Kevin Krisciunas
Class of 1971Alumni Recognition Award, 2004
Kevin Krisciunas was heavily involved at NCHS. A 4-year member of the track team, he also ran cross country during his sophomore year. Among his other distinctions, he was President of the National Honor Society, and received the Bausch & Lomb Science Award, given annually to high school juniors who demonstrate academic excellence in that subject. Kevin's brothers, Keith (Class of 1970) and Ken (Class of 1975), are both NCHS graduates. One of his fondest childhood memories recalls playing astronomer in his homemade observatory. Not surprisingly, he pursued his interest in astronomy upon graduation.
Having entered college with sophomore status, Kevin graduated from the University of Illinois in three years with a BS degree in astronomy and physics. Later, in 1974, he enrolled at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he served on the Board of Studies in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Kevin then came home, earning his MA degree from the University of Chicago in 1976. A year later Kevin took summer school courses in Stanford University's Electrical Engineering Department. At age 43, he went back to graduate school, this time at the University of Washington, earning his Ph.D. in 2000. There he served as Research Assistant for the University's Department of Astronomy, in addition to being a teacher's assistant.
From his education to the present, Kevin has built up an impressive resume. From 1977-82, ht was employed at the NASA/Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. There he worked as a computer programmer and an on-board operator for NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory. He concurrently served as a part-time astronomy instructor at West Valley Community College in Saratoga, California. Kevin next went to Hawaii, working at Hilo's Joint Astronomy Centre. There he developed software for the United Kingdom Infrared and the James Clerk Maxwell telescopes, among other duties, from 1982-96. In the summers from 1994 to 1996, Kevin taught astronomy part-time at the University of Hawaii, Hilo. After earning his Ph.D. at UW-Seattle, Kevin switched hemispheres. Working as a Research Associate at Cerro Tololo Inter-American and Las Campanas observatories in La Serena, Chile, from 2000-03, he dealt with optical and infrared observation of supernovae. Kevin is currently a Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame. There he is working on the ESSENCE project, which aims to measure the equation of state of the university.
Since his days in Chile, Kevin has been part of the High-Z Supernova Search Team, a prestigious group of about 30 astronomers worldwide. In 1998, the team published the first evidence that the expansion of the universe may be accelerating, disproving Einstein's cosmological constant, which held the size of the universe to be static. This discovery was designated by Science magazine the year's most important breakthrough. Kevin is author, coauthor, or translator of four books and is author or coauthor of more than 170 other scientific publications. In 1985, the Hawaii Tribune Herald presented him with its award for science writing. Three years later, his Astronomical Centers of the World was judged by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific as one of the 10 best non-technical books of the year. In 1991, Kevin appeared on the PBS series, "The Astronomers". He is also a full time member of the American Astronomical Society.
Personally, Kevin enjoys golf and running; he is a 12 handicap and has run ten marathons, in addition to having coached track at Hilo High School from 1983-84. He sang with the UH-Hilo's community chorus for six years, as well as participating in the school's amateur theater. Politically active, Kevin was precinct president of the Hawaii Democratic Party for two years. He was married to Carmen Torres from 1978 to 1983 and has no children. He has two step siblings: sister Anita Abbate and brother Vincent Abbate.
MR. KRISCIUNAS'S MESSAGE TO STUDENTS: Time is finite, so start NOW doing what you really want to do in life. Your happiness and well-being are ultimately YOUR responsibility.
