The following is a memo from Robert Zimmer, chairman of the Fermi Research Alliance Board of Directors and president of the University of Chicago, announcing the next director of Fermilab. An all-hands meeting with President Zimmer and the new director will take place Friday, June 28, at 9:30 a.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. All employees and users are invited. The meeting will be also be webcast at http://1.usa.gov/g86wOO.

To:  Fermilab employees

From:  Robert J. Zimmer

Subject:  Fermilab director appointment

Date:  June 20, 2013

As Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fermi Research Alliance, I am very pleased to announce that Nigel Lockyer, director of Canada’s TRIUMF laboratory for particle and nuclear physics and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of British Columbia, has been appointed the next director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Nigel’s appointment was informed by the work of a 15-member search committee led by retired Lockheed Martin CEO and Universities Research Association board member Norman Augustine, with membership drawn from the physics community around the country. In this important role, Nigel will develop strategy for the nation’s premier laboratory for particle physics and shepherd a new generation of experiments.

Nigel brings deep and wide expertise as a scientist and an administrator. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a recipient of the society’s 2006 Panofsky Prize for his research on the bottom quark. He is well acquainted with Fermilab, having served in a variety of capacities dating back more than 25 years. In particular, he served as co-spokesman for the Collider Detector at Fermilab experiment at the Tevatron collider from 2002 through 2004. In 2007, he left his long-time position as professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania to assume the directorship of TRIUMF. During his six years leading TRIUMF, the laboratory expanded its scientific scope while developing key partnerships both within Canada and internationally.

Nigel’s term as Fermilab director will begin in early September. Fermilab Chief Operating Officer Jack Anderson will serve as interim director starting July 1, following the retirement of Director Piermaria J. Oddone and Deputy Director Young-Kee Kim’s return as a full-time member of the physics faculty at the University of Chicago. I wish to express my gratitude to Pier and Young-Kee for their years of tireless and outstanding leadership. Please join me in congratulating Pier and welcoming Nigel.