It’s a true pleasure to say hello to the MCB community by publishing this blog post on the first day of my service as the Division Director. It would be an understatement to say I feel truly honored to serve in this role. I am delighted to join a group of dedicated Program Directors and staff that have as their core value service to our community and support of the exciting and impactful science that our grantees carry out. However it would be untrue if I didn’t admit to a little nervousness.

My very first order of business is to welcome a CAREER panel and that puts up front and center a thank you to the reviewer community without whom we could not do our job and to whom the system depends. Please keep doing what you do so well and thank you in advance! My next order of business is to embark on a listening tour both within NSF and with our major stakeholders. I’d like to hear what’s on your minds, what gets you up in the morning and what keeps you up at night. My proverbial (and e-) door is open so feel free to reach out and share your thoughts with me. I hope to meet as many of our community as possible, either physically at NSF, at a scientific meeting, or where ever our paths might cross.

Next – a big shout out to Greg Warr who so ably kept this DD seat warm; and to Theresa Good who I can already tell will shepherd me through this transition period with her commitment to excellence, competence and generous help.

Lastly many people have asked me why I wanted to take on this challenge. The answer is….. I cannot imagine a more worthwhile use of my time and energy than supporting this community and advocating for our science while continuing to learn new things every day. Happy new academic year, happy end to fiscal 2015 and cheers to FY16!