For the past eight years, Nigel Lockyer has guided America's premier particle physics lab
into the future, securing the lab's spot at the forefront of research. He brought to the lab
decades of experience in physics, and in building the partnerships big science now requires.
Nigel earned his undergraduate degree in physics from York university and his phd
from Ohio State. He joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 ,where he partnered with
the medical school to work on applications of particle physics in cancer treatment.
He also began his work on CDF, one of Fermilab's Tevatron experiments that would go on to
co-discover the top quark in 2007, and for the next six years he served as the head of TRIUMF,
Canada's national particle physics lab. During his tenure, the lab expanded operations and secured
several important international agreements. Then in 2013, Nigel was tapped to lead
Fermilab, where he was charged with overseeing a powerful complex of particle accelerators and
sophisticated experiments to study the nature of matter, energy, space, and time. Today,
thousands of scientists from around the world use Fermilab facilities for their research.
Nigel has been absolutely instrumental in guiding and realizing the U.S vision for high energy
particle physics. He's put Fermilab and the whole U.S high energy physics program on an exciting
path. Nigel helped realign the lab's mission with the U.S strategic plan for particle physics
research. Because of him, Fermilab has emerged as a global powerhouse in accelerator technology
and neutrino science, with the vision and capability to do research on an enormous scale.
Thanks to Nigel's leadership, Fermilab is in the midst of building DUNE,
the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. This flagship neutrino experiment has
broad international support with more than a thousand collaborators from over 30 countries.
It will use the world's most intense neutrino beam, created by an upgraded accelerator complex
that will power the next 50 years of Fermilab discovery.
The lab also undertook major projects to advance cutting-edge technology for accelerators around
the world, including the LHC at CERN and the LCLS-II x-ray laser at SLAC.
Nigel has overseen impressive science and technology results at Fermilab-
we've launched the IARC tech transfer program, we've had exciting first results from NOvA, Muon g
minus two, MicroBOONE accelerator science experiments, and the dark energy survey.
Fermilab is leading one of the five national quantum research centers working with other
labs and partners. Nigel represents the very best of the national lab directors. i've had
the privilege of working with Nigel in putting together a successful quantum science center-
could not have achieved it without Nigel's leadership and partnership.
But perhaps the most important thing that Nigel has done is that he has cultivated a culture of
excellence at Fermilab, positioning the laboratory well into the future.
Now, as Nigel steps down, he leaves Fermilab ready for a new era of exploration, with the foundation,
tools, and partnerships needed to solve the deepest mysteries of the universe.
Thank you for your strong commitment to the partnership between Fermilab and CERN,
and to international cooperation, and thank you for your visionary leadership, which was
instrumental to laying the foundation of a bright future for Fermilab and the field worldwide.