Persis S. Drell is an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

best known for her expertise in the field of

particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...

. She was the director of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory from 2007 to 2012. She was dean of the Stanford University School of Engineering from 2014 until 2017. Drell became the Provost of Stanford University on February 1, 2017.

Early life and education

The daughter of noted physicist

Sidney Drell Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926 – December 21, 2016) was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and senior fel ...

, Persis Drell grew up on the

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

campus. She earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in mathematics and physics from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, studying under Eugene Commins. She completed her postdoctoral work in high-energy physics at

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, t ...

Career

She joined the physics faculty at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1988.

Stanford University

In 2002, Drell was hired as associate director of research at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (then known as the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) where she oversaw the

BaBar experiment The BaBar experiment, or simply BaBar, is an international collaboration of more than 500 physicists and engineers studying the subatomic world at energies of approximately ten times the rest mass of a proton (~10 GeV). Its design was motivat ...

. In 2007, she was named the fourth director of SLAC, succeeding

Jonathan M. Dorfan Jonathan Manne Dorfan (born October 10, 1947) is a particle physicist and the President-Emeritus of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Graduate University. He is a former director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (1999–2 ...

. In November 2011, she announced her intention to step down as the head of SLAC and return to a position as a faculty member at Stanford. In September 2014, Drell became the ninth dean of the Stanford University School of Engineering, the first woman to serve in that role. In February 2017, Drell became the thirteenth provost of Stanford University. In March 2019, in response to the

2019 college admissions bribery scandal In 2019, a scandal arose over a criminal conspiracy to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. The investigation into the conspiracy was code named Operation Varsity Blues. The investigation and rela ...

, Drell announced that all varsity athletic recruits proposed by a Stanford coach for an athletic recommendation will face a background check from a Stanford Athletics executive. In May 2019, Drell released the Provost's Statement on Diversity and Inclusion.

Controversy

In 2019, Drell's administration began a cost-cutting agenda beginning with a proposal to discontinue funds for Stanford University Press, sparking controversy. Following outcry from students and faculty, Drell agreed to a stop-gap measure to fund the press for one additional year.

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript with Persis Drell on 4 May 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drell, Persis 1955 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American physicists Particle physicists American women physicists Provosts of Stanford University Stanford University Department of Physics faculty Cornell University faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni Wellesley College alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Hewlett Foundation American women academics 21st-century American women scientists