(Feb 14) - Patrizia Rossi, researcher at the National Laboratories of Frascati (INFN), has been nominated Deputy Director of the Physics Division at Jefferson Lab in the United States after a long selection of candidates.
"Beyond the individual merit - says Patrizia Rossi -, I think is an achieving for the Italian physics school. They recognized the merit of a prestigious tradition of Italian physics and then the value of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), that has been able to carry on this tradition with cleverness". Her research focus is on the study of the particles' structure that makes up atomic nucleus and of the strong force. Her work has taken her to conduct experiments in Frascati, at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg and at the ESRF in Grenoble.
"Our excellence - explains the researcher - is confirmed by the fact that the four major experiments at the CERN LHC collider and the 'Opera' experiment are directed by Italians. I think it's very gratifying to the INFN, which has invested a lot in Jefferson Lab, that its researchers obtain prestigious awards in foreign laboratories and through international selections". Patrizia Rossi spends good words for the Italian educational system: "The level of
physics' teaching in many of our universities is good as in the best international universities. The INFN expresses excellence in the research in nuclear and subnuclear physics since fifty years. We can say that the INFN is the Ferrari of Italian research".
Rolf Ent, Director for Nuclear Physics of JLAB, sais: "Patrizia will give a significant contribution to research programs on Nuclear Physics, in particular for planning the Physics Division, to optimize productivity and collaboration, and to increase our scientific visibility". "My job - explains the Italian researcher - is to promote the study of the internal structure of the proton and neutron, that represent the simplest form in the formation of matter. These studies will allow further and important progresses in our knowledge and at use for the major high-energy colliders, such as LHC at the CERN. So one of my goals - she remarks - is to create a synergy between the research carried out at JLAB and the ones made in other laboratories". According to Rossi, "young people are an essential component of the research because they propose new ideas and push to innovate. The quality of Italian young people is very high and they easily obtain work abroad. We should promote in Italy - concludes the researcher - a meritocratic system that rewards the skills of the individual, and we need jobs, decent salaries and appropriate infrastructure". (Roc)

WHAT IS THE JEFFERSON LAB
The Jefferson Lab - JLAB - located in Newport News, Virginia, is a world leader in nuclear physics research. The laboratory employs over 800 people and 1,300 scientists from around the world conducting experiments. It is one of the 10 national laboratories funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Science of the United States. To choose a new deputy director of the JLAB, many candidates from around the world have been examined by a commission of experts in nuclear physics. Among the commissioners were also Bob McKeown (Deputy Director of the Jefferson Lab) and Don Geesaman (Former director of the Physics Division of Argonne National Laboratory).