Name: Ben Rubin
Hometown: Berkeley, California
Hobbies: I surf and compete with the UCSD surf team. When I’m not into the water, I like to run or bike for exercise. At home I read (started a book club), cook (lots of pastas), garden (mostly flowers), and eat chocolate (only dark).
What do you study? I study a tiny living-thing that survives on light, just like a plant, but much smaller. I try to determine the most important parts of this tiny plant. To do this I break one part at a time and then look at how damaged the life-form is. The more damaged the tiny plant is when a part is broken, the more important that part is.
Why is it important? You can think of the tiny plant I study as a little engine. It is the engine that gave us the air that we breath, and created all the plants we eat. In the future it may be the engine that produces the gas our cars run on.
What do you like about being a scientist? I am my own boss. I can come in when I want, leave when I want, and if I want to take a surf in the middle of the day, I can. This might seem like a good reason to do very little work, but because what I do is very interesting I spend a lot of time in the laboratory.
The tiny plants I study are an engine of our past and of our future.
