Billy is the Outreach Astronomer for Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory. A great deal of his time is spent engaging the community in astronomy through Dyer’s monthly public events such as Telescope Nights, Open Houses, lectures, and concerts; leading our summer science camps and field trip groups; going out into the community and delivering science content to outside groups, businesses and area schools; and developing materials for distribution in-house and online. Around the observatory, Billy develops and maintains many of the one-of-a-kind exhibits and oversees maintenance and preservation of the observatory’s astronomical equipment. He also actively collaborates with Vanderbilt’s physics and astronomy department and teaches an intro astronomy class.

Billy grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee, and graduated with a B.S. in Physics from Austin Peay State University (2004) and a Ph.D. in (astro)physics from Vanderbilt University (2012).