Dr. Carolyn Sumners is the Vice President for Astronomy and Physics at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, an adjunct professor at Rice University and a museum educator for the Houston Independent School District. She directs the Museum’s Burke Baker Planetarium, Expedition Center, and Discovery Dome programs.

She opened the first full dome digital planetarium in the US in 1998 and has written and directed over 30 shows for local audiences and for national distribution. She also trained the Space Shuttle Astronauts, sent 4 sets of mechanical toys into space, and coauthored a best-selling national textbook series. She directed the development of the first Challenger Learning Center in 1988 and invented the portable digital video theater in 2003.

In Fort Bend County, she developed the George Observatory with its meter class research telescope and the Museum’s Sugarland satellite facility. She directed the complete renovation of the Burke Baker Planetarium including installation of the world’s first True 8K planetarium.

Dr. Sumners has been recognized as a Woman on the Move, an outstanding educator, and has a Mars-crossing asteroid named after her. She has taught over a million students of all ages.

She has guided 13 solar eclipse tours, including providing pre trip programs, viewing and photography guides, filters, as well as telescopes for eclipse and night viewing. She hosts a monthly night observing event at the Museum and solar celebrations at each solstice and equinox. Her adult lectures introducing new planetarium programs and special events are popular and well-attended. Her position at the Houston Museum of Natural Science gives her a historical and geographic perspective for many eclipse destinations, especially Egypt and Mesoamerica.