Instructors
Regular Instructors
Mike Brotherton teaches astronomy at all levels at the University of Wyoming and conducts research specializing in observational investigations of quasars. He uses a variety of ground and space-based telescopes including the Hubble Space Telescope, Keck Observatory, the Very Large Array, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO), and Kitt Peak National Observatory (as pictured working with a spectrograph at their 4-meter telescope). He has sold a variety of short fiction to magazines and anthologies, and is a graduate of the Clarion West workshop. His first novel Star Dragon was published by Tor Books in 2003 to excellent reviews, made the Locus Recommended Reading List, and was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for best science fiction novel of the year. A second hard science fiction novel, Spider Star, was published in 2008. He has also edited the anthologies Diamonds in the Sky and Science Fiction by Scientists, and, with Jody Lynn Nye, co-edited the collection Launch Pad.
Website: http://www.mikebrotherton.com/
Christian Ready is an astronomer at Towson University where he also serves as planetarium director. He also runs the Launch Pad Astronomy YouTube channel. His previous work experience includes serving as a program coordinator for the Hubble Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD.
“You have been, and always shall be, my friend.”
Past Instructors
Jim D. Verley has completed his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of 
Jim D. Verley has recently completed his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wyoming. He has years of experience teaching astronomy in a hands-on laboratory setting. Some of his current research focuses on effective teaching at the university/college level and cross-disciplinary teaching through science and literature. His eclectic career includes roughneck in the Wyoming oil patch, hospital Marketing Director, Secondary and Elementary Science and Math Methods faculty, Director of Cultural Outreach and perhaps most difficult, editing short stories for seventh and eighth-grade girls.
Andria Schwortz
Geoffrey Landis
Stanley Schmidt
Kevin R. Grazier
Joe Haldeman
Phil Plait
Jerry Oltion