Join Dr. Patrick Miller as he discusses the history of asteroids and debris fields in the Solar System.

The event will take place on Thursday, September 18, in Gullo II starting at 6 p.m. Following the talk, EVC will head up to the Observatory on Montgomery Hill.

The talk will include general information about asteroids and comets, including a summary of the three debris fields in the Solar System.  Then, he will discuss the International Astronomical Search Collaboration, in which 70,000 citizen scientists are making original discoveries of Main Belt asteroids.  And, how the audience members can participate in this program funded by the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

PATRICK MILLER: Dr. Patrick Miller is a professor of mathematics and astronomy. He studied at the University of New Mexico and the University of California at Los Angeles. He completed his doctorate through James Cook University (Townsville, Australia), conducting his research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (University of California, Berkeley).

He has been in the college classroom for 52 years. Also, he has been in community college administration, serving as Dean of Science & Mathematics at Brookhaven College, part of the Dallas Community College District (1988-1999).

Currently, he is a professor of mathematics and science at Cisco College (Abilene, TX). He is also an adjunct professor of science at Jackson State University (Jackson, MS), where he teaches an online course in astronomy. He is also an adjunct professor of mathematics and science at Al Akhawayn University (Ifrane, Morocco,) having taught online and in-person courses in astronomy and differential equations.

Dr. Miller is the founder of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC = “Isaac”). This is an online outreach program, in which students make original discoveries of asteroids. Founded in 2006, each year IASC asteroid searches have more than 10,000 participating schools with a total of 70,000 students. These students come from more than 110 countries (https://iasc.cosmosearch.org/).

IASC is funded by the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office (2018 – Present). The PDCO is the NASA agency responsible for detecting near-Earth asteroids posing an impact risk to Earth.