Suntzeff Named Vice President of American Astronomical Society

Dr. Nicholas B. Suntzeff, professor of physics and director of the astronomy program at Texas A&M University, has been elected to a three-year term as a vice president of the American Astronomical Society, effective June 2010.

Established in 1899 with a mission to enhance and share humanity’s scientific understanding of the Universe, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America. Its membership also includes physicists, mathematicians, geologists, engineers and others whose research interests lie within the broad spectrum of subjects now comprising contemporary astronomy and astrophysics.

Suntzeff, an international expert in supernovae, cosmology and astronomical instrumentation, is presently one of the nine officers who comprise the AAS Council, which governs the organization and is responsible for its management, direction and general control. Each councilor is selected by an international vote of the AAS’s approximately 7,700 members.

“Bringing this position to Texas A&M University is an important step in raising the recognition of our astronomy program,” Suntzeff said.

Suntzeff, inaugural holder of the Mitchell-Heep-Munnerlyn Endowed Chair in Observational Astronomy within the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, came to Texas A&M in spring 2006 to lead the university’s efforts to build a world-renowned program in astronomy and cosmology. Prior to that, he spent 20 years at the United States National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO)/Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in La Serena, Chile, where he was the associate director for science for NOAO and a tenured astronomer since 1996.

A decorated researcher and scholar, Suntzeff’s many awards include a share in the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize — widely acknowledged as second only to the Nobel Prize in terms of importance in the field of cosmology — for his role in the discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. The discovery, since dubbed dark energy, which comprises 75 percent of the mass and energy of the Universe, was honored as Science magazine’s “Scientific Breakthrough of the Year” in 1998. He is a two-time winner of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc. (AURA) Science Award for his research on supernova SN1987A (1992) and cosmology (1999), as well as a co-recipient of the 1983 Robert J. Trumpler Award, given annually by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in recognition of the most outstanding astronomy thesis of the year granted at North American universities. In addition, Suntzeff is one of the most highly cited researchers in space sciences, according to the Thomson/ISI Web of Knowledge index.

Beyond his AAS service, Suntzeff is a current member of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Astrophysics Subcommittee, one of nine such NAC bodies that advises the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on their complete manifest of astrophysics projects — essentially all science conducted outside the solar system, including the Hubble Space Telescope, Fermi and approximately 10 other satellites. They also review all related research and technology development. In addition, he serves on numerous boards of museums and observatories.

Find more information about Suntzeff, from his teaching and research to his professional service.

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Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@tamu.edu or Dr. Nicholas B. Suntzeff, (979) 458-1786 or suntzeff@physics.tamu.edu