Education & Professional History
Professional Preparation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Earth and Planetary Sciences
B.S., 1972
University of Iowa
Astronomy
M.S., 1975
University of Iowa
Physics
Ph.D., 1978
University of Massachusetts
Postdoctoral Research
Associate (Radio Astronomy) 1979-81
Academic Appointments:
Princeton University:
Assistant Professor of Physics 1981-84
Carleton College:
Stark Prof. of Physics & Astronomy and the Natural Sciences 2003-2019
Emeritus Status: 2019-
Asst., Assoc., Prof., and (occas.) Chair of Physics & Astronomy 1984-2019
Emeritus Status: 2019-
Organizations & Scholarly Affiliations
American Astronomical Society 1976-
American Association of Physics Teachers 1978-
International Astronomical Union 1985-
Joel studies pulsars, relativistic gravitation, and the interstellar medium with the Arecibo (PR [RIP]), Green Bank (WV), and Parkes (Australia) radio telescopes. He also has strong interests in the field of science and public policy.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is the principal funder of his and his Carleton students’ astrophysical research, with eight major RUI Grants from 1987-2018. Other major funders include NASA (one contract); and to support off-campus research at national observatories and universities for periods ranging from two months to a year, four Carleton College Faculty Development Awards; two NSF ROA Grants; two Australia Telescope National Facility Distinguished Visiting Astronomer Grants; a University of Sydney School of Physics Visiting Scholar Grant; and a National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center Visiting Scientist Grant.
Joel taught a wide variety of physics and astronomy classes, and also taught science and public policy courses in the Environmental and Technology Studies Program.
Joel is the coauthor of 68 articles on various astronomy and astrophysics topics in refereed scientific journals (Astronomical Journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Astrophysical Journal, General Relativity & Gravitation, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Nature, Physical Review Letters, and Science). He has also created numerous oral and writtten presentations for scientific meetings. Much of this work was created in conjunction with Carleton students, some of whom are coauthors.
