About Me

Dr. Frank Summers ( low resolution image 480 x 640 pixels) ( high resolution image 1920 x 2560 pixels)

I am an astrophysicist working in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute. I am involved in creating press releases, web sites, educational materials, and lots of other stuff that presents astronomy to the public. My specialty is taking astrophysical simulations and creating animations using high-end visualization tools. Some of my work is showcased on my web pages. If you don't like it, remember that I have much, much better stuff that I haven't yet bothered to put on the web. Really. These are just some draft versions that I had handy.

I was previously at the Hayden Planetarium (part of the American Museum of Natural History in New York). I was the lead astronomer in creating the astronomy exhibits for the opening of the Rose Center for Earth and Space in February 2000. It was a fantastic project and I urge you to visit. However, should you find anything objectionable, that just means that they changed the exhibits since I left. All the good parts - that's what I did.

As for academic stuff, the short version is that I have a Ph.D. in Astronomy from UC Berkeley and have spent time doing research at Princeton and Columbia. My research focuses on computer simulations of how the universe has evolved (in general) and how galaxies form (in particular).

Another major influence in my life has been dance. In my youth, I was a nationally-ranked competitive ice dancer. In college, I was a soloist, a choreographer, and the director of a dance troupe doing jazz, ballet, tap, and a bit of modern. During graduate school, I switched to ballroom dance, and was president of the club and team leader of the collegiate ballroom dance competitive team. When not chasing my kids around from soccer to ballet, I'm currently learning tae kwon do (brown belt).

So - take a seriously geek intellectual background, combine it with various artistic pretensions, let simmer for a decade or two, and you've got me. Perhaps you can see why I am drawn to the presentation of astrophysics to the public. It is when I am utilizing creative expression to illuminate the intricate details of the universe that I am happiest.

I'm available for consulting, in case you ever find yourself in need of an astrophysicist. I've consulted on books, magazines, television shows, and films. I've done interviews for local, national, and international television, and lectures for astronomy geeks, space enthusiasts, museum-goers and guides, visiting dignitaries, unsuspecting members of the general public, and some profoundly inquisitive five-year-olds at my son's daycare. I can explain the development of four dimensional space-time, but I don't do balloon animals.

You can follow this link to my resume (probably not up-to-date).

Last modified: April 8, 2001
summers@stsci.edu