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SALT LAKE CITY — A biodiversity scientist whose research focuses on evolutionary investigations of plant-eating insects has been selected to lead the Natural History Museum of Utah.
Jason Cryan, deputy director and chief of research and collections at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, has accepted the offer as executive director of the Natural History Museum of Utah effective March 2020, according to an announcement Thursday by the University of Utah’s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dan Reed.
He will succeed Executive Director Sarah George, who left the museum after nearly three decades to join the U.’s advancement team. George led the effort to relocate the museum and build a new facility in Research Park that opened in 2011.
Cryan “understands the unique role state museums play in promoting scientific research and discovery,” Reed said. “He will be an enthusiastic advocate for science education and Utah’s flagship natural sciences museum.”
George said in a statement that she looks forward to Cryan’s leadership of the museum.
“He comes with tremendous experience in research and collections, especially in making scientific research accessible to the public,” George said. “I’m excited to see the next chapter for the museum.”
Cryan said he plans to honor the history of the museum, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019.
“Simply stated, the museum should be promoted as the most significant ‘public face’ of science in Utah,” he said in a statement.
Cryan has been the deputy director at North Carolina for eight years. From 2001 to 2012, he directed the Laboratory for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics at the New York State Museum in Albany, a DNA sequencing laboratory.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and both a master’s and a doctorate in entomology from North Carolina State University.
Cryan’s research focuses on evolutionary investigations of plant-eating insects, specifically planthoppers, spittlebugs, froghoppers and treehoppers, using DNA sequencing to reconstruct their history. Many of the insects he studies are of worldwide economic and agricultural importance.
Cryan also is an adjunct professor at State University of New York in Albany and a member of the graduate faculty at the University of Connecticut. Cryan completed his post-doctoral work at Brigham Young University.
“The Natural History Museum of Utah is a world-class destination for informal learning in natural sciences and native cultures, a jewel of the University of Utah and a true treasure for all of the state,” Cryan said in a statement. “The museum has a stellar reputation built over its 50-year history by the creativity, ingenuity and scientific acumen of an outstanding staff. I am profoundly honored and absolutely thrilled to be joining this family.”
Becky Menlove, associate director for visitor experience, has served as the museum’s interim executive director since George’s departure.
