Michael Weinstein

Biography

Michael Weinstein has taught first-year "studio" physics, which combines lectures with hands-on labs, since 2005. He continues to teach introductory astronomy labs and lectures to non-science majors, explaining how science is applied to the cosmos to reveal its mysteries. Weinstein obtained his doctorate in astronomy from the Pennsylvania State University in August of 2002, after doing his thesis on an algorithm to obtain photometric redshifts for quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. While at Penn State, he taught numerous introductory astronomy lectures and labs; presented several public lectures for the astronomy department's Friedman Lecture Series and for the AstroFest summer festival; served as the K-12 Outreach Coordinator for five years; and gave hundreds of hours of planetarium shows to kids of all ages. He is also in charge of setting up, taking down and purchasing introductory physics lab equipment for the department.

Research Interest

FIRST-YEAR PHYSICS ("STUDIO") INTRODUCTORY ASTRONOMY LECTURES AND LABS