HAYDEN PLANETARIUM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Fellow / Research Associate, Former Gerstner Postdoctoral Scholar
Job Titles:
- Research Associate Vertebrate Zoology, Ichthyology
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Writer and Editor, Hayden Associate
Education
M.A. in History of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
B.A. in English, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Research Interests
Since 2002, Avis Lang has been editing and collaborating with the ubiquitous space advocate Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City-initially as the senior editor responsible for his Natural History magazine column, "Universe"; subsequently as the editor of their book Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier (W.W. Norton, 2012); and most recently as coauthor of their book Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military (W.W. Norton, 2018). Several of the "Universe" essays produced during her years as editor of the column received awards from the American Institute of Physics or were included in the Best American Science Writing or Best American Science and Nature Writing annual anthologies, and some of the essays made their way into Tyson's best-selling book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (W.W. Norton, 2017).
In 2013, under her own name, Lang published an essay-length ebook, "Somehow, Someday: Prospects for Spacefaring," intended for the lay reader willing to spend an hour acquiring a few basic ideas about space exploration. Working with the premise that, if asked whether humans will have colonized space by the year 2500, most people would say yes, the essay addressed how, in light of current realities, that goal might be achieved. It investigated the current state and long-term prospects of space politics and spacefaring, both within the United States and for humanity as a whole.
While working in Canada during the 1970s and 1980s as an art historian, essayist, curator, and performer, Lang taught fine arts and women's studies at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, the Banff Centre, and the University of Lethbridge. Her best-known curatorial project was Pork Roasts: 250 Feminist Cartoons (1981), an international traveling exhibition of work by more than a hundred cartoonists from thirteen countries. She now lives in New York City, where she has been an adjunct lecturer in English at the City University of New York and is currently a Research Associate at the Hayden Planetarium.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Pending Research Associate, Physical Sciences
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Secretary
- Trustee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Trustee
- Vice Chair
Specializing in zooarchaeology and GIS, Watson has led numerous archaeological excavations and surveys in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (a US National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site) and works extensively with museum collections.
His other ongoing research in the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) region of what is now upstate New York investigates changing subsistence and economy among Seneca communities during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Watson's work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Richard Gilder Graduate School & American Museum of Natural History, the American Philosophical Society, and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.
Job Titles:
- Ex Officio Trustee
- Comptroller of the City of New York
Job Titles:
- Ex Officio Trustee
- Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education
Job Titles:
- Ex Officio Trustee
- Mayor of the City of New York
Job Titles:
- Ex Officio Trustee
- Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
Job Titles:
- Ex Officio Trustee
- President of the Borough of Manhattan
Job Titles:
- Ex Officio Trustee
- Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Trustee
- Vice Chair
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Visiting Scientist, Physical Sciences
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Trustee
- Vice Chair
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Director
Job Titles:
- Museum President
- New Museum President
New Museum President Morris K. Jesup launches the Museum into a golden age of exploration that lasts from 1880 to 1930. During this time, the Museum is involved with expeditions that discover the North Pole, explore unmapped areas of Siberia, traverse Outer Mongolia and the great Gobi desert, and travel to the Congo, taking Museum representatives to every continent on the globe.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Treasurer
- Trustee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Trustee
- Vice Chair
Roy Chapman Andrews leads historic Central Asiatic Expeditions through the Gobi desert of Mongolia, discovering some of the richest dinosaur fossil sites in the world. Andrews and his team work there until the border between China and Outer Mongolia closes in 1930.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of the Officers Team
- Trustee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- President
- Trustee
- President of the Museum
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Trustee
- Vice Chair
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Trustee
- Vice Chair