News by Council/Committee
news
April 9, 2008
On March 25, 2008, AURA submitted a request to the National Science Foundation to approve Dr. David Silva as Director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). On April 8, 2008, the NSF responded affirmatively and approved Silva as NOAO Director and a key person in carrying out AURA's cooperative agreement.
Dr. Silva received his PhD from the University of Michigan in 1991 and is presently acting as Observatory Scientist with the Thirty Meter Telescope project based in Pasadena, California. He has also served as an AURA Senior Scientist at NOAO and has worked in several capacities for the European Southern Observatory. Dr. Silva succeeds Todd Boroson who has served ably as interim Director since April 2007.
In making the announcement of Dr. Silva’s selection, Dr. William Smith, President of AURA said "Dave has more than 15 years of service at publicly funded, open access observatories. His strategic leadership and management experience will be a great asset to AURA in general and will move NOAO into an exciting future." Dr. Michael Shull, Chairman of the AURA Board, said "The AURA Board and Observatories Council are immensely grateful to Todd Boroson for steering NOAO on a steady course, and we look forward to David Silva's experience and energy in taking the US Observatories into new ventures next decade."
It is anticipated that Dr. Silva will begin his term on July 7.
