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SECEF TEAM
Above: Sten Odenwald
Sten Odenwald
Title: Senior Astronomer/Author
Location: Goddard Space Flight Center
E-mail: odenwald@mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov
Sten Odenwald, an award-winning astronomer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, he is currently the education and public outreach director for the NASA IMAGE satellite program, and also plays an active role in the Themis and Solar-B education programs. He received his Ph.D in Astronomy from Harvard University in 1981, and has worked extensively in the area of infrared astronomy using satellite data from IRAS and COBE, as well as ground-based data from the 2MASS survey. His research work involves the discovery and investigation of the cosmic infrared background and the 'first light' from infant galaxies.
He is the author of books such as The Astronomy Cafe, The 23rd Cycle and Patterns in the Void, and Back to the Astronomy Café. Sten hosts an award-winning web site called the Astronomy Cafe. He has written numerous articles for The Washington Post, Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines on cosmology, and is a frequent planetarium speaker. He also conducts adult education courses in astronomy at Johns Hopkins University and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as the prestigious Shapley Lecturer Program with the American Astronomical Society. He has appeared on a number of radio talk shows including National Public Radio, and Let's Talk Stars, as well as NASA TV programs such as CONNECT, Destination:Tomorrow and The SciFiles.
He is the recipient of the 1999 Goddard Space Flight Center Excellence in Outreach Award and the Popular Writing Award from the American Astronomical Society, Solar Physics Division. He started out as an amateur astronomer in Oakland, California at age 10 when his Papa showed him the stars in Orion's Belt.
