Alexander "Sandy" Antunes, (born 4 April, 1967 in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

) is a

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

-area astronomer, author, and role playing game designer. He graduated from Boston University in 1989 with a dual major in astronomy and physics, received a Masters in astronomy from Penn State in 1992, and received his PhD in computational astrophysics from George Mason University in 2005. He is an associate professor of Astronautical Engineering at

Capitol Technology University Capitol Technology University (formerly Capitol College) is a private university in South Laurel, Maryland near Washington, DC. The university was founded in 1927 as the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute by a former US Navy Radioman. CREI ch ...

Astronomy

Antunes has been published in numerous journal articles, including

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

. In his work for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, he designed the mission-scheduling software used for XTE,

Astro-E2 ''Suzaku'' (formerly ASTRO-EII) was an X-ray astronomy satellite developed jointly by the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science at JAXA and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to probe high energy X-ray sources, such as supernova exp ...

, and Swift missions. He was the science scheduler for the NASA/ ISAS

ASCA ''Asca'' is a genus of mites with worldwide distribution in the family Ascidae Ascidae is a family of mites in the order Mesostigmata. Description Ascidae are mites characterised by: seta ''st4'' usually on unsclerotised cuticle, peritrem ...

mission from 1992-1994. Antunes is currently working on Project Calliope, a pico-satellite designed to convert space sensor data to music. Additionally, he has authored four books for

O'Reilly Media O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates) is an American learning company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books, produces tech conferences, and provides an online learning platform. Its distinctive brand features a woodcut of an ...

: DIY Satellite Platforms, Surviving Orbit the DIY Way. DIY Instruments for Amateur Space and has recently completed the fourth book in the series: DIY Comms and Control for Amateur Space. He was featured on Episode 10, "Space Invaders," of "The Big Picture with Kal Penn" in May 2015, launching a high-altitude balloon with his students and explaining what it takes to get into space.

Gaming

Antunes has been active in the gaming community since 1992. With his wife, Emma, he founded the industry-focused

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

website RPGnet in 1996. He has published a monthly column on the business side of gaming since the site's inception. One early column, "The 1K Company" (RPGnet, 1998), continues to receive comments and citations. Antunes's notable works include ''

Miskatonic University Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham, a fictional town in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River (also fictional). After first appearing in H. P. Lovecraft's 1922 story "Herbert West–Rea ...

'', a supplement for '' Call of Cthulhu''; ''Rules to Live By'' (a LARP rule book); ''Priceless'', published by Rogue Publishing; and the Origins Award-nominated ''A Faery's Tale''.Origins Award Nominees 2006
/ref> He was chief editor on the Origins Award-nominated ''Metagame Magazine'' for its mass market run, 1997-1999. He was executive director of the

GPA Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

for 2000 and 2002. Antunes and Mike Young ran the ''

Cthulhu Live ''Cthulhu Live'' is a live-action roleplaying game (LARP) version of the popular horror roleplaying game '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the works of horror author H. P. Lovecraft. Publication history Created by game designer Robert "Mac" McLaug ...

'' demos at the 1996 Gen Con game convention. In recent years he has been exploring games that can be played by parents and children, children's games, and family games.

References

External links

Sandy Antunes' entry in the Pen & Paper RPG Database

Sandy Antunes' regular column at rpg.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antunes, Sandy 1967 births Living people American astronomers Role-playing game designers Live-action role-playing game designers Writers from Baltimore Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Eberly College of Science alumni George Mason University alumni