Fermilab appoints first woman as director

For the first time in its history, a woman will lead Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia.

Lia Merminga, an internationally renowned physicist, will take the lead as Fermilab’s director on April 18. She is the seventh director at the facility and succeeds Nigel Lockyer, who served as director for eight years.

“Lia brings to this critical role an exceptional track record of success, passion for science, proven ability to execute major projects, focus on the talent and diversity of the Fermilab community and strong commitment to the national and global high-energy physics communities,” University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos, who also serves as chairman of the board of directors for Fermi Research Alliance, said in a news release Tuesday. “I look forward to working with Lia as she leads America’s particle physics and accelerator laboratory into a new era of exploring fundamental questions of matter, energy, space and time for the benefit of all.”

Merminga began her career with Fermilab in 1987 as a student in the newly established graduate program in accelerator physics, according to the news release. She completed her Ph.D. thesis on the Tevatron, a collider commissioned at Fermilab and was the second student to graduate from the program.

“Fermilab has given me a very rewarding career,” Merminga said in the news release. “I love the institution and am excited for the opportunity to give back to the lab.”

She said her goal as director will be to successfully see the U.S. lead the way in the global particle physics program through programs underway at the lab.

Merminga serves as the director for the Proton Improvement Plan II, or PIP-II, at Fermilab. The PIP-II is an “essential enhancement to Fermilab’s accelerator complex, powering the world’s most intense high-energy neutrino beam on its journey from Illinois to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in South Dakota,” according to Fermilab’s website.

Merminga will lead the lab as it moves to become the leading facility in the study of neutrinos, which are virtually invisible particles that can pass through matter without a trace, according to Fermilab’s news release. Fermilab also remains involved in other scientific research examining dark matter and dark energy.

Throughout her career, Merminga has worked to build relationships with leading universities, community colleges and K-12 educational institutions to help promote the sciences. She has also earned recognition for her focus on talent development and diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Lia will bring not only her scientific and leadership expertise to Fermilab but also her ability to promote understanding and support physics to broader audiences,” said Walter Massey, who chaired the search committee for a new director.

The committee’s recommendation to appoint Merminga was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and approved by the board of the Fermi Research Alliance.

Merminga has served as chair of the Fermilab Accelerator Advisory Committee, on numerous international advisory committees and three U.S. National Academy committees. She also is a Fermilab Distinguished Scientist, a fellow of the

American Physical Society and a graduate of the first cohort of the Department of Energy’s Oppenheimer Energy Science Leadership Program.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Athens Greece and master’s in physics and mathematics and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

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