Leemann to head lab

The Southeastern Universities Research Association has selected Christoph W. Leemann, an internationally recognized particle-accelerator physicist and U.Va. faculty member, as director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News.

Leemann, a native of Switzerland, has a Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Basel. Now an American citizen and a fellow of the American Physical Society, he holds a Governor’s Distinguished Professorship at U.Va.

“Christoph Leemann will continue to strengthen the lab’s connection with the SURA universities, including U.Va.,” said University President John T. Casteen III. “Our university played a lead role in bringing the lab to Virginia and will continue to reap the benefits of having a world-class facility within its reach. U.Va. is particularly excited about the lab’s spin-off Free Electron Laser facility, which will enable cutting-edge research.”

Leemann has been serving for the past year as interim director of the nuclear physics laboratory, a world center for the study of the atom’s nucleus. He led the team responsible for the design and construction of the $600 million high-tech facility.