McDonald Observatory Superintendent Returns to West Texas After Productive Hiatus

Interview by Suzanne Geiger

Craig Nance took up the role of McDonald Observatory superintendent last January, and in doing so returned to the place where he, from 1997–2000, served as the facility manager for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. In between his two stints in West Texas, Craig was director of the Mt. Graham International Observatory and operations engineering manager at W. M. Keck Observatory. He spoke from his office at the Observatory about how the first nine months have been.

What drew you back to McDonald Observatory?

I worked for Taft Armandroff for many years at Keck Observatory. He joined Keck in 2006, and shortly after that we had a major, damaging earthquake with the telescopes — over a million dollars in damage. I didn’t know much about him because he was our new director. But he led us through that, and as a result of the crisis, he was someone I just really respected and admired and enjoyed working for. When I went to Mt. Graham Observatory in Arizona it was to be closer to family.

McDonald is a place I am very familiar with, so it’s not just one thing. Being reunited with people that I worked with in the past was a major factor in that decision — including being reunited with Taft. The public outreach mission of McDonald is something I also enjoy very much. They have the Texas Star Party here, which is wonderful. That was one of the other major draws to come back here. It’s one of the biggest amateur astronomy gatherings in the world.

What were your experiences at Keck and Mt. Graham observatories like?

At Keck I was working on some of the most advanced technology systems in all of astronomy. In September, they invited me to come back out to celebrate the retirement of the Keck 2 Laser Guidestar Adaptive Optics System I worked on. They’re upgrading to a second-generation system that I’ve been serving as an external reviewer on. They’ve done some of the most unique science in all of astronomy and are trying to push the telescopes to do as much as they can. The philosophical idea I believe in is “Let’s push the telescopes to their limit.” Ultimately, I led the engineering team for all of operations as the operations engineering manager. Being at Mt. Graham was primarily a site leadership position, which was a wonderful expansion of my career, whereas Keck was very much direct work on the cutting edge of high technology. The Mt. Graham site is owned by the federal government, so there was a lot of working to make sure we were in compliance with federal regulations. Most Thursday mornings, as example, I had breakfast with the mayor of the town. It was a very different role. It was a pure leadership type role, political. I use the word politics in a positive way – in terms of interacting with the community.

You seem to have a strong, but quiet leadership style.

By nature I’m not one of these loud and outgoing types of people. It’s just the way I’ve always been. And also, the places you’ve lived make a difference. Hawaii was very much that way culturally. Prior to astronomy, I was an officer in the Air Force. In the Air Force, they wanted that calm, quiet, confident demeanor. I’ve always liked to have a leadership team with calm, quiet, confident people. In those stressful moments, it doesn’t do any good to get overly stressed or overly excited. 

What is the impact of your engineering background on your work at McDonald?

I think the main impact is that I’m very focused on what the capabilities of the telescopes are, and how we can best have the telescopes and instruments that perform optimally for our astronomers. An analogy is a Formula One race team. The driver is the star of the show, and those cars are engineered to perform at the highest level for the driver. Every aspect of the telescopes also must operate at a high level as well. The question is always, “What is the science we’re doing tonight?” and “What can we do to make the telescopes better for science?” The analogous goal is to make [it] go faster. To win races.

What are your near-term goals as superintendent?

I take my lead from Taft, and that’s what I’ve always done. He has established three very clear, high-level goals. First, there’s the overall sustainability of McDonald and its need to flourish for all of its stakeholders – and that includes anyone who considers the Observatory important to them — astronomers, visitors, staff, anyone. There’s a lot involved in that. Second, we need for the HET to get back on sky and do science. Many people are working on it full time and beyond. That’s big goal number two. Big goal number three is McDonald Observatory’s role in the GMT. We’re doing a lot of work to make sure that McDonald has a robust role in that telescope, as it is vital to our long-term future. Everything we do on a daily basis falls out of that and are what I consider tactics to these three goals. Those are things such as telescope maintenance, to issues related to housing. We’re also looking at the experience of people who stay at the Astronomers Lodge. Those are just to name a few.  The things we do on a daily basis must link strongly to one of the three goals.   

What have the first nine months been like?

They have been phenomenal. I like for things to be borderline — or beyond the line — of too busy. If I ever get bored it’s not a good thing. And I’ve never been bored here. It’s been very rewarding. It’s been very enjoyable.

Superintendent Craig Nance's telescope trailer, as designed by his wife Laura Nance (Photo by: Sandra Preston) Tell me about the Einstein trailer.

One of my hobbies, when I have spare time, is to build telescopes. I’m kind of a one-trick pony in regards to telescopes and astronomy. I have built 20-inch reflector telescopes — Dobsonians — which I’ve taken out to the community to schools and star parties. Like any hobby, you start on it and you add more things and more complexity to it. It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy making larger mirrors because it’s either that, or I go buy a boat. And I’d rather have a telescope. I have a five-by-eight-foot trailer to haul them in. My wife has an artistic streak, and she’d found this template of Einstein. I came home one day and she had put Einstein on the side of the trailer, and I thought it was the neatest thing. When I drive it around, people can’t believe it when they see it. The image is from a famous photo. In a moment, Albert Einstein just stuck his tongue out at reporters. It captures him in a wonderful way. And that’s my astronomy trailer.