AIR Committee

Welcome to the Killarney Park Astronomer in Residence Program committee.

Read about our main members below.

Quick Links

• Astronomer In Residence
• Candidate Expectations
• Important Trip Information
• Astronomer In Residence Blog

Bruce Waters

Killarney Observatory Expert and the one who came up with this exciting plan. 

Bruce has been teaching astronomy to the public since 1981 and in the provincial park system every year since 1985. He was at the McLaughlin Planetarium as star theatre operator, producer and educator (1985 to 1995) and ran the last public star show with the hope that, one day, the stars would shine down upon Toronto again. Co-founder of the North York Astronomical Association (1980) Bruce co-founded Starfest, one of the world’s largest amateur astronomy conventions (1982), received the RASC’s first volunteerism in astronomy (2010) and founded Ontario Park’s first public use observatory complex (2010). He also authored “A camper’s guide to the universe” in 2012″ and is the author of the Ontario Parks monthly astronomy blog. Finally, he contributed to the creation of Ontario Park’s first dark sky preserve in Killarney Provincial Park (2018) and is the co-founder of Stars over Killarney – an annual astronomy program featuring topics that connect to the Park (2018).

Dr. Elaina A. Hyde

Director of the Allan I Carswell Observatory and AIR program contact.

Her research is “in and above the cloud”, combining astrophysics, data science, cloud computing, planetary sciences, optical engineering, telescope operations and telescope observations. She has worked with instrumentation and telescopes around the world, and currently provides technical leadership for York University’s Allan I. Carswell Astronomical Observatory. Her motivation is the promotion of astronomy education and research through public telescope activities and exploration. As a lecturer, trainer, and consultant, she innovates teaching methodologies for interdisciplinary audiences across the sciences as well as for businesses, students and the general public.