News

As a part of our education and outreach effort at LCOGT, and to give you a chance to get to know our staff a little better, we are starting a new interviews project. Every couple of weeks I will be interviewing a member of LCOGT's staff. We have wonderful people with a wide range of skills and from a variety of backgrounds. For young readers thinking about careers, hopefully this will be a way to gain insight into the daily lives of professionals working in a variety of jobs. For others, I hope this will be a nice way to get more insight into the lives and careers of the multi-talented staff at LCOGT.

My first interview was with Edward Gomez.

Jessica Barton: What is your job title?
Edward Gomez: Education Director.

JB: What does your work at LCOGT involve?
EG: I head up the public engagement team of LCOGT. The education team is small but we cover a wide range of skills, from an ex-school teacher to professional astronomers. Our aim is to engage any member of the public, with an interest in astronomy or science in general, and involve them in exciting scientific investigations and activities. I also am the editor of the company website and I look after scheduling the fixed time blocks for our 2-meter telescopes.

JB: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself - your education, interests, past work experiences.
EG: I have a masters degree and PhD in astrophysics and used to research hydrodynamical simulations of stellar winds.

JB: What led you to the career/job you are doing now?
EG: I really liked doing research but was working in a very niche field. I had always enjoyed running schools workshops and engaging with the public. This role is perfect for me because it allows me to involve the public in doing scientific research.

JB: What is a typical day at work like?
EG: Unlike the majority of LCOGT I am based in UK, so I start off each day catching up on a large volume of emails. From that point every day is different. The past couple of months I've spent most of my time working on Agent Exoplanet. I've been upgrading the company website to give it a new look. I am also discussing how we can collaborate with other groups of astronomers on citizen science projects using the LCOGT network.

JB: What advice would you offer people wanting to go into the type of work you do?
EG: Start off by doing public talks and schools workshops. It gives you great experience and will help you work out if its right for you.

JB: Thanks Edward!