Previous Speakers

Dr. Tanya Harrison calls herself a "Professional Martian," having worked on rocks and robots on the Red Planet for a living. She was a science and mission operations specialist for cameras aboard NASA's Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance rovers, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Currently she is a fellow of the Outer Space Institute. Tanya holds a Ph.D. in Geology with a Specialization in Planetary Science and Exploration from the University of Western Ontario, a Masters in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Wesleyan University, and a B.Sc. in Astronomy and Physics from the University of Washington.

Emma Lehnhardt is the Program Planning & Control Manager for NASA's Gateway Program, which will be a space station in orbit around the Moon and part of the Artemis campaign. A core member of the Program formulation and leadership team, in her role today Emma leads the team responsible for all the business operations, financial management, and program governance for the $7B+ Gateway program. Emma oversees daily operations and business controls for Gateway, comprising 4 international partners, 5 prime contracts ($10B+ potential value), 40+ support contracts, and 1,000+ personnel.

Dr. Kris Lehnhardt is a proud Canadian (now also American) with expertise in Emergency, Extreme Environmental, and Aerospace Medicine. Currently, he is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Director of Space Medicine at UTHealth Houston. Previously, he served as an Associate Professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in the Center for Space Medicine and the Department of Emergency Medicine. From 2018-2024, Dr. Lehnhardt was the Element Scientist for Exploration Medical Capability in the NASA Human Research Program at the NASA Johnson Space Center. He is board-certified in Emergency Medicine in both Canada and the U.S.A and works clinically in the Emergency Department at the Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

Andrew is a Director of AI & Autonomy at Mission Control where he advances artificial intelligence technologies and products. With a background in aerospace and nanotechnology his expertise spans anomaly detection, imaging spectroscopy, and remote sensing data analysis. Andrew holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia (Physics) and a BSc from the University of Waterloo (Mathematical Physics). On weekends you can find him hiking, canoeing, or in a tent with a paperback.

Madison C. Feehan is the founder and CEO of Space Copy, an international space logistics and manufacturing company. Based in Edmonton, she blends a background in lunar instrument development and NASA innovations with business expertise, holding a Harvard Business School certification in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Madison leads initiatives at the intersection of space tech, STEM education, and international policy, serving as G100 Region Chair for Space Technology and Aviation in Alberta and Chair of the Lunar Chamber of Commerce. She also contributes to global STEM policy through volunteer work with organizations like the UN and Lifeboat Foundation.

Kyle Flemmer is a writer, publisher, and digital media artist from Calgary in Treaty 7 territory. He completed an MA in English Literature at the University of Calgary, where he researched digital poetics and worked as a teaching and research assistant. Kyle holds a B.A. Hons. in Western Society & Culture and Creative Writing from Concordia University, where he earned the distinction of Faculty of Arts and Science Scholar in 2016.

Keith Sidwell is emeritus professor of Greek and Latin at University College Cork in Ireland and adjunct professor of Classics at the University of Calgary. Among his many publications are translations of Lucian’s ancient Greek works, Lucian: Chattering Courtesans and Other Sardonic Sketches (Penguin, 2004), and the first translations of two neo-Latin Irish epic poems The Tipperary Hero: Dermot O’Meara’s Ormonius (1615) (Brepols, 2011), with David Edwards; and Poema de Hibernia: A Jacobite Epic on the Williamite Wars (Irish Manuscripts Commission, 2018) with Pádraig Lenihan.

Noreen Humble is professor of Classics at the University of Calgary and associate director of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities. As associate director, she runs the Institute’s Public Humanities programme, placing advanced humanities doctoral students into community organisations for 3-month work placements. She is co-editor, with Jim Ellis, of Mythologies of Outer Space (2025).

Jim Ellis is professor of English at the University of Calgary and director of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities, Canada’s oldest humanities institute. As director of the CIH, he has edited a series of books on the environmental humanities: Calgary: City of Animals (2017); Water Rites: Reimagining Water in the West (2018); and Intertwined Histories: Plants in their Social Contexts (2019). With Noreen Humble, he co-edited Mythologies of Outer Space (2025). He is the series editor of the Calgary Atlas Project, which produces maps of alternative or forgotten histories of Calgary.

