Dr. Nicholas Schneider is an associate professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado. Nick received his B.A. in physics and astronomy from Dartmouth College in 1979 and his Ph.D. in planetary science from the University of Arizona in 1988. Nick received the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1991. His research interests include planetary astronomy and planetary atmospheres. One research focus is the odd case of Jupiter’s moon Io. Another is the mystery of Mars’s lost atmosphere, which he hopes to answer by serving as science lead on the Imaging UV Spectrograph on NASA’s MAVEN mission.

Dr. Schneider enjoys teaching at all levels and is active in efforts to improve the astronomy education at the undergraduate level. In 2010, he received the Boulder Faculty Assembly’s Teaching Excellence Award. Off the job, Nick enjoys exploring the outdoors with his family and figuring out how things work.