Jan Cami (11/11/1972, Aalst, Belgium) is Professor at Western University (Ontario, Canada) where he also serves as Director of the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory. He is also a Research Associate at the SETI Institute (Mountain View, California). Jan developed a passion for astronomy as a kid, stimulated by his dad who was a physics and chemistry teacher. He joined the local amateur astronomy club at the age of 12 and started discovering the Universe with a small used telescope and lots of books. After two MSc degrees and a PhD that involved moving to Portugal and the Netherlands, he became a Fellow of the National Research Council at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, where he later would also join the SETI Institute as a Research Associate.

In December 2006, he moved to London, Ontario to become an Assistant Professor at Western. His research interests and scientific contributions are mostly focused on studying gas and dust around dying stars and in the interstellar medium. In 2010, he discovered the fullerenes C60 (“buckyballs”) and C70 in a peculiar planetary nebula. To date, these are the largest molecular species ever identified in space. He also leads an international team to crack open the problem of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs), a set of hundreds of mysterious absorption lines that are caused by interstellar molecules whose identity remains mostly unknown. He uses ground-based telescopes (VLT, Gemini, ...) as well as space telescopes (ISO, Spitzer, Hubble, JWST) and airborne observatories (e.g. SOFIA).

In addition to research and teaching at the University, Jan is also actively involved in science outreach. He loves sharing his passion and enthusiasm for astronomy and science in general – with visitors at the Hume Cronyn Observatory, during (public) lectures or while chatting on local radio stations. He is the main organizer for Science Rendezvous at Western – a large science festival. For his efforts, the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) awarded him the 2019 Qilak Award for astronomy communications, public education and outreach. Trying to fulfill other childhood dreams, he made it to the last round in the astronaut selection process of the European Space Agency in 2008 and attended the last launch of the space shuttle Endeavour at the Kennedy Space Center in 2011. He holds a private pilot license, loves exploring the underwater world while scuba diving, and is known to turn up the volume when playing guitar or piano.