Michael Pennington, Professor of Physics and Dean for Educational Outreach, has been appointed Chair of the Program Advisory Committee (PAC) of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in Virginia, USA, till 2011 by the Lab Director, Hugh Montgomery. Mike has served as a member of the PAC since 2005. JLab pursues experimental research in nuclear and particle physics with the aim of understanding the strong and electroweak interactions of quarks, and how their confinement underpins the structure of nuclear matter. JLab is undergoing a $310M upgrade to accelerate electron beams to higher energy and provide a new experimental hall (to add to the existing three) dedicated to unravelling the spectrum of the strong interaction between quarks and gluons. The Lab’s Associate Director, Larry Cardman says the “next two years will be critical for establishing the research program and its priorities for the Upgrade and for cementing the scientific case for important new initiatives. It is essential for the lab and its science program that we get the best possible scientific advice during this period, and we are all convinced that having Mike Pennington at the helm will contribute greatly to that being the result. “
