When Dr. John Stansberry attended a talk as an undergraduate about Earth’s magnetosphere and its interaction with solar wind, the physics major immediately turned his attention to space. After graduating, he pursued and accepted an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where his introduction to data analysis and space plasmas spurred him to earn his PhD. Here, he shares how his zeal for infrared astronomy has led to fulfilling roles at STScI, where he now supports the James Webb Space Telescope.