David Helfand

David J. Helfand is a U.S. astronomer known for his important work in the study of stars and space. He served as president of Quest University Canada from 2008 to 2015, helping to guide the university during his time there. Before that, he was chair of the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University, where he led many astronomers in their research. He also worked as co-director of the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, a place where scientists study the universe using powerful tools and machines.

Education

David Helfand studied at Amherst College and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973. He later went to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he got both his Master’s degree and his Doctor’s degree in 1977.

Career

David Helfand has been connected with Columbia University since 1977. Right after finishing his PhD at the University of Massachusetts, he started at Columbia as a research associate for two years before getting a tenure track job.

He has been part of both the Astronomy and Physics departments. In the Astronomy department, he was the leader from 1986 to 1992 and again from 2002 onward. During his time at Columbia, he helped guide 22 students who were getting their PhD degrees, but he focused more on teaching younger students.

Helfand was chosen as a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020.

In 2007, Helfand began working at Quest University Canada in British Columbia. In July 2011, he stopped working at Columbia to become the leader of Quest University. This private university matched many of his ideas because it had "no faculty ranks, no tenure, and no departments." Helfand said this method helped academic freedom, reduced paperwork, and kept the school focused on teaching and learning. While there, he created a class about climate change to give a calm look at the topic because he felt there was a lot of wrong information in the climate change debate.

Skepticism

David Helfand is a member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He started a course about climate change at Quest University and often shares ideas that support the skeptical movement. In 2006, he signed a paper from the Center for Inquiry in Washington DC called the "Declaration in Defense of Science and Secularism." This paper talked about worries that some people in America don’t value science and believe in things that aren’t proven, like magic. In 2011, he wrote an article in The New York Times where he talked about research on special feelings between people done by Daryl Bem. He believed this research would not work when tested again.