Timothy Killeen was Director of NCAR, headquarted in Boulder, Colo., is a federally funded research and development center operated by the University Corp. for Atmospheric Research, a partnership of major universities like the University of Wyoming with doctoral programs in atmospheric science and related fields. The UW is a founding member of UCAR, which manages NCAR.
As reported in the Wyoming Business Report’s February 2007 edition, Killeen was instrumental in moving NCAR towards building their new $530 million supercomputer –the world’s largest - in Wyoming.
"We like to think of this as a world-class effort and a world-class partnership that we've initiated here with the University of Wyoming and with the state of Wyoming," Killeen said at the time. "We've gone through an exhaustive analysis of options and possibilities ... and we really think this partnership is the best for the nation and will lead to world-class science."
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research will launch an international search for a new director, said UCAR President Rick Anthes.
Killeen will start his new job July 1. He has served as the director for NCAR since 2000.
In his new role, Killeen will oversee the Geosciences directorate, or GEO, of the science foundation, which has a fiscal year 2008 budget of $752 million.
GEO supports research in the atmospheric, earth and ocean sciences, including climate processes and changes, the water cycle, and natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and severe storms.
"In his new capacity, Tim will be able to guide the broader community with the same energy and forward thinking that he has brought to NCAR for the past eight years," Anthes said in a press release. "While we are sorry to be losing him, we will all benefit from his leadership at NSF."
Prior to leading NCAR, Killeen was a professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences, associate vice president for research, and director of the Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan. He holds a doctorate in atomic and molecular physics and a Bachelor of Science with first-class honors from University College London.
NSF provides funding to the nonprofit UCAR to manage NCAR. The contact to manage NCAR in the future is up for bid and a decision is expected as early as this summer.
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