04: Joe DalSanto Loves Astronomy

About Joseph DalSanto:

After beginning to read about astronomy, Joseph DalSanto wanted to observe the night sky himself. So he purchased a telescope as a freshman in high school and, during the past 40 years, has developed an in-depth knowledge and familiarity with the night sky due to hundreds of evening observations.  

DalSanto first worked as an IT support professional for Hewlett Packard, where he worked on onsite and remote system hardware support for 15 years and then moved into IT project management. In this role, he helped lead HP's early system web support. But it was his love of the sky that eventually led DalSanto to the classroom. He began making presentations to astronomy clubs and groups and was invited to perform public outreach and oversee the observatory at Waubonsee Community College. His growing love for teaching led to the pursuit of a master's degree in astronomy, and he began teaching credit classes part-time at Waubonsee.

When a full-time astronomy position opened up at College of DuPage in 2012, he left HP to pursue his passion. He teaches two rigorous courses on planetary astronomy and stars and galaxies as well as honors versions of each.

 

Connect with Joseph DalSanto:

Faculty page: http://www.cod.edu/spotlights/faculty/dalsanto.aspx
Astronomy programs at DuPage: http://cod.edu/programs/earth_science/astronomy/index.aspx

 

About Beth Mund:

Beth's love for space started as a Space Camp attendee at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where she would return years later as an instructor.  After grad school, Beth worked as a journalist, a technical writer for Motorola, and then went on to serve as a Public Affairs Officer for the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In addition, Beth worked to support the International Space Station program as a communication specialist. In Chicago, Beth worked as a corporate communication advisor to Fortune 50 companies including Allstate and United Airlines. She's worked as a college instructor, a political advisor, and public relations manager for her hometown city. Beth recently founded Stellar Communications, LLC and travels the country as a keynote speaker- inspiring audiences with her lessons learned from our nation's space program.  She's the host of the Casual Space Podcast, and a self-proclaimed space geek.

 

Connect with Beth Mund:

Email: [email protected]
Website: bethmund.com
Facebook: @BethMund

 

Show notes by show producer/podcastologist: Laura Gray