For most people, star-gazing is a hobby; for Derrick Pitts '78, it’s a career.  He is chief astronomer and a vice president at the Franklin Institute Science Museum/Fels Planetarium in Philadelphia, and host of the WHYY-FM public radio programs "SkyTour" and "SkyTalk." The geology major has received several awards for his educational work in the community. His outreach efforts include appearing regularly on the CBS Evening News, "The Today Show," "Good Morning America" and local television news programs; he has also contributed astronomy columns in the Philadelphia Inquirer and New Jersey Courier-Post newspapers and appeared in media from The Wall Street Journal to National Public Radio and "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central.  

Recently, he played host to one of the most important scientific instruments in existence, a telescope that was used by Galileo, on loan to the Franklin Institute.  The featured piece in an exhibition called "Galileo, the Medici and the Age of Astronomy," the telescope was there in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy. It was the first time ever that the 400-year-old instrument had been allowed out of Italy.

Pitts was one of only three non-NASA guests invited to the White House "star party" on the South Lawn on October 7. Pitts set up the telescope near President Barack Obama's podium; both the President and Michelle Obama used the telescope to see a rare "double-double" star on the occasion.  Some 150 school children in the Washington area were also guests at the party, which featured a number of telescopes set up for observation of the night sky. 

Pitts is a trustee of St. Lawrence.  In college, he was a member of the Laurentian Singers.