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Fermilab Director Search
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Wilson Hall In December 2003, the Fermilab Board of Overseers of Universities Research Association, Inc. (URA) appointed a 19-member Search Committee to conduct an open, broad-based search for a successor to Fermilab Director Michael Witherell, who announced last fall that he will step down on June 30, 2005, after concluding six years of service as Director. This web page provides the latest information about the status of the search process.

The Fermilab Director Search Committee met for the seventh time on Sept. 9-10, and after a thorough discussion based on interviews with its leading candidates and a review of input from the scientific community, unanimously agreed on its recommendations. The Committee is now completing its formal report, which will be submitted shortly to URA's Fermilab Board of Overseers. The Overseers will discuss the Search Committee report and recommendations with Committee Chair Neal Lane at the next Board meeting on October 1. In the interest of keeping the broad Fermilab community informed, a summary of the search process to date and the steps still ahead follows:

On February 6, 2004, the Committee Chair met with the Fermilab Board Overseers for discussion of the important characteristics to be sought in the next Director, the breadth of the search process, and other issues relevant to the search, including DOE's then recently-announced Fermilab M&O; contract competition.

At its first meeting on March 6, the Committee agreed on methods for soliciting input from many sources and through numerous channels. A Fermilab Director Search website was established, with a prominent link to and from the Fermilab and URA homepages; a message was permanently posted on the website soliciting input from the community. Classified advertisements soliciting applications for the position appeared in the April 2 and 9 issues of Science, the April issue of Physics Today, and the April issue of CERN Courier. The American Physical Society's Divisions of Particles and Fields and Physics of Beams e-mailed announcements to their entire memberships, encouraging communications with the Committee.

The Committee also specifically solicited advice on the requisite qualifications for this position, and on recommended potential candidates, from over 60 selected individuals in the international scientific community, and from vice presidents for research at all 90 URA member universities.

On April 15-16, the Committee, as a whole or in teams, met at Fermilab for discussions with 54 members of the Laboratory community, including the present and two past Directors and any Fermilab employees who expressed a desire to meet with the Committee. Chairman Lane briefed the community on the search at the Annual Fermilab Users Meeting on June 3, and then met separately with a group of graduate students and post-docs to get the views of younger physicists. The Committee received some 80 written communications on the search from around the world. The Committee also received a total of 12 formal applications or self-nominations for the position.

As a result of all of the above communications and related interactions, as well as internal discussion, the Committee developed an extensive list of some 66 potential candidates. On May 29-30, the Committee met for a detailed and systematic deliberation on these potential candidates, and eventually agreed on a shorter, significantly more selective list of 16 leading candidates. The Committee then selected referees, typically peers, who would provide additional input for each of the 16 individuals on this shorter list. The referees were chosen on the basis of their past or present knowledge of a candidate and the likelihood that they could comment on the candidate's qualifications to be Fermilab Director. The Committee also agreed on a common set of Discussion Points for Referees. Subsequent to the meeting, Chairman Lane contacted each of the 16 individuals to determine their willingness to be considered for the position.

Individual Committee members were assigned in teams of two for contacts with the referees for the candidates who agreed to be considered. Between 6 and 10 referee responses were received for those candidates.

On July 6-7, the Committee met to review referee responses and the status of the leading candidates under consideration. After a thorough discussion of these candidates, the Committee met on July 24-25 and August 6 to interview a short list of candidates. On September 9-10, the Committee met for a comprehensive review and discussion of the interviews and input received from referees for the interviewed candidates. The Committee unanimously agreed on its recommendations and prepared a draft report.

Next steps: The Fermilab Board of Overseers (BoO) expects to receive the final report of the Search Committee before the end of September, and shortly thereafter the BoO will meet with the Committee Chair Neal Lane to discuss the report. The BoO will then itself interview final candidates before recommending to the URA Board of Trustees an individual to be the next Director of Fermilab. Members of the URA Board of Trustees will also meet with the candidate before the Trustees appoint the new Fermilab Director. Customarily, the candidate will then meet with the Secretary of Energy, who must concur prior to any final announcement of appointment by URA.

last modified 9/17/2004   email Fermilab
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