Hugh Montgomery named as new leader of Jefferson lab

Jefferson Science Associates, LLC today announced that Hugh Montgomery will become the new Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. Currently the Associate Director for Research at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Montgomery will take charge of Jefferson Lab on September 2.

Hugh Montgomery is a superb choice for the Laboratory,” said Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, Under Secretary for Science at DOE. “As Director, he will lead a world class center that can enable scientists to probe the innermost secrets of the atomic nucleus. I am confident that under Dr. Montgomery, Jefferson Lab will continue its outstanding scientific leadership."In his new role, Montgomery also will serve as President of Jefferson Science Associates, a joint venture between the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) and CSC Applied Technologies, that manages and operates Jefferson Lab for DOE. “Jefferson Lab and DOE are fortunate to have Dr. Montgomery coming on board as the new director,” said John T. Casteen, President of the University of Virginia and Chair of the JSA Board of Directors. “He is both a distinguished scientist and an experienced leader and manager within the laboratory system.”

With a Ph.D. in Physics from Manchester University in England, Montgomery has an extensive background in both nuclear and particle physics. His work at Fermilab focuses on particle physics, which seeks to understand the fundamental components of our universe and how they interact. Montgomery was involved with muon scattering experiments at CERN in Geneva and Fermilab, and in the DZero Experiment on the Fermilab Tevatron Collider at the time of the observation of the top quark. In his role as Associate Director, he oversees the particle physics and particle astrophysics research programs at the laboratory. He has served in his current position since 2002.

After almost twenty five years at Fermilab, this move certainly represents a major change in my life,” said Montgomery. “The new position will be an enormous challenge for me but also an enormous opportunity to which I am looking forward. The provision of research facilities for a broad international community of physicists is something at which both Fermilab and Jefferson Lab excel.” Montgomery added, “I hope I prove worthy of the great team at Jefferson.”

Montgomery replaces Christoph Leemann, who came to Jefferson Lab from DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley Lab in 1985 and who has been director since 2000. Leemann announced his decision to step down from the directorship in March 2007. Prior to that, he was instrumental in the design, technology choice, and construction of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) - as Jefferson Lab was originally known. Leemann, who has continued to serve throughout the search process, will retain the title of Director-Emeritus.

The JSA Board of Directors appointed an internationally representative search committee that convened six weeks after Leemann’s announcement. The 13-member committee undertook extensive outreach to solicit input, advice and nominations from international scientific leaders. It interviewed candidates and presented a unanimous recommendation to the JSA Board and DOE to approve the appointment of Montgomery as the Lab’s third director.

We are all delighted that Hugh Montgomery has agreed to take on the leadership of Jefferson Laboratory at this critical time in its history,” said Thomas Appelquist, Professor of Physics at Yale University and JSA Board member, who chaired the search committee.

SuRA was awarded the original contract to build the lab in 1984 and operated it exclusively until 2006. DOE released a request for proposal to recompete the contract for the 700-employee facility in December 2005, and awarded the new contract to JSA, LLC in April 2006. Jefferson Lab is a renowned research facility with more than 2,000 international users . Nearly one-third of the Ph.D.'s awarded in nuclear physics in the U.S. result from research done at Jefferson Lab, and more than 90 new faculty positions in the nuclear physics discipline have been added to universities across the south since SURA brought the Lab to the region.