No shortage of candidates for Smithsonian post
A day after Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small's resignation, the names of possible successors began to circulate.
Cristián Samper, 41, a respected biologist and the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, was named acting secretary on Monday, and though it was purely water cooler talk, his stock seemed to be up...
Other potential successors to Small from the top rungs of Smithsonian management are Deputy Secretary Sheila Burke and Ned Rifkin, the undersecretary for art and the former director of the Hirshhorn Museum.
In addition to Samper, the names of several Smithsonian scientists have been mentioned, including Hans-Dieter Sues, a paleontologist and associate director for research and collections at Natural History, and Rick Potts, an anthropologist and director of the Human Origins Program, which promotes research and public awareness about human evolution. Two members of the Board of Regents also have both scientific credentials and administrative experience: Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist and president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Walter Massey, a physicist and president of Morehouse College.
Scientists outside the Smithsonian who have been mentioned include Peter H. Raven, a botanist and head of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis; Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astronomer and the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York; Thomas E. Lovejoy, a tropical biologist and director of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington; and Sir Peter Crane, the former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England.
Read entire article at Washington Post
Cristián Samper, 41, a respected biologist and the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, was named acting secretary on Monday, and though it was purely water cooler talk, his stock seemed to be up...
Other potential successors to Small from the top rungs of Smithsonian management are Deputy Secretary Sheila Burke and Ned Rifkin, the undersecretary for art and the former director of the Hirshhorn Museum.
In addition to Samper, the names of several Smithsonian scientists have been mentioned, including Hans-Dieter Sues, a paleontologist and associate director for research and collections at Natural History, and Rick Potts, an anthropologist and director of the Human Origins Program, which promotes research and public awareness about human evolution. Two members of the Board of Regents also have both scientific credentials and administrative experience: Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist and president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Walter Massey, a physicist and president of Morehouse College.
Scientists outside the Smithsonian who have been mentioned include Peter H. Raven, a botanist and head of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis; Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astronomer and the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York; Thomas E. Lovejoy, a tropical biologist and director of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington; and Sir Peter Crane, the former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England.