Partners

Sten Odenwald | Outreach Scientist at the Astronomy Café
Dr. Odenwald, an award-winning astronomer with Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services (Raytheon ITSS), is currently the education and public outreach (E/PO) manager for the NASA Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite program. He is the author of books such as The Astronomy Cafe and The 23rd Cycle. Sten Odenwald hosts an award-winning website called "The Astronomy Café" where he has answered over 45,000 questions since 1995. He has written numerous articles on cosmology for the Washington Post, Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines, and is a frequent planetarium speaker. Sten Odenwald started out as an amateur astronomer in Oakland, California, at age 10, when his papa showed him the stars in Orion's Belt.

Carolyn Willard | Network Director of Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) at LHS
Carolyn Willard is the Network Director for the GEMS Program. In this role, she has established and directs an active international network of over 50 regional curriculum implementation sites that use GEMS curriculum guides to support their educational reform efforts. She leads a wide range of professional development activities in using inquiry-based instructional materials through the GEMS Network and elsewhere. Her strength in professional development derives from her 20 years of experience as a classroom science teacher in urban, public elementary schools. Willard also serves as a curriculum developer and author or co-author of numerous GEMS guides, including The Real Reasons for Seasons, Microscopic Explorations, Plate Tectonics, and Environmental Detectives.

William Hiscock | Director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium
Dr. Hiscock is head of the Physics Department at MSU, and also a designated member of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. Prof. Hiscock also directs the Montana NASA's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program, which is dedicated to building space science and engineering research activity in the state. Prof. Hiscock has published over 100 refereed publications in gravitation theory, theoretical astrophysics, cosmology, and quantum field theory.

Ramon Lopez | Professor and THEMIS SACNAS Lead at University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Lopez' current research focuses on magnetospheric storms and substorms, and making detailed quantitative comparisons between the results of global 3-D MHD simulations and observations during actual events. He is currently a member of the National Research Council's Committee on Undergraduate Science Education. Dr. Lopez is also co-author of the popular book on space weather, Storms from the Sun, [Joseph Henry Press, 2002.] Dr. Lopez has served several years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).

Allyson Walker | President and Founder of Cornerstone Evaluation Associates
Dr. Walker is former acting director of the Pittsburgh Public Schools Research Division. A program evaluator and developmental psychologist, her areas of expertise encompass survey research, qualitative methodologies, technical writing, and project management. Over the past three years, Dr. Walker has worked with both NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) to provide formative evaluation information for re-designing web-based programs for students (Imagine the Universe! and SEGway), the general public (SEGway), and professionals in the field, High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC). In addition, Cornerstone has recently been named as lead evaluator for the E/PO component of both the GSFC-led Astro-E2 and UCB-led Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Missions.

Prof. Christopher Russell | THEMIS Co-Investigator as Magnetometer Lead
Prof. C. T. Russell is a member of the faculties of both the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics and the Department of Earth and Space Sciences. He is the head of the Space Physics Group in the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) and the Director of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Branch of the California Space Grant Consortium. In addition to being a co-investigator on THEMIS, he is the principal investigator and co-investigator on several other NASA missions, such as Polar, STERO-IMPACT, Dawn, and Cassini. Professor Russell and his team will provide and install the E/PO magnetometers and computers for the THEMIS mission. He also provides technical support on THEMIS E/PO magnetometers.