Since her childhood in rural Bee Branch, Ark., Dr. Amber Straughn has always been fascinated with the night sky. Now,
Straughn works as an astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and as lead scientist for James Webb Space Telescope Education and Public Outreach. Friday, Nov. 12, she will speak at Harding University at 8 p.m. in the Founder’s Room in the American Heritage Center. The event is free and open to the public and is hosted by the Harding chapter of Sigma Xi.
Straughn recently worked with the new Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope and will be sharing pictures and findings from her work, with a special interest in the evolution and structures of star-forming galaxies outside of the Milky Way. She will detail her current work with the creation of the James Webb Space Telescope as well. Straughn is also an advocate for young women interested in pursuing a career in the sciences.
Sigma Xi is an international honor society for research scientists and engineers that promotes and rewards scientific enterprise and cooperation among scientists in all fields. There are more than 500 chapters around the world at colleges, universities, industrial research centers, and government laboratories.
For more information, please contact the Harding Sigma Xi office at
501-279-4513.
