Episode 4: Joe DalSanto Loves Astronomy

About Joseph DalSanto:

After beginning to read about astronomy, Joseph DalSanto wanted to observe the night sky himself. So he purchased a telescope as a freshman in high school and, during the past 40 years, has developed an in-depth knowledge and familiarity with the night sky due to hundreds of evening observations.

DalSanto first worked as an IT support professional for Hewlett Packard, where he worked on onsite and remote system hardware support for 15 years and then moved into IT project management. In this role, he helped lead HP’s early system web support. But it was his love of the sky that eventually led DalSanto to the classroom. He began making presentations to astronomy clubs and groups and was invited to perform public outreach and oversee the observatory at Waubonsee Community College. His growing love for teaching led to the pursuit of a master’s degree in astronomy, and he began teaching credit classes part-time at Waubonsee.

When a full-time astronomy position opened up at College of DuPage in 2012, he left HP to pursue his passion. He teaches two rigorous courses on planetary astronomy and stars and galaxies as well as honors versions of each.

Connect with Joseph DalSanto:

Faculty page: http://www.cod.edu/spotlights/faculty/dalsanto.aspx

Astronomy programs at DuPage: http://cod.edu/programs/earth_science/astronomy/index.aspx