Duane Lee, a Williams College graduate, is close to attaining his doctorate degree in astronomy at Columbia University. (Courtesy photo)

PITTSFIELD -- For Pittsfield native son Duane M. Lee, the next stop after graduating this year from the School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University will be starting a post-doctoral fellowship at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China this fall.

His story begins, however, as an African-American child growing up on Linden Street on the city's west side, a less-affluent section of Pittsfield that also is teeming with young children full of potential and dreams.

"I was always interested in science," said Lee, 33, during a recent interview from Columbia University in New York City, where he is fine-tuning his final dissertation for a doctorate degree in astronomy.

"Particularly, I remember my neighbors across the street had a telescope. In the summer, they invited neighborhood kids to come look through it," he said. "I was fortunate. Where I grew up we had very dark skies, where you can see stars and planets with the naked eye."

His mother, Francine Lee, said she recalls that her son wanted to be an astronaut, but issues with asthma prevented his pursuit.

Duane recalls how his father, Henry Lee, did buy him his own telescope. "I was about 11 or 12 and that pretty much cemented my love of astronomy," Duane said.

Before that, however, Francine said she wanted to instill an early love of learning in all of her children.

In 1981, when Duane was 2, she enrolled him in Pittsfield's free Parent-Child Home Program, a home-based

While attending Conte Community School, Duane also received Title I reading support through second grade, a program that also supports disadvantaged students.

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