Friday, February 10, 2006

Tucsonan will direct observatory in Hawaii

LARRY COPENHAVER

Tucson Citizen

A leading Tucson astronomer, Taft E. Armandroff, associate director at the National Optical Astronomical Observatory, has been named director of the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii effective July 1.

Armandroff is widely recognized in the fields of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, globular clusters and dark matter, and he has worked closely with the Gemini Observatory in Hilo, NOAO said in a news release.

Armandroff, who succeeds Frederic H. Chaffee at Keck, also serves as director of the Gemini Science Center at NOAO in Tucson and is credited with developing user support for Gemini North and South telescopes, as well as overseeing the construction of several powerful instruments for them.

Keck is managed by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a nonprofit corporation whose board of directors includes representatives from Caltech, the University of California and NASA.