Ethan J. Schreier to Become President of Associated Universities, Inc.

The Board of Trustees of Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) announces
the appointment of Dr. Ethan J. Schreier as the next President of AUI.
Schreier will assume this position following the AUI Board meeting of
October 21-22, 2004.

AUI is the not-for-profit science management corporation that operates
the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) under a Cooperative
Agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). Corporate
headquarters are located in Washington, DC. The President is its chief
executive officer.

Nine northeastern universities joined in founding AUI in 1946: Columbia
University, Cornell University, Harvard University, The Johns Hopkins
University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of
Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the University of Rochester, and
Yale University. Over the years, AUI has taken on a broad national
character with a diversified Board of Trustees from universities and
other institutions across the United States.

In making the announcement, Prof. Martha P. Haynes, Chair of the AUI
Board of Trustees, expressed the gratitude of the AUI Board for the
leadership provided by the retiring president, Prof. Riccardo Giacconi,
during the crucial years of change in the scope and size of the NRAO
mission. The completion of the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope and
the initiation of the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) and EVLA
(the Expanded Very Large Array) projects are a tribute to NRAO and to
Giacconi’s management and guidance.

When reached for comments, Schreier said:”I am thrilled to be offered
the opportunity to lead AUI, and honored to follow in the footsteps of
Giacconi and his predecessors. AUI has brought impressive benefits to
the nations research community for more than 50 years through its
stewardship of major research facilities. I vividly remember when I
myself first used NRAOs Very Large Array 25 years ago, and I will do
all I can to ensure the continuing success of NRAO’s world class
facilities, including ALMA, EVLA, and other projects still on the
horizon. I look forward to helping AUI continue to serve the research
community and the broad national interest.”

“We are delighted that Schreier has decided to take this position” said
Haynes.”It’s hard to imagine anyone better qualified to lead an
organization committed to manage, on behalf of the research community,
facilities performing frontier science. He is a distinguished scientist
and manager. The experience gained in highly responsible senior
positions with the Einstein X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope
programs has earned him the respect and confidence of the worldwide
scientific community”

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Editor:

Background Information on Ethan J. Schreier

Dr. Schreier is currently Executive Vice President of Associated
Universities, Inc. He has been at AUI since November 2001 while on leave
from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and is an
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Johns
Hopkins University.

A tenured astronomer at STScI, Dr. Schreier helped establish the
Institute in 1981 and had overall Institute responsibility for
operations, observation support, computing, data management and
archiving activities for the Hubble Space Telescope. He held the
positions of Chief Data and Operations Scientist, Associate Director for
Operations, Associate Director for the Next Generation Space Telescope,
and head of Strategic Planning and Development.

Ethan Schreier was born and raised in New York City, attending the Bronx
High School of Science and the City College of New York, where he
received the degree of Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in physics.
He received his Ph. D. in physics from MIT in 1970 and then joined
American Science and Engineering, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts in
1970, where he worked on Uhuru, the first satellite dedicated to the new
field of x-ray astronomy, and became deeply involved in the study of
variable x-ray sources. He moved to the newly created
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 1973 as a Senior
Scientist, doing research in x-ray astronomy and having key roles in
several space astronomy projects, including the Astronomical Netherlands
Satellite and then the Einstein X-ray Observatory, for which he led the
operations and data systems activities.

Dr. Schreie’s research interests have ranged from the study of galactic
X-ray sources and the discovery of the first black holes and pulsating
neutron stars in binary systems, to the study of active galaxies. He
discovered the first X-ray jet, in the nearest active galaxy Centaurus
A, using the Einstein Observatory, and then studied it in radio using
the Very Large Array. He proceeded to pursue the study of other active
galaxies and their massive black holes using ROSAT, Einstein, HST and
the VLT. Most recently, he has investigated the relation of active
galactic nuclei to their host environments, and is a member of research
consortia gathering multi-wavelength survey data from many current major
observatories.

Throughout his career, Dr. Schreier has been instrumental in developing
and coordinating operations and data systems infrastructure in the
astronomy community. Most recently, he helped establish the National
Virtual Observatory project and related international collaborations. In
addition to his other duties at AUI, he has been the leader in the
creation of a University/Industry consortium to identify and pursue
important problems in space research and human space exploration. He has
served on numerous NASA and other national advisory committees involving
science operations and data systems and has been active in science
outreach efforts. He currently serves on NASA’s Earth Science
Information Systems Subcommittee, on the National Virtual Observatory
Executive Committee, and on the International Virtual Observatory
Alliance Executive.