James "Jay" C. White II
My regular gig is as Director of Science & Innovation at Talcott Mountain Science Center & Academy (TMSCA) in Connecticut. I’m also a Visiting Scholar in Astronomy at Wesleyan University (just down the road) and a visitor at Yale (only a little farther down the road). Prior to my arrival in Connecticut, I was for 30+ years a college physics and astronomy professor and finally a chief academic officer for two national colleges before departing higher education several years ago for a leadership role in Massachusetts K12 education.
My connection to the ASP is deep. I’m a former Executive Director of the Society and for nearly a decade served as Editor of Mercury magazine and Universe in the Classroom. Before that, I was a Mercury author and originated a regular department called “Accidental Astrophysics.” My roots are fully within science and education. An astrophysicist with research interests in binary stars’ eruptive behavior, I’m a member of the AAS, IAU, and Sigma Xi and a Fellow of the RAS. In addition to my astronomical research, I’ve been active in STEM education and in international scientific development since the early 1990s, serving on the American Physical Society’s U.S.-Africa taskforce, the American Institute of Physics’ Public Information Advisory Committee, and as director of the IAU’s former program group for the improvement of scientific and educational infrastructure in developing countries. A veteran Regeneron ISEF judge, I recently took on the role of Assistant Director of the Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair.
I received my Ph.D. degree in astronomy from Indiana University, Bloomington. I have two children, teenagers Sebastian and Alistair, who form my universe of athletics, art, film, cooking, scaling laundry mountains, and trail-shredding.
