Newswise — UT-Battelle announced today the selection of Dr. Thom Mason as Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Mason's appointment as Laboratory Director will become effective July 1. He follows a successful tenure since 2001 as Associate Lab Director for the Department of Energy's Spallation Neutron Source. As head of the SNS project, Mason led a consortium of six DOE labs in the design and construction of the $1.4 billion neutron accelerator. Completed on time, on budget and on scope, the SNS will restore American leadership in the field of neutron scattering and materials research.
"We are genuinely excited to have a person of Thom Mason's talent and experience to lead ORNL," said Dr. John Petersen, University of Tennessee President and UT-Battelle Vice Chair, and Dr. Carl Kohrt, Battelle President and UT-Battelle Chair, in a joint statement. "As a world-class scientist who has already made a mark in the research community, Thom represents the future of ORNL."
"Thom Mason has done a superb job bringing the Spallation Neutron Source into being as the leading facility for neutron studies," said DOE Under Secretary for Science Dr. Raymond L. Orbach. "As head of ORNL's neutron science program, he leads the finest center for scientific studies in the world. His leadership will now extend to the entire Laboratory, and I am confident that he will continue to follow the same trajectory of excellence as Director. We are both pleased and proud that he has accepted this position."
In addition to his role with the Spallation Neutron Source, Mason was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, an Associate of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, a Senior Scientist at Riso National Laboratory in Denmark, and a Postdoctoral Fellow with Bell Laboratories.
Now an American citizen, Mason is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia. He received degrees from Dalhousie University and McMaster University in Canada.
Mason lives with his wife Jennifer and two sons in Oak Ridge. He serves as Chair of the Oak Ridge Public Schools Foundation, which helped raise $55 million to renovate Oak Ridge High School.
Mason succeeds Dr. Jeffrey Wadsworth, who served as ORNL Director for the past four years and was named in April to be Executive Vice President for Laboratory Operations at Battelle headquarters in Columbus.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy's Office of Science.
NOTE TO EDITORS: You may read other press releases from Oak Ridge National Laboratory or learn more about the lab at http://www.ornl.gov/news.
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