image: Jefferson Lab Director Kimberly Sawyer
Credit: Jefferson Lab/Aileen Devlin
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – The U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is making good waves in coastal Virginia, and now its director is being recognized for those positive impacts. CoVaBIZ has listed Jefferson Lab Director Kimberly Sawyer in its 2025 list of the 150 most influential people in coastal Virginia.
“It is an honor to be named to this list, and it reflects well on the positive economic, research and education impacts that Jefferson Lab has on our region,” said Sawyer, who took the helm at Jefferson Lab in July 2024. “We are proud to advance our research mission as Virginia’s national lab and look forward to many more successful years to come.”
The laboratory’s original mission focused solely on research in nuclear physics to expand our knowledge of the nucleus of the atom and its parts. Its Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, a DOE user facility, now supports the research of more than 1,650 nuclear physicists worldwide, including nearly 1,100 in the U.S.
In the execution of this mission, the laboratory gained immense knowledge in key technologies that are now in use in facilities across the nation. The lab has built and is assisting in building particle accelerators and associated systems that power a wide range of research, from basic biology, to chemistry, to nuclear physics. Its cryogenic advances are helping research facilities sustain energy-efficient operations. And its expertise in particle detectors is improving nuclear and particle physics research, as well as diagnosis and treatment in nuclear medicine, ultimately saving lives.
Now, the lab is sailing toward a second mission, which will capitalize on its expertise in data science, by leading development of the High Performance Data Facility (HPDF) with its partner, DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. HPDF will usher in a new era of data science, data stewardship and advanced computing in research.
CoVaBIZ’s full list of 150 influential people can be found in the March/April issue. Sawyer’s specific listing can be found in the section recognizing science and research institutions “that are expanding our knowledge of our universe and ourselves.” The entry is printed on page 40.
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Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, manages and operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, or Jefferson Lab, for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. JSA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc. (SURA).
DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science