U-M Physics Chairman Elected To SSC Board

U-M physics chairman elected to SSC board

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Homer A. Neal, chairman of the Department of Physics at the University of Michigan, has been elected to a three-year term on the Board of Overseers for the proposed superconducting super collider.

Once the U.S. Congress approves funds to build the SSC, construction of what would be the world’s largest particle accelerator will begin near Waxahachie, Texas. The underground atom-smasher will help scientists study high-energy particle physics.

Neal and 14 other scientists, administrators and industrial representatives were elected to the Board of Overseers by the Universities Research Association, a nonprofit corporation with representatives from 66 major research universities.

Under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, the association is responsible for administering the research and development and conceptual design phase of the project.

Neal is a former member of the National Science Board and has served on the boards of trustees for the Argonne National Laboratory and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. He is currently chairman of the National Science Foundation’s Physics Advisory Committee.