Dr. Bruce Brazell Introduction

Introduction

Greetings! I am Bruce Brazell and I will be your instructor this session.

Background

I grew up during a time when our country was engaged in one of the most amazing adventures in human history -- putting a man on the moon! The thrill and excitement of those days (when I was in elementary school) stayed with me over the years and influenced my career path -- to go into the sciences. While in college, majoring in physics and astronomy, I also began tutoring other students in math and science and found that I really liked helping others learn new things.

After a brief stint working in an observatory, I decided to follow the education path and began working first as a high school physics teacher and eventually ended up as a college physics and astronomy professor. I work as the planetarium director at Navarro College. If you don't know, a planetarium is a room with a dome shaped ceiling that is used to simulate the night sky. I've been working in planetariums since 1993 and I've been the planetarium director at Navarro College since 2002.

My wife and I have been together for well over three decades and we successfully raised five children -- all of whom are college educated working adults now. We keep busy taking care of our zoo of rescued animals, various improvement projects on our home and rental properties, and spending as much time as possible spoiling our grandchildren! :)

My main hobby, as you can probably guess, is astronomy. I love setting up the telescope at various places and giving people a chance to look at the moon, planets, nebulae, and galaxies beyond. Here's some of my pics from various telescope events:

sea of crisis.jpg

The Sea of Crisis - Moon

venus transit.jpg

Watching Venus cross in front of the Sun back in 2012

partial eclipse.jpg

A recent partial solar eclipse. Note the huge sunspot complex on the sun's photosphere!

Education

Doctorate Degree - Science Education from Texas A&M University
Master's Degree - Physics from Stephen F. Austin State University
Bachelor's Degree - Physics & Mathematics from West Texas A&M

Mission and Philosophy

As I mentioned above, I learned early that I get a kick out of helping people learn new things. I especially love helping students gain an understanding of things they originally figured would be too difficult to learn about. Astronomy is a challenging topic, but I firmly believe that there is something in it for everyone. I am always ready for your questions and, after 30 years in education, no question is too crazy, too hard, or too simple to ask! Always reach out and ask me questions should you find yourself getting stuck or just do not understand something!