Simon Steel is Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research at the SETI Institute and Principal Investigator for the NASA Community College Network - a major initiative to bring cutting-edge space science into community college classrooms.
Simon’s background is in extragalactic astrophysics, and for his research studied star formation in Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies. As a science educator and communicator of over 25 years, Simon has lectured at Harvard University, Tufts University, University College London and University College Dublin. Simon’s experience spans formal and informal education, teacher training, museum exhibit design and multimedia product development. He has an interest in special needs audiences and co-wrote, for NASA and the Chandra X-Ray Center, the first ever Braille book on multiwavelength astrophysics: Touch the Invisible Sky. Originally from England, Simon is a qualified secondary school science teacher in the UK, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and member of the International Astronomical Union.