Wisconsin Association of Physics Teachers (WAPT)

Plenary Talk: Friday, November 4, 7:00 PM, UW-Stevens Point, Laird Room, Dreyfus University Center (DUC)

The James Webb Space Telescope: NASA’s Latest Great Observatory

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is NASA’s most recent major space telescope.  In my talk I will discuss the JWST from inception to today, highlighting both its amazing capabilities and the science that astronomers hope to accomplish over its lifetime.

Aaron Steffen is an associate professor of Physics and Astronomy at UW- Stevens Point.  Prior to that he taught for the UW Colleges (UW-Marathon County).  He is a native of Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  He received a B.S. degree in Physics and Mathematics from UW-Eau Claire and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy from UW-Madison.  Before moving into teaching, Aaron worked as a postdoctoral research scientist at both Penn State and NASA’s Spitzer Science Center (located on Caltech’s campus).  For his Ph.D. thesis he studied the multi-wavelength properties and evolution of super-massive black holes in the centers of galaxies. His current interests include detecting extrasolar planets using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.