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March 1998

Buzbee to retire in '98


After 11 years at the helm of the Scientific Computing Division, Bill Buzbee recently announced his intent to retire at the end of this year. In a memo to divisional staff, Buzbee said his tenure as SCD director would end no later than 28 September and his regular NCAR position would end on 31 December. Thereafter, Bill will maintain connections with NCAR as a senior research associate for at least two years, with an office in SCD through at least 1999.

"1998 is an opportune time to bring a new director into SCD," wrote Bill. "The SX-4 [supercomputer] procurement is behind us, we are well along with the transition to highly parallel systems, and the FY99 budget looks promising." Bill noted that he had pondered retiring in 1998 for at least two years, starting before the protracted supercomputer saga began (see the September 1997 issue of Staff Notes Monthly.) He added that the early retirement was at his own initiative.

Bill, currently the longest-tenured NCAR division director, came to Boulder in 1987 after 25 years at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. At Los Alamos, he held a variety of managerial and technical positions, including deputy leader of the lab's computing and communications division. Bill called his 11 years at NCAR "the high-water mark of my career" and a period of "steady accomplishment for SCD. However," he added, "eleven years is a long time."

NCAR director Bob Serafin tells Staff Notes Monthly, "It has been a personal pleasure to work with Bill over the years. We have developed a close professional working relationship plus a real friendship, both of which I cherish and only one of which I will lose." •BH

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