Giant Magellan Telescope Organization Appoints New President
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) organization has appointed Daniel T. Jaffe, a Texan with a long history of successful astronomic research and project leadership, its new president. The esteemed astronomy professor has served as vice president of research at the University of Texas (U.T.) at Austin for nearly a decade and played a key role in establishing U.T’s partnership with the telescope. Jaffe joins during a period of significant growth in the GMT’s development as it begins to seek federal funding.
Robert N. Shelton, who served as GMT president for eight years, announced his retirement last year.
“I am honored to lead the Giant Magellan Telescope at this exciting stage,” Jaffe said in a press release from the GMT. “Robert Shelton leaves behind a strong foundation, and I look forward to working with our consortium partners and the U.S. government to advance construction. For me, as for the U.S. astronomical community and our international partners, the Giant Magellan Telescope represents a profound leap in our ability to explore the Universe and employ a host of new technologies to make fundamental discoveries.”
Dr. Darren DePoy, associate dean for infrastructure in Texas A&M University’s College of Arts and Sciences and a professor in the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, was instrumental in ensuring that Texas A&M was one of the GMT’s first consortium members. As such, he is a longtime colleague and friend of Jaffe.
“Dr. Jaffe is an experienced, talented astrophysicist with a strong research background that prepares him to understand the needs of the telescope,” said DePoy. “He brings a technical background that will allow him to translate the telescope’s needs clearly for engineering teams, which is key for a leader of this project.”
Jaffe’s research led to improvements in ground and space telescope resolution and has become the standard at many prestigious observatories. His most recent instrument, the Giant Magellan Telescope Near-Infrared Spectrograph, has directly improved the GMT’s capability to study near-infrared (meaning beyond the visual spectrum of light) celestial bodies, which will assist in furthering research on planetary system formation and small stars.
“He’s a person who understands why ground-based telescopes are useful, how they can be made even more useful and how they can be updated to remain cutting-edge research facilities,” said DePoy. “I think he’s the right person to lead the Giant Magellan telescope with that philosophy so it can be a valuable research instrument far into the future.”
This article was originally posted on the College of Arts & Sciences website.
