The University of Arizona Press

Kenneth S. Colesis a professor in the Department of Geography, Geology, Environment, and Planning and Planetarium Director at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches astronomy and planetary geology courses. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in geology from Caltech and a Ph.D. in geology from Columbia University. For thirty years he has specialized in presenting planetary science discoveries to undergraduate students, schoolchildren, and the general public. Among the projects he has conducted are coordinated observations by schoolchildren of solar eclipses, promoting measurements of asteroid occultations by amateur astronomers, and giving free planetarium programs to thousands of adults and children on a variety of astronomical topics. His educational outreach and curriculum development has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA. He is the lead author of The Atlas of Mars: Mapping Its Geography and Geology (Cambridge University Press, 2019), which won the 2020 Prose Award of the Association of American Publishers for Cosmology and Astronomy. Indiana University of Pennsylvania has recognized Coles with awards for Excellence in Expository Instruction, Career Service for public outreach in astronomy, and as Outstanding Researcher in science.