Landon Shepherd is the Vegetation and Fire Specialist for Parks Canada in Jasper National Park, with over 30 years of experience in fire management. He has served in key leadership roles on wild and prescribed fires across Canada and currently leads a team focused on fire management, forest fuel reduction, reforestation, and land reclamation. A former Rappattack crew leader, Yukon Smokejumper, and now an Incident Commander, Landon also holds degrees in Natural Resource Science and Conservation Biology. Outside of work, he’s a dedicated husband, father, mountain enthusiast, and ACMG winter ski guide.

Dr. Robert Thirsk has academic backgrounds in mechanical engineering, medicine and business administration. He has flown on two space missions as a member of the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut corps. Bob first flew aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1996 as part of the Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission. His second flight in 2009 was a six-month expedition aboard the International Space Station. Bob and his Station crewmates performed multidisciplinary research, robotic operations and maintenance of spacecraft systems and payloads. Bob continues to be a strong promoter of a national economy based upon exploration, innovation and collaboration.

Timothy Friesen is a quantum physicist at the University of Calgary who specializes in experimental research on the foundations of quantum science, including the understanding of elusive antimatter and anti-atoms. When the Big Bang occurred, scientists believe there was an equal amount of matter and antimatter – and thus began one of the biggest mysteries in physics to this day — where is all the antimatter? As we attempt to answer this question, other strange questions are arising!

Alan Nursall is a longtime science communicator and former President and CEO of TELUS World of Science – Edmonton, where he led the $42-million Aurora Project. Prior to that, he spent 24 years at Science North in Ontario and founded NEXT Exhibits, creating science experiences across North America. He’s hosted The Alan Nursall Experience on Discovery’s Daily Planet for 22 years and has served on multiple national science boards. Since retiring in 2023, he’s held interim leadership roles at the Citadel Theatre and Fort Edmonton. Alan has proudly hosted Jasper Dark Sky Festival Trivia Night since it began in 2018.

Nick Strzalkowski is a neurophysiologist, passionate science educator, and avid space enthusiast. As an associate professor at Mount Royal University, he explores how the human body senses and controls movement - with a particular interest in extreme environments like high altitude and space! Nick’s research journey includes working with Space Shuttle astronauts, studying how spaceflight affects skin sensitivity. Now, he’s continuing this work on Earth, investigating how spending 60 days in bed simulates the effects of long-term space travel. Nick is eager to share research stories to make space science feel closer to home.

Dr. Raj Bhardwaj is a Family Physician and Urgent Care doctor working in downtown Calgary. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Department of Family Medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine at his alma mater, the University of Calgary. He started in the Science Communication realm early, working at the Edmonton Space & Science Centre in the 1990s. That fit in well with his interest in space, which started much earlier, mostly from watching Star Trek and exploring science, and science fiction from books and magazines from his local library. He has refined his common-sense approach to explaining complex science and medical topics ever since. Raj has been a “House Doctor” for CBC Radio Syndication since 2013.

Sarah Hewitt is a biology professor at Mount Royal University where she teaches human physiology and neuroscience. One day though, in an effort to fuse her love of science, writing, and the outdoors, she decided to become an Adventure Scientist. Now, in her free time, she travels the world, takes photos, explores strange places, tries to learn everything about everything, and then tells people about it.

A thirty year resident of Jasper Alberta, Mike Gere has been a photographer of many sorts for the last 25 years. Owner and operator of Jasper Photo Tours he is a self-taught photographer of landscapes, wildlife and portraiture, with his favorite school of photography being night photography. Night imagery with magnetism such as those of auroras, astrophotography, light painting and time lapses are his most sought-after subjects. Mike is always up for a photo adventure of any sort and can be easily bribed with oatmeal raisin cookies.

Hamid Hassani is a PhD student in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Alberta, actively contributing to the international collaboration studying galaxies, known as PHANGS (Physics at High Angular Resolution in nearby galaxies). His research centers on unraveling the evolution of galaxies, utilizing a variety of ground-based and space-based telescopes to explore the formation and regulation of stars. Recently, Hamid made significant contributions by utilizing the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most advanced space telescope, to investigate dust properties in nearby galaxies.

Marc Garneau has distinguished himself in three distinct fields. As a Naval Officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, he spent 10 years as a combat systems engineer. In 1984, Garneau became the first Canadian Astronaut to go to space and from 2001 to 2005 was President of the Canadian Space Agency. As a Federal Politician from 2008 – 2023 he served as Liberal House Leader, Minister of Transport, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Marc was appointed as Companion of the Order of Canada in 2003 for outstanding achievement and service to Canada and humanity at large.

