Newport News, Va. - Jean R. Delayen, a principal scientist in the accelerator division at the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility and professor of accelerator physics at Old Dominion University, has been named the first director of the Center for Accelerator Science, which was created in 2008 by ODU and Jefferson Lab.
The appointment came after a yearlong search that attracted an international array of candidates.
Delayen joined Jefferson Lab in 1995 and in 2006 became a Jefferson Lab Professor at ODU with part-time teaching duties. Prior to coming to Virginia, Delayen worked as a scientist at California Institute of Technology and Argonne National Laboratory. Interspersed with his work in the U.S., he has also been a visiting researcher and teacher at laboratories and universities in China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, India, Israel and England.
Delayen serves on a number of international advisory and review committees for accelerator facilities and is a regular teacher at the U.S. Particle Accelerator School. He is the inventor of several types of accelerating cavities that are being used worldwide.
“Jean’s intimate contact with the technology is a major plus for an Accelerator Center director. His involvement promises to be much more than a narrow academic interest," said Jefferson Lab Director Hugh Montgomery.
ODU and Jefferson Lab have been collaborating for nearly a decade in training accelerator scientists. Currently, 10 students are pursuing advanced degrees at ODU and working on projects at Jefferson Lab. The Center for Accelerator Science - with seven faculty members and 15 graduate students as its target complement – is envisioned as a springboard for innovations.
In addition to probing the nature of matter, particle accelerators are being used in diverse and rapidly growing fields. Radiation treatment and radiation imaging instruments use accelerator technology. According to the DOE, about 10,000 patients are treated every day in the U.S. with electron beams from linear accelerators.
Much of the center’s focus will be on the linear accelerator format and superconducting radiofrequency particle-acceleration technology that is used by Jefferson Lab’s Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility and its free-electron laser.
From the Old Dominion University Release
Contact: Kandice Carter, Public Affairs, 757-269-7263 or kcarter@jlab.org