Photo caption: A brilliant full moon rises over the Launch Complex 39 area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

Matthew Coel
On April 7, Matthew Coel will present “To the Moon and Beyond” during the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – Barron County’s “Thursdays at the U” lecture. The presentation will be from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall (Room 234, Ritzinger Hall) on the Rice Lake campus.
Coel, an associate lecturer of physics and astronomy at UW-Eau Claire – Barron County, will discuss NASA’s current goal to return humans to the surface of the moon. Working with partners, internationally and in private industry, NASA is planning to establish a permanent presence on the moon as a first step to venturing further into the cosmos. A continuing presence on the moon will put us within reach of the next major milestone: setting foot on Mars.
Cole received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Michigan Tech.
The “Thursdays at the U” weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for campus guests. Masks are encouraged but not required on UW-Eau Claire campuses, including UW-Eau Claire – Barron County.
For more information about the series, call the campus at 715-788-6244 or email Dr. Linda Tollefsrud, the series organizer, at tollefla@uwec.edu.