Derek Buzasi: Candidate for At-Large Trustee



Affiliation: Florida Gulf Coast University

Position/Title: Whitaker Eminent Scholar and Professor

PhD institution: Pennsylvania State University (1989)

Areas of scientific interest:

  • Stellar atmospheres and coronae, magnetic activity and rotation, gyrochronology
  • Asteroseismology
  • Exoplanets detection and characterization
  • Solar physics and solar analogs
  • Optical/UV instrumentation

AAS and/or Division leadership positions and dates:

  • Agent of the American Astronomical Society (2014 – present)
  • Member, AAS, HEAD, and SPD (1988 – present)    

Other relevant positions, experience, and dates:

  • Councilor, Council on Undergraduate Education (2019 – present)
  • Visiting Senior Scientist, NASA Headquarters (1992 – 1994)
  • Chair, TESS Data for Asteroseismology Coordinated Activity (2019 – present)

Statement:
I'm honored simply to be nominated for the AAS Board of Trustees, and I hope you will allow me to bring my experience and expertise to the further service of the Society. I have worked in a broad range of institutions, from small colleges to research universities and governmental organizations, and in astronomical applications ranging from multi-wavelength observations to theory to instrumentation. I’ve also served productively on numerous committees from the institutional to the national and international level, and led teams ranging from just a few to hundreds of members, and I believe that I understand how to contribute to organizational leadership in collegial yet meaningful ways.

I also would like the AAS leadership to reflect the Society as a whole in as many ways as possible, and my status as a faculty member at a comprehensive university will help to give voice to those Society members who are not at research universities and are currently unrepresented on the Board. A significant fraction of the membership of both our community and our Society fall into that category, and while they have much to contribute many feel disconnected from the Society. Having one of their own on the Board would provide a conduit for their voices.

Finally, my current position is an interdisciplinary STEM one, and I can draw on the experience I have had working with chemists, geologists, biologists, and marine and climate scientists. While in many ways astronomy is a unique discipline, we share many financial and cultural concerns with the other science disciplines and can learn from their successes and failures.