Join us for a wonderful virtual planetarium show of the night sky. Dr. Karen Schwarz will share her knowledge and understanding of the night sky with us as we tour our celestial neighborhood.

Dr. Karen Schwarz received her BS in Physics from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and her PhD in Astrophysics from Arizona State University. Dr. Schwarz is an associate professor in the Department of Earth & Space Sciences at West Chester University. She also serves as the Director of the Mather Planetarium. In this role, she presents over 80 shows a year to school groups and the general public. Dr. Schwarz’s scientific research is in the area of interacting binary stars. In particular, she studies elemental abundances in classical novae. Recently, she has moved into astronomy education research. Dr. Schwarz is interested in assessing the impact that informal education settings have on student learning. Currently, she is investigating how modern planetarium programming can aid students to develop a conceptually accurate understanding of lunar phases. In addition to the above activities, Dr. Schwarz engages in several other education and outreach programs. For the past 6 years, she has run Super Science Saturday which is a one-day event designed to encourage middle and high school girls to pursue careers in STEM. Dr. Schwarz is also the director of the West Chester University site for Project ASTRO – a national program that improves the teaching of astronomy and physical science in K-12 classrooms by linking professional and amateur astronomers with local educators.

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