We asked each of our scientists to give us their thoughts on their professions and what they think the future holds for humanity.

What would you recommend for students wanting to pursue a similar career?
I would recommend two things:

First, that students not specialize too early during their undergraduate studies. During one's undergraduate studies, the opportunities for taking a great diversity of courses and exploring a wide range of interests is as great as it will ever be.

Second, that students get involved with a research laboratory as early as possible during their undergraduate career. If a particular realm of science is particularly fascinating to you, seek out professors at your university doing that kind of work and try to get involved with a research project so that you can get first hand experience of what it's really like to do the science.

What do you like best about your profession?
The aspects of my profession that I like the best are that it is progressive and that it is largely self directed. The research projects are always moving forward, or progressing, as testing one hypothesis usually yields many more questions and subsequent hypotheses that can then be tested. I get to decide which hypotheses will be studied (depending on funding, of course), as well as how those hypotheses will be studied. Because of these two factors, the intellectual challenge of what I do never diminishes.

What makes you most fearful for the future?
What makes me the most fearful is how increasing human populations will continue to impact the planet. It is hard to imagine how any political leader will ever be able to place the needs of a human food source (such as an over-fished fishery) above the needs of the members of their constituency. I am also fearful about societies that are formed around fundamentalist ideologies. These ideologies can hinder critical thinking and objective education and can prevent people from making important changes in how we view the nature of humanity and Earth.

What makes you most hopeful for the future?
What makes me the most hopeful is that the youth of today are better connected to the world than ever before and are hopefully better educated on average. I believe that the key to success of the future of human society and environmental stewardship is increasing education on a global level.