#428 – A Career in the Sciences, with Dr. Ray Wheeler

What does it take to pursue a lifelong career in science, and what unexpected paths might lead there? In this episode, Dr. Ray Wheeler reflects on his 36-year career as a senior scientist and plant physiologist at NASA, where he helped pioneer research in growing plants for space travel. From Boy Scouts to botany to breakthrough innovations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Ray shares how curiosity, collaboration, and perseverance guided his journey.

This episode offers a fascinating look into the possibilities of a career in science. Listeners will gain insights into the scientific process, the value of interdisciplinary teamwork, and the vital role of education and durable skills in shaping future scientists.

. . . details may seem trivial to some, but there are many things to consider when looking at developing plant growth systems for deep space travel, or even on the International Space Station.

Dr. Ray Wheeler, in NASA’s Kennedy Tech Transfer News

Resources

The following resources are available from AVID and on AVID Open Access to explore related topics in more depth:

• STEM Career Connections (grab-and-go lesson)
• College and Career Connections: Women in STEM, with Dr. Ailene Ettinger, Quantitative Ecologist (podcast episode)
• College and Career Connections: Women in STEM, with Lisette Terry, Structural Forensic Engineer (podcast episode)
• College and Career Connections: Women in STEM, with Dr. Carolyn Colley, Science Instructional Facilitator (podcast episode)
• Develop Global Collaborators: Connect Your Students to Classrooms Around the World (article)
• Roadtrip Nation, with Mike Marriner (podcast episode)
• Career Exploration with Roadtrip Nation (article)

A Winding Road

A career in science rarely follows a straight line. Dr. Ray Wheeler’s story is a powerful example of how exploration, adaptability, and interdisciplinary collaboration can shape a meaningful scientific career. Initially studying astronomy, Ray eventually found his calling in plant biology thanks in part to his childhood experiences in Boy Scouts and a fortuitous connection with NASA-funded graduate research. He reminds us that students don’t need to have it all figured out right away, sharing, “Even after I got a bachelor’s degree, I still wasn’t quite sure what I was gonna do.”

One of the most compelling takeaways from this episode is how Ray emphasizes the importance of durable skills—like communication, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking—in real-world scientific work. “I don’t think any of us would succeed unless we did collaborate,” he says. This episode highlights how science is not just about knowledge but also teamwork, persistence, and the courage to keep asking good questions. The following are a few highlights from this episode.

• About Our Guest: Dr. Ray Wheeler recently retired after a 36-year career at NASA, where he helped pioneer plant research and advance life support groups. As a senior scientist and plant physiologist, Ray earned multiple awards, including Distinguished Engineer/Technologist Retiree, NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal at Kennedy Space Center.
• A Journey in the Sciences: Ray first got interested in biology as a Boy Scout. After an undergraduate degree in astronomy, he pursued a PhD. He says, “I just happened to get connected with professors that were getting NASA funding, and they were both in plant ecology and plant physiology, and so, I just kind of went that way.”
• Research: When he got to NASA, Ray was tasked with writing two research papers per year. He says, “That allowed me to work with a great team and come up with concepts. . . . It allowed me to do research with great collaborators and to publish it.”
• Multiple Perspectives: The wide range of expertise on Ray’s NASA teams helped them come up with new ideas and connections between disciplines. He says, “There were a lot of microbiologists. There were engineers—agricultural engineers, by the way—working for NASA, chemists, computer IT people.” He adds, “We’d all sit around the table and brainstorm, and we’d come up with ideas and kind of sift through them and say, ‘Okay, these are good ones, and we’re going to allocate, collectively, our efforts to do this.’ And then we’d come up with experimental designs. . . . Because we were a multidisciplinary group, we had people looking at things from different angles.”
• Something for Everyone: Ray feels that space science offers many ways for diverse interests to come together to solve problems, like traveling to Mars or growing plants in space. He says, “All of these other things are involved with it: the engineering aspects, the chemistry, the biology, the mathematics that you have to know to go behind this. So there’s something for everyone.”
• Change: Science continues to evolve. Ray says that during his career, “It’s definitely changed, and we’ve learned a lot. We’re a lot smarter than we were 25 years ago, and we have a lot more information now.” He gives examples of advanced sensors and other developing technology that have helped advance science.
• Darwinian Biology: In space, scientists are working with “closed systems.” Ray says, “You’re really thinking about island biology. . . . If you go to Mars, and you set up a little encampment, you’re on an island, and so this is sort of classic Darwinian biology of understanding islands and how things interact.
• NASA’s Contributions: The discoveries made by NASA researchers often make their way into mainstream culture. Ray offers a few examples of this, such as vertical farming with stacked hydroponic trays and using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to grow plants.
• Durable Skills: When talking about durable skills, such as collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking, Ray says, “I think they were invaluable. I don’t think any of us would succeed unless we did collaborate, unless we did get other ideas, and stir around different people’s thoughts and perspectives on things.” He adds that it’s important to communicate findings and that “problem-solving is intrinsic to it. . . . That’s just fundamental to research.”
• Top Three: Ray offers his perspective on what three overarching skills can help students prepare for a career in the sciences. He suggests a broad-base foundation of different subject material, perseverance, and patience.
• Internships: Because students may not be sure what career fields they will enjoy, Ray suggests finding internships to try out possibilities. He shares how he worked part-time at the forest service before joining NASA. Those experiences can expose people to other career options that they might not have known about or considered.
• Student-Based Activities: Ray points out that many state and federal agencies offer grants to create student activities that are available to the public. One example he shares is Growing Beyond Earth, a classroom-based citizen science project led by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. He says, “They engage with student classes to do projects, to grow plants in a fixed kind of system. And we’ve actually used the findings from the student tests to come up with candidate plants to grow in space.”
• One Thing: For his one thing, Ray says, “I just think that education is so important and getting the most out of the experience. And I know we’re all going through things at different ages, and it’s tough going at times, and some of us had different situations at home and so forth, but try to make the most of it, and it’ll open doors eventually for you if you’re persistent.”