About Fermilab

Lia Merminga

Laboratory Director

Lia Merminga began her tenure as director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in April 2022. An internationally renowned accelerator physicist, Merminga previously led Fermilab's Proton Improvement Plan II (PIP-II) project, an essential enhancement to Fermilab’s accelerator complex that will provide powerful, high-intensity proton beams, enable the world’s most intense neutrino beam to the flagship Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (LBNF/DUNE), and drive a broad physics research program.

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Bonnie Fleming

Deputy Director for Science and Technology (CRO)

Bonnie Fleming is Fermilab’s Deputy Director for Science and Technology and Chief Research Officer. An internationally recognized particle physicist with outstanding expertise and a world leader in neutrino physics, she leads all areas of science and technology at Fermilab.

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Jim Kerby

Project Director, LBNF/DUNE-US

Jim Kerby is the LBNF/DUNE-US Project Director. He manages all aspects of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment-US project — the largest international DOE project ever hosted on U.S. soil — at both Fermilab and Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. With over 30 years of engineering and technical management experience, Kerby led the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade (APS-U) project at Argonne National Laboratory, where he oversaw the planning, construction and implementation.

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Arkadiy Klebaner

Deputy Director for Projects

As the Deputy Director for Projects, Arkadiy Klebaner is responsible for all matters involving planning, support and execution of the assigned portfolio of laboratory construction projects to ensure their successful delivery. In close partnership with senior leadership across the laboratory, Klebaner leads support, improvement of project planning, and execution from performance, compliance, and cost perspectives, as well as the development of world-class talent in support of the laboratory mission and goals. As a member of the laboratory's executive leadership team, Klebaner contributes more broadly to leadership and strategic decisions for the lab.

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Greg Stephens

Deputy Director for Operations (COO)

Greg Stephens is Fermilab's Deputy Director for Operations and Chief Operating Officer. Stephens plans, directs and oversees the activities of the lab's business functions to ensure integration, effectiveness and accountability in accordance with lab policy and DOE directives. He leads the lab’s safety, security, infrastructure, information technology, human resources, and communication organizations.

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James Amundson

Associate Lab Director, Computational Science and AI

James Amundson is the Associate Lab Director for the Computational Science and Artificial Intelligence Directorate, which includes scientific computing facilities and services and software development, as well as computational physics activities. His recent research work includes both computational accelerator physics and quantum computing applications. He is the lead principal investigator for the ComPASS4 accelerator simulation collaboration under the DOE SciDAC4 program. Amundson joined the laboratory in 1998 after holding positions as a visiting assistant professor and postdoctoral research associate at the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University, respectively. He earned his Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics from the University of Chicago.

Kevin Burkett

Associate Lab Director, Particle Physics

Kevin Burkett is the Associate Lab Director for the Particle Physics Directorate at Fermilab, which includes the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and neutrino, cosmic, energy frontier and muon research programs. Since joining the lab as a Wilson Fellow in 2003, he has held a number of leadership positions, including CMS Center Deputy Head, CMS Department Head and most recently, Deputy Head of the Particle Physics Division. Burkett has also served on the Director's Science Advisory Council and the Scientific Priorities Working Group. His prior research as a member of the CDF and CMS collaborations has been focused on energy frontier experiments. Burkett received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Sam Posen

Associate Lab Director, Applied Physics and Superconducting Technology

Sam Posen is the Associate Lab Director for the Applied Physics and Superconducting Technology Directorate. He provides leadership in planning, directing and overseeing numerous activities, including those related to superconducting radio frequency and magnet technology for accelerators and non-accelerator applications, cryogenic technology development for accelerators and detectors, and accelerator test facilities operations, as well as supporting various additional Fermilab projects and the laboratory's accelerator complex. Sam is an accelerator scientist who performs research in new materials for superconducting cavities and the application of superconducting cavities to quantum sensing for fundamental physics. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University and joined Fermilab as an associate scientist in 2015. His scientific work has been recognized by several national and international awards, including a DOE HEP Early Career Award and the Hogil Kim Prize.

