Robert B. Kerr, a program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been named director of Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Robert Brown, director of Cornell's National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), which manages the observatory for the NSF, announced the appointment Feb. 5. Kerr will assume the post Feb. 26.

"We will be able to benefit from Bob Kerr's scientific, technical and managerial expertise, and we welcome him and his family to Puerto Rico, to the staff of the Arecibo Observatory and to NAIC," said Brown.

In making the announcement, Brown expressed his gratitude to Timothy L. Hankins, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the New Mexico Institute of Technology, for serving as interim director since September 2006.

Kerr, an astronomer and atmospheric scientist who studies the Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere and the atmospheres of planets and comets, most recently was a program director in aeronomy at the NSF. He has held academic positions at Dartmouth College, University of Michigan and Boston University. Early in his career he was on the technical staff at the Aerospace Corp. in Los Angeles, and later was director of research and chief executive officer at Scientific Solutions Inc. in North Chelmsford, Mass.

Kerr received his B.S. (physics, 1979) from Ohio University and both his M.S. (atmospheric science, 1981) and Ph.D. (atmospheric science, 1986) from the University of Michigan. He is a past recipient of the Presidential Young Investigator Award.

The NAIC manages Arecibo Observatory for competitive use by more than 250 telescope users annually.