Moving Up
FERMINEWS congratulates these scientists, who have received scientific promotions since September 2001

profiles compiled by Pamela Zerbinos

A Scientist I...

• Conducts research and develops theories to apply laws, theories and research in physics projects related to the overall mission of Fermilab.
• Requires the application of advanced knowledge in broad scientific disciplines and appreciable originality and ingenuity.
• Designs and develops detectors, electronics and accelerator technology.

JIM ANNIS Age: 40 Place of birth: Billings, Montana Years at Fermilab: 8 Role at the lab: Has worked on Sloan Digital Sky Survey since its planning stages Outside hobbies: Reading: bad science fiction, history and esoteric non-fiction If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “Grad students. I want to have them here [in Experimental Astrophysics]. I’d love to have close enough relationships with degree-granting institutions that we’d have graduate students here.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “The high-energy physicists are probing the structure of mass, and we’re looking at the distribution of mass in the universe and why it came out distributed that way. One of the things I do is analyze largescale sky surveys, look at large-scale structures, in particular the numbers and distributions of the clusters of galaxies. I was the person who pressed the button that took the first light data, the first data [the SDSS] ever took.”		HOGAN NGUYEN Age: 36 Place of birth: Saigon, Vietnam Years at Fermilab: 10 this September Role at the lab: Has worked with KTeV since its design phase and is now also working on CKM. Outside hobbies: Volleyball, tennis, woodworking If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “At the lab we don’t get enough exposure to the rest of science. We have colloquia and seminars, but I wish there was a way to borrow techniques that have been developed from other fields and bring them back to enrich ours. There are a lot of good things going on out there, but we’re so busy working with our own stuff that we don’t get a chance to look beyond. There are a lot of things we could learn from what other scientific disciplines are doing.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “I’ve always been fascinated with the physics of flavor—CP violation is a part of that broader question of the physics of flavor. It’s a very deep, very profound question, why things change flavor. That’s fascinated me for a long time, and so my role is to pursue that question.”

JIM HYLEN Age: 53 Place of birth: Omaha, Nebraska Years at Fermilab: 12 this September Role at the lab: NuMI sub-project manager. Works on design of the target hall area. Outside hobbies: Spending time with son in Boy Scouts; science fiction If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “Less bureaucracy. We seem to spend an awful lot of time on things that are not directly related to doing the science.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “My role is to provide a well-understood neutrino beam that will allow exploration of neutrino physics beyond the standard model…to make sure we don’t get wrong answers because we don’t understand the beam. I want to make sure that we don’t have systematic errors in the experiment, and also I want to make sure we produce the best beam we can for exploring these topics.”		PETER WILSON Age: 41 Place of birth: Orsay, France Years at Fermilab: 6 as a visiting scientist; 4 as an employee Role at the lab: Designs electronics for the CDF experiment Outside hobbies: Bicycling, gardening If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “I’d like to put it in the Rocky Mountains. But that’s not science. Really, I would like to…have a much closer interaction between the physicists who work on experiments and the physicists who build and run the accelerator. I think for a long time we were very separate groups, and I don’t think it’s very healthy. It’d be much better if we could communicate better.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “My main role and primary interest is building the experiments so we’re able to explore those questions, so we can search for new particles or new interactions.”

A Scientist II...

• Performs research of major importance and difficulty requiring the application of advanced knowledge and experience.
• Is recognized for significant scientific accomplishments or contributions to Fermilab’s program.
• Supervises lower level staff in carrying out major programs and projects.

