Candidate Statement: Michael J. Kurtz

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Nominated Office: Nominating Committee

Affiliation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Position/title: Astronomer/Computer Scientist; Project Scientist: Astrophysics Data System

PhD institution: Dartmouth (1982)

Areas of scientific interest:
  • Astronomical Spectra
  • Large Data Systems
  • Observational Cosmology
  • Digital Libraries
  • Bibliometrics

AAS positions: 

  • Member (1987-present)
  • Van Biesbroeck Prize (2001) "...design of the Astrophysics Data System..."
  • Journals Task Force (2014)
  • eBooks Editorial Board (2015-present)

Other relevant positions and experience:

  • Citation Research Award, American Society for Information Science & Technology (2002)
  • Fellow, Astrophysics Division, American Physical Society (2011)
  • Fellow, Computer and Information Science Section, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012)
  • Board of Directors, Classification Society (2009-present)
  • Board of Editors, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (2011-present)
  • Moderator, ArXiv Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods (astro-ph.IM) (2009-present)

Candidate Statement: Longterm, for the AAS to thrive it must have leaders who are capable of great wisdom and foresight. Is the task of the Nominating Committee to insure that this happens.

If elected I will look for candidates who are strongly committed to the AAS, who are energetic and have the capacity to lead. I will look for candidates who will maintain or increase both the demographic and intellectual diversity of the AAS leadership.