Dr. Jason Cryan is The Sarah B. George Executive Director of the Natural History Museum of Utah, the largest natural history museum in America’s intermountain west.  Part of the University of Utah, NHMU serves the state of Utah and beyond with world-class exhibitions, educational programs, and offsite outreach initiatives.

Jason has been a museum-based scientist and administrator for nearly three decades.  He began his museum career as a scientist at the New York State Museum (Albany, NY), where he directed the NYSM’s DNA sequencing laboratory.  Jason later moved into museum administration at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh, NC), where he served in the dual roles of Deputy Museum Director and Director of Research & Collections.  Jason joined the Natural History Museum of Utah in 2020 as its fourth executive director, and proudly works with NHMU’s leadership team to shape the vision for the Museum’s future and the strategic priorities to help it get there.  He represents NHMU at the national level as a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) and as the current President of the Association of Science Museum Directors (ASMD).

Jason’s academic background includes degrees earned at the University of Vermont (B.A., Zoology) and at North Carolina State University (M.S. and Ph.D., Entomology).  An evolutionary biologist, Jason’s scientific research focused on the biodiversity and evolution of remarkably charismatic insects (treehoppers and their relatives) that are entomologically famous for having bizarre shapes, bright colors, and fascinating behaviors. Jason’s research has taken him around the globe on expeditions to study insect biodiversity in approximately 25 tropical countries.