TRIUMF congratulates Dr. Michael Roney from the University of Victoria on his appointment to the directorship of the Institute of Particle Physics (IPP). Dr. Roney brings a wealth of perspective and leadership from his experience serving as a Canadian professor, international collaborator, and president for the Canadian Association of Physicists.
The IPP Director serves to coordinate the activities of the organization whose role is to promote and enhance excellence in particle physics research throughout the academic community across Canada. Dr. Roney will also manage the IPP Research Scientist program, which provides university-based collaborations across Canada with full-time faculty-level researchers enabling Canadian particle physicists to have a significant role in international particle physics projects.
Dr. Roney, as its spokesperson, leads the BaBar Collaboration, an experiment based at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory that studies matter-antimatter asymmetries, quark and lepton interactions, and searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model. He is also a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria and served as president of the Canadian Association of Physicists during 2011–12. Dr. Roney has gained international respect for his work in electroweak, high energy and flavour physics, as well as in developing detector technologies.
Dr. Roney was selected by the current IPP board and unanimously ratified by the IPP membership. The Director of IPP serves as the main point of contact between the organization and others, such as NSERC, CFI, CAP, ICFA and TRIUMF. He is currently a member of TRIUMF's Policy and Planning Advisory Committee (PPAC) and will continue in this capacity during his directorship. The PPAC advises TRIUMF's director in scientific policy and two-way communication between the laboratory and its consortium of 18 member universities. As such, we look forward to continuing a strong collaboration with Dr. Roney on the cutting-edge of particle physics research in the near future!
–Ariane Madden, Communications Assistant