THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX
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Instructors
Two professional astronomers will be the course instructors. Completing the staff for the Duke TIP Astronomy, Physics, and Astrobiology Program at PARI are a Group Leader and two Teaching Assistants. Here are brief biographies of each.
- Instructor: Michael Castelaz, Ph.D.
Mike Castelaz earned his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Wyoming in 1984. Since then he has been a staff scientist for NASA, a staff astronomer for the Allegheny Observatory of the University of Pittsburgh, a university professor, and now a radio and optical observatory astronomer at PARI. His most recent research has been Hubble Space Telescope observations of the central stars of very young objects in the Orion Nebula. In the past he have studied the interstellar medium and the atmospheres of cool stars. As we move into this summer, he is beginning a new adventure into the study of Galactic Structure that includes open star clusters and gravitational lensing. Mike's research has always been done with many collaborators, including high school and undergraduate students, and he is looking forward to continuing this research with the Duke TIP interns. - Instructor: Mel Blake, Ph.D.
Mel Blake earned his Ph.D. from York University in 2002. He was a research associate at David D. Dunlap Observatory, Toronto, Canada, and an astronomy professor at Humber College in Toronto. At PARI, Mel coordinates the School of Galactic Radio Astronomy, a program that gives high school students the ability to access and use PARI’s 4.6 meter radio telescope via the Internet. He is also involved with public astronomy sessions involving community and school groups, including tours and evening star observing opportunities. Because of his expertise in optical astronomy, Mel maintains PARI’s optical observatories and serves as a substitute instructor for the StarLab traveling planetarium program. Mel's research includes a study of relatively old pulsating type stars, of which only a dozen are known. He also studies binary stars in old open clusters, attempting to determine the masses and luminosities of the stars and the distance to the clusters. - Group Leader: Jordan Tidrick.
Jordan earned her Bachelor of Science Degree and Chemistry and taught high school physical sciences and math in Atlanta Georgia for three years. She is currently a graduate student in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Forensic Science program that is designed to prepare students for careers as forensic scientists in government and private laboratories. Also, while a graduate student, Jordan is Student Housing Resident Director at VCU). She lives in one of the VCU residence halls and is chief assistant to the Coordinators of Residence Education. Jordan’s duties include supervising resident assistants, advising hall governments, counseling residence hall students and handling room/hall changes. With family in the area, Jordan is familiar with the mountains of Western North Carolina. - Teaching Assistant: Susan Buck.
Susan graduated from the University of North Carolina-Asheville in May 2006, majoring in Multimedia Arts and Sciences. She has been accepted to the New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program. Susan was part of a PARI Team developing the multimedia for a new planetarium program called "The Radio Sky". This was the first program to try to relate a visulaization of the sky as though people had radio telescopes for eyes. She is very familiar with PARI and is excited about working with the DUke TIP interns. - Teaching Assistant: Art Baum.
Art Baum graduated from Harvard University, majoring in Physics. After graduating he moved to the University of Southern California (USC) where has just completed his first year in the Cinema-Television School Division of Film and Television Production at USC. Art was a Duke TIP Teaching Assistant last year for the Astronomy class in the Summer Studies Program. He is very excited to be heading to PARI for the summer