Joey Pasterski, Ph.D., is not your traditional scientist. He took piano and voice and avoided science at all costs until he went back to school in his later twenties. Today Pasterski is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow researching laser desorption mass spectrometry for the Dragonfly mission, which will land a rotorcraft on various locations on Titan, Saturn’s moon. During this conversation, Pasterski talks to host Michael Holtz about why studying Titan is important, how the moon is like a bizarro earth, and how the trajectory of his life changed when he discovered a love for science. Check it out! To learn more about the NASA Postdoctoral Program, visit https://npp.orau.org/.
Michael Holtz, APR, MPRCA, is a senior communications and marketing specialist for ORAU, a government contractor based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In his role he serves as the host of Further Together: The ORAU Podcast. He is also a content creator for orau.org and ORAU Story, the company's annual report. He also manages media relations activities for the organization. Outside of work, Michael is a cancer activist, leaning into his experience as a 12-year survivor of Stage 3B rectal cancer. Michael is a volunteer for Man Up to Cancer, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Fight Colorectal Cancer and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship. Michael lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with his lovely wife, Sarah, and their rescue dog, a golden bassett named Marley.
