With the Nininger collection enroute to ASU, Boyd and the Chair of the Division of Physical Sciences, George M. Bateman, instituted the search for the director. They consulted with Harrison S. Brown, a geochemistry professor at the California Institute of Technology, who was one of the few scientists in the nation actively studying meteorites, to find a worthy candidate. Brown was also familiar with Nininger and his collection; he had obtained samples for study from Nininger and had also visited Nininger's museums with his students. Brown recommended one of those students, Carleton B. Moore, for the directorship. Moore's Ph.D. thesis sought chemical groupings for chondrite meteorites and ultimately helped improve the understanding of chondrite chemical abundances. Acting on behalf of ASU, Fales flew to Wesleyan University where Moore was teaching at the time, to recruit him. Moore agreed to take the position.