Norbert Holtkamp will take over as the new director of Batavia-based Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory starting Jan. 12, according to an announcement from the University of Chicago.
The announcement was made on Monday by University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos, who chairs the board of directors of Fermi Forward Discovery Group. Fermi Forward, which operates the lab under contract for the United States Department of Energy, is led by the University of Chicago and the Universities Research Association.
University of Chicago has been a co-contractor for Fermilab since 2007, according to the university’s website.
Holtkamp was the deputy director of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University from 2014 to 2022, and is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, the news release from the University of Chicago said.
While at SLAC, Holtkamp managed the construction of the Linac Coherent Light Source upgrade, and more than $2 billion in on-site construction projects, the announcement said.
He worked at Fermilab previously, from 1998 to 2001, per the news release. At that time, he participated in the commissioning of the lab’s most powerful particle accelerator and led a multi-lab study on the feasibility of an intense neutrino source based on a muon storage ring, the announcement noted.
He holds the equivalent of a master’s degree in physics from the University of Berlin, and a Ph.D. in physics from the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany, the press release said.
Holtkamp will be succeeding Young-Kee Kim, a physics professor at the University of Chicago who had been serving as Fermilab’s interim director since January.
Alivisatos, in the news release, pointed to Holtkamp’s “wealth of scientific and managerial experience,” and said he will “champion Fermilab’s mission of pioneering scientific discovery, help ensure the success of projects critical to the lab’s future, strengthen the relationships necessary for shared achievements and inspire the next generation of researchers.”
As its new director, Holtkamp will be continuing the lab’s work of modernizing operations and infrastructure to advance the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility-Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, or LBNF-DUNE, and other major projects, the announcement noted.
“Fermilab has done so much to advance our collective understanding of the fundamentals of our universe,” Holtkamp said in the announcement. “I am committed to ensuring the laboratory remains the neutrino capital of America, and the world, and the safe and successful completion of LBNF-DUNE is key to that goal. I’m excited to rejoin Fermilab at this pivotal moment to guide this project and our other important modernization efforts to prepare the lab for a bright future.”
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
