Candidate Statement: Michael A. Strauss

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Nominated Office: Vice-President

Affiliation: Princeton University

Position/title: Professor and Associate Chair

PhD institution: University of California, Berkeley (1989)

Areas of scientific interest:

  • Extragalactic astronomy and cosmology, including galaxy and quasar evolution
  • large-scale structure, wide-field imaging and spectroscopic surveys

AAS positions & dates: N/A

Other relevant positions & experience: N/A

  • Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spokesperson, 2003-2005
  • Sloan Digital Sky Survey Deputy Project Scientist, 2001-2005
  • Chair, NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) Users Committee, 2006-present
  • Chair Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Science Advisory Committee, 2014-present
  • Member of the TAC for multiple cycles of HST and Spitzer Space Telescope
  • Have sat on multiple advisory committees for NOAO and other observational facilities

Candidate Statement: The tremendous growth of the American astronomical community, and the advent of amazing new tools for our research: large-scale surveys, large-aperture telescopes, and powerful computers, have made our field more vibrant than ever before, but bring new challenges. How does a once-small community transition to a much larger and diverse society? How do we encourage and build upon that diversity, and how do we address the fact that the membership of the AAS does not reflect the demographics of the country as a whole? As astronomy broadens thematically, and our students explore an ever-widening range of career possibilities, are we giving them the training they need to succeed? How do we address the very real problems in our community with harassment and worse of women, and under-representation of and discrimination against minorities? As Vice-President, I will use the bi-annual meetings of the AAS as a forum to discuss these and other challenges, and to lead by example in the structure of the talks, the selection of speakers, and the themes of the sessions.