Sam Aronson Named
Director of Brookhaven National Lab
Upton, NY, August 18: The Board of Directors of Brookhaven Science
Associates (BSA) announced today that Interim Laboratory Director Dr.
Samuel Aronson has been named as the new Director of Brookhaven National
Lab (BNL). BSA manages
BNL for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). DOE also approved Dr.
Aronson's candidacy.
Aronson, a physicist, has served as Brookhaven Lab's Interim Director
since former Director Praveen Chaudhari stepped down in April 2006.
Today's announcement was made following a nationwide search and
interview process conducted by a committee appointed by the BSA Board.
"We knew Dr. Aronson was a highly respected scientist and administrator
when we selected him as Interim Director, and the BSA Board has been
very impressed by what he has accomplished in his short tenure," said
Shirley Strum Kenny, Chair of the BSA Board and President of Stony Brook
University. "We had many talented applicants for the job, but Sam was
the outstanding choice. He has gained the respect of everyone he has
worked with, and the Board is confident that he will continue to
emphasize our key commitments - excellence in science, Laboratory
operations, and community service."
"We are delighted to have Dr. Aronson serve as the new Director of
Brookhaven National Laboratory," said DOE Undersecretary for Science
Raymond L. Orbach. "His scientific expertise and natural leadership
abilities will serve him well in this new role. This is a great choice
for the Laboratory, the local and scientific communities, and the
nation."
Prior to becoming Interim Director, Aronson served as Brookhaven's
Associate Laboratory Director for High Energy & Nuclear Physics,
managing the Laboratory's largest directorate and overseeing the
operation of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Physics
Department. He now takes the helm of a multi-program national laboratory
with 2,600 employees, more than 4,000 facility users, and an annual
budget of $490 million.
"In my short time as interim director, I have had a wonderful
opportunity to become better acquainted with the broad range of science
at Brookhaven Lab," said Aronson. "The breadth and depth of our
research, and the energy and expertise of those who conduct and support
it, position us well to explore the compelling scientific questions of
the 21st century.
"I am grateful to the Brookhaven Science Associates Board for entrusting
me with the opportunity to continue leading this great institution. Our
future is bright, and our direction is sound."
Aronson earned an A.B. in physics from Columbia University in 1964, and
a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1968. From 1968 to 1972,
he worked at the University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute for
Nuclear Studies as a research associate. He then moved to the University
of Wisconsin, where he was a faculty member until 1977.
Aronson joined Brookhaven Lab's Accelerator Department in 1978 as an
associate physicist, and was named physicist in 1979. He moved to the
Physics Department in 1982, was appointed associate chair of the
department in 1987, and promoted to deputy chair in 1988. In 1991,
Aronson relinquished this position and, as a senior physicist, served as
the head of the PHENIX detector project during the construction of RHIC,
a challenge he successfully completed before he became chair of Physics
in 2001. Aronson was appointed as Brookhaven's Associate Laboratory
Director for High Energy & Nuclear Physics in 2005. Aronson is a Fellow
of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. Samuel Aronson is a native of Long Island
and a resident of Poquott, New York.
One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the
Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven
National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and
environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national
security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific
facilities available to university, industry and government researchers.
Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by
Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by
the Research Foundation of State University of New York on behalf of
Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory
facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology
organization.
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