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Geoffrey Clayton is the Interim Director of Astronomy at the MMA after taking over from Dr. Regina Jorgenson who was the former Astronomy Director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory (MMO) for over nine years, as well as a former intern and former Assistant Director of Astronomy with the MMA. 

Clayton received a B.S. from the University of Toronto, a M.S. from the University of Western Ontario, and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto all in Astronomy and Astrophysics. His long and varied career in Astronomy began in 1983 where he started as Project Associate and Assistant Scientist at the University of Wisconsin. He then became a Visiting Senior Scientist at NASA Headquarters, and Research Assistant, and Executive Director and Fellow at the University of Colorado. In 2011, Clayton became the Ball Family Distinguished Professor at Louisiana State University (LSU) in the Department of Physics and Astronomy where he is currently a Professor Emeritus as well as a Senior Research Scientist at Space Science Institute.

Clayton has received multiple awards throughout his career including the NASA GSFC Group Achievement Award, Astro-1 Investigators Group (1991), the NASA Group Achievement Award, Astro-1 Space Classroom and the NASA Group Achievement Award, Astro-1 Payload Science Team (1992), the NASA Group Achievement Award, Astro-2 Mission Team (1996), the Basic Sciences Faculty Research Award (2001), and Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award (2010) at Louisiana State University.