Artist Alley Booth B8

Deana L. Weibel, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist, professor, and space researcher whose work explores what happens when human beings encounter the vastness of the cosmos. Her book, The Ultraview Effect: What We Can Learn from Astronauts About Awe, Humility, and Exploring the Unknown, published by University of California Press, draws on interviews with astronauts and other members of the space community to examine how views of Earth, the Moon, and the Milky Way can inspire awe, humility, curiosity, and a renewed sense of exploration. She has conducted fieldwork at NASA centers, commercial space sites, and the Vatican Observatory, where she lived for a month while researching how the “Pope’s astronomers” connect spiritual and scientific perspectives in their faith and work.

A lifelong science fiction fan, Deana traces part of her cosmic imagination to childhood afternoons watching Star Trek reruns and to a deep childhood Star Wars fandom that included attending the 1983 premiere of Return of the Jedi at age thirteen dressed as Princess Leia in a homemade Endor moon outfit. Today, she writes and speaks about the real human questions behind spaceflight, including why we are fascinated by the sky, what exploration does to us, and how stories about other worlds help us think differently about our own. More about her work can be found at deanaweibel.space; she also posts as @EthnoEthereal on Instagram, Bluesky, and Threads.