Fermilab scientist Pushpalatha Bhat will take on a new role as Secretary of the International Committee for Future Accelerators, commonly known as ICFA. She takes over from Fermilab’s Roy Rubinstein, who steps down as ICFA secretary after 23 years. The Executive Committee of ICFA appointed Bhat for a five-year term.
ICFA facilitates international collaboration in the construction and use of accelerators for high-energy physics. It promotes international collaboration in all phases of the construction and exploitation of very high -energy accelerators. It also facilitates the exchange of information on future plans for regional high-energy physics facilities and for the formulation of advice on joint studies and uses.
Bhat is a senior scientist at Fermilab, deputy head of the Fermilab Program Planning Office, and an adjunct professor and graduate faculty member at Northern Illinois University. She joined Fermilab in 1989 and led numerous projects, including upgrades to the Tevatron accelerator complex, and contributed to the discovery and studies of the top quark. She joined the CMS collaboration at CERN in 2006 and there contributed to the discovery and studies of the Higgs boson.
She is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.