Allan Weatherwax

Allan T. Weatherwax is an experienced administrator and internationally recognized teaching-scholar who has contributed to fundamental research in space and astrophysical plasma physics. During the previous decade, he assumed academic and administrative positions with progressive levels of responsibility, most recently serving as the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Merrimack College. In December 2021, Dr. Weatherwax retired from Merrimack College and joined the Haystack Observatory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As Provost at Merrimack College, Dr. Weatherwax was responsible for planning, implementing and managing Merrimack's academic policies as well as for oversight of the college's academic expense budget. He was also responsible for advising the President on all major matters of resource allocation within the academic areas of the college, including hiring of new and replacement positions within the faculty, decisions regarding sabbaticals, tenure and promotion, construction and other capital projects, and space allocation. Before his appointment as Provost, Dr. Weatherwax was recruited in 2015 to be the Dean of the School of Science and Engineering and Professor of Physics at Merrimack. In both roles, Dr. Weatherwax helped orchestrate record enrollments and directed the hiring of nearly 90 full-time faculty members, substantially increasing both the size and diversity of the faculty ranks. He further helped the college expand undergraduate and graduate degree options, creating more than a dozen new programs, including data science and nursing. Of note were his team's campaign to earn Merrimack’s Carnegie Community Engagement classification and its distinction as an Apple Distinguished School. As a scholar, Dr. Weatherwax has conducted research in the polar-regions since the 1990s, and has served as principal investigator on numerous NSF and NASA grants. Dr. Weatherwax serves/served on numerous national and international committees including the Polar Research Board of the National Academies. He is the author of approximately 200 engineering and science papers, many with undergraduate student co-authors. The Weatherwax Glacier in Antarctica is named in his honor to recognize his research efforts on that continent.