************************************************************************ IERS Message No. 281 November 16, 2015 ************************************************************************ Changes in IERS personnel Dear IERS users, In the course of 2015, several changes occurred in IERS personnel (see also IERS Message No. 268 of March 9, 2015). 1. New IERS Directing Board Members During the last months, three new members have been appointed to the IERS Directing Board (DB): 1.1 IAG / IUGG representative In June 2015, Clark R. Wilson's term as IAG / IUGG representative ended. Clark Wilson, Professor of Geophysics at the University of Texas at Austin, has been serving the IERS community in this function since 1 January 2001, the date of the reorganization of IERS, and thus nearly 15 years. Until April 2005 he was also Chair of the GGFC Special Bureau for Hydrology. At its meeting during the IUGG General Assembly in Prague, the IAG Executive Committee named Axel Nothnagel the new IAG / IUGG representative. Axel Nothnagel is lecturer and head of the group "Geodetic VLBI" at the Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation at the University of Bonn. He had already been an IERS DB member from January 2001 to April 2009 as IVS Representative. From 2001 to 2008 he also was the primary scientist of the IERS Combination Research Centre at the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation. 1.2 Earth Orientation Centre representative At the end of August 2015, Daniel Gambis retired from Observatoire de Paris, and Christian Bizouard was appointed his successor as primary scientist of the IERS Earth Orientation Centre and Earth Orientation Centre representative to the DB. Daniel Gambis served the IERS community for more than 20 years. He was the head of the Earth Orientation Section of the Central Bureau from 1995 until the end of 2000 as well as head of the Central Bureau and its representative to the DB from January 1998 until the end of 2000. After the reorganization of IERS, he became primary scientist of the Earth Orientation Centre and its representative to the DB on 1 January 2001. He has been also co-chair of the IERS Working Group on Combination at the Observation Level since its creation in October 2009. Daniel Gambis will still be active in the field of Earth's rotation studies. Christian Bizouard got his PhD for a thesis on astrometric and geophysical modelling of the Earth's rotation in 1995. He has been with the former Central Bureau of IERS and later with the IERS Earth Orientation Centre at Observatoire de Paris since 2000. 1.3 ICRS Centre representative In October 2014, Ralph Gaume left US Naval Observatory, where his duties included serving as the representative of the ICRS Center to the IERS DB from January 2005 to December 2008 and again since January 2013. He was the primary scientist of the ICRS Centre at USNO since January 2001. Ralph Gaume will remain active in the fields of astrometry, VLBI and ICRS. Since the end of 2014 Alan Fey and Bryan Dorland had been temporarily sharing the responsibility of primary point of contact for USNO in support of the ICRS Center (see IERS Message No. 2015). In September 2015, USNO appointed Bryan Dorland as the new primary scientist of the ICRS Centre at USNO. He is now also the ICRS Centre Representative to the IERS DB. Bryan Dorland got his PhD from the University of Maryland in 2007 with a thesis on an astrometric analysis of eta Carinae's eruptive history. Since 2001 he has been with USNO, becoming head of its Astrometry Department. We would like to thank very much all previous DB members for their service to the community over many years and the good cooperation, and we are looking forward for a fruitful cooperation with the new DB members. 2. IERS Analysis Coordinator re-elected Tom Herring was re-elected as IERS Analysis Coordinator for a second 4-year term by the IERS Directing Board during its meeting in April 2015. He has been the IERS AC from October 2010 and is also one of the IERS representatives to the GGOS Consortium. 3. IERS Representative to the ILRS Governing Board On June 7, 2015, Professor Bob E. Schutz passed away peacefully. Obituaries are available at https://www.ae.utexas.edu/news/844-bob-schutz-obit , http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/drbobschutz and http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?pid=175048244 . Bob Schutz was the only one who served the IERS from its very beginning in 1988 until now. He was the head of the SLR Coordinating Centre of IERS and SLR Coordinating Centre Representative to the DB from 1 January 1988 to the end of 2000, when IERS was reorganized. From 2001, he was the IERS representative to the ILRS Governing Board. In July this year, the IERS elected Daniela Thaller as the new IERS representative to the ILRS Governing Board. She has been the Director of the Central Bureau since April 2013 and is serving the IERS also in other functions. Kind regards, Daniela Thaller and Wolfgang Dick IERS Central Bureau ************************************************************************ IERS Messages are edited and distributed by the IERS Central Bureau. 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