SIERRA COLLEGE
ASTRONOMY DEPARTMENT

Faculty & Staff

Professor Harry L. F. Houpis Professor Houpis joined the Astronomy faculty in July, 1997, and is currently the Chair of the Astronomy Department. A graduate of MIT (B.S. in Mathematics and B.S. in Physics) and the University of California, San Diego (M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics), he has taught part-time at a variety of levels from grade school to 4-year universities since 1978 and is a strong advocate of multimedia lecturing and hands-on peer-based learning. Professor Houpis has also published several technical papers in a variety of professional refereed journals, delivered numerous presentations at professional meetings, and currently has research interests in problems associated with cosmology, philosophy, and the foundations of mathematics. [Contact Information]
Professor David Kenyon Professor Kenyon joined the Astronomy Department in July, 2000, after serving as an adjunct professor at Sierra College since 1984. With Electrical Engineering degrees from DeVry Institute of Technology and Stanford University as well as a teaching credential in Astronomy and Astrophysics, professor Kenyon has been involved in many aspects of astronomy including observational, photographic, digital imaging and telescope design. He has also designed and built an observatory in the Sierras where he has contributed to the International Halley Watch, Chiron Perihelion Campaign, NASA's Planetary Data Systems Database and JPL's Comet Database. [Contact Information]
David Dunn Professor David Dunn, as the newest addition to the Astronomy Department, began teaching at Sierra College in the Spring 2003. A graduate of the University of California, Davis (B.S. in Physics) and the University of Iowa (Ph.D. in Physics), he has taught astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. As a graduate student and a Post Doc, he was very much involved with radio studies of the Solar System, in particular with the planets Saturn and Jupiter. He currently maintains these research efforts through a collaboration with researchers at various institutions, including UC, Berkeley. [Contact Information]
Professor Dick Marasso A teacher at Sierra College since 1975, Professor Marasso received his education from Joliet Junior College and San Diego State University with a B.A. in Mathematics, and an M.S. in Astronomy. His 33 years of experience in the community college system has focused primarily on classroom instruction in astronomy driven by an educational philosophy of cooperative learning. [Contact Information]
Professor Alvaro Demarzi Professor Alvaro Demarzi has more than 25 years of teaching experience from elementary, high school and university levels. He holds B.S and M.S. degrees in Physics. Although he has taught Physics, Chemistry, Earth Science and Mathematics, his first and lasting love has been Astronomy. He strongly believes in the phenomenological approach to teaching. He has been a member of the faculty since Fall of 2000. [Contact Information]
Professor Ronald Olson Professor Olson began teaching at Sierra College in the spring semester, 2004. With Electrical Engineering degrees from Washington State University and Stanford University, Professor Olson has been an amateur astronomer while pursuing a career in hardware, software, and systems engineering design and management in the defense electronics industry. He has continued his formal astronomy education with courses at Sierra College. His current interests include observing deep-sky objects and cosmology. [Contact Information]
Professor Milan Mijic Professor Mijic began teaching at Sierra College in the spring semester, 2004. He is also a faculty member at the California State University Los Angeles. He grew up in the former Yugoslavia, where early on he made the questionable decision to ignore basketball for soccer and astronomy. After extensive hanging around his hometown public observatory, he eventually received degrees from the University of Belgrade (Diploma) and Caltech (M.S. and Ph.D.) as a theoretical physicist specializing in the very early universe. He still loves to observe the sky with small telescopes, and believes that astronomy classes bring the most meaningful experience to every college student. [Contact Information]
Professor Josh Wormley Professor Wormley began teaching at Sierra College in the spring semester of 2004. He has a M.S. in astronomy from the University of Western Sydney, Australia. His interests include photometric studies of deep sky objects (variable stars and extra-solar planets), as well as exploring new avenues of data reduction. He enjoys sharing astronomy with children, through volunteer work at elementary schools. He is also preparing to continue studies towards a degree in mathematics. [Contact Information]
Professor Sharon Pruitt Sharon has been teaching at Sierra College since 1996. Her teaching responsibilities are directed at maintaining the Astronomy Department program at the Tahoe/Truckee campus. [Contact Information]
Professor Chuck Pullen Chuck has a B.A in Pharmacology from UC Santa Barbara and a M.S. in Astronomy from Swinburne University of Technology located near Melbourne, Australia. After a 25 year career in occupational and environmental health, Chuck has finally been seduced by the dark site of the physical sciences, astronomy and astrophysics. He has taught astronomy and general physical science at Cosumnes River College and Sacramento City College since 2003, and will begin teaching at Sierra College in the summer, 2006. His research interests include the observational astronomy of stellar pulsation and active galactic nuclei via several international consortiums including AAVSO ( http://www.aavso.org) and the WEBT from his Wilton based observatory as well as via several robotic systems.. [Contact Information]
Professor Jon Haass Professor Haass is a recent addition to the Astronomy department,and is currently teaching Astronomy 10 and 11 at the Nevada County Campus. A graduate of the University of Wyoming (B.S. in Mathematics and B.S. in Physics) and MIT, Cambridge, MA (Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics), he taught Math and Astronomy courses at MIT and recently at American River College. His research interests include the structure and dynamics of spiral galaxies and the evolution of the early universe. He has observed star forming regions in the infra-red at observatories including Kitt Peak and WIRO (Wyoming Infra Red Observatory) as part of the studyof the effect of gravitational waves on interstellar cloud collapse. [Contact Information]
George Bromm Although George is a geologist by training and experience, he has assisted the Astronomy Department since the Fall Semester 2000. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the Mackey School of Mines, Reno, Nevada and a Master of Science degree from California State College at Hayward. George worked as a gold exploration geologist in Nevada for approximately ten years. Due to declining gold prices and an unstable industry, George came back to California. He worked for Sierra College as a part-time Professor of Geology for a semester in 2000.George currently holds the Astronomy/Geology Laboratory Technician position. [Contact Information]