Andrew Vanden Heuvel (born August 6, 1982) is an American astronomer and science educator. He is the co-discoverer of several celestial bodies, including asteroids 128177 Griffioen and 210425 Imogene as well as the gaseous exoplanet HD 102195 b. In 2013, Vanden Heuvel was selected as one of the first Google Glass Explorers. He traveled to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN where he taught a live, first-person physics lesson from inside the particle accelerator.
Background Andrew Vanden Heuvel holds a B.S. in Physics from Calvin College and an M.S. in Astronomy from the University of Florida. He is currently a professor at Calvin College, where he teaches physics and astronomy. Vanden Heuvel is known for his work with educational technology, particularly his use of Google Glass to teach science and his YouTube Channel STEMbite.
Astronomical discoveries Andrew Vanden Heuvel is credited by the Minor Planet Center for the discovery of asteroid 128177 Griffioen, formerly designated 2003 RA11. Vanden Heuvel discovered the asteroid on the night of September 5, 2003, while using Calvin College's 16-inch telescope to measure the rotation period of asteroid 3091 van den Heuvel. In 2006, Vanden Heuvel later named 2003 RA11 in honor of Roger Griffioen, a long-time dean and department chair at Calvin University. While in graduate school at the University of Florida, Vanden Heuvel was part of the research team that discovered the hot Jupiter exoplanet HD 102195 b. As a physics teacher at The Prairie School in Racine, WI, Vanden Heuvel discovered four more asteroids while working on a class project with his students: 210425 Imogene, 212925, 504423, and 597965.
Personal life Andrew Vanden Heuvel lives in Spring Lake, Michigan, with his wife Laura and their three children.
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