Woody Sullivan
Professor, Astronomy Department, University of Washington

Professor Sullivan's interests are in astrobiology, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and the history of astronomy. As Chair of the Steering Group of the UW's Astrobiology Program, he is one of the leaders of the UW's interdisciplinary graduate program and related efforts in Astrobiology. For example, together with Professor John Baross (Oceanography) he edited a graduate-level textbook Planets and Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology, published by Cambridge University Press in 2007.

SETI activity has included a collaboration with the Serendip group, using the Arecibo 1000-foot dish for an all-sky search for a wide variety of signal modulation at 21 cm. This seti@home project has involved more than 4 million participants on the Web since its launch in 1999. History of astronomy research emphasizes the twentieth century, in particular the development of early radio astronomy and of ideas on extraterrestrial life. In 2009 he published Cosmic Noise: A History of Early Radio Astronomy (Cambridge University Press), which examines in detail the first decade of worldwide radio and radar astronomy. A biography of William Herschel is a long-term project just starting. As an adjunct professor in the History Department, he also teaches history of science.

Other interests include the battle against radio interference and light pollution; he is active in the Intern ational Dark-Sky Association and its local chapter Dark Skies Northwest. He co-edited the volume Preserving the Astronomical Environment (2001), and is working on an improved version of his "Earth at Night" image and poster. He also studies the relationships between astronomy and other aspects of culture, such as art, literature, religion, history, and astrology.

Sundials are a special and peculiar passion. He has designed many sundials, one of which (a MarsDial, the first extraterrestrial sundial) landed on Mars in 2004 as part of the Mars Exploration Rover mission. He has been involved in the design of many public sundials, and aims to make the Seattle region the sundial capital of North America.

Michelle Larson is vice provost at Utah State University. In this role she interacts with students and faculty from all disciplines, and she thrives on learning about and helping to facilitate academic pursuits campus-wide.

Prior to joining USU, Michelle was the Deputy Director of the Center for Gravitational Wave Physics, at Pennsylvania State University where she was responsible for integrating the research, education and outreach efforts of the Center and worked closely with research scientists to share exciting discoveries in the field of gravity with a broad range of audiences.

In the years prior to Penn State, Michelle was the deputy director of NASA's Montana Space Grant Consortium, she was a scientist in the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory at Caltech where she was the project coordinator for the California High School Cosmic Ray Observatory (CHICOS), and she worked as a public outreach scientist in the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley where she developed ways to bring the science of NASA missions to public and school audiences.

Michelle grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and after high school moved to Bozeman, Montana where she received her B.S. in Physics from Montana State University. She continued at MSU and received a M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics, with a research area in neutron star astrophysics.

Michelle enjoys cooking, geocaching, and is also an amateur astronomer. She particularly enjoys sharing the more spectacular objects of the night sky with the general public. A favorite highlight was when a young child exclaimed, "Wow! Saturn looks just like a Chevy symbol."

Shane Larson is an assistant professor of physics at Utah State University with a specialty in astrophysics and gravitational dynamics.

Shane grew up in eastern Oregon, and was an undergraduate at Oregon State University where he received his B.S. in Physics in 1991.  He received an M.S. in Physics (1994) and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics (1999) from Montana State University. Before coming to Utah State, he was a postdoctoral scholar at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, then at the California Institute of Technology, and finally at the Center for Gravitational Wave Physics at the Pennsylvania State University. He was formerly an assistant professor of physics at Weber State University.

Shane is also an avid amateur astronomer, observing with two homebuilt telescopes, a 12.5" and a 22" Dobsonian.  He lives under dark skies in Paradise, Utah with his wife, daughter and three cats.  In addition to astronomy, he enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and geocaching.  He also collects Legos, fountain pens, and telescopes.

During his teenager years in Florida, Dave's interest in science, space and astronomy was fueled by the NASA Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Since then, with 30 year at the Boeing Company, Dave's business, engineering backgrounds have helped him form a lifelong network among those credited with many of the aerospace industries and NASA's greatest achievements.

Now a resident of Kent, WA, Dave serves as an officer for the Boeing Employees' Astronomical Society. He also has active memberships with the Seattle Astronomical and Eastside Astronomical Societies and has recently become active in the IDA Dark Skies Northwest chapter.

Dave regularly travels to the US Southwest for star parties, Messier Marathons and observing on Kitt Peak National Observatory. He has established contacts with clubs and individuals including a number of comet hunters, astroimagers and manufacturers. In addition to amateur astronomy and telescope making, Dave's hobbies include photography, baseball, travel, flying, fishing, and amusing two active young grandchildren.

Linda Khandro is something of a self-described "mixed salad!"  She is a geologist with a Masters Degree in Teaching Earth Science and Washington State Teaching Certificate, and has been teaching college earth and space sciences (geology, astronomy, oceanography, meteorology, environmental science) since 1991.

Interest in Project AstroBio (www.astro.washington.edu/projastrobio/) as an astronomer volunteer, and interest in Astrobiology (http://depts.washington.edu/astrobio/) brought her to the University of Washington, Seattle as an Education/Public Outreach specialist from 2000-2006. 

Steve Coe has written two books published by Springer. He has also written many articles on deep sky observing for Astronomy Magazine, Deep Sky Magazine and Amateur Astronomy Magazine. He has been a guest speaker at RTMC, the Texas Star Party and many other events. Currently he is writing a monthly column for the Cloudy Nights website.

Linda Khandro is something of a self-described "mixed salad!"  She is a geologist with a Masters Degree in Teaching Earth Science and Washington State Teaching Certificate, and has been teaching college earth and space sciences (geology, astronomy, oceanography, meteorology, environmental science) since 1991.

Interest in Project AstroBio (www.astro.washington.edu/projastrobio/) as an astronomer volunteer, and interest in Astrobiology (http://depts.washington.edu/astrobio/) brought her to the University of Washington, Seattle as an Education/Public Outreach specialist from 2000-2006. 

Now a resident of Kent, WA, Dave serves as an officer for the Boeing Employees' Astronomical Society. He also has active memberships with the Seattle Astronomical and Eastside Astronomical Societies and has recently become active in the IDA Dark Skies Northwest chapter.

Dave regularly travels to the US Southwest for star parties, Messier Marathons and observing on Kitt Peak National Observatory. He has established contacts with clubs and individuals including a number of comet hunters, astroimagers and manufacturers. In addition to amateur astronomy and telescope making, Dave's hobbies include photography, baseball, travel, flying, fishing, and amusing two active young grandchildren.