John M. Byrd
John M. Byrd has accepted the position of director of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) Accelerator Systems Division (ASD) in Argonne’s Photon Sciences Directorate, effective July 3, 2017.
“I am confident John’s leadership and outlook will push forward the research and development that will keep APS at the cutting edge, sustain current operations, and help position the proposed APS Upgrade for the best possible performance,” said Stephen Streiffer, Argonne associate laboratory director for Photon Sciences.
Since 2011, Byrd has been the program head of the Center for Beam Physics (CBP) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). In addition, he served concurrently as group leader of the CBP Beam Technology Group since 2003. Previously, he was an assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Physics of the University of California, Davis; deputy group leader of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) Accelerator Physics Group at LBNL; staff scientist in the ALS Accelerator Physics Group; and scientist at the CBP.
In addition, Byrd is the author or co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed journal or conference proceedings articles on a wide variety of topics, including design of high-energy accelerators and next-generation synchrotron radiation sources.
Byrd’s research areas of interest include femtosecond timing and synchronization; high-current storage rings; accelerator-based sources of terahertz radiation; collective instabilities in accelerators; accelerator instrumentation and diagnostics; radiofrequency and microwave systems; and longitudinal beam dynamics.
He has been a senior staff scientist at LBNL since 2009. John is a fellow of the American Physical Society (2012) and recipient of the U.S. Particle Accelerator School Iron Man Award (2016).
Previous ASD Director Sasha Zholents will continue his research career full-time. “Under Sasha’s steady and passionate guidance, ASD has maintained a remarkable record for X-ray source performance while continuing to develop innovative light source technologies,” Streiffer said. “We wish Sasha all the best in his future endeavors.”