t h e c h ro n ic l e o f h ig h e r e duc a t io n

f e brua r y ,

14, 2014

a15

People
Dark Energy Draws an Observatorys Director From Hawaii to Texas
By MARK KEIERLEBER

I probably have one more big

challenge that I can do in my caince 2006, Taft E. Armanreer as an observatory adminisdroff has directed one of the
trator, he says. I love the Southworlds leading astronomiwest. I love Hawaii, too, so its
cal-research facilities, atop a dormore about the astronomy than
mant volcano in Hawaii with terthe physical location.
rain that resemBefore becombles that of Mars
ing Kecks direcor the moon.
tor, Mr. ArmanPrimarily workdroff worked for
ing from the small
19 years at the
town of Waimea,
National OptiMr. Armandroff,
cal Astronomy
53, has led a team
Observatory, in
of astronomers at
Tucson, Ariz., as
W.M. Keck Obassociate director
servatory, 14,000
and director of
feet above sea levthe NOAO Gemel at the summit
ini Science Cenof Mauna Kea on
ter. As the author
Hawaiis largest
or co-author of
island.
41 refereed jourIn May, Mr.
nal articles and
ETHAN TWEEDIE
Armandroff will
review papers,
Taft Armandroff
leave Waimea and
he is a respected
move to the Southresearch astronowest, where he will become a promer in dwarf spheroidal galaxies,
fessor at the University of Texas at
stellar populations in the Milky
Austin and director of its McDonWay and nearby galaxies, globular
ald Observatory, 450 miles west
clusters, the chemical evolution of
of Austin, beneath some of the
galaxies, and dark matter.
darkest night skies in the United
Those credentials helped him
States.
land his new job in Texas, says
Though Keck is a global leadChris Sneden, a professor in Auser in the number of publications
tins astronomy department and
per telescope per year and in opleader of the search committee.
tical and infrared astronomy, McHe says Mr. Armandroff will bring
Donald Observatory has a huge
a fresh perspective to the Texas
amount of potential, Mr. Armanoperation. Mr. Armandroff will
droff says.
succeed David Lambert, whom

TRANSITIONS
PEOPLE IN ACADEME
Submit ideas
to people@chronicle.com
or at chronicle.com/people

JOB MOVES
n Patrick D. Gallagher, acting deputy
secretary of the U.S. Department of
Commerce and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will become chancellor and chief
executive of the University of Pittsburgh. He succeeds Mark A. Nordenberg, who will step down on August
1, after leading the university for 19
years.
n Kimberly Wright Cassidy, interim
president of Bryn Mawr College since
July 2013, was named to the post permanently. She had been the colleges
provost.
n Sanjeev Kulkarni, a professor of
electrical engineering at Princeton
University and director of its Keller
Center, will become dean of the universitys Graduate School on March
31. He succeeds William B. Russel,
who will step down after serving as
dean since 2002. The goal of the
Keller Center is to encourage students to become leaders in a technology-driven society.
n Samuel Hoi, president of Otis College
of Art and Design, in Los Angeles, will
become president of Maryland Institute College of Art in July. He succeeds
Fred Lazarus IV, who will step down after 36 years as president.

he calls the world expert in stellar

abundanceswhat stars are made
of and what processes caused them
to contain certain elements.
Along with leading the McDonald Observatorys strategic planning, Mr. Armandroff will take
over several projects already in
the works. One will be to lead the
universitys engagement in the Giant Magellan Telescope, an international effort to construct a new
instrument in Chile that astronomers say will have as much as 10
times the light-gathering capacity of todays telescopes. It will be
completed in about 2020.
McDonald Observatory, one of
the worlds leading centers for as-

tronomical research, teaching, and

public education and outreach,
sits atop Mount Locke, with facilities on Mount Fowlkes, in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. The
complex includes the Hobby-Eberly
Telescope, one of the worlds largest
optical telescopes, with a 9.2-meter
mirror, among several other telescopes and instruments.
Mr. Armandroff will also be
charged with completing McDonalds Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark
Energy Experiment, the first major effort to probe dark energy,
thought to be the cause of the acceleration of the expansion of the
universe. The experiment will collect data on at least a million gal-

axies that are nine billion to 11 billion light-years away, creating the
largest map of the universe ever
produced.
Dark energy has been called the
single-most-unsolved-problem in
physics and astronomy today, Mr.
Armandroff said.
Mr. Armandroff says he also
looks forward to welcoming people
who visit the observatory to take
in the night sky.
Thats something I hope to continue, Mr. Armandroff says, is
the great work that has been done
at McDonald in terms of engaging the public in everything thats
learned about our universe with
modern astronomy.

An excellent
educAtion stArts
with exceptionAl
teAchers.
The MSU Denver faculty ranks include Professor of French Ann WilliAMS,
U.S. ProFeSSor oF The YeAr For BAccAlAUreATe collegeS
(carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the
council for Advancement and Support of education).

Robyn S. Hadley, founder and executive director of the Whats After

High School? program in Burlington,
N.C., has been named associate vice
chancellor and director of the John B.
Ervin Scholars Program at Washington
University in St. Louis. The program
awards scholarships to exceptional incoming freshmen with commitments to
community service and diversity. She
will be the programs second director,
following James E. McLeod, who led
the program from 1986 until his death,
in 2011.
n Joanne F. Goldstein, who has
stepped down as Massachusetts secretary of labor and workforce development, will take the newly created
position of associate vice president
forwork-force development and employer engagement in the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University in May. She will focus on integrating work-force needs into the colleges
academic programs.
n

DEPARTURE
Richard Carpenter, chancellor of
the Lone Star College system, in Texas, says he will retire this summer for
health and family reasons. He has led the
LONE STAR
system since 2007
COLLEGE SYSTEM
and has been a college president or chief executive for 32
years, including in the Wisconsin Technical College system.
n

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