Panagiotis Spentzouris

Associate Lab Director, Emerging Technologies

Panagiotis Spentzouris is the Associate Lab Director for the Emerging Technologies Directorate, which oversees and conducts highly integrated basic and applied research programs across the laboratory that deliver new science and technology capabilities in support of Fermilab’s mission. Spentzouris is a senior scientist at the laboratory, former head of Quantum Science at the Fermilab Quantum Institute and former head of the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division. His prior research includes quantum information science, neutrino physics and computational accelerator physics. Spentzouris received his Ph.D. in 1994 from Northwestern University, is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and joined Fermilab as an associate scientist in 1998.

Alexander Valishev

Associate Lab Director, Accelerators

Alexander Valishev is the Associate Lab Director for the Accelerator Directorate. He oversees Fermilab accelerator activities, including accelerator operations, maintenance, research and development, construction, installation, and commissioning of new accelerator systems. Valishev is a senior scientist at the laboratory, former Deputy Head of the Accelerator Division and leader of a research and development program at the IOTA/FAST facility. His research interests are in accelerator science and technology and his previous work includes contributions to the Tevatron and the LHC. Valishev is a fellow of the American Physical Society and received his Ph.D. from Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics. He joined Fermilab as a guest scientist in 2003.

Jon Bakken

Senior Director, Information Technology (CIO) (Interim)

Jon Bakken is the interim Senior Director of the Information Technology Division and the Chief Information Officer. He leads the IT arm of the laboratory that is responsible for networking and communication and core and business IT services. He joined Fermilab in 1994 and led the Core Computing Division from 2011 to 2022. Prior to that, he was a professor of physics and a member of CERN's L3 collaboration at Princeton University. In addition, he worked on Superconducting Super Collider projects at Martin Marietta Science Systems in Denver. At Fermilab, he worked on real-time star finding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, was a project leader for the Enstore and dCache mass data-storage systems and was the Tier-1 manager of the CMS at Fermilab, overseeing the computing used for the analysis of raw, processed and simulated data straight from CERN's LHC. He was also the department head of CMS Facilities. Bakken earned a Ph.D. in particle physics from Johns Hopkins University.

Marc Clay

Senior Director, Environment, Safety and Health (Interim)

As Interim Senior Director of the Environment, Safety and Health Division, Marc Clay serves as the laboratory's principal agent for planning, implementing and overseeing the necessary programs to maintain safe, healthy, compliant and secure workplace conditions. He anticipates and accommodates unique mission needs as they evolve, identifies and advises on risk and mitigations, and recommends environment, safety and health policy and protocols to the laboratory director. Clay also serves as the interim chief operating officer for Fermilab. He has worked in U.S. Department of Energy labs for 40 years. He most recently was Deputy Director of Contractor Assurance and Contractor Management and Chief Risk Officer at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Prior to that, Clay led multiple groups and offices across Los Alamos National Laboratory, including environmental safety and health, performance surety, and quality and performance assurance.

Velma Gordon

Senior Director, Human Resources (CHRO)

As Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Director of the Human Resources Division, Velma Gordon leads the HR team in supporting the lab's vision for its workforce needs, modernizing business processes and ensuring continued Fermilab mission success. She is responsible for the lab's human resources functions, including talent acquisition, learning and development, compensation and benefits, and talent management. She also supports the far site in Lead, South Dakota. Prior to joining Fermilab, Gordon worked at global organizations in HR leadership roles. She holds a Ph.D. in organizational development from Benedictine University and a master's in business administration from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.