Mathematician Dr. Erich Karkoschka works as a specialist for planetary research at the Lunar and Planetary Center in Tucson, Arizona. He has observed every object presented in his book, Observer's Sky Atlas: The 500 Best Deep-Sky Objects With Charts and Images.

Matthew is a Fellow and Canada CIFAR AI Chair at Amii and an Assistant Professor of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. He achieved his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2019 at the Georgia Institute of Technology where his thesis focused on Combinational Machine Learning Creativity. His research has been featured in popular media such as Vice, Time, Motherboard, BBC and Rolling Stone, and his code has been applied to research at Cornell University, Drexel University, Northeastern University, Worcester Polytechnic University, the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Marlos is a Fellow in Residence and Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), and an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta. Marlos’s research mostly focuses on the problem of reinforcement learning. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from UFMG, in Brazil, and his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, where he popularized the idea of temporally-extended exploration through options. He was a researcher at DeepMind from 2021 to 2023 and at Google Brain from 2019 to 2021, during which time he made major contributions to reinforcement learning, in particular the application of deep reinforcement learning to control Loon’s stratospheric balloons.

Dr. Pilarski received the B.ASc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 2004, the Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta in 2009, and completed his postdoctoral training in computing science with Dr. Richard S. Sutton at the University of Alberta. Dr. Pilarski's research interests include reinforcement learning and decision making, artificial intelligence, real-time machine learning, human-machine interaction, intelligence amplification, rehabilitation technology, and assistive robotics. He leads the Amii Adaptive Prosthetics Program—an interdisciplinary initiative focused on creating intelligent artificial limbs to restore and extend abilities for people with amputations.

Jeanine is an avid aurora chaser, astro photographer and guide. She’s a recognized, and published photographer based in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, Canada. Jeanine leads aurora photography workshops, is a judge for the International Dark Sky Association’s Capture the Dark photo contest and has spoken about her aurora chasing adventures to an international audience. She promotes the importance of dark sky awareness and the magical beauty of the night sky through her presentations, photography and writing.

Jay Ingram is a Science broadcaster and award-winning writer. Steve Dodd(lead guitar) is a music composer for tv and film; he’s published more than 3,000 compositions worldwide. Josip Vulic (bass) is a Canadian operator/designer and music producer hobbyist. Trevor Day (rhythm guitar) is a physiologist, specializing in blood chemistry at high altitude. Ben Jackson (drummer) has spent his entire life immersed in music! Garth Kennedy (keyboards) is part owner of a software company, which gets in the way of music sometimes. But not this time.

In 2010, Emily Carney started a spaceflight blog called This Space Available. Fun fact: the late Gene Cernan (Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, and Apollo 17 astronaut, also known as “The Last Man on the Moon”) once asked her, “What the hell is a space blog?” In 2011, Carney wanted to start a Facebook group for space enthusiasts, but was struggling to find a good name. Her husband, Steve, suggested “Space Hipsters” as sort of a sarcastic placeholder, but the name stuck. The group grew more quickly than she could imagine, and as of April 2023 it totals over 41,000 members. Space Hipsters boasts members from all around the world, and includes space enthusiasts, writers, artists, scientists, engineers, aspiring astronauts, and even a few actual astronauts

Founder and Owner of Space Weather Trackers via Facebook pages, astrophotographer, and aurora chaser, Christian has spent the last decade breaking down the complexities of space weather events and phenomena in order to enlighten the public on what sources to check, as well as what the data means, to increase their likelihood of success in viewing the aurora themselves. With a background in Astrophysics from The Ohio State University in the states, teaching classes on the subject for multiple years in Fairbanks, Alaska, as well as leading as a group expert in several aurora groups across the world, he looks to make the beauty of the aurora personally known to as many as possible.

Bettymaya Foott loves to bring people to the dark side. As the Director of Engagement for the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), Bettymaya works with a global community of dark sky defenders, empowering them with tools, resources, and inspiration to protect the night sky. An avid astrophotographer, you can usually find her out under the stars with one of her three cameras battling off mosquitos. Bettymaya’s photography has been featured in Sky and Telescope, National Geographic, and the Los Angeles Times. Her dark sky efforts have reached TedX Kansas City and the New York Times.

