Announcing the US IYA Project Office Team
We are pleased to announce that the US effort for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 now has core project staff to better engage the community and coordinate volunteer efforts. Dr. Stephen Pompea is the US IYA project director and Dr. Andrea Schweitzer is the US IYA project manager, assisted by Kristina Harding. Dr. Pamela Gay is the US IYA Web designer and New Media expert.
Dr. Stephen Pompea (spompea@astronomy2009.us) is an astronomer and the manager of science education at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, AZ. With NSF approval, Steve will serve half-time as project director for the US IYA effort. Steve leads a dynamic team at NOAO that conducts programs in teacher professional development, optics education, astronomer-teacher research partnerships, programs with the Tohono O’odham Nation and other Native American groups in the region, and Spanish language education efforts in southern Arizona and Chile.
Before joining NOAO, Steve was an independent consultant working on a wide variety of instrumentation and national science education projects, including The Astronomy Village and several GEMS guides. He was an instrument scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS instrument and for Gemini Observatory infrared instruments. Steve earned a B.A. in physics, space physics, and astronomy at Rice University, an M.A.T from the Physics Department at Colorado State University, a M.A. in teaching at Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Arizona, where he studied star formation in early-type galaxies. He is also known for his work on the optical properties of surfaces and stray light analysis of ground and space-based telescope systems. He has extensive public-school and planetarium education program experience.
Dr. Andrea Schweitzer (aschweitzer@astronomy2009.us) is the US IYA project manager. Andrea received a BS in physics from Pomona College, CA, while a research assistant to the NASA Voyager program. After earning a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Andrea returned to her home state of Colorado for a position with Honeywell, where she received two years of engineering project management training. Andrea now has her own consulting business, applying her expertise to managing multi-location project teams for clients including NASA, Boeing, the Southwest Research Institute, and the Space Science Institute.
Andrea is a founding member of the Little Thompson Observatory (LTO), an all-volunteer community project, built at Berthoud High School in northern Colorado, which opened in 1999. It averages 500 visitors per month. Much of her education and public outreach experience is through her work with LTO. Andrea is the PI of two NASA grants, which support her work in developing and teaching astronomy education workshops for K-12 teachers, including bilingual (Spanish) materials. She is a founding member of Colorado Project ASTRO. She also chaired the AAS Employment Committee
Kristina Harding (kharding@astronomy2009.us) grew up in Cripple Creek, CO, a tiny mountain town west of Colorado Springs. Kristina earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation management from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO. In 2005, she became the owner and publisher of a well-received regional magazine called the Northern Colorado Woman. Kristina’s publishing skills will be a real asset for the US IYA effort.
Dr. Pamela L. Gay (pamela@astronomy2009.us) is perhaps best known for her work on the “Astronomy Cast” and “Slacker Astronomy” podcasts. Combining a solid background in astronomy with a radio-friendly voice, this young astronomer is working to bring the cosmos to the masses one download at a time. She also writes the popular blog StarStryder.com. With Astronomy Cast, Pamela has taken her research in new media in new directions, exploring the socio-economic backgrounds of podcast audiences, and exploring in detail what topics people want to hear. (The answer to that question is planets and cosmology, topics that Astronomy Cast has recently taken on.)
Pamela received a B.S. in Astrophysics from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas. Today, she teaches at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Her first research love was (and remains) variable stars, but she has also worked on galaxy evolution and the Butcher-Oemler Effect. Pamela lives in a historic house in southern Illinois with her husband, two dogs, and a lot of books.
Please join us in welcoming the core US IYA project team!
– Douglas Isbell and Susana Deustua, co-chairs, US IYA Program Committee.
