OUR SPEAKERS
Denise Doxey, Ph.D.:
Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (above).
Kevin B. Marvel, Ph.D.:
The Executive Officer of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the foremost research organization for astronomers, planetary scientists, and heliophysicists.
DENISE M. DOXEY, PH.D.
Dr. Denise M. Doxey is an Egyptologist and Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Denise received her M.Phil. in Classical Archaeology from Oxford University and her Ph.D. in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania. Her teaching experience includes Egyptology courses at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. She has participated in excavations in Egypt at the sites of Abydos and Saqqara. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author or co-author of five books, most recently Arts of Ancient Nubia and Jewels of Ancient Nubia. She is a sought after lecturer for both academic conferences and public lectures. Currently, she is Vice President of the Board of Governors of the American Research Center in Egypt, the leading North American organization promoting research on Egyptian history and culture. She also serves on the Board of the International Council of Museum’s International Committee for Egyptology.
In her more than 25 years as a museum professional, Dr. Doxey has overseen the renovation of galleries for Predynastic and Early Dynastic art, Old Kingdom art, and Middle Kingdom funerary art. She curated special exhibitions, including co-curating Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC and serving as curator for Ancient Nubia Now. She is currently the curator for an international traveling exhibition featuring art of Nubia.
KEVIN B. MARVEL, PH.D.
Dr. Kevin B. Marvel, is the Executive Officer of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the foremost research organization for astronomers, planetary scientists, and heliophysicists. After earning two B.S. degrees (astronomy and physics) from the University of Arizona, an M.S. and Ph.D. from New Mexico State University, and postdoctoral research at Caltech, he began work with the AAS in 1998 and took up his current duties in July 2006. He has written two books, including Astronomy Made Simple, and has authored research papers mainly focused on interpreting the observations of astrophysical masers around both young and old stars.
Dr. Marvel has a strong connection to Sky & Telescope magazine (a publication of the AAS), having been a reader from a young age. In fact, he decided to attend the University of Arizona after noting how prominently it was featured in the magazine. It was the honor of his lifetime to be able to facilitate the acquisition of Sky & Telescope by the AAS in 2019, and he deeply enjoys the ongoing challenges of making the magazine even more successful and impactful than it was pre-acquisition. Throughout his career he has been dedicated to bringing the excitement of astronomical discovery to the public, from his first days browbeating his family to come outside on a cold Texas winter evening to observe the planet Venus in his brand new 2.5” refracting telescope (thank you Santa!), to subsequent experience showing Comet Halley to tens of thousands of people with the telescopes on the campus of the University of Arizona, to his current role advocating for astrophysical research with the nation’s policy makers and overseeing the operations of the AAS.
He and his wife, Jennifer Kerns, M.D., M.S.H.S., are both passionate sailors and gardeners — she growing primarily rare heirloom tomatoes and he New Mexico Big Jim Peppers. Their young son Graham is looking forward to seeing his second total eclipse on this once-in-a-lifetime trip down the ancient Nile river, by which time he will be a well-behaved 10 years old.