Dr. Torah Kachur is the CBC Radio One National Science columnist and a sessional professor at the University of Alberta. She received her PhD from the University of Alberta in the wonderfully irrelevant field of worm gonads and molecular genetics. The reality of studying worm gonads for the rest of her life forced Torah into doing something she loves even more than worms and that’s talking about science. Each week on CBC, Torah explains the latest and greatest science news stories and gets to talk about everything from white blood cells to black holes. In the summer of 2014, Torah produced and hosted “What a Waste” – a nationally broadcasted summer show on CBC radio One as well as dozens of holiday radio specials on all kinds of topics.

Dr. Shawna Pandya is a physician, aquanaut, scientist-astronaut candidate program graduate with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS)/Project PoSSUM, skydiver, pilot-in-training, VP Immersive Medicine with Luxsonic Technologies and Director of Medical Research at Orbital Assembly Corporation. She is Director of IIAS’ Space Medicine Group, Chief Instructor for IIAS’ Operational Space Medicine course, and podcast host with World Extreme Medicine’s WEMCast. Dr. Pandya was on the first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero-gravity in 2015. She earned her aquanaut designation during the 2019 NEPTUNE (Nautical Experiments in Physiology, Technology and Underwater Exploration) mission.

Seth is Senior Astronomer and Institute Fellow at the SETI Institute, in Mountain View, California. He has an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University, and a doctorate in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology. For much of his career, Seth conducted radio astronomy research on galaxies, and has published approximately sixty papers in professional journals.

Dr. Sarah Jane Pell is an artist testing technologies and human expression in extreme spaces. Pell is a commercial diver, aquanaut, and analog astronaut. Monash University Associate Professor (Research) in Human-Centred Computing and Creativity, Artist-in-Residence at the Monash Immersive Visualisation Platform, and Chief Investigator of research in HCI design for Aquatic Performance. Her practice begins underwater to embody deep ecologies in future-focused research and interaction design.

Rob Meyerson is the founder and CEO of Delalune Space, a management consulting company focused on the aerospace, mobility, technology, and investment sectors. He is an angel investor, advisor, and director for companies operating in the hypersonics, space, mobility, technology, and telecommunications industries. Rob is the former President of Blue Origin. Rob oversaw the steady growth of Blue Origin from 2003 to 2018, building the company from its founding into a more than 1500-person organization. Prior to joining Blue, Rob was a Senior Manager at Kistler Aerospace. Rob began his career as an aerodynamicist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC).

Patrick is a Fellow, Canada CIFAR AI Chair and Member of the Board of Directors at Amii, as well as an Associate Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Machine Intelligence for Rehabilitation and is a principal investigator in the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control Lab and the Sensory Motor Adaptive Rehabilitation Technology Network at the University of Alberta. Patrick is also a Senior Staff Research Scientist at DeepMind in Edmonton, Alberta.

Jay Ingram has hosted two national science programs in Canada, Quirks and Quarks on CBC radio and Daily Planet on Discovery Channel Canada. His 19 books have been translated into 15 languages. Jay has six honorary degrees and is a member of the Order of Canada. From 2005-2015, he chaired the Science Communications Program at the Banff Centre, he is co-founder of the arts and engineering smashup called Beakerhead in Calgary, and he is one of the hosts of the podcast Anthropomania.

Jonathan Ward’s joy of bringing the space program to life for the public began in high school, when he served as a tour guide at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, a NASA Solar System Ambassador, and a cruise ship enrichment lecturer in space exploration. He authored four highly-regarded books on American space history, most recently collaborating with Eileen Collins, the first American woman to command a space mission. In 2019, Jonathan earned a place in the record books as the first person east of the Mississippi River—and only the fourth person to date—to successfully image all 110 Messier Objects in one night.

Jeanine is an aurora chaser, astro photographer and explorer. She’s a recognized, and published photographer based in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, Canada. Focusing her work for the past 6 years on capturing the Northern Lights. With a love for astronomy and space weather she promotes the importance of dark sky awareness and the astronomical wonders of the night sky through her presentations, photography and writing.

Jameel is used to living life in the fast lane. A career as a fighter pilot and experimental test pilot on high-performance fighter aircraft in Canada, the UK, and the US has left him with some pretty unique journal entries. Jameel spent much of his youth looking upwards. While learning to fly at 16 years old in a field in Southern Alberta, Jameel never imagined that he’d become a spaceline pilot for a commercial space company, Virgin Galactic. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Jameel is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has 4,600 hours flying experience in more than 55 different aircraft. He was also one of the final four candidates in the Canadian Space Agency’s 2009 astronaut recruitment campaign.

