JOHN SIMONETTI (Co-PI)
John Simonetti received his Ph.D. in Astronomy and Space Sciences from Cornell University in 1985. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Physics, and in Earth and Space Sciences, from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. While an undergraduate, John was also a member of the Stony Brook Patriots baseball team; he received the Senior Athlete Award for 1978 from the Stony Brook Alumni Association. Following his graduate years at Cornell, John was a Jansky Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia. He came to Virginia Tech in 1987. His research concentrates on small-scale structure in the interstellar medium of the Milky Way galaxy, and radio transients from high-energy explosive events. For much of his work he has used radio telescopes located at national and international facilities. He is currently constructing a radio antenna array for use in detecting low-frequency radio transients. In addition to his research and teaching activities, John has given numerous public lectures and observatory shows for groups in southwestern Virginia, and he has appeared on local and regional radio and television explaining astronomy to the public.