John earned his PhD from Case Western Reserve University in August 2003. His dissertation research is in the area of high precision spectroscopic chemical abundance analysis of high galactic latitude B type stars (in plain English: what large hot stars far outside our Galaxy are made of and where they came from). In addition to a dissertation this work has yielded two publications (2004, AJ, 128, 2474 and 2006, AJ, 131, 3047). His work as a graduate student also yielded publications in the area of stellar kinematics in the solar neighborhood (AJ, 116, 1724, in plain English: how stars nearby the Sun move through space) and the historic supernova of 1054 ( PASP, 111, 871). He also served as a programmer and webmaster for the Nassau Station Robotic Telescope.
John earned a Bachelor of Arts in Astrophysics (equivalent of a BS in Physics with a strong liberal arts background and an Astronomy concentration) from the University of Virginia in May 1995. While at the UVa, he conducted two unpublished research projects; the first dealing with the astrometric accuracy of glass photographic plates versus plastic backed film (plain English: can plastic photographic film work as well as glass backed plates for doing astronomy?) and the second dealing with astrometric measurements of blended double star images on photographic plates taken with the 26 inch McCormick refractor (in plain English: figuring out how to measure the separation of binary stars that appear so close together than they look like one dumbell shaped star through the telescope). He was a regular parallax observer (parallax is geometrically measuring the distance to stars) in the McCormick Observatory parallax program from 1992 to 1995 and assisted regularly with the biweekly open houses at McCormick Observatory from 1991 to 1995.
For six summers from 1990 to 1996, John interned in the Astrometry Department at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. While there he took a principal part in the re-reduction of the Astrographic Catalog (which yielded two publications: A&A sup, 118, 163 and AJ, 115, 1212). He also participated as an observer in the 6-inch transit circle program from 1992 to 1996 and assisted with public outreach and open houses.
John has an extensive background in computer technology. He has working expertise in C++, Fortran, Perl, SQL, HTML, IRAF, IDL, Pascal, and Basic with a knack for picking up new programing languages in a short time. He is an experienced admin of the Microsoft Windows NT and XP operating systems although he now prefers to us Apple. He is also familiar with the operation of Linux, Unix, Microsoft Windows 95/3.1, and MS-DOS with some limited exposure to VMS. He is also an experienced webmaster and familiar with security issues surrounding HTML servers.
Teaching & Outreach
At the present time, John teaches Astronomy and Physics at the University of Illinois Springfield. He also hosts the popular UIS Friday Night Star Parties.
John has always enjoyed taking part in teaching and public outreach activities as well as doing research. A University of Minnesota he regularly helped with the Friday night open telescope and refurbished their 10 inch Warner and Swasey refractor.
In Spring 2004 he was appointed as a visiting assistant professor teaching the MW evening AST 1001/1005 lecture at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus. He spent one semester in graduate school assisting in the instruction of a techniques laboratory course for undergrad astronomy majors and two semesters as a teaching assistant for introductory level Astronomy classes at Case Western Reserve University. From fall 1996 to spring 2003 John conducted open telescope nights for introductory astronomy students. He has also created and maintained web pages and computer based laboratory exercises for some of these classes.
From 2002-2003 John worked as a volunteer for Project Astro, a program of the Ohio Space Grant Consortium which assists primary school teachers by bring professional astronomers into the classroom to assist with Astronomy related classroom activities. At the US Naval Observatory and McCormick Observatory he regularly assisted with public open houses and helped run the open houses at the Nassau Station of the Warner and Swasey Observatory and answered questions sent by e-mail to the Nassau Station Robotic Telescope Web Site.
Other Interests
John likes to spend his free time in the outdoors either bicycling, hiking, or participating in organized sports. His current passion is softball but he also enjoys basketball, soccer, touch american football, and volleyball (despite his general lack of skill). Indoor activities he enjoys include reading, writing bad poetry, and listening to music. He is most comfortable with his native language, American English and is familiar with Russian and Spanish as well. He is a novice clarinet player and able to carry a tune with his voice. His awards include earning election to the Boy Scout's Order of the Arrow (1990), earning rank of Eagle Scout from the Boy Scouts of America (1991), three semesters on the Dean's List at the University of Virginia (1994-95), and second place in the Taraknatl Das essay contest at the University of Virginia in 1993 (for his essay on the tradition of sufi saints in the Islamic faith). He was the recipient of the Mastin Fellowship in the 1995-96 academic year and was supported by the Nassau Fellowship from fall of 1997 to spring fo 2003. He has also been a coauthor on a number of successful Hubble Space Telescope observation proposals.
Other Community Involvement
John also spends some of his spare time as a political activist in his local precinct. As a graduate and undergraduate student, John was an active participant in student government, serving as the Astronomy department representative on the University of Virginia College Advisory Board (1993-94) and in many roles in the Case Western Reserve University Graduate Student Senate. The elected positions he held in the CWRU Graduate Student Senate included: President (1997-99; two terms), Recording Secretary (1996-97), and Corresponding Secretary (1999-2002). John also had the honor in 1999 of being the graduate student participant in Case Western Reserve University's search for a new University President (which yielded President David Auston). He has also served as a student representative on the CWRU Faculty Senate Graduate Studies Committee, Faculty Senate Information Services Committee, Undergraduate Faculty Academic Computing Committee, Student Life Services and Environment Committee, and Arts and Sciences Committee on Educational Programs. John's proudest achievements as a student leader were: instigating and organizing graduate student participation the annual CWRU SpringFest from 1998 to 2003, serving as chair of the Grad Senate Activities Committee from 1999 through 2003 co-authoring of the amendment to the GSS Bylaws creating the V-Fund, and regularly served on the GSS Student Organizations & Allocations Committee from 1997 to 2003.
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Last Updated 21 March 2007