Scott Trager was director of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen from 2016 to 2020. He is the Dutch principal investigator for WEAVE, the ingenious spectrometer with "woven" glass fibers that monitors hundreds of stars at a time on the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma.
Amina Helmi served as scientific director of NOVA since January 1, 2022. Before that, she was deputy scientific director. Helmi led NOVA through its successful evaluation. She was also in part responsible for the successful bid of the sector plan. As a result, NOVA is assured of structural funding.
"We are greatly indebted to Amina Helmi for the incredible leadership she has provided NOVA, and for getting us into a much more stable funding situation than we had been for quite some time," said NOVA Board Chair Carsten Dominik (University of Amsterdam). He continues: "We are excited about working with Scott Trager, and executive director Michiel Rodenhuis, on the future of NOVA."