02 May Astrophysicist comes to visit AWC
YUMA — The community is invited to Arizona Western College to attend an upcoming presentation by astrophysicist Dr. Simon Steel.
“Arizona Western College is thrilled to host Dr. Simon Steel, the esteemed Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research from the SETI Institute. A renowned observational astrophysicist with an in-depth understanding of cosmic phenomena, Dr. Steel brings a wealth of knowledge and insight for our students,” said Reetika Dhawan, AWC Vice President for Workforce Development and Career & Technical Education.
The presentation will be held Thursday, May 4, from 10:00-10:30am at the Schoening Conference Center, located in the 3C Building at the AWC Yuma Campus, 2020 S. Ave 8E. A campus map can be found here.
“We are very excited and honored to have Dr. Steel share his knowledge with the Yuma community as part of the celebration of National Space Day. His presentation to our campus community on May 4th will really highlight some exciting research within the field of Astronomy. This is also a great opportunity for our faculty to learn about Dr. Steel’s educational tools that are available to further science education for our students,” said Dr. Joann Chang, AWC Associate Dean of Math, Science, Engineering and Wellness & Physical Education.
Dr. Steel specializes in optical spectrophotometry, with an interest in the star formation histories of galaxies. As a science educator and communicator for over 25 years, he is an ardent proponent of advancing and communicating science education to the public and youth. Dr. Steel has held lectureships at Harvard University, University College London, and University College Dublin, and is an eight-time recipient of Harvard’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching award for undergraduate education.
Dr. Steel is Principal Investigator for the NASA Community College Network, a major initiative to bring cutting-edge space science into the community college classroom, and is an education specialist supporting NASA’s Office of Planetary Protection. Originally from England, he is also a qualified secondary school science teacher in the UK, and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.