May 6, 2004

APPOINTMENT OF JANOS KIRZ AS ACTING DIVISION DIRECTOR, ADVANCED LIGHT SOURCE DIVISION

During the absence of Division Director Daniel Chemla, I am announcing the appointment of Dr. Janos Kirz as Acting Division Director of the Advanced Light Source Division, effective June 1, 2004.  

We are very fortunate to have someone of the reputation and accomplishment of Dr. Kirz step into this important assignment.   He is currently SUNY Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University, where he served as Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy between 1998 and 2001. Dr. Kirz received his B.A. degree in 1959 and Ph.D. in 1963, both from the University of California, Berkeley.   He did his graduate work in the Alvarez group using the 72" bubble chamber at the Bevatron.   In 1968 he joined the faculty of Stony Brook University, where he continued to work in high energy physics until 1980, performing experiments at Brookhaven, SLAC and Fermilab.   He became interested in X-ray optics and synchrotron radiation during a year spent at Oxford University, and he has devoted his subsequent career to the development of X-ray microscopy, spectromicroscopy, holography, and diffraction imaging at the National Synchrotron Light Source. It is a special pleasure to welcome Dr. Kirz back to Berkeley, where he spent part of a sabbatical year during 1993-94 and a full year in 2002-2003 during which time he initiated an experimental program at the ALS in diffraction imaging.   He served on the ALS Users' Executive Committee in the early days (1987-89) and more recently on the Scientific Advisory Committee, and on several review committees.   He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. At this time I want to express my deep appreciation to Neville Smith and Ben Feinberg for their exceptional service since December in assuring the continuity of leadership at the Advanced Light Source.

Charles V. Shank

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