This is the 7th annual symposium organized by ASX. This event aims to educate the public on some of the projects in space exploration, and encourage students and the public to get informed and involved in the exciting discoveries of the space industry. In the past, the symposium has featured famous astronauts, numerous top researchers, and leaders in the space industry. Previously, this annual event had attracted more than 1000 audience members.

We are honored to be featuring:

Prof. Peter Schultz, NASA LCROSS

Dr. Peter H. Schultz is Professor of Geological Sciences at Brown University, and co-investigator on the NASA LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite) mission. He specializes in the study planetary geology, and impact cratering on the Earth and other objects in the solar system.

Dr. Schultz became an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University in 1984, and was promoted to full Professor in 1994. Prior to joining the faculty of Brown University, he worked as a research associate at the NASA Ames Research Center, and a Staff Scientist at The Lunar and Planetary Institute.

Professor Schultz has served as Director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute Planetary Image Facility, and is currently the Director for both the Northeast Planetary Data Center and the NASA/Rhode Island University Space Grant Consortium. Dr. Schultz has been the recipient of several awards, including the 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award from Carleton College, and the 2004 Barringer Medal of the Meteoritical Society. He received his Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1972.

Prof. Sara Seager, MIT

Sara Seager, a Candadian-American astronomer,  is the Ellen Swallow Richards Associate Professor of Planetary Science and Associate Professor of Physics at MIT. Her research focuses on theoretical models of atmospheres and interiors of all kinds of exoplanets. Her research has introduced many new ideas to the field of exoplanet characterization, including work that led to the first detection of an exoplanet atmosphere. She was part of a team that co-discovered the first detection of light emitted from an exoplanet and the first spectrum of an exoplanet. The exceedingly surprising diversity of exoplanets has led Seager’s maxim, “For exoplanets, anything is possible under the laws of physics and chemistry."

Before joining MIT in 2007, Professor Seager spent four years on the senior research staff at the Carnegie Institute of Washington preceded by three years at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. Professor Seager is the 2007 recipient of the American Astronomical Society’s Helen B. Warner Prize, and has been recognized in the media by Popular Science Magazine's Fifth Annual Brilliant Ten in 2006 and Discover Magazine's "Best 20 under 40" in 2008. Her education includes a PhD from Harvard University in Astronomy and a BSc from the University of Toronto in Math and Physics. For more details, please refer to http://saraseager.com/

Dr. Firouz Naderi, NASA JPL

Dr. Firouz Naderi is the Associate Director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) responsible for Project Formulation and Strategy. Before serving in his current role, he was the head of Mars Exploration Program. Upon his assignment to this role in 2000, he helped replan this program as a chain of scientifically, technologically and operationally interrelated missions with a spacecraft launch to Mars every two years. Over the next five years Naderi oversaw the successful launch of Mars Odyssey, landing of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and the development of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Before Mars, he also managed the Origins Program, NASA's ambitious, technology-rich plan to search for Earth-like planets in other planetary systems.

Dr. Naderi’s career at JPL has also spanned areas of systems engineering, technology development, and program and project management for satellite communications systems, Earth remote sensing observatories, astrophysical observatories and planetary systems.

Dr. Naderi is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the recipient of a number of awards, including NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal, Space Technology Hall of Fame Medal, the 2005 Ellis Island Medal of Honor and NASA’s highest award – the Distinguished Service Medal. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California and joined JPL in 1979.

Dr. Narendra Bhandari, ISRO

Dr. Narendra Bhandari is a physicist who has been working on India's Chandrayaan-1 Mission to the the moon. He has also worked on studies of lunar samples brought by Apollo missions and the Soviet Luna missions, and has worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research as well as the University of California at San Diego, the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India, and has been a visiting Professor at the University of Turin. His current research deals with cosmic ray interactions with matter, applications of radionuclides on earth and planetary sciences, meteorites and the moon. Technical aspects of his work are related to radiation counting at ultra low levels, particle track technique and neutron activation.

Professor Bhandari has been President of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) from 2004-2006 and is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (New Delhi), Indian Academy of Science (Bangalore) and the National Academy of Science (Allahabad). He has also received a number of awards both nationally and internationally for his research. He received his Ph.D from University of Bombay, Mumbai, India.