Dr. Amanda Bosh
Executive Director
Planetary Science
PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994
Dr. Bosh took on the position of Lowell Observatory Operations Manager in 2020, then the role of Chief Operating Officer in 2022, and currently the role of Executive Director as of November 2024, but her roots at the observatory run deep. Dating back to 1986 she has participated in a variety of research and outreach efforts at Lowell and her resume bulges with achievements that include co-discovering Pluto’s atmosphere and co-founding Lowell’s Native American Astronomy Outreach Program.
Dr. Bosh earned her undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1987 and then jumped right into MIT’s graduate program. The following year, she rode aboard the Kuiper Airborne Observatory—predecessor of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)—and was part of the team that included scientists from Lowell, MIT, and elsewhere that first directly measured Pluto’s atmosphere.
Upon earning her PhD in 1994, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at Lowell. She held this position until 1997 and after a one-year stint in the Department of Physics at Hofstra University, returned to Lowell as an assistant research scientist. Throughout these years at Lowell she participated in a number of outreach activities. Seeing an opportunity to take astronomy to underserved Native American communities, Bosh teamed with Dr. Deidre Hunter in 1996 to found the program known today as the Lowell Observatory Native American Astronomy Outreach Program.
In 2002 Dr. Bosh accepted a position with Boston University as a senior research associate at Lowell, a position she held until 2009. She then took on the role of lecturer and, later, senior lecturer, at MIT, maintaining an adjunct position with Lowell. During this time, she continued working on occultations of Pluto, pinpointing observing locations that were crucial to SOFIA observations, as well as the New Horizons flyby of Pluto.
In the fall of 2020 she returned to Lowell Observatory full-time.
Astronomers
Dr. Audrey Thirouin
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Thirouin’s area of expertise is the study of the diverse small body populations in our Solar System. She is using several techniques, from observations to modeling, to understand the…
Dr. Dave Schleicher
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Dave Schleicher’s major research interests include the physical properties, chemical composition, and behavior of comets.
Dr. Larry Wasserman
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Larry Wasserman’s major research interests include the study of solar system bodies via occultations and instrument control software. His work on occultations includes the prediction, observation, and analysis of…
Dr. Melodie Kao
{acf_card_label}
BS Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011PhD California Institute of Technology, 2017 Dr. Kao joined Lowell Observatory in 2024, focusing on exo-aurorae and brown dwarf magnetospheres to understand exoplanet magnetism. She…
Dr. Nick Moskovitz
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Nick Moskovitz’s research involves observations and simple models of minor planets in the solar system. His work has implications for topics ranging from the origin of planets to the…
Dr. Phil Massey
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Phil Massey studies massive stars (O-type, Wolf-Rayet, yellow and red supergiants), binary stars, young clusters, and the initial mass function. He is the Principal Investigator for the Large Monolithic…
Researchers
Allison Bair
{acf_card_label}
Allison Bair assists astronomer Dr. David Schleicher with his research on the origins and evolution of comets, with a primary focus on analyzing the chemical composition of comets from Lowell’s…
Brian Skiff
{acf_card_label}
Brian Skiff has spent nearly 40 years at Lowell Observatory as an observer and research assistant. Among Skiff'’s accomplishments at Lowell is the vital role he played in the decade-long…
Dr. Kyler Kuehn
{acf_card_label}
Dr, Kyler Kuehn oversees management of Lowell Observatory’s science telescopes and related equipment. He also actively pursues both observational and instrumentation research.
Dr. Ryan Hamilton
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Stephen Levine
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Stephen Levine coordinates the operation of the Lowell Discovery Telescope and also carries out research focused on large astrometric surveys that measure the positions and movements of stars.
Dr. Timothy Ellsworth-Bowers
{acf_card_label}
Post-Doctoral Researchers
Dr. Alex Polanski
{acf_card_label}
AS El Camino Community College, 2017 BS University of California, Santa Barbara, 2019 PhD University of Kansas, 2024 Dr. Alex Polanski is a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell where he uses…
Dr. Clara Brasseur
{acf_card_label}
Stellar Astronomy PhD, 2025, University of St. Andrews Dr. Brasseur joined Lowell Observatory in October 2025 as an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research interests include stellar and…
Dr. Kate Minker
{acf_card_label}
Planetary Astronomer PhD, 2025, the Université Côte d'Azur Dr. Kate Minker research focuses on small bodies in the Solar System. In particular, she studies the binarity, shape, and collisional history…
Dr. Momo Ellwarth
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Momo Ellwarth is a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell Observatory, where she has been working since January 2025 at the intersection of solar physics and extreme precision radial velocity (EPRV)…
Dr. Quicheng Zhang
{acf_card_label}
BS University of California, Santa Barbara, 2017PhD California Institute of Technology, 2024 Dr. Qicheng Zhang studies the behavior of comets and asteroids near the Sun to better understand the formation…
Research Assistants & Students
Breelyn Cocke
{acf_card_label}
Working with Dr. Phil Massey
Cassie Beaumont
{acf_card_label}
Working with Dr. Phil Massey Ms Cassie Beaumont is an undergraduate at Northern Arizona University majoring in Physics and Astrophysics. They began working as a Lowell Research Assistant in Phil’s…
Sam Hemmelgarn
{acf_card_label}
Working with Dr. Nick Moskovitz BS Arizona State University, 2007BS Northern Arizona University, 2023 Sam joined Lowell Observatory as a research assistant for the Lowell Observatory Cameras for All-Sky Meteor…
Thomas Kelly
{acf_card_label}
Adjunct & Emeritus
Dr. Deidre Hunter
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Deidre Hunter’s primary scientific interest is tiny irregular galaxies — how they originate, evolve, and produce stars and star clusters, and how they are shaped. Her approach is multi-wavelength,…
Dr. Kaspar von Braun
{acf_card_label}
Dr. von Braun's research concentrates on the characterization of extrasolar planets via their host stars. After finishing his degree at Michigan, Dr. von Braun worked as a Carnegie Fellow at…
Dr. Nat White
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Nat White’s major research interests include the measurement of stellar properties using lunar occultations and the development of astronomical instrumentation, high-angular-resolution astronomy. Until his retirement in 2007, he was…
Dr. Otto Franz
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Otto Franz’s research specialty is investigating binary stars to expand our knowledge of stellar masses and better understand their formation and evolution. He is one of the first astronomers…
Dr. Wes Lockwood
{acf_card_label}
Dr. Wes Lockwood’s major research interests include the luminosity variations of the sun, solar and stellar activity cycles, the effects of solar variations on Earth’s weather and climate, and long-term…
