Michigan Theater Ann Arbor, MI
Mark Moldwin
Executive Director of NASA’s Michigan Space Grant Consortium; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering and Applied Physics, University of Michigan
First Man— First Man at Michigan Theater
Program Description
Program details to come!
Presented At
Michigan Theater Ann Arbor, MI
Film Synopsis
The riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the cost—on Armstrong, his family, his colleagues, the nation—of one of the most dangerous missions in history.
On the heels of their six-time Academy Award®-winning smash, La La Land, Oscar®-winning director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam to tell the story behind the first manned mission to the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the decade leading to the historic Apollo 11 flight. A visceral and intimate account told from Armstrong’s perspective, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the film explores triumph, sacrifice, and leading under the pressure of grace and tragedy.
Image courtesy of PHOTOFEST
About the Speaker
Mark Moldwin is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering and Applied Physics, within the University of Michigan's College of Engineering. He is also affiliated with the university's Space Physics Research Laboratory, the Engineering Education Research program, the African Studies Center, the Michigan Institute for Plasma Science and Engineering, and the Robotics Institute. He is the faculty director of UM's M-STEM's M-Engin program and executive director of NASA's Michigan Space Grant Consortium. Prior to joining the faculty of UM in July of 2009, Dr. Moldwin was a professor of space physics at UCLA, professor of physics and space sciences at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, and a postdoctoral research fellow in the Space and Atmospheric Sciences and Non-proliferation and International Security groups at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Moldwin joined the lab in 1992 after receiving his Ph.D. in astronomy/space physics from Boston University. He was awarded a B.A. in physics with Honors from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 1987.
Dr. Moldwin’s primary research interests are magnetospheric, ionospheric, and heliospheric plasma physics, and pre-college space science education and outreach. He has published a textbook and more than 200 articles and essays (including over 170 refereed scientific articles) on these subjects. Prof. Moldwin is or has been the principal or co-investigator of over 75 externally peer-reviewed scientific projects, including building the magnetometers to fly on NASA’s Space Technology – 5 satellites, the upcoming Air Force DSX mission satellite, and ground-based magnetometer and GPS receiver deployment in North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Antarctica. Mark is a co-founder of A2 Motus LLC an education technology company developing devices to enable teachers and students to better understand complex systems through kinesthetic activities.
An award-winning teacher throughout his career, Prof. Moldwin currently serves as a faculty associate of UM's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineering, is a member of the National Center for Institutional Diversity UM Diversity Scholars Network, and is a co-chair of AGU's Education Affiliation Planning Committee. He was recognized for his "extraordinary service to geophysics" with the 2016 AGU Union Waldo E. Smith Award.