Mark Jeffers

Senior Director, Infrastructure Services

As Senior Director of the Infrastructure Services Division, Mark Jeffers oversees the planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance, and support services of facilities and infrastructure at Fermilab. Prior to his tenure at the lab, Mark held a series of leadership roles with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and an architectural-engineering firm, and served as a nuclear engineering officer with the U.S. Navy. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, a master’s degree in energy engineering from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and a master’s of business administration from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Angela Manning-Hardimon

Senior Director, Finance and Procurement (CFO)

As Fermilab's Senior Director of the Finance and Procurement Division and Chief Financial Officer, Angela Manning-Hardimon partners with the laboratory leadership in support of Fermilab's vision and strategy with a particular focus on finance and procurement. Manning-Hardimon brings more than 30 years of experience in the field of finance. Most recently she served as the vice president of finance, chief financial officer and treasurer for Illinois Insitute of Technology. Prior to that, she was the deputy executive director and chief financial officer for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Manning-Hardimon also held leadership roles in finance with the City of Chicago. She earned a Master's of Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management and an MBA in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship from University of Illinois at Chicago.

Rae Moss

Senior Director, Communication

As Senior Director of the Communication Division, Rae Moss oversees external, internal and digital communications, focusing on increasing awareness and engagement between Fermilab and its key stakeholders, as well as education and public engagement and the conference office. She is responsible for advancing the laboratory's brand, reputation and mission on a national and international scale. Prior to joining Fermilab, Moss held leadership positions at national labs and federal organizations, most recently she was the head of regional external engagement at Idaho National Lab. She is an organizational development and communications doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri, and earned her MBA from Duquesne University.

Anna Grassellino

Center Director, Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems

Anna Grassellino is the Director of the National Quantum Information Science SQMS Center and a Fermilab senior scientist. Her research focuses on radio frequency superconductivity, in particular on understanding and improving SRF cavities performance to enable new applications, spanning from particle accelerators to detectors to quantum information science. Grassellino has covered several leadership roles at Fermilab from Deputy Head of the Applied Physics and Superconducting Technology Division, Deputy CTO, and Fermilab senior team lead for the LCLS-2 HE project. Grassellino is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the recipient of numerous awards for her pioneering contributions to SRF technology, including the 2023 New Horizons in Physics award from the Breakthrough Foundation, the 2017 Presidential Early Career Award, the 2017 Frank Sacherer Prize of the European Physical Society, the 2016 IEEE PAST Award, the 2016 USPAS prize and the DOE Early Career Award. She holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's of electronic engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy.

Giorgio Apollinari

Project Director, HL-LHC AUP

Giorgio Apollinari is the Project Director of the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider Accelerator Upgrade Project (HL-LHC AUP), the U.S. in-kind contribution to the LHC upgrade to support research by the worldwide energy frontier scientific community during the next decades. He manages all aspects of HL-LHC AUP and coordinates contributions from all participating U.S. institutions, including Fermilab, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to enable the first use in accelerators of U.S.-developed technologies, such as niobium-tin magnets and SRF crab cavities. His research career has focused on the experimental and accelerator technology aspects of high-energy physics, with contributions and participations to experiments (CDF, ALEPH, CMS) and accelerators (LARP and early contributions to what is now PIP-II). Apollinari served in several technical and management roles in the laboratory, including head of the Technical Division during the expansion of Fermilab activities in the SRF arena, and has been nominated fellow of the American Physical Society. He holds a physics diploma from Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa and a Laurea in Fisica from Pisa University.

Steve Brice

Head, DUNE Coordination Office

Steve Brice is the Head of the DUNE Coordination Office at Fermilab, with the mission to establish Fermilab as the Host Laboratory of the DUNE Experiment and assist in the coordination of the LBNF/DUNE-US Project, the DUNE Collaboration, Fermilab leadership, and the relevant parts of the Department of Energy. Steve obtained his Ph.D. from Oxford University in 1996, after which he was a postdoc at Los Alamos National Laboratory; in both roles, he worked on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). Since coming to Fermilab in 2000, he has held a number of leadership positions, most recently being head of the Neutrino Division from 2016 to 2023. He has also served as chair of the Fermilab Wilson Fellowship Committee, the URA Thesis Award Committee and the International Neutrino Summer School. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Steve Nahn

