Education

Ph.D. Astronomy	University of Virginia	1971	Laurence W. Fredrick (advisor)
	(at Sterrewacht te Leiden)	1968-9	Gijsbert van Herk (advisor)
M.A. Astronomy	University of Virginia	1967	D. Scott Birney (advisor)
B.S. Physics	Notre Dame of Ohio	1965	Sallie A. Watkins (advisor)

Current Position

From August 2012 (following her formal retirement), she served as a Research Fellow until September 2016 in the Astronomy Program of the University of Texas at Austin. From 1980-94, and again from 1996-2012, she served as Director, Educational Services Office of the Astronomy Department. This office provides support for all teaching aspects for a department including the purchase and supervision of all laboratory, demonstration, and audio-visual equipment and supplies, supervision of all on-campus telescopes used for instruction and public outreach, special programs for undergraduate students and educational outreach to local elementary/secondary teachers. She was also a senior lecturer in the Department of Astronomy. As a research associate, she worked with McDonald Observatory's education programs for K-12 teachers and students.

Hemenway has served as instructors in physics and astronomy at Mary Baldwin College (1970-71), University of Virginia Extension (1970-73), University of Texas Extension (1974-76), and University of Texas (lecturer 1977-87, senior lecturer 1987-93, 1998-2012, and undergraduate advisor 1987-94). As an undergraduate and graduate student, she participated in summer research programs at National Radio Astronomy Observatory (1964), Royal Greenwich Observatory (1965), Kitt Peak National Observatory (1966), and Lowell Observatory (1968). She has extensive experience as a science education consultant with school districts and publishers. She is the author of over 100 reviews of books and non-print materials.

Hemenway served as the first associate director (1993-6) of the Institute for Science and Mathematics Education of the College of Natural Science, created to serve as a focus and catalyst for faculty activities to improve mathematics and science curriculum and instruction at the college and elementary/secondary levels, to create secondary-school teacher preparation programs, and to encourage faculty participation in educational issues. In addition to its continuing role on campus, the Institute organized the 1994-6 Advancement Placement Summer Institutes and hosted a National Science Teachers Association "National Science Standards Institute" in summer 1995.

From 1994 through 1998, Hemenway was the Principal Investigator and Project Director for AASTRA, an NSF Teacher Enhancement grant to the American Astronomical Society . This project prepared 215 teachers to become Astronomy Resource Agents after participating in a four-week summer institute held at three national sites. As part of their responsibilities as agents, they have presented workshops to other teachers. The average workshop was almost three hours in length with an average attendance of 15. This program involves teachers from 45 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Over 10,000 second tier teachers attended workshops presented by the Agents.

She has been the Principle Investigator or Co-Investigator for many projects, including the following:

* NASA grant for workshops on Light and Optics for secondary school teachers McDonald Observatory, related to the research of Dan Jaffe (Optimizing the performance and manufacturability of silicon diffractive optics) in the summers of 2011 and 2012

* NASA grant for teacher professional development workshop "From The Big Bang to Black Holes" at McDonald Observatory related to the research of Milos Milosavljevic (The Observational Signature of the First Black Holes) in June 2011

* NASA grant for a workshop on Formation of Planetary Systems for secondary school teachers McDonald Observatory, related to the research of Sarah Dodson-Robinson (Modeling the Observational Signatures of Ice Lines in Protostellar Disks) in July 2011

* NSF Broader Impact project to provide a workshop for UTeach students and graduates related to the research of Pawan Kumar (Gamma-ray Bursts, Progenitor Stars, and Relativistic Jets), June 2011

* NASA grant for workshops on Comets for secondary school teachers McDonald Observatory, related to the research of Anita Cockran (Spectroscopic Studies of Comets) in the summers of 2010 and 2012

* Texas Space Grant Consortium grant to provide a workshop on MONET (remote telescopes) for secondary school teachers at McDonald Observatory in the summer of 2010

* a NSF Broader Impact project for Seth Redfied's "Comparative Exoplanetology: Ground-Based Observations of the Atmosphers of Transiting Exoplanets" to produce a series of teacher professional development workshops entitled "Worlds Beyond our Solar System" at McDonald Observatory, 2008

* a NASA Education Public Outreach supplement to Dan Jaffe's project on proto-planetary disks to produce workshops in summers 2008-10 on "Formation of Planetary Systems" at McDonald Observatory, 2007

* Texas Space Grant Consortium grant to produce two workshops in 2007 for rural Texas teachers of grades K-5 and of grades 6-8 at McDonald Observatory, 2006

* a NASA Education Public Outreach supplement to Seth Redfield's FUSE project entitled "Variations in the Ionization Structure within the Local Interstellar Cloud and Neighboring Clouds" to produce a summer 2007 workshop "Between the Stars" at McDonald Observatory, 2006

* a NASA Education Public Outreach supplement to Dan Jaffe's research (Infrared Immersion Gratings: A New Level of Verified Performance) to produce workshops in summers 2007-9 on "Optics and Light" at McDonald Observatory, 2006

* a NASA Education Public Outreach supplement to Seth Redfield's FUSE project to produce a summer 2006 workshop "Deciphering Stars" at McDonald Observatory, 2005

* NASA IDEAS grant for Observing the Sun at McDonald Observatory . The co-investigator on the grant is Thomas Barnes. May, 2005.

