Dr. Jeffrey Hall has served as Lowell’s Director since June 2010. He joined the staff at Lowell in 1992 as a postdoctoral research fellow. He works with Dr. Wes Lockwood, Brian Skiff, and Len Bright on Lowell’s Solar-Stellar Spectrograph (SSS) project, a long-term program involving monitoring of solar and stellar activity cycles, with the goal of lending an astronomical perspective to solar influences on terrestrial climate. Dr. Hall is presently the chair of the American Astronomical Society’s standing committee on light pollution, space debris, and radio interference, and has played an active role in dark-sky preservation efforts around Arizona. In the community, he serves as a member of Flagstaff’s leadership group, the Northern Arizona Leadership Alliance, and is former President of the Governing Board of Northland Preparatory Academy, a college-prep charter school, as well as of the Board of Directors of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. His principal avocation is music, and he has been the substitute organist the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany as long as he has lived in Flagstaff.

Dr. van Belle is Director of the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI). He received his PhD from University of Wyoming in 1996, working on astronomical optical interferometers. He joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that year as an instrument architect for the Keck Interferometer. At JPL he also made scientific use of the Palomar Testbed Interferometer and published extensively on stellar radii and temperatures, and made the first-ever direct measures of non-spherical stellar shapes. In 2002 he transferred to Caltech, where he continued PTI work and also contributed to the Georgia State University CHARA Array commissioning. From 2007 until 2011 he was with the European Southern Observatory in Munich, Germany, working as the Instrument Scientist for the PRIMA and MATISSE instruments for the VLTI facility in Chile. In 2011, he returned to the US to join the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, where he is continuing research on fundamental stellar parameters.

With a continued dedication to promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to students everywhere, Discovery Communications partners with nonprofit US2020, which seeks to to dramatically scale the number of STEM professionals mentoring and teaching students through hands-on projects, with a focus on girls and underrepresented minorities.

Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold, providing girls across the U.S. and Canada with life-changing experiences and solutions to the unique challenges they face. The Girls Inc. Experience consists of people, an environment, and programming that, together, empower girls to succeed. Trained staff and volunteers build lasting, mentoring relationships in girls-only spaces that are physically and emotionally safe and where girls find a sisterhood of support with shared drive, mutual respect, and high expectations. Hands-on, research-based programs provide girls with the skills and knowledge to set goals, overcome obstacles, and improve academic performance. Informed by girls and their families, Girls Inc. also works with policymakers to advocate for legislation and initiatives that increase opportunities for girls. At Girls Inc., girls grow up healthy, educated, and independent.

AAAS is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its Science family of journals, AAAS has individual members in more than 91 countries around the globe. Membership is open to anyone who shares our goals and belief that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics can help solve many of the challenges the world faces today. You can lend your support to our efforts on behalf of scientists, engineers, educators, and students everywhere by becoming a member. Together we can make a difference: Join Us.

Iridescent’s mission is to create and deliver powerful science, engineering and technology education to help underprivileged children and youth develop: Curiosity to learn how things around us work; Creativity to try new ideas; Perseverance to keep improving and developing their ideas. We are an education non-profit that trains professional engineers, scientists, and parents to deliver cutting-edge STEM education to underserved girls, children and their families. Over the past seven years, we’ve trained more than 3,500 mentors and engaged more than 60,000 participants in our programs.

DIY (“Do-It-Yourself”) Girls’ mission is to increase girls’ interest and success in technology, engineering and making through innovative educational experiences and mentor relationships. We’re a supportive community for girls driven by an interest in creating and building with technology. DIY Girls uses a three-pronged program approach that integrates engagement, capacity building, and continuity to ensure girls’ success. We offer after-school and in-school programs, as well as workshops that provide hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) experiences for girls. Girls learn technical skills and apply them by creating their own creative projects and inventions. DIY Girls has reached over 1200 girls in Los Angeles since 2012.

Mouse is a national youth development nonprofit that believes in technology as a force for good. Mouse empowers all students to create with technology to solve real problems and make meaningful change in our world. Mouse is committed to creating more diversity in STEM and opening opportunities for students from underserved communities across the country.