Emma Louden is an astrophysicist and space entrepreneur on a mission to help people find their place in space. She works at the intersection of academia and the space industry and is a strategic thinker and leader who is passionate about being a steward of the story of the relationship between space exploration and humanity. As an astrophysics Ph.D. student at Yale University, Emma studies the geometry of exoplanetary systems. Emma uses the kind of thinking spurred by this inquiry to help humanity develop a consciousness that puts the Solar System in context—Earth’s precarious position in the

Alan Nursall is President & CEO of TELUS World of Science – Edmonton. For twenty years, he entertained Canadians with science demonstrations and adventures in popular weekly segments Science and the City, and The Alan Nursall Experience on the Canadian television series Daily Planet on Discovery Channel Canada. For the past six years, Alan has hosted the popular Saturday night trivia event at Jasper Dark Sky.

Dr. Hilding Neilson is Mi’kmaq from Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland) whose work focuses on stellar and exoplanet astrophysics and on indigenizing astronomy. He earned is PhD from the University of Toronto in 2009 on Cepheid atmospheres and mass loss. He was then an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Bonn followed by a research professor at East Tennessee State University. Hilding returned to the University of Toronto in 2014 as a CLTA assistant professor.

Dr. Torah Kachur is the CBC Radio One National Science columnist and a sessional professor at the University of Alberta. She received her PhD from the University of Alberta in the wonderfully irrelevant field of worm gonads and molecular genetics. The reality of studying worm gonads for the rest of her life forced Torah into doing something she loves even more than worms and that’s talking about science. Each week on CBC, Torah explains the latest and greatest science news stories and gets to talk about everything from white blood cells to black holes. In the summer of 2014, Torah produced and hosted “What a Waste” – a nationally broadcasted summer show on CBC radio One as well as dozens of holiday radio specials on all kinds of topics.

Alan Nursall is a Canadian scientist and President & CEO TELUS World of Science Edmonton, who reported on science news for the Canadian television series Daily Planet and the Alan Nursall Experience on the Discovery Channel.

Rob Meyerson is the founder and CEO of Delalune Space, a management consulting company focused on the aerospace, mobility and technology sectors. As President of Blue Origin, Rob oversaw the steady growth of the company from startup, evolving a 10-person research team into a more than 1500-person organization. Under Rob’s leadership, Blue Origin developed the New Shepard system for suborbital human and research flights, the BE-3 LOX/LH2 rocket engine, the BE-4 LOX/LNG rocket engine, the New Glenn launch vehicle as well as the manufacturing and test capabilities to enable all the above.

From aspiring rock star to history-making Ph.D. rocket scientist, Adam Steltzner is recognized as one of NASA’s leading – and most unique – innovators. For nearly a decade, Adam led and inspired the breakthrough team that invented the ingenious “sky crane” landing system that so spectacularly landed the Mars rover, Curiosity on the Martian surface in 2012. Next, Adam will lead NASA’s Mars 2020 Project that will gather core samples of Mars for scientific discovery.

Bob McDonald is a Canadian author and science journalist. He is the national science commentator for CBC Television and CBC News Network, and since 1992 has been the host of a weekly radio science show, Quirks & Quarks which draws approximately 800,000 listeners each week.

Philip Cary Plait, also known as The Bad Astronomer, is an American astronomer, skeptic, and popular science blogger. Plait has worked as part of the Hubble Space Telescope team, images and spectra of astronomical objects, as well as engaging in public outreach advocacy for NASA missions.

Brian Edward Cox is an English physicist and former musician who is a professor of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester and The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science.

Chris Austin Hadfield is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot, musician, and writer. The first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, he has flown two Space Shuttle missions and also served as commander of the International Space Station.

Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life.

With a career spanning five decades, George Takei is known around the world for his founding role in the acclaimed television series Star Trek, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the Starship Enterprise. But George Takei's story goes where few stories have gone before. From a childhood spent with his family wrongfully imprisoned in a Japanese Internment Camp during WWII, to becoming one of the country's leading figures in the fight for social justice, LGBTQ rights, and marriage equality—George Takei remains a powerful voice on issues ranging from politics to pop culture.