Todd Gonzales (center) treats a school group to an interactive dry ice demonstration.
Astronomy, Arachnids, and the Art of Engagement: Meet Todd Gonzales, the new Director of Public Programs
What do black widow spiders, telescope lenses, and middle school science classrooms have in common?
If you ask Todd Gonzales, Lowell Observatory’s new Director of Public Programs, the answer is an unsurprisingly heartfelt one. Todd’s journey to this leadership role is equal parts science, storytelling, and serendipity. He’s spent his career helping people fall in love with the natural world – through telescope lenses or, occasionally, by convincing them that spiders aren’t out to get them.
From the Desert to the Mountains
Todd grew up in Victorville, California, a desert town tucked between Barstow and San Bernardino. After graduating from Victor Valley High School and attending Victor Valley Community College, he felt the pull of mountain air and possibility. His sister Shannon had already moved to Flagstaff, and Todd followed, enrolling at Northern Arizona University to pursue a credential in middle-school science education.
“I was born in West Cavina, California, which is really just a suburb of L.A.,” Todd recounts. “But I really spent my childhood in a small place called Victorville – a town out in the flatlands of California… Filled with spiders and a curvy strand of Route 66. Later I’d take that historic highway to Flagstaff, where I could be around more nature and family.”.
It wasn’t just the presence of family or the pines that drew him in. Years spent working at a science camp in Big Bear had already planted the seed: he knew hands-on learning in a natural setting could be life-changing. He just didn’t know that one of those life-changing places would be Lowell Observatory.
Finding a Home on Mars Hill
Todd was hired at Lowell Observatory in 2010, a moment he still calls one of the happiest days of his life His interview panel included some familiar faces to us: Kevin Schindler, Mary Demuth, and Glen Bessonette, all of whom still work at Lowell today.
At the time, he was also working as a middle school science teacher, splitting his hours between the classroom and the observatory. “Even when I was teaching,” Todd recalls, “I would come here on weekends. I never really left this place. Eventually, I left the school system completely and moved to Lowell full-time. Working in the schools gave me a lot of wonderful experience, but nothing quite fit for me like my love for astronomy in the educational spaces.”
It Runs in the Family
Science education has always been something of a family affair. Todd’s sister Shannon also started her career at Lowell, working in the gift shop before joining the Philanthropy Department. The Gonzales siblings have both left their mark on the observatory through their work and through the way they lead with curiosity, kindness, and community.
“Working with your brother gives a whole new meaning to the term we use up here: ‘Lowell Family,’” says Shannon Gonzales. “ Todd’s passion for connecting people with the universe has always inspired me, and I can’t wait to see the impact he’ll make in this new role.”
A Vision for the Future
Now, as Director of Public Programs, Todd is focused on building something expansive and exciting. With the Astronomy Discovery Center newly open, he sees endless potential to deepen Lowell’s engagement with audiences of all ages.
“If you can find out what a presenter is excited about,” Todd says, “and we can move in that direction, you’re going to create a really good program — because people are not only excited, now they’re passionate.”
That passion is already guiding Todd’s goals: expanding programming for young families, supporting staff creativity, and exploring new ways to bring science to life in immersive, inclusive ways.
“We’re just starting down a path of endless possibilities for what we can do with kids and young families here in Flagstaff,” he says.
The Spider Guy
Of course, you can’t really understand Todd without talking about spiders.
“I was terrified of black widows as a child,” Todd explains. “But once I turned to an Audubon field guide in a moment of panic, that fear slowly turned into fascination. The more I learned, the more beautiful these misunderstood creatures became. That’s truly one of the most incredible things about education – it opens up entire new worlds to people. And in my case, that turned fear into respect and love.”
Today, Todd is known around campus as the spider guy — an affectionate nickname for someone who’s spent years helping people see the wonder in creatures most would rather avoid.
“Spiders aren’t that bad,” he says. “Why do they get such a bad rap? They really are interesting, beautiful creatures.”
It’s more than talk, too. Todd has tattoos of the planets of our solar system (including Pluto, of course) reimagined as spiders on his arms. This array of cosmic-creepy-crawlies speaks to the way he sees the universe: interconnected, full of mystery, and strangely beautiful.
He also drives a car covered in spider decals, just in case you weren’t already getting the picture.
His two passions collided in a moment of poetic serendipity when he learned that Lowell Observatory once used spider silk to align telescope lenses. Strong, delicate, and precise, the silk bridged his worlds perfectly.
“It’s like my two loves, astronomy and spiders, came together,” he says.
(Psssst —Todd will give a Worlds Revealed Speaker Series talk on the intersection of arachnids and astronomy on September 12. Visit our Events Calendar to learn more!)
Wonder, Reimagined
Todd Gonzales wants people to leave Lowell changed; moved by something they saw, learned, or felt. Maybe it’s the first time someone glimpses Saturn through a telescope, or the moment a kid realizes science isn’t just facts, but a way to ask questions about the universe and actually get answers.
To Todd, that’s the heart of it. A kind of permission to wonder.
And if you stay curious long enough, he’ll tell you, the universe only gets more beautiful.