Tri-Cities planetarium director with a passion for education suffers fatal medical event

The director of the Columbia Basin College Planetarium in Pasco has suffered a fatal medical event, her family announced Friday.

Erin Steinert, 41, became the CBC planetarium director in 2019 and also ran the Robert & Elisabeth Moore Observatory on the Pasco campus.

At the planetarium she oversaw improvements that include a new laser projection system that doubled the resolution on its 36-foot viewing dome last year. Other upgrades included state-of-the-art software and a programmable theater lighting system.

She also guided the renovation of the planetarium’s “learning lobby” to add a moonscape, an earthscape, and information in English and Spanish on topics such as meteoroids, gas and ice giants, and the oort cloud.

Steinert strived to be inclusive and was excited about adding a Spanish language program at the observatory this year, said her friend Linda Stephenson.

“The CBC campus is mourning the loss of a colleague and a friend. ...,” Rebekah Woods, CBC president, said in a statement. “Erin’s passion for science and sharing that love with students in the community and at the Planetarium was boundless. She will truly be missed.”

Previously, she was the CBC planetarium outreach specialist for more than six years. She also was the science educator for the Hanford LIGO observatory from 2009-12 and was an astronomy expert at the South Louis Science Center from 2006-09.

Her teaching included tutoring math students in high school and college and working as an assistant teacher focusing on science and art for Children’s Garden Montessori.

She had worked in science education roles for 20 years, and about 44% of the tens of thousands of people who visited the planetarium over the past decade have been in high school and younger.

Her passion for STEM education led her to run unsuccessfully for a seat on the Kennewick School Board in 2021.

Her focus during the campaign was a robust science, technology, engineering and math curriculum in the schools. She wanted to ensure that the school board had strong, science-driven leadership and accessible, transparent communication with students, teachers and families.

“Preparing the next generation for an ever-evolving world means instilling a thirst for knowledge, honoring critical thinking skills and teaching kindness and empathy,” she said then.

On her financial disclosure form for her school board campaign she listed a small ownership in Moonshot Brewing in Richland, where she called herself a “quizmistress” and “sometimes bingo maven” on game nights

A spokesman for her family said on social media Friday that Steinert experienced a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot, on Monday and did not regain consciousness.

She is an organ donor, and an organ donation team and her family were continuing to work at the end of the week to find matches.

She is survived by her husband, Eliot Black. Services have yet to be announced.