Molly Bentley
Executive Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science
510-644-2669
bigpicturescience@seti.org
Molly oversees the production of Big Picture Science. She’s worked in public radio for 20 years, half of that as a science journalist at BBC Science Radio, including World Service, Radio 4 and Science/Nature Online. She has also written for New Scientist. She teaches a course on writing for radio and producing podcasts at the University of California, Santa Cruz Science Writing Program.
She’s been an invited participant to a number of workshops about helping scientists communicate more effectively with science journalists, including: the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, Switzer Environmental Fellowship workshop, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Science Communication Workshop, sponsored by the Metcalf Institute and funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
She attended M.I.T.’s Knight Science Journalism workshops in 2007 and 2010. Her radio career began when she wandered into Wisconsin Public Radio one day and landed a job answering the phones for the early-morning call-in show, then graduated on to assistant producer of the national radio magazine, To the Best of Our Knowledge.
Seth ShostakHost and Producer, Big Picture Science
Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute
650-961-6633
bigpicturescience@seti.org
Seth is the Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute, in Mountain View, California. He has an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University, and a doctorate in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology. For much of his career, Seth conducted radio astronomy research on galaxies, and has published approximately fifty papers in professional journals. He also founded and ran a company producing computer animation for TV.
Seth has written several hundred popular magazine and Web articles on various topics in astronomy, technology, film and television. He has edited and contributed to a half dozen books. His first popular tome, “Sharing the Universe: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life” appeared in 1998. He has also authored “Life in the Universe” (2006, 2nd edition, textbook, with Jeff Bennett) and “Cosmic Company” (2003, with Alex Barnett). His most recent book is “Confessions of an Alien Hunter” (2009).
Gary NiederhoffProducer, Big Picture Science
650-960-4596
bigpicturescience@seti.org
Gary Niederhoff is a member of a group of visitors from Vega who are tired of being referred to as “vegans” (the preferred term is “Vegamatic”).
Gary joined the staff of Big Picture Science in order to learn more about both the human understanding of science and the basics of pun construction. Seth and Molly have learned that he will also edit audio, write blog posts, and book guests in exchange for coffee and M&M’s. His voice is frequently heard on the show, sometimes depicting historical figures such as Galileo, Einstein, and Archimedes, and other times portraying such lovable characters as ‘spacey lawyer’, ‘Dan the computer’, and ‘egg’. He also occasionally takes to the streets of Mountain View to ask complete strangers about their beliefs and opinions of the show’s topic of the week, and you may have even heard him surreptitiously providing information about how you can join TeamSETI.
Gary has worked in community radio in the bay area for nearly 20 years, producing on-air programs as well as administering fund raising activities and station events. He spends his spare time communicating telepathically with his cats, from which he’s learned that birds are very interesting and that tuna is delicious.
Barbara VanceProduction Assistant, Big Picture Science
650-960-4531
bigpicturescience@seti.org
Barbara is still wondering how she ended up with these lunatics.
She obtained her Masters degree in Library Science a very long time ago and spent many years in many roles in public libraries and as a product manager for a library automation company.
At the SETI Institute, she previously worked in the fundraising department, and now works in the Grants office in addition to her post-production, station liaison, and marketing duties with Big Picture Science. Once Seth, Molly, and Gary provide the finished show, Barbara makes sure it gets out to our listeners.
Jay WeilerVolunteer, Big Picture Science
bigpicturescience@seti.org
Tanya LewisIntern, Big Picture Science
bigpicturescience@seti.org
Tanya is on short-term loan from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she is a graduate student in the Science Communication Program. She comes from a background in biomedical engineering and neuroscience, but started down the dark path of science journalism after being overcome by a passion for communicating science to the public.
She has previously written for the Santa Cruz Sentinel and the Stanford Medical Center, and has freelanced for ScienceNOW and BioTechniques. This is her first foray into radio, but they say even the first time is addicting.
At Big Picture Science, she does audio editing, helps book guests for the show, writes promo content, and provides occasional cameo talent (read: ineptitude). She hopes you live long and prosper.
