Eric and Jane Nord Conservation Scientist

The Cleveland Museum of Art welcomes applications for the museum’s inaugural Eric and Jane Nord Conservation Scientist. This new role offers the opportunity to establish a groundbreaking conservation science program dedicated to the care, research, and interpretation of one of the world’s most significant museum collections.

As the museum’s first Eric and Jane Nord Conservation Scientist, the successful candidate is responsible for developing and leading the museum’s conservation science program and establishing scientific research priorities focused on the CMA’s collection in collaboration with conservation
218 & curatorial colleagues. Duties include the technical analysis of artworks, the testing of conservation materials, and offering guidance and technical support to conservators to facilitate their treatment and preservation approach. The conservation scientist oversees the administration, budgeting, and all activities in the analytical lab, and is responsible for hiring and managing the Eric and Jane Nord Post‑Doctoral Conservation Science Fellow, interns, and contractors in that area.

They collaborate with colleagues and departments across the museum, including Curatorial, Technical Imaging, Facilities, Collections Management, Public and Academic Engagement, Exhibitions, Design, Philanthry

PROP, Security, Operations and more. They must meet critical deadlines in support of conservation treatments, exhibitions, acquisitions, loans, publications, capital projects and other major museum activities. The conservation scientist plays a key role in helping the museum move towards more sustainable practices.

This new position has been generously endowed by the Eric and Jane Nord Family Fund which includes funding for a full‑time conservation scientist position, a post‑doctoral conservation science fellow (which will be hired by the scientist in forthcoming years), and analytical laboratory operating support. The incoming scientist will be expected to purchase, operate and maintain new scientific equipment utilizing substantial recent additional gifts.

The department already has a partially equipped 1,000 square foot analytical laboratory that resides in the Eric T. and Jane Baker Nord Conservation Suite, an 18,000 square foot integrated facility with five conservation labs (Asian paintings, Objects, Paper, Paintings, and Textiles), a رائع technical imaging studio with multimodal capabilities, including an Apollo infrared camera, a library, administrative offices, and two preparatory spaces for frames and paper.

The analytical lab currently operates with the following equipment: an FTIR equipped with a Continuum microscope and Fisher Thermo Scientific iS50 bench with an iS50 Raman module and iS50 diamond sampling station;
Bruker 5i XRF Spectrometer;
Bruker M6 Jetstream micro‑XRF scanner;
Struers Labo Pol‑20/Labo Force‑50 Polishing Grinder;
Zeiss Axio Imager M2m fluorescent microscope and Zeiss Axio Skop‑2 MOT fluorescent microscope. Additionally, the department has an X‑radiography facility with 100 kV and 360 kV tubes, utilizing a Carestream digital scanner for digital X‑ray imaging.

The successful candidate will join a convivial, generous, and skilled conservation department consisting of ten conservators, three technicians, and a lab coordinator, along with numerous interns (pre‑program to graduate) and fellows. The Conservation team is committed to the mentorship and support of emerging conservation professionals, and regularly hosts pre‑program conservation interns, graduate interns, and post‑graduate fellows with the support of substantial endowment funds;

the Eric and Jane Nord Family Fund includes a dedicated conservation science post‑doctoral fellowship. The conservation team is an active part of the public program and engages regularly with the museum’s visitors and donors. The department also has access to the significant resources of the Cleveland Museum of Art, including a dedicated conservation technical imaging specialist and an outstanding library and archive, which is one of the largest in the nation, prioritises collecting conservation…