Stacy Palen received her bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in 1993 and her PhD from the University of Iowa in 1998. Upon graduation she spent four years as a post-doc/lecturer at the University of Washington, where she taught introductory astronomy 20 times in four years. This experience enabled her to really focus on students' conceptual difficulties with the course material, and experiment with ways to address them. Her astronomical research has focused on multi-wavelength studies of dying sun-like stars. She has also conducted research in the teaching and learning of astronomy, and served on multiple national committees that promote astronomy through education and public outreach. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. In addition to the usual professorial duties, she also runs the Ott Planetarium, an astronomy outreach center that produces planetarium content for all ages. She lives on a small farm with her husband, two dogs, two dairy goats, four horses, and an ever-changing number of chickens.
Laura Kay is Ann Whitney Olin professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College, where she has taught since 1991. She received a BS degree in physics and an AB degree in feminist studies from Stanford University, and MS and PhD degrees in astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of California - Santa Cruz. As a graduate student she spent 13 months at the Amundsen Scott station at the South Pole in Antarctica. She studies active galactic nuclei, using groundbased and X-ray telescopes. She teaches courses on astronomy, astrobiology, women and science, and polar exploration. At Barnard she has served as chair of the Physics & Astronomy Department, chair of the Women’s Studies Department, chair of Faculty Governance, and interim associate dean for Curriculum and Governance.
Bradford Smith, who studies solar system cosmogony and stellar astronomy, is affiliated with the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.
George Blumenthal is professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He studies a wide range of topics including cosmology, dark matter, and the origin of structure in the Universe.