* Texas Space Grant Consortium grant to produce workshops in 2005 for rural Texas teachers at McDonald Observatory, September 2004

* a NASA Education Public Outreach supplement to Dan Lester's SAFIR project to produce a summer 2005 workshop on infrared astronomy at McDonald Observatory, 2004

* HST Cycle-11 Education Public Outreach supplement for Parallax Park: A Bilingual, Interactive, Family Exhibit about Stellar Distance and Finding Extrasolar Planets. The PI is George F. Benedict, with Hemenway as Co-I. December, 2002.

* NSF grant What ARE Astronomers Doing?: A Project for MPS Internships in Public Science Education. The co-investigator is Sandra Preston. September, 2002.

* NASA IDEAS grant for Expanding the Experience at McDonald Observatory: Pre/Post Visit Materials for Teachers and Students . The co-investigator on the grant is George F. Benedict. May, 2002.

* NASA IDEAS grant to provide astronomy resources for teachers involved in Alien Rescue: Problem Based Learning in Astronomy. The co-Investigators on the grant are Min Liu of the UT College of Education and Susan Pedersen of Texas A&M University. May, 2000.

* NASA contract for Dan Jaffe's project for Technology Development For NASA Explorer Missions and Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA): High Index Grisms for Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy. The E/PO portion of this proposal, directed by Hemenway, is titled "Optics in the Secondary Classroom." November, 1999.

* NASA IDEAS grant for Changing the Science Culture at T. A. Brown Elementary School in Austin, TX The co-I on the grant is Claudia Santamaria, principal at T. A. Brown. February, 1999.

* USRA contract to build the Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph for SOFIA. The PI on EXES is John Lacy. In addition to Hemenway, other team members are Dan Jaffe and Matt Richter. October 1997

* NSF grant "Modernization of the University of Texas 16-Inch Undergraduate Telescope" CO-PI is Chris Sneden (Proposal DUE 97-51287) to University of Texas, June 1997

* NSF subcontract by National Science Teachers Association to UT Institute for Science and Mathematics Education "National Science Standards Institute," March 1995

* NSF grant American Astronomical Society Teacher Research Agents (Proposal ESI 93-53377) CO-PI Peter Boyce (1994-1995), Robert Milkey (1995-1999), awarded to American Astronomical Society, February 1994

* Texas Space Grant Consortium grants to produce educational outreach materials in Astronomy, 1991-92 and 1994-6

* NSF grant " Astronomy Research Experiences for Undergraduates" (Proposal AST 92-00030) CO-PI Peter Boyce, awarded to the American Astronomical Society, April 1992

* NASA IDEA grants "Topics in Modern Astronomy" (Number PR 10-61210) Peter Boyce and Mary Kay Hemenway, awarded to American Astronomical Society, October 1991, August 1992, October 1993

* NASA IDEA grant "Science in the Stratosphere" Dan Lester and Mary Kay Hemenway, awarded to University of Texas, January, 1992, August, 1992, August, 1993

* NSF grant "Astronomy for Texas Elementary and Middle Schools" (Proposal TPE 90-50289) to University of Texas September, 1990

* NSF grant "CCD Camera for Undergraduate 16-inch telescope" (Proposal AST 89-51508) to University of Texas March 1990

Hemenway participated in the

• the SouthWest Educational Development Laboratory invitational Earth and Space Science Summit (February 2007)
• the National Institute for Science Education invitational forum on "Systemic Reform" (February, 1997)
• the National Research Council invitational forum on "Using the National Science Education Standards to Guide the Evaluation, Selection, and Adaptation of Instructional Materials" (November, 1996)
• the National Research Council invitational forum on Graduate Education (June, 1996)
• the National Institute for Science Education invitational forum on "Professional Development" (March, 1996)
• the NSF workshop on The Role of Professional Societies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education (October, 1992)
• the NSF workshop on Leadership in Undergraduate Instrumentation and Laboratory Development Program (June, 1990)

She has served on NSF review panels for several programs, including the Committee of Visitors for the Astronomy Program in 1999. She has been on the organizing committee for several conferences and serves as a consultant for Choice, the Journal of College Libraries. As elected Education Officer (1991-97) for the American Astronomical Society, she oversaw and/or operated many of education programs for the society. She was a member of the SOFIA Education and Public Outreach Working Group (1997-2002). She is currently a member of the Astrophysics Forum and of the Solar System Forum of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Education and Public Outreach Community.

Professional Affiliations and Offices

• American Astronomical Society
  • Education Officer 1991-1997
  • member Education Advisory Board 1988-1993
  • liaison to National Academy of Science's "National Science Education Standards and Assessment Committee"
  • Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecturer, 1990-2015
• Astronomy Education Review Editorial Board, 2002-2013.
• American Geological Institute, Committee for Earth Science in the Community Project 1995-2000
• American Institute of Physics, Committee on Physics Education 1992-1998
• Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Secretary to the Board, 1999 - 2010
• former member, Coalition for Earth Science Education Steering Committee 1992-1996, Director of the Steering Committee 1995-6
• International Astronomical Union
  • Advisor to Steering Committee of Division C (Education, Outreach, and Heritage) 2015-2021
  • President of Division C (Education, Outreach, and Heritage) 2012-2015
  • member of the Executive Committee Working Group on International Year of Astronomy, 2008-2010
  • member of International Year of Astronomy Cornerstone Project Task Group "Galileo Teacher Training Program", 2008-2010
  • member of NASE (Network for Astronomy Education), 2009 - present