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ext month, Nathaniel Frissell will lead a worldwide effort to collect data during the solar eclipse. Frissell is a space physicist at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. But he won’t be investigating the eclipse with a telescope or spectrometer. He’ll be teaming up with amateur radio, or ham radio, operators to collect data through the organization Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation, or HamSCI, to study the ionosphere. Ham radio operators are located around the world. They might use their radios to talk to people in their town or in another country. Some help during emergencies. Others participate in science. During the solar eclipse, they’ll help Frissell study how the eclipse affects a layer of the atmosphere called the ionosphere, which starts about 80 kilometers (50 miles) above the ground. The electrically charged particles in this layer reflect radio waves. During a solar eclipse, less sunlight reaches the ionosphere. This can lead to fewer electrically charged particles and, in turn, disrupt radio signals. Frissell has been lucky enough to turn his childhood hobby, amateur radio, into a career. In this interview, he shares his experience and advice with Science News Explores. (This interview has been edited for content and readability.) What inspired you to pursue your career? In middle school, I went on a Boy Scout trip where I met a ham radio operator. He was talking to people all over the world using just a radio setup and a wire. I became fascinated with radios and how the signals get from one place to another. I was also interested in showing others how it works. I kept following that passion until I got my Ph.D. in electrical engineering. In graduate school, I realized that the radio signals that amateur radio operators use are greatly affected by space weather, which describes how the sun affects the Earth. I felt that there should be a more formal way of getting the amateur radio community and the professional science community to work together. The amateur radio community has this real spirit for investigation, research and engineering. So I created the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation, or HamSCI.