I was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area. After years away in Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle, I am once again living in the Nation's capital. When I'm not working very, very hard in the Office of Science Education, I am wrangling my three young children, riding and racing my four bikes, walking my dog, and generally trying to pay attention to what is going on. I especially try to pay attention to that wonderful woman who helps me to keep it all together--my wife, Anna.

I did my graduate work in solid state chemistry, but somehow wound up doing research on the development of the nervous system, heart, and blood vessels. These days I am studying stem cell function in people with diabetes. Taking a break from my lab and teaching at the University of Iowa, I am "on-loan" to the NIH for two years to work in the Office of Science Education. I try to keep up on the newest and coole st scientific breakthroughs and plan to focus most of my blog posts on these issues, but you will also see posts about presidents and other public figures who were fascinated by or supportive of science. I am a card-carrying tree-hugger and love to spend time in the mountains hiking or skiing. When there are no mountains to be found, I make do with running, swimming, or playing whatever team sport is available.

I hail from New England where much too long ago, I completed my college and graduate studies. I have worked in Washington for the last 25 years where I have plied my public policy trade in several venues, most recently for seven years at the NIH Office of Science Education. I follow education policy issues, such as the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, and the science education actions of the House and Senate Education Committees. In my time off-the-clock, you may often find me perched on a stool at one of several piano lounges in the Northern Virginia area listening and lending my voice to the sounds of the talented musicians. I'm the father of two male cats--one a handsome bluepoint, talkative Tonkinese, and the other--an adorable black and white Scottish Fold. My family of three lives in Arlington, Virginia.

I grew up in small towns in the northeast – outside New York City, Philadelphia, and Hartford. After a stint in North Carolina for graduate school in zoology and in Tennessee for an editing job at a national lab, I migrated in 1986 to Silver Spring, Maryland, with my new husband, Larry. The D.C. area is a great place for science editors and writers to live because we get to dive into all sorts of projects and topics in government and nonprofit agencies. Information: that’s my favorite subject! For the past 10 years, I’ve been working in the Office of Science Education, where I am renowned for amassing a vast archive of extremely important information. When I’m not here, I try to keep up with my family, including three grown sons and two little dogs, volunteer activities, and tra ining for mini-tr iathlons.

In my first life, I was a high school biology teacher. In my second life, I was an instructional specialist working on a film series and coordinating a student and teacher internship at NIH. In this third life, I am still doing what I love: communicating about science education. Cooking for family and friends has been a part of all three lives.

This is my second year as a summer intern at OSE. I do a little bit of everything, from conducting literature reviews on science education policy to assisting in editing the new curriculum supplement on bioethics that will available this fall. During the school year, I can be found at Saint Mary’s College of Maryland , where I'm majoring in biology and minoring in education and, potentially, French. While I’m there, I teach fifth graders about the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay in the Saint Mary’s River Project so that they can make informed decisions about things that affect their environment. It's good experience for me because I plan to become a high school biology teacher. This year, I'll also be the president of the Tolkien Society, a science fiction and fantasy club, on campus. I enjoy books, especially Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles \ and Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo , long walks in the woods, and sharing cool tidbits about plants. Did you know that there's evidence of some genetic exchange between the cells from different species in grafted plants

Hi, I’m Cynthia. I worked in NIH laboratories for some 20 years before deciding to pursue my passion for writing. At that point, I begged the Office of Science Educat i o n ’ s director to take me on as a writer/editor and, thankfully, he did! Since then, my writing passion has expanded to all aspects of the communications field. Outside the office, I desperately try to balance my life between caring for my three children, house, yard, two dogs and pursuing my many hobbies. I love music and enjoy playing the piano, painting, and crocheting. In my blog photo, I am participating in a community-wide art project, another favorite pastime.

Hello all. I'm Debbie. I’m a team leader, program manager, and Web site manager in the Office of Science Education (OSE). I’ve worked here at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 28 years now. I’m practically a dinosaur! It has been a great experience, and I have worn many “hats” throughout my years here at the NIH. In my early years, I worked as a microbiologist. After 11 years of doing research, I wanted to try something totally different. I made the huge transition from lab bench to office job where I was fortunate to have played an important role in the public review and oversight of the first 350 human gene transfer clinical trials conducted in the United States. These days, I am enjoying a totally different role planning and managing a wide range of science education programs and resources, such as the LifeWorks® career exploration Web site, NIH SciEd Twitter page, Science in the Cinema, the OSE Web site and this blog. Imagine – I actually get to watch movies as part of my job. Does it get any better than that? Above all else, I enjoy my role as wife to my wonderful husband, Jim, and as mother of our four amazing adult children. We all enjoy playing with our two dogs, Surry and BJ.  When I have some free time, I love to scrapbook my family’s memories and always enjoy reading a good book.

Here is the second love of my life, “Summer” (a champion West Highland White Terrier).  Summer comes right behind Bonnie’s first love, her husband.  Bonnie has been at the NIH for many years, working in personnel, management analysis, communications, and finally science policy and science education.  She especially enjoyed two stints at the White House, first with the Clinton Administration, and then the Bush (II) Administration.  These days, her work focuses on promotion of the NIH Curriculum Supplement Series and the Diabetes-based Education in Tribal Schools K-12 curriculum project.  Bonnie spends free time at the fitness center, playing bridge, reading (mostly mystery novels), and traveling.  Because of her love of “Westie s”, she is active in the Chesapeake Bay West Highland Terrier Club and in Maryland Westie Rescue.

I’m looking out the window of my 19th-century South Dartmouth, Mass., bungalow at a red raspberry patch that’s home to a flock of sparrows and a family of Eastern jackrabbits. Sometimes, at 4:30 a.m. as I start my work day, a hungry-looking coyote jogs past and looks up at my lighted window. Surprisingly the jackrabbits have been safe here for a couple of years!

People say my blog needs to include a bio. I’m a writer, but this is hard! My unofficial motto, after all, is, “You can get a lot done if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

Do I tell you about my travels up and down the East Coast to ply my trade: science policy communication? About coordinating a group of eminent scientists who worked to convince Congress in the 1970s and ’80s of the need for federal support for health-science research? Would you be interested to learn that back in the Dark Ages – 1989 – I founded a science policy news and information service, Washington Fax? That I’ve been a science policy reporter and editor, a radio show host, and a TV writer and producer? No, none of that is why you’d want to read my blog.

Except. It’s been my good fortune to meet and then bring together many amazing people – scientists and policy makers and educators and others – and I’m bursting with ideas and issues that I’d like to discuss with you.