The American Physical Society recently honored six researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory with awards for their outstanding contributions to their scientific fields.
Founded in 1899, APS is a professional organization representing more than 50,000 members worldwide and is dedicated to advancing physics research, science policy, education and public engagement. Each year, APS bestows a broad range of prizes, awards and medals to recognize exceptional achievements across the physics community — from early-career scientists to leading established researchers.
APS honors at Fermilab were awarded to:
Joel Butler — W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics
Joel Butler, a distinguished scientist at Fermilab and former spokesperson for the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, has received the American Physical Society’s 2026 Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics. The Panofsky Prize, awarded annually, recognizes and encourages outstanding achievements in experimental particle physics, and nominations are open to scientists worldwide. According to APS, Butler received the prize for wide-ranging scientific, technical and strategic contributions to particle physics; exceptional leadership in fixed-target quark-flavor experiments at Fermilab; and his contributions to collider physics at the Large Hadron Collider.
Elena Pinetti — Henry Primakoff Award for Early-Career Particle Physics
Elena Pinetti, a postdoctoral researcher at Fermilab, has received the APS 2026 Henry Primakoff Award for Early-Career Particle Physics for “original ideas and innovative research in the study of particle dark matter, compact astrophysical objects, high-energy astrophysical sources and cosmic radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum.” Pinetti’s research focuses on searching for dark matter in the universe using a multimessenger approach.
APS Fellows
Four Fermilab scientists were named 2025 APS Fellows. Fellowship is an elite distinction awarded each year to no more than one-half of 1% of current APS members. The APS Fellowship program recognizes members who have made advances in physics through original research and publication or made significant, innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology. The full listing of fellows may be viewed on the APS website.
Anadi Canepa — Division of Particles and Fields Fellowship
“For pioneering roles in searches for supersymmetric particles; for outstanding leadership at TRIUMF and Fermilab and on the CDF, ATLAS and CMS collaborations, including the CMS tracker upgrade for the High-Luminosity LHC and future collider opportunities; and for broad public engagement.”
Victor Daniel Elvira — Forum on International Physics Fellowship
“For work on understanding and using jet final states, exploring quantum chromodynamics and physics beyond the Standard Model; for software processes — especially in GEANT4 and AI and machine learning — that aids global high-energy physics research; and for fostering international software and computing collaborations …”
Matthew Toups — Division of Particles and Fields Fellowship
“For wide-ranging and significant contributions to the MicroBooNE experiment, from construction and commissioning of the detector through to the publication of a large body of first-of-their-kind neutrino physics results with liquid-argon time projection chambers.”
Herman White — Forum on Physics and Society Fellowship
“For inspiring leadership and advocacy for physics, science education and communication with policy makers, governments and the public; and for outstanding contributions to several areas of high-energy physics.”
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media.
Each year at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the guest artist and composer program, funded by Fermi Forward Discovery Group, facilitates creative collaborations with scientists and engineers to make Fermilab’s scientific exploration more accessible.
“I want to gather the data, see what’s interpreted from it and transfer that to a visual plane.”
Visual artist Eleftheria Lialios
When studying the universe at its smallest scales, researchers at Fermilab rely on massive detectors that translate unseeable subatomic particles into data that researchers can interpret. They use graphs, tables and charts to represent the signals from the detectors, but artists’ creative perspectives can present this science in imaginative and unexpected ways that resonate with the public.
“Music is the most abstract of the art forms; it takes place in time.”
Composer Isaac Smith
In 2026, guest artist Eleftheria Lialios and guest composer Isaac Smith will bring their distinctly creative viewpoints to translate complex scientific concepts into immersive multisensory experiences.
A selection committee composed of Fermilab scientific staff and public engagement staff evaluates applicants to the program based on their creative and academic backgrounds and their enthusiasm for immersing themselves in Fermilab’s scientific work.
“Our artists and guest composers create works rooted in science that inspire and provoke thought,” said Georgia Schwender, Fermilab visual arts coordinator.
Eleftheria Lialios — Guest Artist
Visual artist Eleftheria Lialios brings a deeply personal and historical approach to her work, with roots in psychology, anthropology and photography. At Fermilab, she is interested in how scientific data, particularly from cosmic ray telescopes and particle accelerators, can be transformed into engaging visual experiences.
“Everyone interprets art based on who they are; that’s the individuation of art,” Lialios said. “I want to gather the data, see what’s interpreted from it and transfer that to a visual plane.”
Her process is immersive and tactile. She has created large-scale transparencies, installations and even sculptural works based on photographic imagery. At Fermilab, she hopes to leverage Fermilab’s scientific tools and resources to create new visual narratives that blend scientific observation with artistic intuition.
