Director
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

Dr. Timothy L. Killeen is the Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). In that role he has overall responsibility for the scientific, technical, and educational activities of the Center, which has an annual budget of over $130M and is home to over 800 permanent scientific and technical staff. NCAR has extensive observational and computational facilities that are used to support basic and applied research in atmospheric and related sciences on behalf of the university community. Dr. Killeen is also a senior scientist at the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) where he leads an experimental and theoretical program in upper atmosphere research. Prior to his recent move to NCAR, Dr. Killeen was full Professor of Atmospheric and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan (UM). He was the Director of the UM's Space Physics Research Laboratory from 1993 to 1998 and Associate Vice President for Research from 1997 to 1999. Dr. Killeen leads a research group of scientists and engineers working in the field of aeronomy, using a combination of theoretical and experimental techniques to investigate the dynamics, chemistry and composition of the upper atmospheres of the Earth and other planets. Dr. Killeen has authored over 140 publications in refereed journals.

Dr. Killeen received a BSc in Physics in 1972 and a Ph.D. in Atomic and Molecular Physics from University College London in 1975. He is a U.S. citizen.

Dr. Killeen is or has been the Principal Investigator for many research projects for NASA, NSF, and the U.S. Air Force. These programs include an extensive ground-based network of remote automated optical observatories, including two in Greenland, one in Michigan, one in Chile, and one in Northern Canada. Dr. Killeen is the Principal Investigator for the Fabry-Perot interferometer investigation on the NASA Dynamics Explorer spacecraft and the interferometer investigation on the NASA TIMED spacecraft. He also has 15 years experience working under Air Force and NSF sponsorship to develop specification and predictive models of the terrestrial upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Current work includes the deployment of an operational nested-grid numerical general circulation model of the ionosphere and thermosphere/mesosphere. Dr. Killeen has taught many courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels, including an innovative introductory course sequence for non-science majors dealing with the physical and human impacts of global change.

Dr. Killeen is the immediate past President of the Space Physics and Aeronomy section of the American Geophysical Union. He is a current member of the NSF Advisory Committee for Geosciences. He was chair of the NASA Space Physics Subcommittee (SPS) from 1991-94 and also served on the NASA Space Sciences and Applications Committee (SSAAC) and its executive committee. He was a former chair of the NSF CEDAR Advisory Committee and has served on the NSF Long Range planning committee for Atmospheric Sciences. He is a past member of the NSF Advisory Committee for Atmospheric Sciences and the Academy of Sciences - Committee for Solar-Terrestrial Research. He was the Chair for the NASA TIMED Science Definition Group. He has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research and is the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar Terrestrial Physics. He is also the Chair of Commission C.1 of COSPAR (Ionosphere and Thermosphere).