Biography:Lia Merminga
Lia Merminga | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nikolitsa Merminga |
| Nationality | Greece, United States , Canada |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Known for | Accelerator Physics |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility TRIUMF Fermilab |
| Doctoral advisor | Lawrence W. Jones, Donald A. Edwards |
Nikolitsa (Lia) Merminga is a Greek-born accelerator physicist. In 2022, she was appointed director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the first woman to hold the position.[1] She has worked at other national laboratories in Canada and the United States.
Education
Merminga grew up in Greece, where she attended all-girl middle and high schools. By the time she was sixteen years old, she knew she wanted to be a physicist, having been inspired by her family members, a high school physics teacher, and a biography of Marie Curie.[2][3][4] She received her undergraduate degree from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where she studied physics, in 1983. She then moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in physics at the University of Michigan. There, she completed a Master’s of Science in Physics and a Master’s of Science in Mathematics and worked with doctoral advisors Lawrence W. Jones and Donald A. Edwards.[5][3][4] She completed her thesis, A Study of Nonlinear Dynamics in the Fermilab Tevatron,[6] using data from Fermilab's Tevatron particle accelerator[2] and completed her PhD in 1989.[5]
Career
After completing her PhD, Merminga held a postdoctoral position at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the accelerator theory group.[5][3] In 1992, she joined Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility as a member of the Center for Advanced Studies of Accelerators (CASA). In 2002, she became director of CASA's beam physics group, her first managerial position.[5][3] In 2008, she joined Canada's TRIUMF laboratory as head of their accelerator program,[5][3] one of the most senior scientific positions in Canada.[7] There, she oversaw the design and construction of an accelerator that produced rare isotopes for use in medicine and nuclear physics.[3] She returned to SLAC in 2015, when she became that lab's Associate Director for Accelerators and a professor at Stanford University.[4] Around the same time, she took on another leadership role as a member of the U.S. Department of Energy's inaugural Energy Sciences Leadership Group from 2016 to 2017.[8] Merminga returned to Fermilab in 2018 as director of the lab's Proton Improvement Plan II (PIP-II) project,[2] the first particle accelerator project with major contributions by other countries to be hosted in the United States.[9]
On 5 April 2022, it was announced that Merminga had been appointed as the next director of Fermilab.[10]
Awards and honors
- Elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), in 2006, after a nomination from the APS Division of Physics of Beams, "for leadership in designing and developing energy recovery linacs, and applications to light sources and electron-ion colliders"[11]
- Minerva BC Women In™ Science Community Leadership and Excellence Award, 2013[12]
- Member of the U.S. Department of Energy's inaugural Energy Sciences Leadership Group, 2016-2017[8]
References
- ↑ "Q&A: Lia Merminga Has a Vision for Particle Physics" (in en). http://aps.org/publications/apsnews/202210/merminga.cfm.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lawhun, Sarah (2018-07-24). "Accelerator excellence" (in en). https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/accelerator-excellence.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Fessenden, Marissa (2012-06-01). "Career Q&A: Lia Merminga" (in en). https://www.science.org/content/article/career-qa-lia-merminga.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Energy Sciences Leadership Group 2016-2017". 2016-10-25. https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/10/f33/ESLG%20Cohort%20Bios.pdf.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Lia Merminga". https://inspirehep.net/authors/997738.
- ↑ "A Study of Nonlinear Dynamics in the Fermilab Tevatron". https://inspirehep.net/literature/284137.
- ↑ "TRIUMF Laboratory Appoints Internationally Renowned Physicist to Top Canadian Scientific Post" (in en). 2008-06-17. https://www.interactions.org/index.php/press-release/triumf-laboratory-appoints-internationally-renowned.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cohen, Adam (2016-10-25). "Preparing Today's Leaders for Tomorrow's Scientific and Energy Challenges" (in en). https://www.energy.gov/articles/preparing-today-s-leaders-tomorrow-s-scientific-and-energy-challenges.
- ↑ Johnston, Hamish (2020-09-23). "Fermilab looks to the future with PIP-II linac" (in en-GB). https://physicsworld.com/a/fermilab-looks-to-the-future-with-pip-ii-linac/.
- ↑ "Lia Merminga appointed director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory". Fermilab News. 5 April 2022. https://news.fnal.gov/2022/04/lia-merminga-appointed-director-of-fermilab/.
- ↑ "Fellows nominated in 2006 by the Division of Physics of Beams". APS Fellows archive. https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=2006&unit_id=DPB&institution=.
- ↑ "Announcing the Honourees for Women In™ Science" (in en-US). 2013-11-12. https://minervabc.ca/announcing-the-honourees-for-women-in-science/.
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