Timothy Beers to Head Kitt Peak National Observatory

Dr. Timothy C. Beers will join NOAO as the Associate Director for the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), beginning 10 October 2011. As Kitt Peak Director, Beers will be responsible for the suite of research facilities on Kitt Peak. These include the Mayall 4-m telescope, the WIYN 3.6-m telescope, and several smaller facilities. Kitt Peak also hosts tenant observatories and provides services to several of them. In addition to these responsibilities, the Kitt Peak Director also works closely with the NOAO Director and the other Associate Directors in developing and implementing the NOAO strategic plan.

Beers brings to the position a broad array of experience and insight. He is currently University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University as well as co-founder and Associate Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), an NSF-funded Physics Frontier Center that brings together the work of nuclear physicists and astronomers at MSU, the University of Notre Dame, and The University of Chicago.

Beers led JINA’s participation in SEGUE: The Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration, a medium-resolution spectroscopic survey of 240,000 stars in the Galaxy, as well as the SEGUE-2 continuation of this program which obtained spectra for more than 120,000 additional stars. He and his group developed the stellar parameter estimation software pipeline for the survey, an effort that produced publicly-available abundance estimates for over 400,000 stars, a first for such large samples.

In announcing Beers’ selection to the NOAO staff, NOAO Director David Silva commented, “Tim is an accomplished scientist with an international reputation for leadership. His enthusiasm and talent for working with large data sets will be a valuable asset as NOAO moves into the era of the Dark Energy Survey, Big Baryonic Oscillation Survey (BigBOSS), and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). At the same time, as a long-time user of facilities at Kitt Peak, Cerro Tololo and many other observatories, he understands the needs of individual investigators. Tim has been a tireless advocate for a strong national observatory in many venues, including as co-chair of the Future of NOAO committee in early 2009. He is joining NOAO at a moment of great opportunity.”

Commenting on his new position, Beers added, “My very first observing run was riding the prime focus on the KPNO 4-m telescope, and I have had some 75 runs on NOAO telescopes in the years since. In that time I developed a deep-felt admiration for the efforts of the many people who strive to make NOAO the best it can possibly be, sometimes during periods of difficult budgetary constraints. As I look forward to working with the NOAO family, I know I will need to have the support of the entire US astronomical community to help take us all to an even brighter future.”