Who We Are

Salvador Bará is a retired associate professor of physics at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. His present work is centered on the application of physics and photonics methods, concepts and devices to analyze, assess and solve issues relevant to light pollution including satellite constellations. An author of more than 150 scientific publications and reports, and a similar number of conference contributions, his scientific and teaching activities have focused on optical astronomical and biomedical instrumentation, physiological optics, lighting and visual ergonomy, and light exposure safety, among other topics.

John Barentine is the Principal Consultant and Executive Officer at Dark Sky Consulting, LLC in Arizona, U.S. He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin and previously held staff positions at the National Solar Observatory, Apache Point Observatory, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the International Dark-Sky Association. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union and the Illuminating Engineering Society, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He serves on light pollution committees of the AAS, IAU and IES, and co-leads the Community Engagement section of the IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference. 

Paul Bogard is an associate professor of English at Hamline University in Minnesota, U.S., where he teaches courses in First Year Writing, Creative Writing, and Literature with a focus on the environment. He earned a B.A. in Religion from Carleton College, an M.A. in English/creative writing from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in English/Literature and Environment from the University of Nevada, Reno. Paul’s books include The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light (Little, Brown), The Ground Beneath Us: from the Oldest Cities to the Last Wilderness, What Dirt Tells Us About Who We Are (Little, Brown), and the children’s picture book What if Night? (Keystone Canyon P). His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Salon, Outside, Audubon, Conservation, Reader’s Digest, National Geographic, Creative Nonfiction, and elsewhere.

Rewa Clark Bush is a graduate student at Yale University in the Department of Astronomy. She completed a B.A. in English with honors at Oberlin College and an M.A. in Astronomy at Wesleyan University. She has made research contributions across disciplines in planetary science and computational astrophysics, from modeling interstellar cloudscapes and exoplanet atmospheres, to simulating the outcomes of stars that have survived an encounter with a supermassive black hole. She has also worked in state and national parks educating the public about the night sky and the impact of light pollution on human and ecological health. 

Samantha Lawler is an orbital dynamicist who is concerned about the satellites she sees in her research telescope data and in her night skies. She is a professor of astronomy at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Samantha is a member of the American Astronomical Society's Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE).

James Lowenthal is the Mary Elizabeth Moses Professor of Astronomy at Smith College in Massachusetts, U.S. He earned an undergraduate degree at Yale College and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Arizona. His research interests include high redshift galaxies, Lyman break galaxies, starburst galaxies, millimeter and submillimeter galaxies, galaxy formation and evolution, QSO absorption line systems, QSO host galaxies and ultra-faint radio sources. James chairs the Light Pollution Subcommittee of the American Astronomical Society's Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE) and he is the President of the International Astronomical Union's Commission B7 (Protection of Existing and Potential Observatory Sites).

Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist on the Chandra X-ray Center team and provides mission support at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts, U.S. He has written papers on the boundary of outer space, the impacts of satellite megaconstellations on astronomy, compliance with the UN Registration Convention, and other space policy topics. He edits Jonathan's Space Report, a free internet newsletter founded in 1989 covering technical details of space launches, and maintains the General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects. He also serves on the American Astronomical Society's Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE) as chair of its Space Debris Subcommittee.

Angelina Reddy is a senior undergraduate student at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, U.S. With an interdisciplinary background across Film, Environmental Studies, and Planetary Science/Astronomy, and practiced interests in theater and music, Angelina has found a passion in space environmentalism. Her studies focus on maintaining beyond-Earth environments, along with a benevolent relationship with land and each other. By integrating her interests into her entertainment career, she crafts creative projects that provoke real change while fostering a sense of unity and responsibility. In her time at Wesleyan, Angelina has written a variety of space-related scholarship, co-founded Wesleyan’s Dark Skies Advocacy Group, and is currently completing her thesis, a teleplay (pilot & series bible) about the future of colonizing Mars and its impact on land and society alike.

Aparna Venkatesan is a cosmologist at the University of San Francisco. She is active in developing co-created scientific partnerships with Indigenous communities worldwide, and has led collaborative projects for dark-sky advocacy and developing protections for space as an environment for science, sky traditions, language and heritage. Aparna is co-chair of the American Astronomical Society's Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE).