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New director for NOAO

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The Tucson-based National Optical Astronomy Observatory has a new director with Tucson ties.

David Silva will begin a five-year term as director on July 7. He is currently the observatory scientist for the Thirty Meter Telescope project in Pasadena, Calif.

During a prior tenure at NOAO from 1991 to 1996, Silva served as project manager during the commissioning of the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. The Ph.D. also earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Arizona.

NOAO has 281 full-time equivalent jobs in the area, according to the Star 200 survey of Southern Arizona's largest employers.

"Exploring the universe is one of the great human endeavors, and the U.S. national observatory has a flagship role to play in this exploration," Silva said in a media release.

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory consists of Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson; Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory near La Serena, Chile; and, the NOAO Gemini Science Center, the route for U.S. astronomers to observe with the 8-meter Gemini North and South telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, respectively.

NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.