Pamela Gay

A lifetime stargazer, Dr. Pamela L. Gay has followed her obsession to a profession. Today Pamela is a assistant research professor of Physics at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where she teaches introductory physics and astronomy courses. Teaching by day, she works on astronomy data by night, teaming up with amateur astronomers who are expert observers to study variable stars. In between, she finds time to mentor students working on observational astronomy projects through Swinburne Astronomy Online. Podcasting, through AstronomyCast.com is a creative outlet that brings together her love of astronomy with her passion for teaching, making staying current in an ever-changing field a fun endeavor. Pamela also maintains a blog at starstryder.com.

Mary Kadooka

A former high school physics teacher, Mary Kadooka currently does education and public outreach for the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, UH NASA Astrobiology Institute, and Space Science Network Northwest (S2N2), part of NASA's Broker/Facilitator program. She runs teacher/student workshops, and, as liaison between scientists and students for research projects, is striving to develop a mentor program. ("A physics evangelist" who wants all students to see how relevant physics is to everything, she wants them to discover their "passion", ie., art, music, science, to physics applications and become fulfilled adults using logic learned in physics.)

She is a novice with variable stars, interested in CV's. She wants to encourage students to become amateur observers first through informal venues, learn astronomy as needed, and so on. She wants them to enjoy learning. They can always have some music/art hobbies, but not STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) without formal education.

Roger S. Kolman

Roger Kolman has been an active member of the AAVSO since 1962, and was a member of Council in 1999. He holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois. He has taught physics, mathematics, and astronomy at the secondary and college levels for 39 years, and teacher education at the graduate level. Currently he teaches astronomy at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois.

In addition to his teaching duties, he was a mentor for the Teachers for Chicago program in which individuals holding non-teaching degrees were brought into education as a career change. For the past two years, he has interviewed candidates for a similar program offered by Governor's State University in Illinois.

For many years, he has been involved with the Astronomical League, serving as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the North-Central Region of that organization. He served a term as Secretary of the Astronomical League, and for several years was in charge of the Member-At-Large section of the AL. Since 1980, he has been chairman of the Leslie C. Peltier Award committee. He is the author of "Observe and Understand Variable Stars" which he wrote as a vehicle for attracting new observers to the AAVSO.

He has spoken before many groups on Variable Stars and other astronomical topics.

Paul Mortfield

Paul Mortfield is involved in science education and outreach with Industrial Stars. He chairs the AAVSO Solar Committee and is an active Solar/SID observer. While living in California he was involved on projects for NASA's Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum (SECEF), Stanford University's Solar Observatories Group and the SOHO solar spacecraft. Paul is also a contributing scientist for NASA's educational products review. He continually visits schools in both the U.S. and Canada helping to inspire students to consider careers in science and has presented workshops to assist teachers with current topics in astronomy and space science education. Paul is a regular television commentator on astronomy, having appeared on CBS, the Discovery Channel, and as the host of many educational broadcasts on NASA-TV. For fun, Paul uses his backyard observatory for research projects and astrophotography.

Mario Motta MD

I am Mario Motta, MD. My real job is a cardiologist in the Partners Health System, I am based in Salem Massachusetts. I also hold an academic appointment as Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School. My interest in Astronomy education goes back to Boston College, when I was asked to teach an intro astronomy course for non science majors in my junior year. I discovered how tough that was when they expected a gut course! Teaching grade school kids I found much more fun.

When my kids were in grade school I volunteered to "enrich" the science course by volunteering, and letting kids observe at my observatory. Janet Mattei then got a hold of this and "pushed me" along. Before long we had a formal program called "Partners-in-Astronomy" developed which she supported by a grant. This later was morphed into "Hands-on-Astrophysics". The original program was then rolled into Project Astro, and I still participate in this. During my years as President of the ATMOB (Amateur telescope makers of Boston), I took this global, and pushed the organization to do more public and especially school outreach. That has grown almost beyond what we can support, with the group now doing 45 school star parties last school year, and many members "adopting" a school system. We are drowning in success, cannot keep up with the school demand these days. A personal highlight was getting a NASA grant through Janet Mattei, and using it to set up a mirror making extracurricular activity for the Lynnfield 6th grade. 18 children worked for a year and made 9 great 6 inch dobsonian's all by themselves! really good scopes as well. I have been honored by receiving the "Las Cumbres" award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 2003 for astronomical outreach, and in 2005 received the "Walter Scott Houston" Award from the astronomical league.

