the 
"When I travel to annelid biology conferences around the world, there is usually someone who asks to take a selfie with me so that they can show their students back home that they met the Worm Woman from the Shape of Life Annelid episode!"
Senior Education and Research Specialist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute