Still not having outgrown this childhood fascination with the cosmos, my research now focuses on theoretical and space-based studies of the lives (and deaths) of stars. My "specialty" is using subtle variation in the brightness of stars as seismic probes of their interiors via the relatively new field called asteroseismology. Much of my work now involves NASA's exoplanet-hunting spacecraft, which provide exquisite data on stars (some of which host extrasolar planetary systems).