Meet the 2025 Exeter Astronomy Education Conference Leadership Team
John Blackwell, Director
Phillips Exeter Academy
Mr. Blackwell has degrees in aviation management, flight operations and astronomy. He spent more than 15 years as an engineer in the early years of the internet’s growth, designing, building and testing routers, repeaters and technology for high-speed video.
Mr. Blackwell started at Exeter in 2004 as director of the Grainger Observatory and as an astronomy teacher. He teaches all of the astronomy courses, the senior studies course Science and Religion, physics, and epistemology. Mr. Blackwell travels for both educational outreach and astronomical research and has visited Japan, Hawaii, China, England, France, Iceland, Finland and Russia in this capacity. He hosts a biennial astronomy education conference at the Academy.
Mr. Blackwell enjoys a wide range of hobbies and activities including hiking, aviation, astrophotography, gourmet cooking, model building and playing drums. His personal research involves the astrophysics of cataclysmic variable stars, active galactic nuclei and research-based science education, all topics in which he publishes regularly. He also works on observatory, optical instrument design and amateur radio activities.
Julie LaFranzo, Conference Leader
Phillips Exeter Academy
Julie LaFranzo has been an Astronomy and Physics Educator at Phillips Exeter Academy since Fall 2024. She has a dual bachelor’s degree in astronomy and physics from Drake University and is working on her master’s in STEM education at the University of Iowa.
Before starting at the Academy, Julie worked at the Science Center of Iowa as a planetarium technician and educator as well as head of the Star Party Program, providing opportunities to the public to view and operate telescopes.