(USA) – The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) has revealed that science educator and communicator Amy C. Oliver will open its Enlighten Americas 2025 conference in Tucson, Arizona.

The keynote session is scheduled for the morning of 10 October and is sponsored by ETC, a member company of the IALD Lighting Industry Resource Council (LIRC).

Oliver is Director of Smithsonian STARS (Scientists Taking Astronomy to Rural Schools), a programme under the Centre for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. She also serves as Public Affairs Officer and Science Centre Manager at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory and is a SkyNights Presenter at the University of Arizona’s Mount Lemmon SkyCenter.

Oliver’s work includes Dark SkyNet, a cross-border pollution monitoring network , and project GLOWworm, which documented glowworms at high elevation in southern Arizona. During her recent TEDx Talks presentation titled “Glowing, Glowing, Gone: What We Lose When We Turn On the Lights,” Oliver explored the commonalities between fireflies, astronomers, bumblebees, cacti, and nightclubs, emphasising that they all thrive in darkness and that restoring our night skies is an achievable goal.

Enlighten Americas 2025 will take place from 9–11 October in Tucson. Registration is available via the IALD website, with limited badges available.

www.iald.org