Ben Whitehouse

Artist and Executive Director/Founder
“If you want to change the world for the better you must first change minds for the better and for that to happen, you must inspire people to learn more and care more.”
Painter and video artist Ben Whitehouse is best known for his large scale paintings and twenty-four hour video projections called Revolutions.  Ben came to the US from London in 1980 and studied under poet and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou. He received his MFA from the University of Chicago in 1991. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally and positively reviewed in Artforum and elsewhere. Highlights include solo shows at the Delaware Contemporary, Chicago Cultural Center, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Gallery Henoch (NY) and a 2006 video installation on Times Square's giant Astrovision screen.
Ben also has a background in theatre and is a SAG?AFTRA member.
More about Ben’s art here.

 

Desa Bolger

Co-Director
Desa directs our initiatives, runs our volunteer programs and manages our social media platforms. Examples of her creativity include Lead the Leaders, SkyDay Fridays and Sky Day Activities. Desa is a Senior at Scripps College, dual majoring in biology and politics.

 

Neeve Olson

Teen Engagement Leader
Neeve is focusing on increasing awareness and promoting positive environmental action in the teen community by currently working on building a network of museum Airspaces. Neeve is a Senior at Nazareth Academy and hopes to major in English and Environmental Science next Fall in college.

Dr. Don Wuebbles

Professor of Atmospheric Science at Univ. Of Illinois and Lead Author for the IPCC

Don is a Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois where he has been since 1994.  He was Head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences from 1994 - 2006.  Don is an expert in atmospheric physics and chemistry with over 500 scientific publications related to the Earth's climate, air quality and ozone layer. However his work goes well beyond that through providing analysis and development of metrics used in national and international policy and in developing analyses for understanding climate impacts on society and ecosystems, plus potential resilience and societal responses.  He has co-authored a number of international and national scientific assessments, including those by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.  You can find out more about Don's work here.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Dr. Danielle Lawson

Assistant Professor of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Management, and Science Education at Penn State University.

Drawing on her experiences as both a formal and informal educator, her love for nature, and Costa Rican background, Danielle aims to use research to help empower and elevate the voices of all members of future and current generations to tackle complex global issues through environmental education, intergenerational learning, and social justice.

 

Dr. Daniel Horton

Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University 

Dan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University. He and his research group, the CCRG, use numerical models to study Earth’s climate system. He is particularly interested in extreme weather events, climate change, the impacts of climate change adaptation schemes, and Earth’s past climates (i.e., paleoclimates). Prior to Northwestern, Dan was a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford, earned his PhD in geological sciences at the University of Michigan, and obtained bachelor degrees in atmospheric science from Texas A&M and physics from Tulane University.  Between undergrad. and grad. stints he served five years in the US Air Force as a weather officer and operational meteorologist.

Dan is particularly interested in developing curriculum at the intersection of art and science, and has worked with his students to create Sky-relevant scientific explainers for Sky Day Project. You can find out more about Dan's work here

 
 
 
 
 
 

Dr. Sam Illingworth

Poet, Atmospheric Physicist

Sam Illingworth is a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at Manchester Metropolitan University, in the UK. With a PhD in atmospheric physics, his current research is centered around developing two-way dialogue between scientists and non-scientists, mainly through the use of poetry and tabletop games. Sam also partners with SkyTeam member and poet Dan Simpson performing around the world as Dr. Illingworth and Mr Simpson.  Together they create popular science projects and shows inspired by their shared passions for spoken word and for sharing the incredible research and experiments happening in science. You can find out more about Sam and his work here.

 

Jesse Semeyn

Curriculum Writer, NGSS Specialist

Jesse has been involved in science education in various capacities for over 15 years. He has taught in both classroom and informal education settings. He has also been a district science instructional coach and science content specialist for the state of Illinois. He has facilitated professional development learning at district, state, and national levels. He was part of Achieve's Peer Review Panel which evaluated curricula to determine alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards. More recently Jesse has worked to develop curricula at the district, state, and national level. 

 
 
 

Nicole Stott 

NASA Astronaut, Aquanaut

Nicole Stott has explored our Earth from the depths of our oceans to the heights of outer space. In awe of what she has experienced from these very special vantage points, she has dedicated her life to sharing the beauty of Earth from space with others.  She believes that sharing these orbital and inner space perspectives has the power to increase everyone’s appreciation of and obligation to care for our home planet and each other. A veteran NASA Astronaut, her experience includes two spaceflights and 104 days spent living and working in space on both the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. She performed one spacewalk, was the first person to fly the robotic arm to capture the free flying HTV cargo vehicle, was the last crew member to fly to and from their ISS mission on a Space Shuttle, and she was a member of the crew of the final flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-133.  A personal highlight of Nicole’s spaceflight was painting the first watercolor in space.  

Nicole is also a NASA Aquanaut, who in preparation for spaceflight and along with her NEEMO9 crew, lived and worked during an 18-day and longest saturation mission to date on the Aquarius undersea habitat.

Read how Nicole came to care so much about environment, people and sky - Nicole's Journey

SkyDay Master Teachers

Laura Stamp

Laura is a National Board Certified Teacher with 30 years teaching experience. Passionate about native bees, native plants and about our environment, Laura teaches 8th grade science at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois. Laura is Mom to 3 kids in college, two dogs and a goldfish!

 
 

Amanda Mellenthin

Amanda Mellenthin is an Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award winner with 17 years of experience as a junior high science teacher. Mrs. Mellenthin encourages her students to use problem-based learning through a student-created vegetable garden, native pollinator patch, and a school-wide lunch waste worm composting program. With the new addition of a school greenhouse, Mrs. Mellenthin and her students at Carriel Junior High in O’Fallon, IL have started selling native plants at the local farmers market to encourage the community to grow more pollinator friendly plants. You can find out more about the projects at the Carriel Garden here. (https://www.facebook.com/CarrielGarden/)