Isaac Smith — Guest Composer
Isaac Smith, with a background in both mathematics and music, sees a natural harmony between scientific abstraction and musical expression.
“Music is the most abstract of the art forms; it takes place in time,” he said. “When you relate to what’s going on in STEM, no human has seen a neutrino or a proton. We detect the remnants or traces of these things. Music lets you dig into the emotional or spiritual content of that abstraction.”
Smith, who holds a doctorate in music composition and works in the Musicology and Music Theory Office at Indiana University, has long been fascinated by the elusive nature of neutrinos. His upcoming work at Fermilab will focus on data sonification — transforming scientific data into sound.
Smith said he is particularly interested in how music can embody the joy, curiosity and wonder that scientists feel when exploring the unknown.
“The big thing I’m going to try to do initially is connect with the scientists,” Smith explained. “I aim to understand what they’re doing and what they’re excited about. I want to form a relationship with them and get my feet under me in terms of connecting with the scientific data.”
Lialios and Smith will work throughout the year, and in the latter half of 2026, the public will be able to experience their creations firsthand in Fermilab’s Wilson Hall.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at fnal.gov and follow us on social media
The Mu2e experiment, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, reached an important milestone in November as the collaboration moved a key component of the experiment, called the tracker, across the Fermilab campus into Mu2e Hall.
“This is a major moment for Mu2e,” said Bob Bernstein, Mu2e co-spokesperson. “Soon, we’re going to be able to start looking at our first particle tracks from cosmic rays passing through all of our detectors.”
Although the Standard Model of particle physics is scientists’ best explanation for how the universe works, it doesn’t account for phenomena like dark matter and dark energy. So, scientists are on the hunt for new physics.
Subatomic particles called muons are in the same family as electrons: charged leptons. The Standard Model dictates that when a muon decays into an electron, two neutrinos are also produced. But physicists believe it’s possible that charged leptons convert directly into each other.
Mu2e, as its name suggests, will be looking for the direct conversion of a muon into an electron without producing neutrinos. From previous experiments, scientists know that this hypothetical muon-to-electron conversion would be extremely rare. If the phenomenon occurs, it will happen less often than once every 1 trillion muon decays.
“And Mu2e is going to produce one muon for every grain of sand on Earth’s beaches, which is kind of an incomprehensible number of muons.”
Brendan Kiburg, Mu2e tracker project manager
“One of the keys to intensity frontier experiments is designing an experiment that enables us to look at a process very quickly and then repeat that billions, if not trillions of times,” said Brendan Kiburg, a project manager for the Mu2e tracker. “And Mu2e is going to produce one muon for every grain of sand on Earth’s beaches, which is kind of an incomprehensible number of muons.”
To handle so many muons, Mu2e has a unique, sinuous design. Three magnets make up the body of the experiment. The first magnet is called the production solenoid. This is where the muons are produced. The transport solenoid then delivers those muons into the detector solenoid that will hold Mu2e’s subdetectors. There, the muons encounter an aluminum target where they are stopped, captured and potentially undergo this hypothetical muon-to-electron conversion. The secondary particles produced will then encounter the first subdetector, called the tracker.
“The Mu2e tracker is an interesting construction because we didn’t want to have any mass on the inside of the tracker to interfere with the particles we’re trying to detect,” said Kiburg.
This design also helps the experiment weed out particles at the wrong energies.
As an electron enters the detector solenoid, the magnetic field will force the particle to spiral. If an electron has too low a momentum, the spiral is too tight, and it will never encounter the tracker, leaving the subdetector without ever interacting. But a higher momentum particle, which is more likely to be within the desired energy range, can spiral into the heart of the detector and produce a signal.
To complement the tracker, another subdetector, called the calorimeter, is installed downstream in the detector solenoid. While the tracker will have the precision to measure the momentum of the signal, the calorimeter will check its energy and timing, allowing the collaboration to definitively identify the particle as an electron. The calorimeter will also be an important step in cleaning up the particle tracks identified by the tracker.
The third subdetector is the cosmic ray veto that surrounds the detector solenoids and, as its name implies, helps identify cosmic ray tracks before they enter the tracker and calorimeter so that they can be easily eliminated.
“Thanks to this sophisticated detection system, we can beautifully reconstruct the candidate particle’s momentum,” said Stefano Miscetti, Mu2e co-spokesperson. “So, if we say this event is just an electron, there will be no doubt that we saw just an electron.”
Now that the tracker has joined the calorimeter and cosmic ray veto at the Mu2e Hall, the experiment can begin integrating the three subdetectors together to be read out by Mu2e’s data acquisition system.
