Theoretical physicist JoAnne Hewett has been named director of Brookhaven National Laboratory. Also, she will be joining the faculty at Stony Brook University of the State University of New York System as a tenured professor in the department of physics and astronomy and the C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics. Brookhaven Science Associates, a partnership between Stony Brook University and Battelle Memorial Institute, has operated the laboratory for the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Science since 1998.
Dr. Hewett will be the first woman director to lead Brookhaven National Laboratory. She will join the laboratory this summer and oversee a team of more than 2,800 scientists, engineers, technicians, and professionals working to address challenges in nuclear and high energy physics, clean energy and climate science, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, isotope production, accelerator science and technology, and national security.
“I am honored to take on the role of laboratory director at Brookhaven, a truly exceptional national laboratory with a rich history and a talented and dedicated staff,” said Dr. Hewett. “The Lab has an extremely bright future, one that will help solve some of the greatest scientific challenges facing the world today.”
Hewett comes to Brookhaven from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center National Accelerator Laboratory located at Stanford University in Menlo Park, California, where she most recently served as associate lab director for fundamental physics and chief research officer. She has been at Stanford since 1994.
Dr. Hewett earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics and Ph.D. in physics from Iowa State University.