Our Speakers for this year are:

Mike Francis


Mike Francis (MS, Ohio University, Interdisciplinary Studies, MA, Ohio University, Physics, BS Ed, Fitchburg State College, Physics) has been bringing Astronomy to schools, libraries and museums throughout New England and across the country for over thirty years. After ten years as a lecturer, photographer and writer at the Charles Hayden Planetarium at Boston’s Museum of Science, he branched out on his own with his Galileo Galilei the Starry Messenger, The Stargazer’s Apprentice and Night Skies programs. In addition, Mike is a professional actor on stage, screen and television and a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Amer ican Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Actors Equity Association. As an actor educator he belongs to the International Museum Theatre Alliance, the International Planetarium Society and SoloTogether (the organization of New England historical performers). By combining science and theatre, Mike has been able to reach students who previously had no interest in the wonders of our Universe. This year he is already scheduled to visit the Space Telescope Science Institute, Carnegie Science Center, the Franklin Institute, Virginia Living Musuem and several astronomical conventions as part of the International Year of Astronomy, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of the telescope. 2143 Commonwealth

Elliott P. Horch

Education: Ph.D. in Applied Physics, Stanford University, 1994 M.S. in Astronomy, Yale University, 1989 B.A. with Honors in Physics, University of Chicago, 1987 Ph.D. Dissertation: Speckle Imaging with the Multi-Anode Microchannel Array Detector, Advisor: Dr. J. Gethyn Timothy, then of Stanford University. Academic Appointments and Experience: 2007–present: Associate Professor of Physics, Southern Connecticut State University. 2006–present: Adjunct Astronomer, Lowell Observatory. 2002–2007: Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. 1999–2002: Assistant Professor of Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology. 1996–1999: Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology. Advisor: Prof. Zoran Ninkov. 1995–1996: Associate Research Scientist, Department of Astronomy, Yale University. 1994–1995: Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Astronomy, Yale University. Advisor: Prof. William van Altena. Research Interests: • Observational binary star astronomy. Binary stars as fundamental tests of stellar structure and evolution theory. • Statistics of binary stars and their relationship to star formation, galactic structure, and the evolution of the Galaxy. • Interferometric methods in astronomical imaging. Speckle imaging, Fine Guidance Sensor observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. • Astronomical instrumentation, high-resolution cameras, novel imaging methods. Courses Taught: • General Physics (Algebra Based, Lecture/Lab, SCSU) • Modern Physics (Technical Requirement, SCSU) • Freshmen Physics: Electricity and Magnetism (Calculus Based, Lecture/Lab, UMD) • Introductory Astronomy (General Education Elective, UMD) • Undergraduate Optics (Techincal Elective, Lecture/Lab, RIT) • Undergraduate Astrophysics (Technical Elective, UMD) • Graduate Optics and Image Analysis, RIT, UMD) • Graduate Galactic Astronomy & Astrophysics (UMD) Academic Awards: • Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 2005. • Garfinkel Prize Fellowship, Yale University, 1988.

H.John Wood

Dr. H. John Wood is an astronomer and serves as an optical engineer for the Optics Branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Since June 1990, he has been Optics Lead Engineer on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Project. He led the team that successfully determined the optical prescription of HST while on orbit. He then led NASA's effort to develop and test the corrective optics for HST. In addition to his work on Hubble, he recently served as Science Liaison in the Instrument Synthesis & Analysis Laboratory for new Earth Science and Space Science instrument engineering design at Goddard. He participated in 114 concept studies over eight years in the lab. In addition to his work on the Hubble Space Telescope, he has recently been assigned as optics lead engineer for the ATLAS (Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System) instrument aboard the ICESat-2 satellite, a lidar to measure the ice thickness on both poles of the Earth. A graduate of Swarthmore College, Dr. Wood earned the M.A. and Ph.D. in Astronomy from Indiana University. He has been at Goddard Space Flight Center for over 20 years. In addition to the Hubble Project, he has been Lead Optical Engineer on other Goddard projects: the Mars Observer Laser Altimeter and the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment aboard the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). Earlier he served as assistant to the director at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (Chile) for two years. He held a Fulbright Research Fellowship for two years at the University Observatory in Vienna, Austria. He also served five years as a staff astronomer at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. His career began with six years on the astronomy faculty of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. Winner of the 1992 NASA exceptional service medal and the 1994 NASA exceptional achievement medal for his work on COBE and HST, he is the author of more than 50 research papers in astronomy and space optics. He was invited by the Optical Society of America to edit special editions of Applied Optics and Optics and Photonics News on the HST first servicing mission. He was co-chair of the HST Independent Optical Review Panel that was charged with the determination of the optical parameters for the HST while on orbit.