At that point, the experiment will be able to start testing the ensemble of detectors with cosmic rays. This will enable the collaboration to calibrate the signals from the subdetectors before the beam is sent to the detector. “Mu2e is one of the most exciting experiments to start looking for new physics in the muon sector,” said Miscetti. “We have been working on this system for more than 10 years, and now we finally see the experiment taking shape.”
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media.
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, an international collaboration hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, is preparing to build the most immense cryogenic particle detector the world has ever seen, and do it a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. The challenges are legion, among them, the sheer size and scope, worldwide coordination, logistics, and importantly, safety for both people and detector components.
“Our team has designed a large, integrated system and has been working closely with collaborators and vendors to deliver its components.”
Roza Doubnik, senior cryogenics engineer
This DUNE far detector is planned as a series of gigantic modules of varying designs that will be constructed sequentially over a period of a few years. The modules will consist of ultrasensitive detector components immersed in a bath of liquid argon, the first two of these each require about five Olympic swimming pools worth of the liquid, which at 1.4 times the density of water, comes to 17,000 metric tons each. International collaborators are planning to contribute two additional modules that would be slightly smaller, but the experiment is aiming for a final volume of liquid argon over 50,000 tons.
“The cryogenics system is a critical component of the project and must be highly reliable — it cannot serve as a testbed,” said Roza Doubnik, a senior cryogenics engineer at Fermilab working on the purification and regeneration systems for the DUNE cryogenics. “Our team has designed a large, integrated system and has been working closely with collaborators and vendors to deliver its components.”
To fill the first cryostat, the DUNE cryogenics team has been preparing to receive about 1,000 truckloads of liquid argon over a period of about a year — on average four 20-ton truckloads per day, seven days a week. Keeping the argon cold enough to remain liquid for its mile-long descent to the detector spaces would be impractical, so when a truckload arrives the liquid will be vaporized at the surface before being piped underground where the industrial-scale cryogenics system will be in place.
Liquid argon, used in a variety of industrial, technical and scientific processes, is a transparent fluid that must be kept at minus 303 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though argon is plentiful and makes up about 1% of the air we breath, it doesn’t just fall out of the sky — it requires a distillation process of air at ultra-cold temperatures to separate it out from the oxygen and other gases. The DUNE cryogenics team has had to find liquid-argon vendors that can supply the prodigious amounts needed and organize delivery methods and schedules. Meanwhile, the team has determined all the processes and infrastructure required to get the argon into each of the highly insulated detector containers, called cryostats, and keep it liquefied and pure enough to run the experiment safely for 20 years.
Once underground, the argon gas will be piped first through a purification system, then into a readied cryostat to purge it of air. The purified gas will fill the cryostat from the bottom up, pushing the air out openings in the top. The team will repeat this process at least 10 times to reduce contamination levels in the volume to the parts-per-million level, filtering the argon each time. Once this is complete, the argon gas is passed through the liquefaction portion of the cryogenics system. Liquid nitrogen, with its boiling point being lower than that of argon, is used as the recondensing agent.
Due to the delicacy of its detector components, the second DUNE module requires a gradual cool-down before filling. For this process, sprayers at the top of the cryostat introduce atomized liquid argon droplets into the volume, and the mist distributes itself throughout the volume by means of gravity and convection. This continues until the volume is cooled to minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point filling begins.
Once a cryostat is filled, external pumps will continuously recirculate liquid argon through a purification system and the immersed detector begins taking data. Any bit of vaporized argon is recovered, recondensed, repurified and returned to the cryostat in the closed system.
The cryogenics team’s design calls for integrable system components that are as standard as possible, that meet the performance requirements, and — importantly — that fit down the shaft that leads to the underground area. The team has already awarded contracts for the nitrogen system, liquid-argon pumps, and most of the process controls equipment, among other items, to vendors selected for their technical competence and experience. Other contracts are in the works, and some, including for the argon itself, are expected to be placed in the coming year or two, in time to have the deliveries start when the first detector module is fully installed.
For safety reasons, monitoring and managing the cryostat’s internal pressure and preventing leaks are of ultimate importance. Pressure safety valves will be placed on top of each cryostat, and valves to prevent leaks will be installed in side penetrations. In 2025, the team awarded a subcontract to procure these side safety valves. The selected vendor has provided the same valves for the DUNE prototype detectors at CERN and the SBND detector at Fermilab, all of which have operated successfully.
“The safety valves are crucial for guaranteeing safe and effective functioning of the cryogenic system.”
Zachery West, cryogenics engineer at Fermilab
“The safety valves are crucial for guaranteeing safe and effective functioning of the cryogenic system,” said Zachery West, cryogenics engineer at Fermilab. “This type of valve, open during normal operations, closes via a pneumatic actuator in case of emergency.”
