Brookhaven National Lab names first female director
JoAnne Hewett has been named Brookhaven National Laboratory's director. Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory officials on Monday named JoAnne Hewett, a theoretical physicist known for studies of hidden space and time dimensions, as the Upton facility's next director — setting her up to be the first woman in that role in the lab's 76-year history.
Hewett, 63, will take the helm of Long Island's only federal laboratory this summer as the Upton facility starts construction of a $2 billion supercollider and develops a business incubator designed to match local entrepreneurs and inventors with BNL scientists.
Hewett is the associate lab director and chief research officer at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a federal lab on the Stanford University campus in Menlo Park, California.
Brookhaven officials said Hewett is expected to arrive in July, when she will succeed director Doon Gibbs, who is retiring April 17. Deputy operations director Jack Anderson will serve as interim director, according to lab officials.
Hewett said in a Newsday interview she sees herself as a role model for young women pursuing science careers and pointed to a program she helped create at Stanford where girls take part in hands-on science projects.
“It just shows that the system is equitable, and it‘s very much possible that anybody, anywhere, can rise to the occasion and do what they want to do and lead a laboratory," Hewett said of her upcoming history-making role.
Hewett said she was drawn to Brookhaven because of the chance to work at a facility at “the forefront of science.”
Hewett will oversee a $700 million annual budget and a staff of 2,800 scientists, engineers, technicians and professionals whose research ranges from studies of the universe's origins to practical applications for cutting-edge batteries.
As a scientist, she is known for her work studying extra spatial dimensions, the theory that there may be additional layers of space and time beyond what is currently known or observable, according to Stanford officials.
Hewett said she finds it "tremendously exciting" to be coming to a lab that is "the only place on the planet that’s building a new collider."
She also will be a professor at Stony Brook University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and in the university's C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Lab officials said they chose Hewett because of her managerial abilities and experience at the Stanford lab, home of a linear particle accelerator used in subatomic particle research.
Maurie McInnis, President of Stony Brook University, which comanages the lab with an Ohio-based nonprofit, said Hewett "brings vital experience and proven leadership skills."
Gov. Kathy Hochul, noting in a statement that Hewett will make history as the lab's first female leader, also called her "incredibly qualified and talented."
Hewett, a St. Louis native, said her first goal as someone who never has lived east of Chicago will be learning about Long Island.
Her arrival in Brookhaven will coincide with new projects that are expected to expand the lab's role in the Island's economy.
The U.S. Department of Energy, which owns the lab, picked Brookhaven in 2020 to build the electron-ion collider, or EIC, a next-generation supercollider that will replace Brookhaven's two-decade-old relativistic heavy ion collider, or RHIC.
Officials have said the new collider, expected to take a decade to complete at a cost of $1.7 billion to $2.8 billion, will create about 4,000 construction jobs and save 1,000 jobs that might have been lost when the RHIC gets phased out in the next three years.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that he would work with Hewett "to ensure that the EIC project stays on track and that BNL has all the resources it needs to make the discoveries of the future right here on Long Island.”
Brookhaven also is developing Discovery Park, a new facility on the 5,322-acre campus that will include spaces where business and science leaders can meet and share ideas.
Brookhaven National Laboratory officials on Monday named JoAnne Hewett, a theoretical physicist known for studies of hidden space and time dimensions, as the Upton facility's next director — setting her up to be the first woman in that role in the lab's 76-year history.
Hewett, 63, will take the helm of Long Island's only federal laboratory this summer as the Upton facility starts construction of a $2 billion supercollider and develops a business incubator designed to match local entrepreneurs and inventors with BNL scientists.
Hewett is the associate lab director and chief research officer at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a federal lab on the Stanford University campus in Menlo Park, California.
Brookhaven officials said Hewett is expected to arrive in July, when she will succeed director Doon Gibbs, who is retiring April 17. Deputy operations director Jack Anderson will serve as interim director, according to lab officials.
A historic appointment
- JoAnne Hewett, 63, will become the first woman to lead Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Now she is the associate lab director at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California
- A theoretical physicist, Hewett is known for her work studying extra spatial dimensions
Hewett said in a Newsday interview she sees herself as a role model for young women pursuing science careers and pointed to a program she helped create at Stanford where girls take part in hands-on science projects.
“It just shows that the system is equitable, and it‘s very much possible that anybody, anywhere, can rise to the occasion and do what they want to do and lead a laboratory," Hewett said of her upcoming history-making role.
Hewett said she was drawn to Brookhaven because of the chance to work at a facility at “the forefront of science.”
Hewett will oversee a $700 million annual budget and a staff of 2,800 scientists, engineers, technicians and professionals whose research ranges from studies of the universe's origins to practical applications for cutting-edge batteries.
As a scientist, she is known for her work studying extra spatial dimensions, the theory that there may be additional layers of space and time beyond what is currently known or observable, according to Stanford officials.
Hewett said she finds it "tremendously exciting" to be coming to a lab that is "the only place on the planet that’s building a new collider."
She also will be a professor at Stony Brook University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and in the university's C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Lab officials said they chose Hewett because of her managerial abilities and experience at the Stanford lab, home of a linear particle accelerator used in subatomic particle research.
Maurie McInnis, President of Stony Brook University, which comanages the lab with an Ohio-based nonprofit, said Hewett "brings vital experience and proven leadership skills."
Gov. Kathy Hochul, noting in a statement that Hewett will make history as the lab's first female leader, also called her "incredibly qualified and talented."
Hewett, a St. Louis native, said her first goal as someone who never has lived east of Chicago will be learning about Long Island.
Her arrival in Brookhaven will coincide with new projects that are expected to expand the lab's role in the Island's economy.
The U.S. Department of Energy, which owns the lab, picked Brookhaven in 2020 to build the electron-ion collider, or EIC, a next-generation supercollider that will replace Brookhaven's two-decade-old relativistic heavy ion collider, or RHIC.
Officials have said the new collider, expected to take a decade to complete at a cost of $1.7 billion to $2.8 billion, will create about 4,000 construction jobs and save 1,000 jobs that might have been lost when the RHIC gets phased out in the next three years.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that he would work with Hewett "to ensure that the EIC project stays on track and that BNL has all the resources it needs to make the discoveries of the future right here on Long Island.”
Brookhaven also is developing Discovery Park, a new facility on the 5,322-acre campus that will include spaces where business and science leaders can meet and share ideas.
Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.
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