By GREGORY ZELLER //
A theoretical physicist with unparalleled understanding of space, matter and energy will take the reins of Brookhaven National Laboratory.
JoAnne Hewett, most recently associate lab director for fundamental physics at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, will be the next director of BNL and the first woman to run the show in the lab’s 76-year history.
Hewett, a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, will also become president of Brookhaven Science Associates, a partnership between Stony Brook University and private, Ohio-based science R&D mecca Battelle that manages BNL for the U.S. Department of Energy.
In both roles, she succeeds Doon Gibbs, who announced his retirement from BNL and Brookhaven Science Associates last year. Hewett’s appointment follows a year-long international search for a successor to Gibbs, who is set to retire April 17.
Doon Gibbs: Tough act to follow.
Jack Anderson, BNL’s longtime deputy director for operations, is slated to serve as interim director until Hewett is onboarded later this summer.
The world-renowned physicist – who will also become a tenured faculty member in SBU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy – takes over the Upton-based national laboratory as it prepares for construction of the massive Electron-Ion Collider, an unprecedented nuclear physics research facility that will transform BNL’s existing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, and likely rewrite some textbooks along the way.
“I am honored to take on the role of laboratory director at Brookhaven, a truly exceptional national laboratory with a rich history and a talented and dedicated staff,” Hewett, who will also grace the faculty of SBU’s C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, said Tuesday. “The lab has an extremely bright future … that will help solve some of the greatest scientific challenges facing the world today.”
At BNL, Hewett – who also served as the SLAC National Accelerator’s chief research officer, and in that capacity provided frequent guidance on DOE science and policy – will oversee the laboratory’s $700 million annual budget, funded mostly by the Department of Energy.
She will also lead 2,800-plus international investigators, technicians, engineers and support professionals focused on nuclear science, high-energy physics, climatology, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, isotope production and other cutting-edge research with wide-ranging implications for the environment, national defense and more.
Maurie McInnis: Big win for SBU students.
The world-class laboratory’s first-ever woman director is more than up to the monumental task, according to Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis, who also co-chairs the Brookhaven Science Associates Board of Directors. Among other attributes, McInnis trumpeted Hewett’s “capable leadership, experience and future-forward vision.”
“We’re pleased to welcome JoAnne to Stony Brook University, where she will hold a faculty appointment with our… Department of Physics and Astronomy and C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, both which have had longstanding and critical connections to many major physics achievements at BNL,” McInnis said in a statement. “We look forward to the work she will do with our students, who will be the beneficiaries of her deep experience as a scientist, educator and leader.”
Packing a résumé stocked with influential appointments at the Fermi National Accelerator Lab in Illinois, UC Santa Barbara’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and Upstate New York’s Cornell Electron Storage Ring, Hewett – who earned undergraduate degrees and a dual PhD in physics and mathematics from Iowa State University – is raring to go, with continued excellence, innovation and diversity all high on her list.
“I am grateful to Doon for his outstanding leadership of Brookhaven,” the incoming director said. “I am excited to realize the truly ambitious array of projects here, launch innovative, world-leading science programs, expand the diversity of the Brookhaven community and continue to strengthen our ties to New York State and our partner universities.”