Meanwhile, colleagues from CERN are in the process of procuring the argon condensers and related instrumentation, keeping up the team’s steady momentum towards completing the cryogenics system for the multi-module DUNE far detector, with safety always top of mind.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media.
John Byrd has been named director of the U.S. Particle Accelerator School (USPAS). He succeeds Professor Steven Lund of Michigan State University, who has served as director since 2018.
USPAS is the nation’s premier training program in accelerator science and engineering. The school’s collaboration includes seven Department of Energy Office of Science laboratories, one DOE National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory and two universities.
USPAS is the nation’s premier training program in accelerator science and engineering. The school’s collaboration includes seven Department of Energy Office of Science laboratories, one DOE National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory and two universities.
“Being selected as the USPAS director is a true ‘circle-of-life’ moment for me,” said Byrd. “My career in accelerator science began in 1988, inspired by a USPAS course taught by Don Edwards and Mike Syphers, and it has been a privilege to witness and contribute to the field’s extraordinary development over the past three decades. It is both humbling and profoundly meaningful to now have the opportunity to give back to the community and institution that helped shape my professional life.”
After earning his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in 1991, Byrd spent 26 years at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), contributing to major accelerator facilities, including PEP-II at SLAC, the Advanced Light Source at LBNL, the Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and the Free Electron Laser Radiation for Multidisciplinary Investigations at Elettra.
n 2017, he joined Argonne National Laboratory as division director for the accelerator systems division at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), leading efforts for the operation of the APS and contributing to the design, construction and commissioning of the APS upgrade. After retiring from Argonne in 2024, he worked on several industrial accelerator projects before accepting the position of USPAS director.
“The U.S. Particle Accelerator School has educated next-generation accelerator physicists and engineers for decades and through that, made sure that we can build ever better accelerators and develop new important technologies,” said Norbert Holtkamp, director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Founded in 1981, USPAS convenes twice each year to offer a broad range of graduate-level courses through an intensive school format. USPAS offers a continually updated curriculum ranging from foundational accelerator science to advanced physics and engineering topics. In addition to meeting the workforce needs of national laboratories, the school educates students and professionals on the many applications of particle accelerators in areas such as science, medicine, security and industry. The training and documentation produced through USPAS sessions are broadly recognized for excellence and have had a profound and lasting impact on the accelerator community.
The USPAS office at Fermilab and the USPAS director are responsible for the operation and management of the school, coordinating across the entire accelerator community through the USPAS Institutional Board and the USPAS Director’s Advisory Council.
“The U.S. Particle Accelerator School has educated next-generation accelerator physicists and engineers for decades and through that, made sure that we can build ever better accelerators and develop new important technologies,”
Norbert Holtkamp, director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
“I am very pleased to hear this news,” said Cameron Geddes, director of the Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a member of the USPAS Institutional Board. “John’s distinguished research perspective will advance the vital role of the school in providing accelerator physics education not available at most universities and help him leverage the contributions of lecturers from around the community.”
“Over the past 45 years, USPAS has become a cornerstone of education and training for national laboratories that rely on accelerator-based research,” said Zhirong Huang of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, and also chair of the USPAS Curriculum Committee and the Director Search Committee. “On behalf of the national laboratory and university communities, we extend our sincere thanks to the outgoing director, Steve Lund, for his eight years of dedicated leadership at USPAS. We have also valued our work with John Byrd through his many years of teaching USPAS classes, his years of service on the USPAS Director’s Advisory Council and Curriculum Committee, and we look forward to continuing our work with him as he steps into the role of the USPAS director, furthering this vital mission.”
Particle accelerators are a critical driver of both discovery science and industry that broadly enable the mission of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. As some of the most complex, large-scale systems in the world, DOE’s accelerators play a key role in DOE’s new Genesis Mission, which aims to revolutionize the nation’s science and technology output by leveraging and extending state-of-the-art artificial intelligence. Genesis will open new capabilities and horizons in accelerator science and technology. The world-class training that USPAS provides will ensure that students, scientists and industry professionals in the accelerator field are ready for that future.
“The Office of High Energy Physics has proudly supported the U.S. Particle Accelerator School since the early 1980s, recognizing its critical role in cultivating the next generation of accelerator scientists and engineers,” said Regina Rameika, associate director for the Office of High Energy Physics within DOE’s Office of Science. “Our continued investment, notably through HEP’s General Accelerator Research Development program and the Accelerator Traineeship program, ensures USPAS remains an invaluable resource for developing the future accelerator workforce. We are particularly pleased with the appointment of John Byrd, whose three decades of dedicated involvement in accelerator research, leadership and workforce development make him an exceptional choice to guide USPAS into its next chapter.”
More information on the USPAS and the announcement can be found on the USPAS website.