Happy to be part of this, as I feel I have not done much in actual astro education lately. Much of my time is being absorbed these days in my role as Chair of the Massachusetts Medical Society's Legislative Affairs, and my spare time is now spent in battle with politicians and lawyers.

John Percy

John Percy is a Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, cross-appointed to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto. He is active in astronomy education at all levels, throughout the world, and he has served as president of the IAU Commissions on Education, and on Variable Stars, as well as of the ASP and the AAVSO. His research program is on variable stars and stellar evolution. Undergraduate students, and even senior high school students, are an integral part of his research projects, and he/they make extensive use of AAVSO visual and photoelectric data. With Janet Mattei, he was Co-Developer of "Hands-On Astrophysics". He is a member of the AAS Working Group on Pro-Am Cooperation, and co-edited the ASP's conference proceedings "Amateur-Professional Partnerships in Astronomy Research and Education".

Pebble Richwine

Pebble Richwine taught biology, anatomy, microbiology, and physical science in the Midwest. In 2003 she received her National Board Certification in Young Adult and Adolescence Science. Also in 2003, she attended a workshop called Towards Other Planetary Systems (TOPS) which was an immersive experience for teachers into the study of astronomy. For three summers Pebble attended the TOPS program and worked on projects involving the study of variable stars.

During this time of 3 years, collaboration evolved between the University of Hawaii, the University of Arizona, and Janet. Pebble is currently working on her PhD at the University of Arizona in Teaching and Teacher Education. Her project focuses on providing authentic inquiry experiences for students studying variable stars.

The importance of the education committee to Pebble is two fold. First, the study of variable stars is a way to involve not only students, but their parents, their community, etc in doing science in an authentic way. Second, the AAVSO is an organization that supports amateurs and provides opportunities for students to have mentors in the study of astronomy. A student/person can start simple, learn through experience, and follow the path that they want and know that they have support in their endeavor.

Christine Anne Royce

Christine Anne Royce is an Assistant Professor of Education at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, PA. Her specialty area is in science education, although she also teaches instructional technology classes and graduate research methods. She is active in science education associations and is currently the President of the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association. Her research interest areas include astronomy education and the use of children's literature in science classes to teach elementary science. She has taken a three day workshop organized by Donna Young on the HOA Curriculum and works with both the Chandra EPO Office as a Chandra Resource Agent as well as the XMM Newton Mission as an Educator Ambassador sponsored through Sonoma State University.

Donna L. Young

Donna L Young is the lead educator for the Chandra X-Ray Center Education and Public Outreach Office in Cambridge, MA. She is also permanent staff and maintains an office at the Wright Center for Innovative Science Education at Tufts University. She has developed all of the educational activities and materials posted on the Chandra website, which emphasize spectroscopy, stellar evolution, variable stars, and image analysis. She is the author of the AAVSO /Hands-On Astrophysics/ (HOA) student and teacher curriculum and is presently redeveloping the entire HOA curriculum package for a DVD production format. She has presented hundreds of astronomy workshops for formal and informal science educators. She is the National Science Olympiad supervisor for the high school astronomy event which emphasizes stellar evolution and variable stars, and written an in-depth coaches manual to help both coaches and students prepare for the event. The focus of the manual is stellar evolution, the H-R diagram, variable stars, cosmological distances, and mathematical equations. She presents several Science Olympiad coaches clinics, and organizes and presents several week-long astronomy workshops each summer around the country. The workshops emphasize the Chandra educational materials, art, science fiction and imaging; and presents at nation and regional conferences, including NSTA, AAPT and AAS.

And our valuable ex-officio members:
Arne Henden, AAVSO Director
David Williams, AAVSO President