Project Manager, HL-LHC CMS

Steve Nahn is the Project Manager for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider Compact Muon Solenoid (HL-LHC CMS) Detector Upgrade project and a senior scientist within the CMS department of the Particle Physics Directorate. His recent research focuses on several different detector upgrades of the CMS experiment at the LHC. He started at Fermilab in 2013, leading a group of about 30 U.S. institutes in Phase 1 of the CMS upgrade, a $40 million joint DOE and NSF project to enhance CMS capabilities during LHC Run 2 and Run 3, which included installation of advanced trigger electronics, new calorimetry photosensors and electronics, and a new pixel detector. After completing this project in 2019 with a DOE Project Achievement Award, Nahn became Project Manager for the HL-LHC CMS detector upgrade. This $277 million joint DOE and NSF project brings U.S. and international institutes together to substantially upgrade the CMS detector to cope with the higher interaction rates and radiation damage expected with the 2029 LHC Run 4 and beyond. Prior to Fermilab, Nahn worked on the Tevatron’s CDF experiment. He earned his Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on LEP’s L3 detector as a graduate student and used CMS to study the nature of electroweak symmetries as a faculty member.

Pantaleo Raimondi

Project Director, PIP-II

Pantaleo Raimondi is the project director for the Proton Improvement Plan II, PIP-II, which is constructing a 215-meter-long superconducting linear accelerator at Fermilab. Raimondi started his career in particle physics as a graduate student in the ALEPH Collaboration at CERN. He then worked on design and development of radiofrequency power systems, theoretical and technical analysis of linear accelerators and microtrons, beam transport studies and other topics related to electron accelerators at ENEA-Frascati in Italy. At SLAC National Laboratory, Raimondi worked on beam-based alignment and final focus systems. Later, as head of the accelerator division at INFN Frascati Laboratory in Rome, he participated in commissioning DAFNE, an electron-positron collider, by helping to improve its understanding and performance as well as developing new techniques to improve its luminosity. As accelerator and source division director at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, ESRF, in Grenoble, France, he invented the concept of "extremely brilliant source," or EBS; this became the basis of the latest upgrade of the ESRF synchrotron ring, a project that Raimondi successfully led and completed. His revolutionary design is now being replicated by all major synchrotron light sources around the world.

Julie Whitmore

Project Director, Mu2e

Julie Whitmore is a senior scientist and the Project Manager for Mu2e, a $316 million DOE Office of High Energy Physics project under construction at Fermilab. Mu2e aims to identify new physics via the direct conversion of a muon into an electron by testing one of the fundamental symmetries in particle physics. Whitmore previously was the Mu2e deputy Project Manager and deputy level 2 manager for the Cosmic Ray Veto system. Prior to joining Mu2e, she worked on the hadron calorimeter for the CMS experiment and on calorimeter electronics development for the KTeV experiment. She received her bachelor’s degree in physics from Cornell University and her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University measuring the tau lifetime and building a straw tracker for the CLEO experiment at Cornell.

Sandra Charles

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility

As Chief Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility Officer, Sandra Charles is a senior advisor to laboratory leadership. She is a catalyst to leverage best practices and resources in the Fermilab community to promote a workplace culture of inclusion, where individuals of all identities and abilities thrive and are engaged. Charles provides strategic and programmatic leadership for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives that advance diversity as a critical organizational pillar. Charles holds a master's degree in public administration from the University of South Florida and a bachelor's degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Beth Fancsali

General Counsel (Interim)

Beth Fancsali leads the Office of General Counsel as Fermilab's interim General Counsel. She joined Fermilab in December 2015 as Deputy General Counsel. She is a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP) and a graduate of the 2019 DOE National Laboratories' Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program (OSELP). Before joining Fermilab, Fancsali was a partner in an international law firm where her practice spanned the areas of compliance, business counseling, internal and government investigations, and litigation. Fancsali earned her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law and her bachelor's degree from Miami University (Ohio).

