Ian Weaver

Ian earned his PhD in Astrophysics from Harvard University, where he used some of the world’s largest telescopes to investigate new worlds around other stars. As an undergraduate at UCSC (Go Banana Slugs!), he was an an active tutor for the Academic Excellence Program (ACE), which is dedicated to increasing the diversity of students earning their bachelors degrees in STEM. During grad school, he helped start and lead the Harvard chapter of the science outreach organization, theopenlabs.org, a graduate-run group dedicated to providing bite-size TED-style talks to the community about active areas of research. Currently, Ian serves as the educational director of the Unistellar College Astronomy Network (UCAN), which provides free eVscopes and educational materials for astronomy instructors at community colleges across the country.

His interests include STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) outreach, citizen science, and hosting star parties at different national parks with SETI. Outside of work, he enjoys going to see live music, playing beach volleyball, and getting lost on bike rides.