Kaiu Kimura, interim executive director of the Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii in Hilo, has been appointed to the position on a permanent basis.

Kimura, who has held the post since November 2009, joined Imiloa as the Hawaiian content research specialist in 2001 during the planning of the $28 million, 40,000-square-foot exhibition and planetarium complex.

It was developed to showcase the connections between the traditions of Hawaiian culture and the cutting-edge astronomical research taking place at the summit of Mauna Kea volcano, home of 13 telescopes.

Before becoming interim executive director, Kimura was associate director, with responsibility for visitor experiences in addition to planetarium, educational, exhibit, cultural and cultural landscape programming.