RALEIGH — The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences is announcing its new director after a six-month search.

Officials will introduce the new director Monday at the museum in downtown Raleigh. Among those attending the news conference will be former museum director Betsy Bennett and Mike Murphy, president of Friends of the Museum and chair of the search committee.

Bennett led the museum as it became the state's most visited museum. She said in July that she was retiring at the end of the year.

She supervised the museum's new $56 million Nature Research Center, which opened in April 2012. The museum recently attracted its 1 millionth visitor.