Waukesha native Michelle Thaller is an astrophysicist and the assistant director for science communication at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Her passion for making science interesting, fun, inspiring and accessible to the public combined with her dynamic speaking skills make her a frequent guest for news programs, the Science Channel, the History Channel, podcasts, and TED talks. This lecture is designed for all with scientific curiosity! We especially encourage families with children ages 10 and up, school groups, and youth groups to attend! This event is free and no registration is required.

Introducing Michelle will be Darian Dixon. Darian graduated from Riverside High School in Milwaukee and earned his bachelor’s degree in Geosciences from UWM. Following graduation he worked as a Mission Operations Specialist with Malin Space Science Systems Inc., a NASA contractor. His projects included the Perseverance Mars rover and the Curiosity Mars rover. He returned to UWM in Fall 2022 to begin working on his PhD in Geosciences.