User:ShawnLaatsch

Mr. Shawn Laatsch, is Planetarium Manager for the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii where he installed the world’s first 3D stereoscopic planetarium. He has presented several thousand planetarium shows, and numerous lectures on a variety of astronomical topics – including being an invited guest speaker in Moscow, Hamburg, Athens, and Tokyo.

Originally from Wisconsin, he started his planetarium career at the Wausau West High School Planetarium in 1984. He has extensive experience in public, k-12, and university facilities. He served as planetarium director for the Arthur Storer Planetarium in Maryland, the director for the Gheens Science Hall & Rauch Planetarium in Kentucky, and currently is the manager of the planetarium for the Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii. Shawn serves as an Executive Officer (Treasurer and Membership Chair) in the International Planetarium Society, Inc., the world’s largest organization of planetarium professionals. In 1998 he was inducted as an International Planetarium Society Fellow for his work in promoting astronomy education. Laatsch was an invited guest lecturer at the Argo School of Astronomy in Moscow, Russia in 2000. He was selected as a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador in 2004. In 2006 he was asked by NASA SEARCH to be a special presenter on cultural astronomy education at COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) in Beijing, China. In 2008 he received the International Planetarium Society’s highest honor, the Service Award for dedication to the planetarium field. In 2010 he was elected to the Board of Directors for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and received the Tanaguchi Award for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. In 2011 he was appointed chair of the Mauna Kea Observatories Outreach Committee. He has been an invited guest lecturer on astronomy and planetariums in Brazil, China, Germany, Greece, Japan, New Zealand, and Russia.

Over the past 27 years he has been actively involved in planetarium management, program development and astronomy education in museum, university, and k-12 settings. He has taught undergraduate astronomy courses at the University of Louisville, East Carolina University, Pitt Community College, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo using traditional and online methodologies. Shawn has a passion for cultural and historical astronomy, and sharing the wonders of the universe with people of all ages.

Bachelors of Science - University of Wisconsin LaCrosse (1992) Masters of Science - Mississippi State University (2001) PhD - University of Wyoming (in progress)