In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Carl Wieman, professor of physics and DRC endowed chair in the Department of Engineering at Stanford University. Wieman describes the circumstances leading to this unique appointment and the various responsibilities this service entails. He describes his childhood in a densely wooded area near Corvallis, Oregon, and he conveys the opportunities leading to his undergraduate studies at MIT, where he pursued a major in physics and was mentored by Dan Kleppner in lasers and atomic physics. Wieman explains his decision to attend Stanford for graduate school and he discusses his thesis research on advancing techniques in the spectroscopy of hydrogen. He describes his postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan to work on a parity violation experiment, and he explains the circumstances of his move to the University of Colorado and the attraction of joining the faculty at JILA. Wieman discusses his work on Bose-Einstein condensation and his collaboration with Eric Cornell which led to their recognition with the Nobel Prize. He explains his post-Nobel focus on education research, and he discusses why this field has remained central to his work since 2001. Wieman describes his motivation to join the University of British Columbia faculty, where he found adequate funding support to pursue education research which required his conscious decision to stop doing physics experiments. He describes his policy advising work in OSTP for the Obama administration, and he explains his move to Stanford for which he retained his exclusive interest in education but where he started on new projects including federal support for science education. At the end of the interview, Wieman explains why the future of humanity hinges on advancing science education, and relatedly, why scientists need to conceive of their work beyond the immediacy of their specific research.