This page contains two short video fragments, a ten-minute audio fragment of an interview with Robyn and several audio clips of half a minute to five minutes. (All audio and video files are hosted on YouTube, and streamed to this web page.) Resources mentioned in the interview are also accessible from this page.
The interview took place on two days in September 2010, via Skype, resulting in
35 minutes of audio material and some video material.
Robyn Hannigan is a full professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston (UMass Boston) and chair
of Environmental, Earth and Ocean Sciences there. Robyn would love to have more graduate students from Europe, so if you're about to finish your Bachelor's or Master's, check out Robyn's web page.
Fragment 1: Short video clip
Sadly, technology let us down a few times while we did this interview and in fact, we had to do it twice. We lost
video at times, and we also lost the recording facility at times, but it all worked out very nicely in the end.
Fragment 2: Ten-minute sound clip
This is the ten-minute standalone sound clip of my interview with Robyn Hannigan.
Fragment 3: Robyn Hannigan on gaming
I asked Robyn to talk about the importance of gaming in science, and about epic wins as in Jane McGonigal's definition (see this
TED Talk) (as opposed to the definition
used in the
above video) and on Robyn's career when seen in that light:
I asked Robyn to describe her office, and talk about which items were characteristically hers.
I first met Robyn in 1998 and I would say that having an adopted pet snake called Simon in her office is quite typically
Robyn. Robyn loved all sorts of animals, including dogs and parrots.
Fragment 5: Robyn Hannigan on becoming a geochemist
In the video clip as well as in the sound clip from two days before, Robyn explains how she became a geochemist instead of a musician.
Fragment 6: Robyn Hannigan on becoming an entrepreneur
Robyn Hannigan is not just a university professor, she is also involved in several businesses. I figured that this would
be very interesting to hear more about for students who dream of becoming a future Craig Venter or Steve Jobs, or... Robyn Hannigan. There is more material on the web, for example about Robyn Hannigan and the ouch-free lead test for kids (lead poisoning).
Fragment 7: Robyn Hannigan's workday
What does her workday as a department chair look like, I asked her.
Fragment 8: Robyn Hannigan on family life
Robyn is a brand-new mother and I asked her how she combines that with her job.
Fragment 9: Robyn Hannigan on stealing road signs
Now we're getting into real geology! Stealing road signs is a tradition among geology students in many countries and has landed a few in a police cell for a night.
I asked Robyn whether American students entertain themselves similarly while on fieldwork.
Fragment 10: Robyn Hannigan about medical geology
I asked Robyn Hannigan to explain what medical geology is.
Fragment 11: Robyn Hannigan about life in general
Hear what she has to say about expectations and experiences.
She also recommends the book Diversity and the Future of the U.S. Environmental Movement,
published by Yale University Press.
She contributed a chapter to it, which you can
download for free.
or read my article on the use of
