LCROSS

By Peter Michaud, Gemini Observatory Public Information and Outreach Manager

Gemini's Public Information and Outreach Manager, Peter D. Michaud has pursued a career that has provided a broad set of experiences in education, media relations and photography. These have ranged from the initiation and management of many informal science education programs to the authoring of a monthly newspaper column on astronomy. Prior to moving to Honolulu in 1989 to manage the Bishop Museum Planetarium, Peter obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Atmospheric Physics and certification in Physical Science Education in 1985. This led to his selection for the highly competitive annual planetarium education internship at the Strasenburg Planetarium in Rochester NY during 1985-86.

During almost a decade at the Bishop Museum Planetarium in Honolulu, Peter worked closely with local educators as well as the Mauna Kea astronomical community and initiated many new projects that included a NASA funded project to produce a nationally distributed planetarium program about Mauna Kea. In June of 1998 Peter accepted his current position as the Public Information and Outreach Manager at the international Gemini Observatory. Since arriving at Gemini in Hilo HI, Peter has been involved in the oversight and management of a wide variety of projects and initiatives in outreach, education and media relations. His staff in the Public Information and Outreach Office has grown to 7 employees since 1998 and he continues to expand the impact of Gemini’s Public Information and Outreach programming locally, nationally and world-wide.

Peter lives in Hilo, has two children, and enjoys mountain biking to remote areas of the Big Island where he can see the island’s hidden beauty (and get all covered in mud in the process!)