James Tardiff was born on Long Island but has lived and worked in New York City. He has always been an educator either formally or informally. Before he came to the Intrepid Museum, he worked in student affairs at local colleges and universities for 18 years. He has an AAS degree in Aerospace Technology from SUNY, Farmingdale, and a BS degree and an MS degree in education from Long Island University. He began working at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space museum in April of 2013. In his roles as educator and senior educator, he has had the opportunity to continue working at his passion of teaching the public about space and space flight history. He has had the pleasure of serving on multiple committees and broadening public awareness of the cosmos. He has helped revise public programs and has also created new content. During that time, he has been able to cultivate and expand his knowledge and fervent love of space studies and space flight history. He has developed a great many STEM based programs using NASA resources, both virtual and in person, and has been intricately involved in a great many department and institutional wide programs.