Tony Beasley became the Director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in May 2012 and serves as AUI’s Vice President for NRAO. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics with First Class Honors (1986), and a PhD in Astrophysics (1991) from the University of Sydney. His doctoral thesis examined magnetic field generation and solar-stellar activity in post-main-sequence stars. His scientific interests include non-thermal stellar radio emission, Very Long Baseline Interferometry techniques, radio supernovae, and astrometry of stellar/interstellar masers.

He first joined NRAO as a post-doc, then as a scientific staff member and senior manager in Socorro, NM and Charlottesville, VA. Since 2000, his career has focused on the design, construction, operation, and management of major scientific research facilities, with roles including: Project Manager for the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA), 2000-2004; ALMA Project Manager at the Joint ALMA Observatory in Chile, 2004-2008, leading the ALMA construction project through multiple international reviews and a major re-baselining effort; Operations Officer and Project Manager for NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network), 2008-2012, leading this continental-scale observatory designed to provide scientists with 30 years of ecological data on the impacts of climate change, land use change, and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity.