Board of Directors

TAAS President

Mark is an amateur astronomer whose love of the night sky started the first time he viewed Saturn through a telescope.  He still owns the 6-inch Newtonian he built in Junior High, though his optics have broadened since then.  He enjoys opening the wonders of the night sky to students.

TAAS Vice President

Stephen (Steve) Snider is a retired Human Resources Professional and is an active volunteer Captain/Paramedic with Sandoval County Fire & Rescue. Steve has been an amateur astronomer since 1977 and a TAAS member since 1983.  He is a Past President of TAAS, current President of the Rio Rancho Astronomical Society, and is a Master Observer – Silver as designated by the Astronomical League.  He, his wife Kathy, and their six cats live in Placitas, NM where Steve explores the skies from his backyard observatory with a classic orange tube Celestron 14 telescope mounted on a permanent pier.   

TAAS Communications and Membership Director

Angela is a science and nature enthusiast from West Virginia. She traveled to her first total solar eclipse viewing in 2009 aboard the Costa Classica in the Pacific Ocean. With a career in technical support, sales and proposal writing, she remains dedicated to science and nature. Now in New Mexico, she enjoys photography, nature walks, and volunteering with multiple nonprofit organizations.

TAAS Newsletter Editor

Rick is a retired attorney, formerly with the US Dept. of Energy for 36 years. He joined TAAS in 2011, and has served as the telescope loan program coordinator and as a member of the TAAS Board of Directors since 2018. He is also the content editor of The Sidereal Times.

Telescope Loan Program Mechanic

Alan is currently a part time scientific visualization software engineer who is slowly sliding towards retirement. He is primarily a visual astronomer and is an Astronomical League Advanced Observer. He builds telescopes and has completed five ultralight, ultracompact truss Dobsonians. He currently supports the TAAS loaner program. He has been a TAAS member since 2005.

Director

Boris Venet has been a TAAS member since 2015. He enjoys both visual and photographic observing, usually under the non-dark skies of our city. Boris has served as a Board member for numerous years, and as TAAS V.P. for four years. In his pre-TAAS life, Boris worked as a physicist, engaged principally in optical-sciences research. Since retirement he has enjoyed his time with amateur astronomy pursuits, including TAAS's many outreach activities as well as personal observing and reading. 

Director

Rick is a professional astronomer, amateur astronomer, educator, and award-winning science communicator. Now retired, he served as Editor in Chief of Sky & Telescope and then Press Officer of the American Astronomical Society. The International Astronomical Union named asteroid 9983 Rickfienberg in his honor. Rick observes and photographs the sky from Running Hare Observatory in his Placitas backyard.