Writing is always a consistent theme in the journey of any PhD. For Kali Wallace, while she always had a love of making up stories, her PhD required her to use the facts to tell stories about the movement of tectonic plates. Today Kali is doing what she loves, making up stories. The science stuff is important too, but Kali has found her place in the world by writing science fiction books and using her science knowledge to provide some reality while making her work compelling. http://www.kaliwallace.com

The PhD journey of Dr. Lisa Munro is more of a journey journey, not so much the destination if the destination was really known at the time the journey began and as the journey continued the destination wasn’t really ever known even today as the journey continues with the unknowing knowledge of the importance of living in the moment. She is going to hate that adjectively ridiculously long run-on sentence. http://www.lisamunro.net

Even before earning his PhD, Stephen Rosen had quite a journey. After college and masters degree he found himself working on the front lines of the Cold War, building nuclear bombs. His PhD came later and led him to become part of the legendary Hudson Institute and part of a group of BIG thinkers pondering the greater questions of mankind entering the nuclear age. His journey took a turn as he discovered an aptitude for helping people better define themselves and their career focus.

Efra Rivera Serrano began his PhD journey very simply, he went to college in order to escape the poverty of rural Puerto Rico.  He fell in love with biology after his college classes built upon his favorite subjects in high school. The goal moved to PhD when he discovered a living could be had by being curious and asking questions. Efra then discovered a love for writing and science communications. Now he is taking all this and giving to his community of unique scientist and opportunity to share their stories. 

Efra's Unique Scientist project https://uniquescientists.com

Efra on Twitter - https://twitter.com/nakedcapsid

You could say the the PhD journey for Dr. Sam Benz began as a kid. His father was a professor at a seminary in Iowa, studying The Old Testament and Greek, and Sam found himself at archeological dig sites, living overseas, and being exposed to the greater world around him. Mix that with a love of building things, math, and a general curiosity of the world, the foundation was built for Sam to learn how to ask the questions that would lead to his PhD. Sam has continued to ask questions as he explores the world of quantum physics and is part of a group of scientist looking to prepare humanity for the next great leap.

Link to NIST article on measurement system

McDonald-Nobel Laureate vs Grad Stud-PToday 8-01

You might think a PhD built upon earthquakes and other natural disasters would be all science and stuff; not the case with Dr. Sara McBride. This journey begins with finding a love of writing and of far away places, putting those skills to work serving communities facing threats from Mother Nature and then traveling around the world chasing the disasters and helping communities recover.  For Sara the beginning of the PhD comes when her adopted hometown is the center of an  immense disaster. It is here she comes to grips with the realization;  as good as she is as a communicator she needed to do more to ensure her writing was hitting its mark. 

Visit Sara on Twitter - https://twitter.com/DisastrousComms

Samer Hijazi can point to a Japanese cartoon for being the inspiration for his pursuit of a PhD in Electrical Engineering. The cartoon was about a robot that understood what he was being told, but didn’t speak, but serves the greater good. This is the starting line for a love of technology and inspired a desire to build robots. Eventually the path leads to improvements to wireless communication networks and finally to a career focused on improving the ability for computers to better understand what people are really talking about.