New LSST Director, Dr. Steven M. Kahn

AURA announced on March 12, 2013, that Dr. Steven M. Kahn will assume the role of Director of the LSST Project effective July 1, 2013, succeeding Dr. Sidney C. Wolff. Steve was in Tucson March 13, 2013, and shared the following thoughts with staff informally over lunch.

“First, let me thank you all for joining me today, especially on such short notice. The deliberations over the choice of the next LSST Director have been going on for some time now. We were only notified late on Monday that the decision could now be announced, so I wanted to hold an impromptu ‘all hands meeting’ with project staff as soon as possible just to fill you in on what has been happening, and how I see us moving forward toward the future.

“I think most of you know me, or are at least aware that I have been actively working on LSST, and committed to the success of this project for a very long time. I came to SLAC and Stanford in 2003, with the express purpose of getting personally involved in LSST, and initiating a DOE and SLAC role in the development of the camera. I first learned about this project when I was a member of the previous decadal survey committee, the McKee-Taylor committee, which reported out in 2000. My attraction to LSST was motivated by the very broad range of science that a facility like this can enable. Since I have become involved, I have concentrated mainly on dark energy research, but I have always felt that the importance of LSST is manifest in the full spectrum of science that it will perform. There is tremendous discovery space in a project like this, and the most significant discoveries are likely to be associated with questions we have not yet even known to ask ourselves. I have said publicly that I believe that LSST may eventually be recognized as one of the most important scientific experiments in human history. It will be a tremendous honor to lead the construction effort, and I am honored to have all of you as colleagues in helping to bring this project into fruition.

“As you know, my technical involvements in this project have mostly been concentrated in the camera. In my initial months as Director, I will make a particular point of trying to better familiarize myself with the other subsystems: the Telescope and Site, the Data Management, and the Education and Public Outreach aspects of the Project. I will make personal visits to several of the most important institutions that are collaborating on these elements: Seattle, Princeton, Urbana-Champaign, and also to Chile.

“My position as Director will be joint between AURA and SLAC. I will retain my Stanford affiliation, and SLAC will continue to pay half of my salary. I intend to divide my time roughly equally between Tucson and the Bay Area, and will establish a second residence down here so that my wife and I feel at home in both places. We are hopeful that having a single Director, who is responsible to both NSF and DOE, and is affiliated with both AURA and SLAC, will help to unify our efforts as one project with common goals and procedures. There will always be differences between the ways that NSF and DOE manage their major projects. I believe I understand those differences and will respect them, so that our subsequent reviews are successful on all fronts. There are many challenges ahead, but we have a first-rate team, and I am confident we can work together to achieve our goals.

“In the course of the selection process for the new Director, we were asked to provide updated organization charts, and to outline a vision for how AURA will manage the NSF construction project, with me as the lead responsible official. The org charts that we submitted will not look surprising to any of you - they are basically the org charts that we have previously presented in the NSF proposal and in the various reviews that we have held to date. However, what has evolved, is our understanding of the different roles and responsibilities of the individuals named on those charts. As this project matures, we are transitioning from what was primarily a design and development effort to a full-on construction project. My appointment as Director comes right around the time that transition will take effect. It is important that we all understand the differences between these two kinds of efforts, and how those differences affect the jobs that you hold. I will work with all of you to help us make the appropriate transitions.

“As you know, I currently hold the title of Deputy Director, where that title has formerly been assigned to the leader of the camera project at SLAC. When I become Director, the Deputy position will become vacant, and the definition of its role will change. Per an agreement reached with NSF, the individual who will eventually be appointed to that job will be a prominent astronomer with scientific interests that are complementary to mine. We have some financial constraints leading up to construction but we will conduct a broad and open search to attract an outstanding candidate to join the team as soon as possible.

“Although I will remain 50% at SLAC, and will continue to serve as the leader of the LSST project at the Laboratory, it is clear that the attention I will be able to devote specifically to the camera effort will be diminished compared to what it has been up to now. Therefore, we will elevate the position of Camera Project Scientist to one with significant oversight responsibility, in parallel to that of the Camera Project Manager, and we may recruit a new individual to carry out that role. The precise mechanism for that is still being worked on, but we hope to begin that process very soon.

“Finally, let me close by pointing out that I plan to officially take up my post as LSST Director on July 1. Until that time, Sidney Wolff will remain the Director and the key spokesperson for the LSST Project. There will be only one Director at any given time, and until July 1, that is still Sidney. After I assume the position, we are hopeful that Sidney will stay on for a while in her capacity as President of LSSTC.”