Michael Stark earned a B.S. in physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1987, and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1994. His graduate research included work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico studying cosmic radiation. Before joining the Lafayette College faculty in 2001, he worked for NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland on satellites carrying out X-ray astronomy. Dr. Stark's current research interests include the study of rotating black holes and neutron stars.

In addition to physics courses, Dr. Stark teaches courses about the the planets, about evolution and about nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.