Cristián Samper

Cristián Samper
Official Portrait from the Smithsonian Institution
Born	September 25, 1965 (1965-09-25) (age 46) San José, Costa Rica
Citizenship	Costa Rica, Colombia, United States
Nationality	Colombian-American
Fields	Biology
Institutions	Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute (1995-2001) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (2001-2003) National Museum of Natural History (2003-present)
Alma mater	University of the Andes (B.Sc.) Harvard University (M.Sc., Ph.D.)
Notable awards	Derek Bok Public Service Prize (1992)
Signature

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Samper and the second or maternal family name is Kutschbach.

Cristián T. Samper Kutschbach (born September 25, 1965) is a Colombian-American biologist and Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.^[1] He was acting secretary of the Smithsonian from 2007 to 2008, the first Latin American to hold the position.^[2][3]

Career

Samper graduated in 1987 from the University of the Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, with a B.Sc. in Biology. He then moved to the United States to attend Harvard University, where he graduated in 1989 with a M.Sc., and received his Ph.D. in Biology in 1992 with his dissertation Natural disturbance and plant establishment in an Andean cloud forest.^[4]

Back in Colombia, he participated and collaborated with the creation of the Colombian Ministry of Environment in 1993, and was successful in conceiving the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute, a public funded research institute of which he became its first Director from 1995 to 2001. In 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Subsidiary Body of Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a post he held until 2001. He was Deputy Director and staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.^[5]

Since 2003, Samper has been the Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and served as the Smithsonian's Acting Secretary in 2007 and 2008. In 2006, he made some controversial changes to an exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, "Seasons of Life and Land".^[6]

Samper is on the board of the Nature Conservancy^[7] and the World Wildlife Fund.^[8]

Personal life

Samper was born on September 25, 1965 in San José, Costa Rica, the youngest child of Armando Samper Gnecco, an Agronomist and Economist from Colombia, and Jean Kutschbach, an American from New York State. He was raised in Colombia, the country of his father, Armando Samper, from one year of age. His other siblings were Marta, Belén, and Mario.^[9] In 2002 he married Adriana Casas Isaza, an environmental lawyer from Colombia with whom he has two children, Carolina (b. 2006), and Martín (b. 2009).^[10][11]

References

1. ^ "About Smithsonian: People". Si.edu. 2010-06-21. http://www.si.edu/about/people.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-27. 
2. ^ Tucker, Neely (2007-03-27). "Smithsonian Taps Scientist As Acting Secretary". washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032601883.html. Retrieved 2010-07-27. 
3. ^ "Biologist at the Helm | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine". Smithsonianmag.com. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/samper.html. Retrieved 2010-07-27. 
4. ^ Samper K, Cristián (1992). Natural disturbance and plant establishment in an Andean cloud forest (Thesis). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. OCLC 35826937. 
5. ^ "Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Executive Staff - Cristián Samper". Mnh.si.edu. http://www.mnh.si.edu/about/samper.html. Retrieved 2010-07-27. 
6. ^ "Scientists Fault Climate Exhibit Changes", The Washington Post, James V. Grimaldi, Jacqueline Trescott, November 16, 2007
7. ^ "About The Nature Conservancy - Board Member Profiles". Nature.org. http://www.nature.org/aboutus/leadership/art15466.html. Retrieved 2010-07-27. 
8. ^ "WWF - Who We Are - Board of Directors". Worldwildlife.org. http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/board/index.html#samper. Retrieved 2010-07-27. 
9. ^ Samper, Cristiám (2008-12-11). Construir Una Visión Para El Futuro (Speech). Turrialba, Costa Rica. http://web.catie.ac.cr/intranet/Comunicacion/logos2008/CATIE%20commencement%20Samper.doc. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
10. ^ Tucker, Neely (2007-03-27). "Smithsonian Taps Scientist As Acting Secretary". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032601883.html. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
11. ^ Fog, Lisbeth (2010-02-11). "Cristián Samper" (in Spanish). Universia Colombia: 2. http://especiales.universia.net.co/galeria-de-cientificos/matematicas-y-ciencias-naturales/cristian-samper.html. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 

External links

• "A CONVERSATION WITH: CRISTIÁN SAMPER; A Fascination With Forests Finds Fulfillment at Smithsonian", The New York Times, ALICIA AULT, June 17, 2003
• "Luncheon Cristian Samper Acting Secretary Smithsonian", The National Press Club, October 22, 2007

Persondata
Name	Samper, Cristián
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1965-09-25
Place of birth	San José, Costa Rica
Date of death
Place of death