[ASA] Distinguished scientists elected to lead GMT Board of Directors

[Yeshe Fenner]

Dear ASA members,

The Giant Magellan Telescope Organization (GMTO) today announced
<http://www.gmto.org/2016/11/walter-e-massey-and-taft-armandroff-selected-to-lead-giant-magellan-telescope-board-of-directors>
the
appointment of Walter E. Massey, PhD, and Taft Armandroff, PhD, to the
positions of Board Chair and Vice Chair, respectively. Continuing their
involvement with GMT in new leadership capacities, Massey and Armandroff
will guide the GMTO Board, overseeing the construction of the 24.5 metre
Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) in the Chilean Andes and working to complete
the partnership of universities, research institutions and private donors
who will contribute to the construction and operation of the GMT.

Poised to be the first of a new generation of extremely large telescopes,
the GMT will be the largest optical telescope in the world when it comes
online in 2022. The project is a distinguished collaboration of US
institutions and international partners from Australia, Brazil and Korea.
The telescope will be constructed at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.

With more than 40 years of leadership in science and education, Massey will
transition from a member of the Board, to Board Chair. Massey’s wealth of
experience includes involvement in the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Project, and serving as Director of
the National Science Foundation. Massey has held various other leadership
roles in science and academia including President of the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Director of the Argonne National Laboratory,
Vice President for Research and Professor of Physics at the University of
Chicago, Professor of Physics and Dean of the College at Brown University,
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs for the University
of California system, and President of Morehouse College. He is currently
the Chancellor of SAIC.

Armandroff serves as the Director of T he University of Texas at Austin’s
McDonald Observatory and as a Professor in the Department of Astronomy.
Prior to this, Armandroff was Director of the W. M. Keck Observatory in
Hawaii for eight years. During his leadership there, the two 10-meter Keck
telescopes played a key role in many astronomical discoveries. Armandroff
also worked as an astronomer and eventually Associate Director for 19 years
at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Arizona. After a
successful year as GMTO Board Chair, he will be stepping into the Vice
Chair position, where he will partner with Massey to lead the Board as it
advances the GMT through construction.

Australian participates at the 10% level in the Giant Magellan Telescope
project <http://www.astronomyaustralia.org.au/projects/gmt> through
partners Astronomy Australia Ltd (AAL) and the Australian National
University. This is made possible through contributions from the
Commonwealth Government and through the Government's Education Investment
Fund (EIF) and National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy
(NCRIS).

See press release
<http://www.gmto.org/2016/11/walter-e-massey-and-taft-armandroff-selected-to-lead-giant-magellan-telescope-board-of-directors>
for
more details.



Sincerely,

Mark McAuley         Matthew Colless
CEO, AAL               Director, RSAA, ANU
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