| |
University of Hawai'i |
(808) 956-8856 Telephone |
For Immediate Release: |
June 16, 2000 |
Contact: Dean 0. Smith, 808-956-7486 Jim Manke, 808-946-6106, manke@hawaii.edu
|
 Dr.
Rolf-Peter Kudritzki |
| University of Munich Dean to Head University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy |
The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents today approved the appointment of Dr. Rolf-Peter Kudritzki as Director of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawai'i. This appointment completes an internationally advertised search which has been underway for three years. Dr. Kudritzki is expected to take up his position on October 2, 2000.
"We're absolutely delighted to welcome an astronomer of Dr. Kudritzki's stature," commented UH President Kenneth P. Mortimer. "He will bring enormous experience and capability to the University and to the State of Hawai'i."
Dr. Kudritzki is currently Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik (University Observatory) at the University of Munich. Since the summer of 1999, he has been Dean of Faculty of Physics, which is equivalent to being a department chair. In 1990, he became a Scientific Member, or "Wissenschaftliches Mitglied," of the MaxPlanckInstitut für Astrophysik in Garching, which is the equivalent of a full professor.
Dr. Kudritzki's research activities and international collaborations have led to his participation and membership in a wide range of international committees. For many years, he has been a member and chair of the Visiting Committee for the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is located at The Johns Hopkins University. In addition he is chair of the European Southern Observatory Visiting Committee, and this year was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). AURA manages U.S. national observatories located in Arizona, New Mexico and Chile, the international Gemini observatories, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Kudritzki has continued to pursue a career as an active researcher. His recent work has been in the area of astrophysics, particularly the study of hot massive stars. For the past ten years, he has been involved in the development of telescopes and telescope instrumentation.
In 1990, he and his group in Munich joined a team of colleagues from the Universty of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University and the University of Göttingen, to design and construct a low-cost segmented optical telescope, which became the HobbyEberly Telescope.
Kudritzki holds a diploma in Physics and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the Techniche Universität Berlin.