BRUCE BALLER Age: 50 Place of birth: Fergus Falls, Minnesota Years at Fermilab: 15 Role at the lab: Project manager for NuMI technical component: oversees primary beamline, focusing elements, etc. Outside hobbies: Biking, swimming, boating, reading If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “It would be good if we could have a more collegial atmosphere. Years ago there was a different tenor to the lab, more camaraderie…but the more modern requirements on the laboratory for projects and project management and controls have wiped out some of that more free-spirit approach to doing good science.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “It’s satisfying to be able to do both science—do analysis, work on an experiment which hopefully will have some long-term benefit to society or mankind—and to get projects done, to build them and make them work within the confines of things like budgets and manpower and schedules.”		BOB BERNSTEIN Age: 46 Place of birth: Mount Vernon, New York Years at Fermilab: 15 Role at the lab: Co-spokesperson for NuTeV experiment; works on MINOS experiment; works on the neutrino factory; group leader for the alignment metrology group Outside hobbies: Playing the cello, running, raising his six-month old puppy If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “I would change [DOE’s] funding cycle so that we have more money, given to us over longer cycles so we can plan better.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “I think [neutrino physics is] at a really interesting point with the establishment of neutrino mass, and I think we’re at the same place we were when we discovered the Cabibbo angle, the mixing of the quarks. A lot of physics we’ve done since then has been the exploration of the mixing of quarks and how they behave, and we need to be doing the same kind of thing for neutrinos. It’s not exactly popular, and it’s not well-defined yet, but if I can do anything in the next 30 years, it’s help figure out what to do and push it in the right direction.”

An Applied Scientist II...

• Devises methods to apply laws, theories and research in a specialized area of applied science.
• Develops and directs research projects, overseeing the design, schedule and budget.
• Performs data analysis, writes physics proposals, gives physics talks and publishes scientific papers.

SIMON KWAN Age: 47 Place of birth: Hong Kong Years at Fermilab: 12 Role at the lab: Works on BTeV; development of pixel detector Outside hobbies: Soccer, reading If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “Organization. I would like some sort of structure in which there are resources allocated to a project rather than to a pool.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “I am pursuing the commonalities between what we are doing here and the linear collider. It is the general consensus that the linear collider is the machine for the future, and our work on the pixel detector is very relevant. I believe that the linear collider will benefit from what we have learned and what we are going to learn in the next five years. Collectively, Fermilab should play a leading role, and I hope that the linear collider will be built here.”		HANK GLASS Age: 46 Place of birth: Long Island, New York Years at Fermilab: 5 as a grad student in the 80s; 11 as an employee Role at the lab: Deputy head of development and test group in Technical Division; builds, maintains and develops new magnet technology for the accelerator; serves on the auditorium committee Outside hobbies: Performing arts— attending plays, the symphony and the opera; tennis; writing If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “I think it would be good if, every few years, they shuffled people around. For a few years, you work on an experiment, and then you go work on the accelerator, and so on. You would become more broadened, get a more global picture and better understanding of the lab. “ How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “In my day job, it’s a supporting role. Experiments don’t get anywhere unless they can get particle beams to them. So [ I help provide] high-quality magnets so the accelerator actually works. However, they do let me out of my cage every now and then, and I help out whenever I can on the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray experiment. We’re trying to understand what ultra high energy cosmic rays are made of, where are they coming from, and what kind of processes are involved in making them.”

A Scientist III...

• Performs sophisticated and complicated technical duties.
• May have responsibility for a major department or division.
• Has demonstrated substantial and sustained scientific contributions to Fermilab.
• Demonstrates considerable and unusual leadership ability pertaining to the scientific or technical achievements of Fermilab.

CATHY NEWMAN-HOLMES Age: 49 Place of birth: Oakland, California Years at Fermilab: 19 Role at the lab: Former project manager for CDF upgrade; currently working on the Pierre Auger experiment and on organizing the 2003 Lepton Photon symposium at Fermilab. Outside hobbies: Spending time with family; reading If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “More excitement about the future.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “I will contribute where I can.”		BOB KEPHART Age: 52 Place of birth: Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania Years at Fermilab: 2 as a postdoc for SUNY at Stony Brook; 24 since then as a lab employee Role at the lab: Head of Technical Division Outside hobbies: Fly fishing, skiing, scuba diving If you could change one thing about Fermilab, what would it be? “I’d like the lab to have more money. There are many exciting things that we could do if we had better funding.” How do you see your role in exploring the great questions of particle physics today? “Exploration of these problems requires large teams of people working in a cooperative effort. My role has been to provide scientific expertise, organization, and leadership to facilitate this process.”