Dr. Keith Benson is a historian and retired professor at UBC. “I became interested in biology as a result of a high school internship in a marine biology laboratory. While there, I also learned about the importance of the humanistic part of science, since the director of the laboratory was the editor of a book about seashore life, written by John Steinbeck’s closest friend, Ed Ricketts. These early interests are still part of my research career, thus emphasizing how important it is to become exposed to the sciences and the humanities.”