CAMBRIDGE, MASS.- The Harvard Art Museums announced the appointment of Narayan Khandekar as Director of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. Khandekar replaces Henry Lie, who retired from the post in December 2014. Khandekar has been senior conservation scientist in the Straus Center’s analytical laboratory since 2001.

Founded in 1928, the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies was the first facility of its kind established in the United States and continues to be a world leader in fine arts conservation, research, and training. It plays a leading role both in the preservation of art and in the advancement of conservation science. The Straus Center also supports the Harvard Art Museums by providing analysis of and treatments to the approximately 250,000 objects in the museums’ collections.

“Visitors to the Harvard Art Museums can literally see the long-standing importance of the Straus Center—through glass-walled laboratories in the heart of our new facility, meticulously conserved works in the galleries, and our current special exhibition, Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals,” said Thomas W. Lentz, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums. “With his institutional experience, deep scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity, and naturally collaborative spirit, Narayan is the perfect choice to lead the Straus Center into its next chapter.”

A world-renowned conservation scientist, Khandekar has been recognized for his superior technical knowledge and skills; he is a prolific author who is frequently consulted on a range of topics related to the latest in conservation science. His many accomplishments at the Harvard Art Museums include the analysis of paintings attributed to Jackson Pollock and participation in the team that conducted the technical research for the museums’ current special exhibition, Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals. He is the editor of the 2009 publication John Singer Sargent’s “Triumph of Religion” at the Boston Public Library: Creation and Restoration, and is currently leading the first ever technical survey of traditional Australian Aboriginal bark paintings, as part of an upcoming special exhibition.

“It is a deep honor to be appointed director of the Straus Center,” said Khandekar. “It is humbling to be walking in the footsteps of the founders of modern art conservation and conservation science in this country. I am excited to be part of a future that will be shaped by talented conservators and scientists, by continued collaboration with curators, and not least of all, by the many opportunities to work with the university community and scholars and scientists throughout the world.”

In addition to his global reputation, Khandekar is well respected within the Harvard community for his leadership and collaborative approach to conservation. He has guided a number of students during his career, both as a lecturer at Harvard and elsewhere; and along with long-time Straus Center Director Henry Lie, he worked with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2001 to define the museums’ postdoctoral fellowship in conservation science.

Khandekar came to the Harvard Art Museums in 2001, after four years as associate scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute. Prior to joining the Getty, he held conservation positions in his home country of Australia, at the Ian Potter Art Conservation Centre at the University of Melbourne, and in the United Kingdom, at the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge. He holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Melbourne and a postgraduate diploma in the conservation of easel paintings from the Courtauld Institute of Art