Astronomer in Residence Alumni

Dr. Cameron Hummels is a computational astrophysicist at Caltech. His research uses supercomputers to simulate how galaxies like our own Milky Way form and evolve over billions of years. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Hummels acts as Director of Astronomy Outreach at Caltech. As a professional scientist and science communicator, Dr. Hummels focused his time at Grand Canyon on engaging visitors in science education.He hosted a series of live presentations, including: “Understanding the Formation and Evolution of Galaxies;” “Black Holes;” “Space Exploration;” “Meteor Showers and the Birth of the Solar System;” “Understanding Our Moon;” “The Search for Life in the Universe;” and “The Science of Star Wars.” He also led several “Astronomy on Taps” around the park.

Kevin Schindler is the historian and Public Information Officer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he has worked for 28 years. Schindler contributes a bi-weekly astronomy column, “View from Mars Hill,” for the Arizona Daily Sun newspaper and has authored seven books, including Images of America: Northern Arizona Space Training, which features a chapter about the Grand Canyon. Schindler's residency focused on researching and sharing NASA’s Apollo Astronauts’ connections with the region in preparation for their historic missions to the Moon. During his residency, Schindler hosted several public programs that enhanced our visitor's understanding of the Grand Canyon's importance in the history of space exploration. 

Dr. Jennifer L. Hoffman is a professor and astronomer at the University of Denver, where she holds the Womble Chair of Astronomy and directs DU's historic Chamberlin Observatory. She earned her Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin and held a National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Berkeley. Hoffman's research focuses on the connections between massive stars and their supernova descendants. During her residency, Dr. Hoffman conducted a sunset mapping project at Hopi Point, provided a week of moon walks for hundreds of visitors, presented her research to a crowd of 200 in Grand Canyon Visitor Center Theater, provided a talk about careers in astronomy to 6th-8th graders at Grand Canyon School, and hosted two nights of constellation talks and telescope viewing at Phantom Ranch.

Dan Fleisch is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics at Wittenberg University, where he specializes in electromagnetics and space physics. He is the author of the internationally best-selling book A Student’s Guide to Maxwell’s Equations, published by Cambridge University Press in January 2008 and translated into Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Chinese. While at Grand Canyon, Dr. Fleisch spent his time presenting more than 20 unique public programs on many aspects of astronomy, from moons and planets to cosmology and Black Holes. He reached over 3,000 visitors from his formal programs, and countless more through informal solar-observing sessions, pop-up telescope viewing, and constellation talks along the rim of the Canyon.

New Mexico Poet Laureate Lauren Camp is the author of seven poetry collections. Her work has been translated into Turkish, Mandarin, Serbian, Arabic and Spanish. Lauren lives in New Mexico, where she teaches through the state’s Poetry Out Loud program and her own community workshops. During her residency, Lauren spent her time writing poetry about night skies and natural darkness. She offered a few public poetry readings under the stars, which were followed by constellation talks given by park rangers. Lauren also collected poetry from visitors, asking thought-provoking questions about darkness in experimental installations throughout the park. She compiled the responses into collective poems.

Born in Barcelona, Barrera is based in New Jersey, Imma Barrera is a biologist and a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography who has exhibited her photographs in galleries worldwide. Her favorite subject to photograph is landscapes from dusk to dawn, including astrophotography. Barrera has been selected for several National Park Artist in Residence programs (Acadia National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, and Glacier National Park) for her night sky photography. While at Grand Canyon, Imma spent her time photographing the stars from all around the park, creating several fine art night sky photographs from the South Rim, Desert View, Phantom Ranch, North Rim, and Tuweep. She also conducted formal and informal night sky photography workshops for visitors and employees.

Renowned educator, author, and astronomy expert Dean Regas has been the astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory since 2000 and was co-host of the PBS program “Star Gazers” from 2010 to 2019. Regas has written over 150 astronomy articles for the Cincinnati Enquirer, has blogged for the Huffington Post, and is regularly featured on television and radio. He is also a frequent guest on National Public Radio’s Science Friday and NPR’s Here & Now, and hosts his own astronomy podcast with Anna Hehman called “Looking Up!” During his residency, Dean spent his time providing public programs for visitors both on the rim and in the canyon at Phantom Ranch. His goal was to connect visitors to the canyon's dark skies, sharing his passion for astronomy and the universe through telescope viewings, tabling, and constellation talks.

Dr. Tyler Nordgren is a professional astronomer and artist. He holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cornell University, where he did work on dark matter, as well as a B.A. in Physics from Reed College. For over a decade, he has worked with the National Park Service to turn the national parks into the single largest source for public science and astronomy education in the world. His popular science book “Stars Above, Earth Below: A guide to astronomy in the national parks,” reveals what visitors to America’s national parks can observe in their dark night skies. As Grand Canyon's first Astronomer in Residence, Tyler spent his time at the canyon interacting with visitors, photographing and illustrating the night sky, and sharing tips for experiencing the park after dark.