Persis Drell, director of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Photo by L.A. Cicero
On June 21, SLAC Director PERSIS DRELL was in Washington, D.C., to testify before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, for a session devoted to Department of Energy user facilities. It was her first time doing this.
Drell was one of five witnesses. The others were ANTONIO LANZIROTTI, chairman, National User Facility Organization; STEPHEN WASSERMAN, senior research fellow, Translational Science & Technologies, Eli Lilly and Company; SUZY TICHENOR, director, Industrial Partnerships Program, Computing and Computational Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and ERNEST HALL, chief scientist, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering/Materials Characterization, GE Global Research.
Drell prepared written testimony, but, as she put it, “The real show is the oral testimony.” She used the five minutes she was given to describe the science being performed at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) and explain why government should support large user facilities.
“The most encouraging part of the hearing was that, while there were differences of opinion on how one might fund basic research, there was clear bipartisan support for science,” Drell said. “Before I went to D.C. for this hearing, a colleague asked if it was really worth flying across country for the opportunity to speak for five minutes in front of the subcommittee. My response is that this is my job. But even if it wasn’t, yes, I believe it is worth it.”
Read Drell’s full description on the SLAC Today website.
