ASU West Blog #2- Interview with Faculty, Dr. Becky Ball

Hello all! Our STEM-TRAIN mentors have asked each of us to submit interview questions to a (beloved) faculty member for insight on the West campus experience. I chose to interview Dr. Becky Ball. She is a soil and senior sustainability scientist whose work focuses on soil biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology.

I have had the great pleasure and luck to work with Dr. Ball, first as a research assistant and then as an NCUIRE Scholar in her laboratory. You can check out more about her and her research here: BallASUBio and on her official blog at BallPolarSoilsBlog. You can also check out some of my previous Blogspots for info on the research projects I did in her lab.

When you come to West, you will undoubtedly have some classes with Dr. Ball. My advice to you? Don't miss any of her classes. They are chock full of important information that WILL be on the exams! But not to worry...as long as you go to class and do the homework, you WILL be successful in her courses. Plus, Dr. Ball is always available to give extra help via e-mail & office hours, and she often stays after class to answer questions. (Also plus, as you'll see below, she has a great sense of humor.)

I know I've mentioned it before, but I will mention it again: One of the best things about West is how accessible and committed to student success the instructors are. Great instructors are the rule, not the exception, here.

Without further blabbering, here's my short interview. Please enjoy.

Paul- What do you like best/worst about being a professor?

Becky Ball- Best: Variety in my days. I decide what I do when I come in to work, and I rarely do the same thing every day. I have a lot of independence (as long as I make sure I meet my responsibilities). I also get to travel a lot and interact with a lot of different types of people. I also like that I get a balance between teaching and research. I like working with students, but I also like going out into the field to explore and ask questions.

Worst: Grading papers and exams. Soooooo monotonous. Unfortunately I can’t assign grades in a class without it.

Why did you decide to enter your field?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a veterinarian. (Because little girls who like animals grow up to be vets… it’s the only job I knew you could do with critters.) (Ed. note: Dr. Ball is often sardonic. This is an example.) In high school I read a book written by a field biologist who studied tigers in the wild. I decided that I much preferred the idea of studying animals in the wild than sick animals in a clinic with pesky human owners. So I went to college for field biology. I realized that to lead research programs, you need a PhD, so I looked at graduate programs. I had a hard time choosing what I wanted to do, because I liked everything (mammals, insects, geology, chemistry, botany… I liked it all!). I ended up learning about biogeochemistry, which really does use all of those different fields of science. I liked it because I didn’t have to choose just one, but instead get to study the big picture. I learned in grad school that I liked working with students, so I became a professor in biogeochemistry.

What is the most surprising thing about your field to you?

Most people don’t realize the great diversity of science jobs that exist. If you ask kids what you can do with science as a career, they’ll probably tell you “science teacher” or “scientist”. Probably they’re thinking of Beaker from the Muppet Show: a guy with a lab coat, a pocket protector, and no social skills. But there are so many different types of scientists, and way more diversity in jobs than just working in a lab with colored liquid in flasks. If you had told 10-year-old me that one day I’d be studying soil ecology in Antarctica, I would’ve probably peed my pants. I had no clue you could do things like that for a job.

Image credit: The Muppets Facebook. Retrieved:  October 27, 2018.