Finalists for Institute for Astronomy director announced

Institute for Astronomy (Mānoa)

Laura Ferrarese

Kenneth Chambers

Douglas Simons

Three finalists have been identified for the position of director of the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa. The finalists are each scheduled for virtual visits over a three-day period with participants on the islands of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i and Maui. The visits include: department discussions; meetings with senior administrators, faculty, staff, students and internal and external constituents; and a public presentation.

The decision to meet with the finalists virtually was made to protect the health and welfare of the UH community, community members and the general public. The candidates will be participating from their home institutions with each session hosted by UH/IfA. Campus and community members, as well as the general public, are encouraged to attend the public presentations. 

The campus visits of the three candidates have been scheduled as follows (the first day will be with participants on O‘ahu, the second day with participants on Hawai‘i, and the third day with participants on Maui):

                        Dr. Laura Ferrarese, visiting November 4–6, 2020

                        Principal Research Officer (and former Director, Gemini Observatory) 

                       Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, National

                       Research Council

                       Public Presentation: Wednesday, November 4, 11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m.

                       ZOOM ID/PASSWORD: 974 7871 5868 / 568520

                       Dr. Kenneth Chambers, visiting November 17–19, 2020

                       Astronomer and Director, Pan STARRS Observatory

                       Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

                      Public Presentation: Tuesday, November 17, 11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m

                      ZOOM ID/PASSWORD: 973 2455 1101 / 560806

                     Dr. Douglas Simons, visiting November 23–25, 2020

                     Executive Director

                     Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope

                     Public Presentation: Monday, November 23, 12:30–1:30 p.m.

                     (note different time)

                     ZOOM ID/PASSWORD: 961 8964 7585 / 003806

“The Search Advisory Committee did a terrific job in identifying these three finalists, and I would like to thank them for their time, hard work and commitment to the search process. This is a strong pool of finalists, and we are fortunate to be able to conduct this visit virtually with campus and community constituents as part of the effort in finding the next director for the Institute.” said Provost Michael Bruno. “As always, we encourage UH faculty, staff, students and the public to participate and meet the candidates, and we look forward to receiving their feedback.” 

Following the visits and review of the feedback from the Search Advisory Committee and others, Bruno will make a recommendation on this appointment to UH President David Lassner.

For more information about the search process, including candidate biographies and their daily meeting schedule, and a list of the members of the search advisory committee, see the search website at https://manoa.hawaii.edu/executivesearch/ifa. Members of the community can provide feedback on the search through the link on this page.

For more information about the IfA, please visit http://ifa.hawaii.edu.

The University of Hawai`i at Mānoa serves approximately 18,000 students pursuing more than 225 different degrees. Coming from every Hawaiian island, every state in the nation, and more than 100 countries, UH Mānoa students thrive in an enriching environment for the global exchange of ideas. For more information, visit http://manoa.hawaii.edu. Follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/uhmanoa and Twitter http://twitter.com/UHManoaNews.