SANTA CRUZ – The Santa Cruz Institute of Particle Physics saw a transition of leadership at the start of the new year after Steven Ritz, a professor of physics at UC Santa Cruz, stepped down as the director of the institute.
Ritz served as the director of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics for 10 years. He decided to pass on the duties as director to his successor in order to pursue other things within the institute. Ritz said he would like to focus his attention on new physics experiments, working closely with students and improve diversity within the department.
“Those are all things that need a lot of time and thought,” he said. “Not having administrative distractions will help with that.”
Jason Nielsen, another professor of physics at UCSC, took the reins on Jan. 1. Nielsen spent six years as the associate director of the institute under Ritz.
“I actually think when you have a job like this you should really start developing the next people who can do the job,” Ritz said. “We’ve been discussing this transition for quite a while. It’s really important to me when you have a job like this to do the mentoring and expose the people who are capable of taking over the job.”
Nielsen hit the ground running. He had just finished several recruiting calls before he spoke with the Sentinel on Wednesday afternoon.
“I’ve had a couple calls today with perspective graduate students that are attracted by all the things we do at the institute,” he said. “I think the main things that we see SCIPP has international recognition. It allows to recruit people that want to work in this environment.”
The Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics put the city and the university on the map within the international particle physics community. Students and faculty have had opportunities to participate in international experiments.
UCSC has played roles in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. The institute is also working in conjunction with the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center to develop a 3-gigapixel camera for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory that is being constructed in Chile.
While this work garners worldwide attention and recruiting for UCSC, the institute’s outreach doesn’t just extend to the international community. Nielsen said he wants to continue to promote outreach within the university’s backyard during his tenure.
One way in which the institute does that is through a clinic put on let high school students within the are learn more about particle physics. The institute has not hosted the event in person since 2019, due to the pandemic, but Nielsen wants to continue to get local students excited about science.
“For the day, high school students can participate through an online event. In a typical year we’d have them come to campus and work with graduate students and researchers,” he said. “That’s been pretty successful. We’ve had good feedback from high school students that participated in those events.”
The Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics extends its local outreach to all ages, as well. After the movie Particle Fever came out in 2013, the community became interested in particle physics, Ritz said. In response, the institute hosted a panel where community members could ask researchers at the institute questions.
“We love to do those kinds of events too and I’m looking forward to having more of them after we can all be together again,” Ritz said.
While education and research have been the focal point of the institute, both Nielsen and Ritz cited the culture as one of its most endearing qualities.
“There are a lot of really brilliant people that are really interested in the success of their colleagues. We all treat each other generally really well,” Ritz said. “People all work together and share space and collaborate. That’s just delightful.”
Nielsen credited Ritz with building a strong sense of community within researchers at the institute. One of his goals as the new director is to continue to foster that environment, he said.
The institute has a culture of collaboration amongst researchers, Nielsen said. Theorists will develop new models for physics, then they will collaborate with their experimentalist colleagues to make scientific discoveries and vice versa.
“Were built on a really collaborative environment. We have a really good working environment and community spirit there,” Nielsen said “People are really genuinely curious about what other people are working on.”
While Ritz has stepped down as the director, he still remains a part of the institute and the community that he nurtured there. He believes the future of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics is in good hands, and he looks forward to what the future brings.
“(Nielsen’s) doing a great job. It’s just been a thrill doing this and SCIPP is a place that keeps reinventing itself,” he said. “I’m sure it’s going to continue to evolve and strive. I’m looking forward to being part of it.”
