TRIUMF Laboratory appoints internationally reknowned physicist to top Canadian scientific post

VANCOUVER, BC (June 17, 2008) - TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, today announced the appointment of Lia Merminga as the new Head of its Accelerator Division. This role is one of Canada’s most senior scientific posts. With over twenty years of experience in accelerator physics, Merminga is a well respected and preeminent physicist in the international scientific and research community.

We are delighted to have a physicist of Lia’s stature join our team. Her appointment will help TRIUMF build on our international reputation of pioneering scientific discovery and groundbreaking innovation,” says Nigel Lockyer, Director of TRIUMF. “Lia’s choice to join TRIUMF is a perfect demonstration of TRIUMF’s ability to attract the world’s best scientists to do research here in Canada. Lia is a brilliant physicist, and her experience and leadership will be a huge asset not just to our facility, but also to the advancement of Canadian science.”

Merminga is widely recognized for expertise in identifying problems and solutions associated with the push for higher energy, higher quality accelerator beams, and developing concepts for new accelerators. Merminga has also been recognized for maintaining and establishing collaborative teams for sophisticated national and international projects. At TRIUMF, she will be leading the Accelerator Division, which is the foundation of TRIUMF’s scientific excellence in nuclear physics and life-sciences technology.

The excellence and dedication of the TRIUMF staff, the laboratory’s past accomplishments, and the vision for future directions are all elements that strongly attracted me. TRIUMF is the top lab for me to conduct my research and I’m looking forward to leading some of the world’s best researchers,” states Merminga. “Here, I can play a role in seeding new high-technology companies and in developing new accelerator techniques that could even be used for medical-isotope production - for me, it’s a very exciting time.”

Previously, Merminga worked as the Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of Accelerators (CASA) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) in Virginia, USA. Merminga was also responsible for establishing practices that supported and helped expand Jefferson Lab’s strong program of mentorship and training.

About Lia Merminga:

Lia Merminga grew up in Greece. She began her career as a scientist at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Merminga moved to the East Coast in 1992, joining Jefferson Lab as a Staff Scientist. She was Deputy Director of CASA from 2001 to 2002 and accepted the role of Director in May 2002. Merminga holds a B.S. from the University of Athens in Greece. She also holds a M.Sc. in physics, M.Sc. in mathematics and Ph.D. in physics, all from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Merminga has worked in advanced accelerator physics for 20 years, specializing in the physics and technology of energy recovery linear accelerators (linacs), high average power free-electron laser , linac-ring colliders, multibunch instabilities in recirculating linacs, radio-frequency (RF) control and modeling, and nonlinear dynamics. She is internationally known for her contributions to the designs of potential applications of energy recovery linacs. She has taught courses at the U.S. Particle Accelerator School and is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

About TRIUMF:

TRIUMF is Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. Based in Vancouver, the facility is a world-class physics research laboratory. TRIUMF hosts scientists from around the globe who conduct fundamental research in advanced materials, life sciences, particle and nuclear physics to understand the building blocks of our world. TRIUMF is funded by a contribution via the National Research Council Canada, support from the Province of British Columbia, and commercialization of research at the facility. It is jointly operated by seven Canadian universities, University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, Carleton University, l’Université de Montréal, Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto, University of Victoria. See: http://www.triumf.ca.