Research

Research Priorities: X-ray technology, free electron laser technology, particle physics, particle astrophysics

Persis Drell is a physicist. She was involved in the development of new x-ray technologies, such as free electron lasers, as well as in the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope Mission that studied the most energy-rich events in space. She measured parameters of quark mixing to gain fundamental insights into the universe. Recently she was concerned with the structures and strategies of large research cooperations.

Persis Drell was involved in the development of the first free-electron laser. These lasers can reveal highly detailed structural information of macro molecules by emitting ultrashort X-ray pulses. A team around Persis Drell was able to thus reveal the architecture of proteins in great detail. She further studied a variety of quark mixings to investigate the CP violation, which is a miniscule violation of the symmetry between particles and antiparticles.

Recently Persis Drell was concerned with the support and organization of research collaborations. Here, her focus is on large scientific infrastructures that attempt to answer complex questions like the efficient generation of clean energy. She develops structures for large research teams on both the national and international level that aim towards providing optimal conditions for fundamental research questions.

Career

• since 2002 Professor, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
• 2017-2023 Provost, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
• 2014-2017 Dean, School of Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
• 2007-2012 Director, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
• 2001-2002 Deputy Director, Cornell Laboratory of Nuclear Studies (today: Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education), Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
• 1998-2002 Professor of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
• 1993-1997 Associate Professor of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
• 1988-1992 Assistant Professor of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
• 1983-1987 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), U.S. Department of Energy an der University of California, Berkeley, USA

Functions

• since 2017 Member, Board of Directors, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Menlo Park, USA
• since 2015 Member, Board of Directors, Nvidia Corporation, Santa Clara, USA
• 2013-2018 Member, Advisory Committees, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), U.S. Department of Energy, Washington DC, USA
• 2012-2017 Member, Scientific Council, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
• 2013-2014 Co-Chair, Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), U.S. Department of Energy, Washington DC, USA
• 2010-2014 Member, International Evaluation Committee (Comitato di Valutazione Internazionale – CVI), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Rome, Italy
• 2008-2014 Member, Visiting Committee, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA

Projects

• 2004-2016 Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
• 1988-2002 CLEO (Detector) Collaboration, Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
• 1984-1988 Mark II (Detector) Collaboration, Stanford Linear Collider (SLC), Stanford University, Stanford, USA

Auszeichnungen und Mitgliedschaften

• since 2023 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• 2022 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), USA
• 2012 Helmholtz International Fellow Award, Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany
• 2010 Member, National Academy of Sciences, USA
• 2007 Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, USA
• 1998 Fellow, The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, USA
• 1997 Fellow, American Physical Society (APS), USA
• 1988 Presidential Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation (NSF), USA