Chris Impey is a University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He has over 180 referred publications on observational cosmology, galaxies and quasars, and his research has been supported by $20 million in NASA and NSF grants. He has won 11 teaching awards, and has taught three open online classes with over 180,000 enrolled. Impey is a past vice president of the American Astronomical Society and has been an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Carnegie Council’s Arizona Professor of the Year, and most recently, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. Impey has written over 70 articles on cosmology and astrobiology, two introductory textbooks, a novel called "Shadow World," and eight popular science books: "The Living Cosmos," "How It Ends," "Talking About Life," "How It Began," "Dreams of Other Worlds," "Humble Before the Void," "Beyond: The Future of Space Travel" and "Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes."