Dana Backman taught in the physics and astronomy department at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1991 until 2003. He invented and taught a course titled "Life in the Universe" in F&M's interdisciplinary Foundations program. Dana now teaches introductory Solar System astronomy at Santa Clara University and introductory astronomy, astrobiology, and cosmology courses in Stanford University's Continuing Studies Program. His research interests focus on infrared observations of planet formation, models of debris disks around nearby stars, and evolution of the solar system's Kuiper belt. Dana is employed by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, as director of education and public outreach for SOFIA (the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) at NASA's Ames Research Center. Dana is coauthor with Mike Seeds of Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 14th edition (2018); Universe: Solar Systems, Stars, and Galaxies, 7th edition (2012); Stars and Galaxies, 8th edition (2013); The Solar System, 8th edition (2013); and ASTRO, 2nd edition (2013), all published by Cengage. Michael A. Seeds has been Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, since 1970. In 1989, he received F&M College's Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Seeds' love for the history of astronomy led him to create upper-level courses on Archaeoastronomy and Changing Concepts of the Universe. His research interests focus on variable stars and the automation of astronomical telescopes. Mike is coauthor with Dana Backman and Michele Montgomery of HORIZONS HYBRID: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE, Thirteenth Edition, and UNIVERSE HYBRID: SOLAR SYSTEM, STARS AND GALAXIES, Eighth Edition, both published by Cengage. He was Senior Consultant in the creation of the twenty-six-episode telecourse accompanying the book HORIZONS: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE, Twelfth Edition. Since 2004, Michele M. Montgomery has been part of the physics faculty at one of the top three universities with the most undergraduate students, The University of Central Florida. She teaches introductory astronomy, astrophysics, astrobiology, galaxies and cosmology courses to large and small audiences, both face-to-face and online. At UCF, she created a Life in the Universe course that is taught each spring as a follow-up to the fall semester's astronomy course. Since 2006, she has been an adjunct professor at Valencia College, an urban college with more than 35,000 students, where she started the astronomy program at the east campus. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of AAS WOMEN, a weekly newsletter product of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA). She is a co-author on 'WOMEN IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATH (STEM) - Getting Ahead via the Internet' in the book 'WOMEN, WORK, AND THE WEB: HOW THE WEB CREATES ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES' BY SCARECROSS PRESS 2013. With Mike Seeds and Dana Backman, she coauthors HORIZONS HYBRID: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE 13e and UNIVERSE HYBRID: SOLAR SYSTEM, STARS, AND GALAXIES, 8e and contributed to HORIZONS: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE 13e AND UNIVERSE: SOLAR SYSTEM, STARS, AND GALAXIES 7e - all published by Cengage. Dr. Montgomery earned her bachelor's degree in nuclear/mechanical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, master's degree in physics from the University of Alabama, and Ph.D in physics from Florida Institute of Technology. Prior to her career in academia, she was a nuclear engineer for Bechtel Corporation working on projects at DOE's Savannah River Plant and TVA's Browns Ferry nuclear power plant.
