Richard Rees

Dr. Rees has been at Westfield State since Fall 1999 and teaches various astronomy and physics courses. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the American Association of Physics Teachers. His primary research focus is on star clusters, especially globular clusters, which are the oldest objects in the universe. He is also interested in galactic structure, the history of astronomy, the evolution of matter in the universe, and the preservation of astronomical photographic data. Much of his research has been done at the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory, home of the world's largest refracting telescope. His non-scientific interests include omnivorous reading (especially history and literature) and listening to a very broad spectrum of music (especially progressive rock and classical). He is the only three-time winner of the Coveted Golden Shmoo at the Yerkes Observatory Shakespeare Festival.

• Ph.D., University of Chicago, in astronomy/astrophysics (1995)

• M.S., University of Chicago, in astronomy/astrophysics (1988)

• B.S., Vanderbilt University, in physics/astronomy (1987)