Tuesday's story at
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/4540.html#S.F. Institute hunts for new chief
DIANA HEIL | The New Mexican
September 21, 2004
The Santa Fe Institute has started looking for a new leader for its
scientific mission after the think tank's president resigned last week.
Robert Eisenstein, president since June 2003, did not return calls for
comment about his departure. And staff at the Hyde Park Road institute,
including one of its founders, dodged questions Monday.
But Marcus Feldman, a biological sciences professor at Stanford University
who serves on the group's board of trustees, said a search committee has
initiated a worldwide hunt for Eisenstein's replacement.
Asked if the board had been pleased with Eisenstein's performance, Feldman
answered indirectly, saying the resignation did not come as a surprise.
"In resigning, he carried out an act which the staff at the institute and
the board of the institute was supportive of," Feldman said.
A nuclear physicist, Eisenstein came to the Santa Fe Institute with a wealth
of experience at universities and the National Science Foundation, where he
last worked. He succeeded Ellen Goldberg, a seven-year president who
resigned as director in 2003 to focus on research.
The board of trustees really wants a president who can talk to scientists
and sell their work to potential financial backers, Feldman said. He said
the right leader for the institute will be sympathetic to a
multidisciplinary approach and a good administrator.
"There are not a lot of such people hanging low off of trees," he said.
The 20-year-old institute sits on Hyde Park Road and brings together a broad
range of scientists and other professionals to solve problems, without the
cloud of a government lab over them. Research often blends physics and
mathematics with economics, biology and social sciences.
The board of trustees has a mix of people, including Nobel Prize winners in
science.
Norman Packard is an ex-officio member of the Santa Fe Institute Science
Steering Committee, which met bimonthly with Eisenstein to advise the
administration on science issues.
"From my perspective, I thought it's been productive to work with him," he
said of the outgoing president.
But Packard said the institute still has plenty of unrealized potential, and
he hopes the next leader will have a "strong, intellectual vision."
"I have confidence that the board of directors can find a good substitute
for Bob Eisenstein," said Packard, co-founder of ProtoLife, a Santa Fe-based
company.
At the Santa Fe Institute, senior scientists, postdoctoral fellows, graduate
students and faculty members perform research in residence.
The institute also involves a group of external researchers throughout the
world and has a business component.
Locked