Richard Goffi

Strategy Management

As Director of Strategy, Richard Goffi partners with laboratory leadership to develop and execute Fermilab's long-term vision and strategy. Goffi brings more than 25 years of experience driving innovation and change in both public and private sector organizations. His experience includes leading businesses delivering technology, regulatory and business services to many federal agencies, including numerous high-profile DOE programs and several of its national laboratories. Of note, Goffi led the successful merger and transformation of two DOE large sites, an initiative that included the design and execution of a first-of-a-kind cost-saving program that netted a savings of more than $1.2 billion in just seven years. Previously, Goffi also worked as an operations analyst in the Space Shuttle program for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy. Goffi graduated with honors from the United States Naval Academy with a degree in aerospace engineering and completed graduate studies in nuclear engineering at the University of Maryland.

Patrick Lam

Internal Audit

As the Manager of Internal Audit Services for the laboratory, Patrick Lam leads the Internal Audit Department, serves as the Chief Audit Executive, and works with the FRA Audit and Enterprise Risk Committee (A&ERC). In this role, Lam is responsible for working with the laboratory and FRA A&ERC to provide management advisory services for audits and reviews, controls, and risks while supporting the laboratory and FRA A&ERC to be compliant while FRA is under contract with the Department of Energy. Lam has been in the audit services industry for more than twenty years working for public and private organizations. He holds certifications in accounting/auditing and information technology. Lam is a graduate of the University of Chicago and holds a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management.

Martha Michels

Contractor Assurance

Martha Michels is the Director of Contractor Assurance at Fermilab. She leads the implementation of the Contractor Assurance System (CAS) to support the laboratory’s efforts to deliver its mission. This includes oversight of all elements of CAS, specifically, enterprise risk management issues, management assessments, quality metrics, lessons learned, event response and continuous improvement. Michels works with legal counsel to manage and maintain the requirements in the DOE/FRA prime contract and has an oversight role of the laboratory’s completion of prime contract deliverables. Michels earned a bachelor's degree in occupational safety and health from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. Her experience at Fermilab over the past three decades has included work in the facilities, ES&H and experiment organizations, serving in both technical and management roles, including deputy chief operating officer and interim chief operating officer.

Hema Ramamoorthi

International Engagements

Hema Ramamoorthi is the Director for international engagements and serves as the single point of contact with the Department of Energy and global partners at the institution and government level. She leads, builds and facilitates interactions with international partners to take part in Fermilab's diverse science and technology programs. She works toward institutionalizing a structured approach to international engagements, including processes and procedures for managing the full life cycle of interactions from initial contact to forming the appropriate scope, memorializing formal agreements, working with DOE on the approval process, and managing the ongoing relationships to advance a long-baseline neutrino and accelerator program based in the United States, which was supported as a priority in the 2014 P5 strategic plan. Ramamoorthi works with DOE and Fermilab leadership to successfully host the International Neutrino Council and the DUNE Resources Review Board international funding agency meetings. Prior to this role, she served as the Chief of Staff to the Fermilab Director and was responsible for all business related to the director's mandate, with special emphasis on U.S. governmental and international relations. Ramamoorthi holds an engineering degree in electronics and instrumentation from Tamil Nadu College of Engineering in India and is a graduate of the DOE Oppenheimer Energy Science Leadership Program. Before coming to Fermilab, she served for 10 years as social secretary for government relations to the Consul General for India in Chicago.

Mayling Wong-Squires

Chief Engineer

Mayling Wong-Squires serves as the Chief Engineer, where she is the engineering community’s advocate with laboratory leadership. A vital engineering community is essential to the proper functioning and success of the laboratory in achieving its mission. Members of the engineering community are distributed throughout the organization and include engineers, engineering physicists and engineering associates. Working with the laboratory’s diverse engineering community, Wong-Squires advises the lab’s leadership on various engineering-related issues. She is also the Head of the Accelerator Directorate’s (AD) mechanical support department and leads the AD’s robotics initiative. She has 25 years of experience at Fermilab working on design, manufacturing and installation of mechanical systems related to the detectors and accelerator components for CDF, BTeV, NuMI, FAST and Mu2e in the areas of fluids, structural, vacuum, SRF cavity and cryogenic systems. Wong-Squires received a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor's degree in general engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.