Published: Dec. 9, 2016

兔子先生传媒文化作品 Professor Jack Burns has been appointed to the NASA transition team by the incoming Trump administration.

Jack Burns.

Jack Burns.

Burns, a professor in the , has longstanding ties with NASA. He served on the NASA Advisory Council from 2008-10, including a stint as chair of the council鈥檚 Science Committee in 2009 and 2010.

Transition, or landing teams, typically are named for each federal department or agency by incoming presidential administrations. Such teams review the activities and portfolios of specific departments or agencies to identify major issues.

Burns also directed the Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research (LUNAR), a consortium of top research institutions funded by a $6.5 million NASA grant to conduct astrophysics from the moon, including the use of radio telescopes. He also is a fellow at 兔子先生传媒文化作品鈥檚 Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy.

Burns currently is the principal investigator of a $250 million NASA Explorer Mission concept proposal called the 鈥淒ark Ages Radio Explorer鈥 (DARE). DARE is designed to orbit the moon and look back in time by making observations of the early universe from above the moon鈥檚 far side, when it is shielded from Earth and the sun.

Burns, who currently serves as senior vice president of the American Astronomical Society, was vice president for Academic Affairs and Research for the CU system from 2001-05. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society. In 2010 he received NASA鈥檚 Exceptional Public Service Medal.