Celebrate Education!
Friday March 14 5:30-9 pm
Field Arts & Events Hall, Front & Oak, Port Angeles
Catering by New Day Eatery Wine sponsor Camaraderie Cellars
Entertainment by Port Angeles High School musicians
View presentations of 2023-24 grant awards
2025 Distinguished Service Award
Support students and staff in Port Angeles public schools through
School & Teacher grants, Scholarships, and Student Needs assistance
Presentation by Rob DeCou
Rob is an entrepreneur, educator, and ultra-endurance athlete dedicated to using his passion to raise awareness and build community around meaningful causes. Rob has completed some of the toughest races in the world including the solo Race Across America, Uberman, the World's Toughest Ultra Triathlon, and the 146-mile run from Badwater Basin across Death Valley to the summit of Mt. Whitney, known as the World's Toughest Running Event. Through these events Rob has raised over a million dollars for causes from brain cancer research, polio eradication, and the fight against human trafficking.
Rob graduated from Port Angeles High School in 2000 and currently lives in Port Angeles, WA with his wife Kristin, son Hudson, and daughter Kalea, where they embrace an active, adventure-filled lifestyle.
Questions? email AdminDirector@PA-EF.org or PRDirector@PA-EF.org
Thanks to support from the Port Angeles Education Foundation and Puget Sound Excursions, 21 PAHS Science Club students and 5 college students attended John Mather’s lecture “Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with the James Webb Space Telescope” at the University of Washington May 8.
Dr Mather received the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his work on the COBE satellite which operated from 1989-1994, taking the first “baby picture” of the universe when it was just 400,000 years old. He then took over as Project Scientist for the JWST, leading its team through planning and development (including the invention of 10 brand new technologies needed for its operation) for its launch in 2021 and through its first years of research, until his retirement last year.
Why an infrared telescope? Infrared allows you to see through clouds of dust; to see cool objects (JWST can detect a person’s body heat halfway across the solar system!); and because as space expands, light is shifted to longer wavelengths.
What mysteries has it discovered? The mysteries of galaxy formation – too many, too big, too bright, too hot, too mature, too soon! And too long and stringy too! JWST will continue to study galaxy formation so we can try to solve these mysteries, as well as the discovery that most galaxies (M74, for example) have holes (from supernovae perhaps? Or just gravity clustering things?), and looking at the chemistry of exoplanet atmospheres in the search for life.
Finally, what keeps Dr Mather up at night? Dark matter and dark energy! We know they exist, but still don’t know what they are!
It was a great evening and after the lecture, Dr Mather met with all of our students and let them ask individual questions and take selfies with him. We said goodbye to our college students and rushed to the ferry!