Connie Walker has been a scientist at the US national center for optical-infrared astronomy (NSF’s NOIRLab) for 22 years. She is actively involved with light pollution issues on the ground and in space, coordinating their Office of Observatory Site Protection. For 17 years, she has been fortunate to lead their Globe at Night citizen science program that asks people to help monitor light pollution levels worldwide.

She has leadership roles on dark skies protection nationally with the American Astronomical Society and internationally with the International Astronomical Union and DarkSky International (as president of the IAU commission on site protection and on the DarkSky Board of Directors, respectively).

In 2020, 2021 and 2023, she co-chaired four conferences focusing on the impacts of satellite constellations and two conferences focusing on the impacts of artificial light at night, most recently the IAU Symposium on Astronomy & Satellite Constellations: Pathways Forward.

As of April 2022, she has taken on the co-directorship of the new IAU Center on the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS). Her family tolerates her interest in the dark side.🙂