Background
Dr. Larry Lebofsky is a Senior Education and Communication Specialist at the Planetary Science Institute and an Education Specialist at the University of Arizona. He has a B.S. in Astronomy from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph. D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining PSI in 2008, he was a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
He was the Secretary/Treasurer and Education Officer for the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Association and President of the Arizona Science Teachers Association. He is now Secretary for the International Meteorite Collectors Association and on the governing board for the Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering Foundation. The Small Bodies Nomenclature Committee of the IAU named an asteroid, 3439 Lebofsky, in recognition of his contributions to planetary sciences. In 2000 he received the Carl Sagan Medal of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Association for excellence in public communication in planetary sciences.