Alex’s greatest passion is teaching about astronomy and the incredible world above our heads. In pursuit of this passion, she has done telescope observation research with Vassar College, MIT, and the Lowell Observatory, studying everything from Jupiter’s moons to exoplanets. Alex is especially interested in the possibility of life in the universe and how we might one day find it. She has experience stargazing with folks of all ages, and her mission is to make even the most complicated topics easy to understand. Alex has worked as a programming lead with the Cincinnati Observatory and her astronomy outreach company, and she is an amateur astrophotographer.
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Bio
Alex has been fascinated by the world above our heads since she was young. She taught herself how to use her first telescope to see craters on the moon, and remembers gazing up at the stars during camping trips to see satellites whizzing around the sky. Her first experience with the scientific side of astronomy came when she was fourteen years old: Alex attended a summer program in her home state of Kentucky and spent three weeks immersed in telescope building and stargazing. Here, she learned that light scatters to make stars twinkle, and that different cultures have unique names and stories for stars and constellations. To celebrate the end of this program, Alex and her class held a star party for the students in other disciplines. After spending the evening pointing a large telescope for a crowd of curious partygoers and relaying stories about constellations and great discoveries in astronomy, she was hooked. Alex knew then and there that her dream was to share her love of the cosmos with others.
From that moment, Alex has been learning as much as she possibly can about astronomy. She attended Vassar College and explored both the scientific and cultural sides of astronomy. She started working at the on-campus observatory during her first semester, and spent the next four years practicing the skill of using a telescope to collect flickers of light and make sense of them. She also led weekly stargazing nights, inviting the public to see through the telescope and peek into another world. During the summertime, Alex returned to her hometown of Cincinnati and worked with the Cincinnati Observatory to lead programming and stargazing sessions.
In addition to learning more about astronomy, Alex has also honed her knowledge of how people learn, moving to Boston after her undergraduate studies to pursue a Master of Education. During her time in Boston she explored many aspects of astronomy education: she has been a classroom teacher, game designer, curriculum writer, and outreach astronomer.
After nearly eight years in Boston, Alex moved to Bozeman to find clearer skies and new adventures. She is thrilled to be working with guests and helping them unlock their curiosity for astronomy, and is especially excited to continue to learn about the indigenous peoples of Montana and their cultural ties to the stars. Alex loves to experience the “aha!” moment when we see something new for the first time, be it the rings of Saturn or the Orion Nebula, and she looks forward to finding these moments with guests.
This was a fantastic experience! We saw so much more than attempting to do it all ourselves. Having an immensely knowledgeable guide who did all the driving meant we could all relax and make the most of Yellowstone's extraordinary wonder.
