At work, I get to set up chemistry demonstrations for the college classes. It's exciting seeing how chemicals react--sometimes with color changes, or producing smoke, or exploding. Science, especially biology, is fascinating to me because it helps to explain many different aspects of our lives. I will be going to medical school in January where I will get to learn about how the human body works, and how to fix it when it doesn't work so well.

Particle Physics, which is the study of the way particles interact and what happens when they collide.

"I got into physics because I always loved science in school and decided that physics was the most interesting."

She conducts research in the area of Cosmology, trying to understand the origins and evolution of the universe and its structure as well as understanding what we are made from fundamentally.

She got into science with her curiosity about the world around her, combined with a brilliant father with a spectacular library at home. "That, and I am good at math!"

www.cosmicvariance.com

Amy Petros is a bioinorganic chemist. The BIO is for biological, the INORGANIC means (in this case) metals. In the lab, she designs models (mini versions) of enzymes (proteins that speed up a reaction) that have metals. "What got me into science was the problem-solving: everything had an answer, and it made sense. I love using my brain to solve the mysteries in the laboratory."

I am an experimental physicist, which means that I help design and build experiments that we use to test the scientific theories we have, or to learn about the universe to make new theories.  I study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is microwave light that comes to us from just after the Big Bang, the origin of the universe. This light tells us about what the universe was like in the very first seconds of its existence, and also how the universe came to be as it is now.

I am interesed in the active sites of metalloenzymes, single metal atoms buried in large proteins that do very important chemistry in the biosphere, like turn sunlight into energy and CO2 into O2 that we can breath. I study them by making small molecules that mimick the environment of these very special metal atoms so we can learn about how this amazing chemistry happens. I first become interested in chemistry in highschool, I enjoyed the challenges of such a tuff and interesting class. http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/phenom.htm

I am studying Conservation Biology. I'm interested in zoos as conservation education institutions. My main interest now is something called "behavioral enrichment". Keepers provide captive animals with enrichment items (lots of toys!) which elicit natural behaviors and keep the animals interested in their exhibits. I'm interested in behavioral studies of animals in response to the enrichment and to the public interaction and education through this concept. Other girls in my department have participated or will be starting work on field projects all over the world; Egypt, Africa, Madagascar, Indonesia, and even right here in the Bronx. There are thousands of plants, animals, and ecosystems waiting to be studied! [Full Photo]

My favorite websites for conservation science:
www.wwf.org
www.wcs.org

I study very very small wires called carbon nanotubes. More precisely, I am interested in how electrons in these wires behave when we shine laser light on them.
I first became interested in chemistry in middle school when we started learning about small, abstract things (like atoms and molecules) that we can't see with our eyes. One of the reasons why physical chemistry is fun is because we get to work with complicated instruments (lots of knobs!!) and powerful lasers.

I am a theoretical physical chemist; my field is in the intersection of math, physics and chemistry.  I was drawn into chemistry because I was fascinated by the idea that math can be used to describe the behavior of atoms and subatomic particles, such as electrons.  We cannot see or interact with this underlying structure of our universe (and ourselves!), but using mathematical models, we can get a picture of what is happening, and use it to make predictions that are useful to experimentalists.   I work to develop these mathematical models of physical systems at the atomic/molecular level, sometimes testing the models by writing computer simulations.

I study a broad form of ecology - national parks. I study why we need them, how they work, what animals they protect, and how we can use them better. I've studied them mostly in Africa, but there are national parks all over the world. I got interested in biology in high school because I had an awesome teacher who showed me how cool science is and how many different things you can use it for. [Full Photo]

My favorite science website is the Wildlife Conservation Society - www.wcs.org

I use a laser to look at very small regions- millionths of a millimeter.
I got into physics because I liked to take things apart when I was younger and figure out how they worked.

"I was a Star Trek nerd and read The Physics of Star Trek , it got me interested in black holes and cosmology. And, there is always the fame, glory, and money that comes with a physics career.... Right...."

She studies cosmology, the study of the large-scale structure of the universe. What are the constituents (parts) of the universe? What is this weird thing called "dark energy" that is accelerating the expansion of the universe?

"I always liked solving puzzles and finding patterns in things. I also liked thinking about space, and wondering about the origin of the universe."

She makes molecules that glow when they undergo a chemical change. We constantly have reactions taking place in our bodies. We use isolated cells to test our molecules for chemical reactions in the cell. If the cells glow, we know a specific chemical reaction is taking place in the cell.

"It is fun to do something that no one else has ever done. Every week I make a new molecule that has never been made."

I study Barium Titanate Nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are on the order of 0.000000001 meters large. I use an instrument called an Electrostatic Force Microscope to look at the nanoparticles and measure their charge.
I enjoy being a chemist because it gives me a chance to be creative and to do something that might benefit society.

I study a special group of magnets, that are used to store information files (like your homework!) inside a computer. By making these tiny magnets into different shapes and mixing in small amounts of other atoms, I can control how quickly a computer can store files inside its harddrive.

My favorite part about being a scientist is that I can build things that will help people in some way. Whether its making a computer run faster, or curing cancer, scientists really make the world work!

Check out this website for some fun science project ideas! http://www.kidwizard.com/spells.asp

Sarah studies organometallic chemistry which is at the intersection of organic chemistry (study of molecules with carbon atoms) and inorganic chemistry (study of metal compounds). In the lab, she makes organometallic molecules and studies them to find out how they react.
I love being able to be creative. Every day I have the chance to make molecules and then find ways to understand how they interact and react with one another.

I study paleontology at American Museum of Natural History, and I focus on meat-eating dinosaurs from China and Mongolia and how they evolved into birds. I also study the microscopic structure of the enamel on dinosaur teeth using an electron microscope. As part of my work, I have gone on dinosaur digs to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and the prairies of Wyoming. I also go to China to look at dinosaur specimens that farmers have dug up in their backyards. I have always loved learning about the world around us, and my mom usually bought me science books instead of storybooks, so becoming a scientist was something I always wanted to do.
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The main area of my research is solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (SS NMR) characterization of paramagnetic proteins.

My research focuses on cytochrome P450s, which are one of the most important classes of enzymes in drug metabolism. They catalyze most of the drugs in use today, and development of new ones greatly depends on understanding of their function and structure. I study the orientation and motion of substrates in an enzyme pocket of cytochrome P450 BM-3. I also investigate the substrate binding and changes in the enzyme structure during the catalytic cycle using NMR methods.

In addition to protein work, I implement SS NMR to study magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents, and better understand their relaxation properties and function.

I work on the powerhouses of the cell, the mighy mitochondria. Although they are very tiny, mitochondria are responsible for producing energy to fuel our daily activities. Whether you are walking, running, dancing, or reading this, your mitochondria are hard at work keeping up with your energy requirements. Some mitochondria have abnormal DNA which can lead to disease. I am trying to develop a way to manipulate the mitochondrial DNA within cells so we can better understand these diseases, and hopefully, find a cure.

I don't really have a favorite science-related website but the one I use most often (boring, I know) is PubMed,