Once we get confirmations about speakers, we'll get it posted here!
Kevin Parsons - TBD
Kevin is an Associate Professor of Engineering Practice at Purdue University having graduated from MIT. His knowledge about areo and space engineering has him working with the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) on Hubble!
Zolt Levay - TBD
Zolt Levay is a retired Principal Science Visuals Developer in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSci) in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He produced images and other visuals from data provided by the Hubble Space Telescope to publicize science results from Hubble and other observatories.
He continued this effort in planning for the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. He also led the Hubble Heritage Team, an STScI project that showcased the visually finest images from Hubble His work has resulted in some of Hubble’s — and astronomy’s — most iconic images, including the “Bubble Nebula” (NGC 7635), the Carina Nebula mosaic, and the return to the Eagle Nebula’s “Pillars of Creation” in 2015, as well as the Hubble Deep Field. Zolt became interested in astronomy and photography at an early age and earned a bachelor’s degree in astrophysics at Indiana University, Bloomington, and a master’s degree in astronomy at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He worked with several space science missions at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before joining the Space Telescope Science Institute in 1983.
Caty Pilachowski - 250 years of American astronomy
Caty Pilachowski has been excited about astronomy since she was a child. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvey Mudd College in California, she attended graduate school at the University of Hawaii, attracted not by the beaches but by the opportunity to use the magnificent telescopes on Mauna Kea to learn about the Universe. She worked at the national observatory in Tucson for 20 years before joining the IU faculty in 2001 as the Daniel Kirkwood Chair in Astronomy. She is currently a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Indiana University. Caty studies the chemical evolution of stars and stellar populations, specifically how the compositions of different populations of stars differ from each other due to different histories of star formation. She especially enjoys sharing the excitement of astronomy with students and the public. Abstract: Astronomy has played an important role in America since before the founding of our country 250 years ago. Caty will explore the contributions of American astronomers (and Indiana astronomers!) in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the unique combination of our history, geography, and cultures that brought us to the present place of American astronomy in the world. The 20th century was a “golden age” of American astronomy as we learned about the evolution of stars, the Big Bang and the evolution of the Universe, black holes, dark matter and dark energy, and worlds around other stars. The 21st century also offers great promise, with ongoing discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope and the pending flood of data from the Vera Rubin telescope, the soon-to-launch Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and giant, ground-based telescopes under construction.
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Caty Pilachowski - 250 years of American astronomy
Caty Pilachowski has been excited about astronomy since she was a child. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvey Mudd College in California, she attended graduate school at the University of Hawaii, attracted not by the beaches but by the opportunity to use the magnificent telescopes on Mauna Kea to learn about the Universe. She worked at the national observatory in Tucson for 20 years before joining the IU faculty in 2001 as the Daniel Kirkwood Chair in Astronomy. She is currently a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Indiana University. Caty studies the chemical evolution of stars and stellar populations, specifically how the compositions of different populations of stars differ from each other due to different histories of star formation. She especially enjoys sharing the excitement of astronomy with students and the public. Abstract: Astronomy has played an important role in America since before the founding of our country 250 years ago. Caty will explore the contributions of American astronomers (and Indiana astronomers!) in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the unique combination of our history, geography, and cultures that brought us to the present place of American astronomy in the world. The 20th century was a “golden age” of American astronomy as we learned about the evolution of stars, the Big Bang and the evolution of the Universe, black holes, dark matter and dark energy, and worlds around other stars. The 21st century also offers great promise, with ongoing discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope and the pending flood of data from the Vera Rubin telescope, the soon-to-launch Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and giant, ground-based telescopes under construction.
