In this segment, McAnulty and Green talk about their experiences with the program, and why connecting scientists with students is more important than ever. One of the participants in the program (and also someone with a really cool job) is Emily Green, who works in an ant lab at the University of Connecticut. state, and in more than a dozen countries around the world. The program she founded, called Skype a Scientist, has already connected scientists to over 800 classrooms in nearly every U.S. Sarah McAnulty, a biologist who studies the microbiomes of squid at the University of Connecticut, says she wanted to change that stereotype by introducing schoolkids around the world to real, working scientists using videoconferencing tools like Skype and Google hangouts. But the way scientists often appear in popular culture is more akin to Einstein: older and male, with wild hair, and perhaps donning a white lab coat.

Scientists do incredibly cool things on the job: They simulate Mars missions on Hawaiian volcanoes, track polar bears from helicopters, and investigate the unusual fluid properties of substances like ketchup or queso.

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