Susan Bassow earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1995, and a Masters from the University of Washington in Quantitative Ecology in 1989. Her dissertation on climate change and its impacts on forests led to an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship in Washington, DC, where she worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and President Clinton's White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (before and throughout her first pregnancy). Currently, Susan serves on the Board of Trustees for the Thorne Ecological Institute, organizes the science fair and other science and math programs for the local elementary school, and directs her passion for science and nature into caring fulltime for her two children, ages six and nine. In a typical week, Susan and her daughters and husband explore nearby fields and ponds, hike in the mountains, feed butterflies, and promote science and math education. This was a huge, and yet very rewarding change of pace from her days working in the White House Science Office.