Kevin Marvel has been selected as the Executive Officer of the American Astronomical Society. He will succeed Robert Milkey who will retire in July after 11 years of service. This recommendation by a Search Committee was approved unanimously by the Council of the Society at a conference call meeting held December 7, 2005.

Search Committee Chair, AAS President Robert Kirshner, said, "Kevin has been a terrific addition to the AAS Washington office, energizing our public policy work. He has the energy and drive to make sure the American Astronomical Society succeeds in all parts of its mission. I'm sure he will be an excellent Executive Officer for the AAS."

Dr. Marvel joined the AAS Executive Office as the head of Policy Programs in 1998 and subsequently undertook additional responsibility as Deputy Executive Officer and manager of AAS-printed publications. A practicing research astronomer, his specialty is in stellar radio astronomy, including recent work by means of Very Long Baseline Interferometry at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Prior to joining the AAS staff, Marvel graduated from the University of Arizona, and then obtained a PhD in 1996 at New Mexico State University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory of the California Institute of Technology under Anneila Sargent.

Photo Available

A high resolution image of Dr. Marvel is available at http://www.aas.org/marvel/headshot.jpg

Primary Contacts:

Dr. Robert P. Kirshner, President, American Astronomical Society, 1-617-495-7519, rkirshner@cfa.harvard.edu;

Dr. Kevin B. Marvel, Deputy Executive Officer, American Astronomical Society, 1-202- 328-2010 x114 and 1-703-589-7503, marvel@aas.org

Dr. Stephen Maran, Press Officer, American Astronomical Society, 1-202-328-2010 x116, maran@aas.org