Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) granted tenure effective August 1 to five Brookhaven scientists: Michael Blaskiewicz, Collider-Accelerator Department (C-AD); Jamie Dunlop, Physics Department; Alexei Fedotov, C-AD; Etsuko Fujita, Chemistry Department; and Huilin Li, Biology Department. Tenure appointments are granted by action of the BSA Board after a rigorous selection procedure overseen by the BSA Science & Technology Steering Committee. In making tenure decisions, the BSA Board is advised by members of the Brookhaven Council, an elected body that advises the Director on matters affecting the scientific staff. This is the fourth in a series of profiles.

Alexei Fedotov Receives Tenure

Alexei Fedotov

Alexei Fedotov

Alexei Fedotov has received tenure based on his important contributions to the Lab's Collider-Accelerator Department (C-AD). Fedotov is known for his rigorous particle accelerator theories and experiments that were successfully applied at Oak Ridge Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and are now being used to develop electron cooling for Brookhaven's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the future, electron-ion collider eRHIC.

"Dr. Fedotov has established himself as an outstanding accelerator physicist whose original scientific work and leadership are internationally recognized," said C-AD Chair Derek Lowenstein. "His work on electron cooling of RHIC established the feasibility of luminosity [collision rates] enhancement for RHIC and eRHIC. He deserves recognition for his initiative, creativity, team spirit, and productivity."

Fedotov joined BNL in 1999 to help design the SNS accumulator ring, a neutron-producing particle accelerator. From 2001 to 2003, he led the SNS Ring Beam Dynamics team analyzing interactions that would affect and limit beam intensity. Fedotov's efforts to mitigate these interactions helped produce the most intensely pulsed neutron beams in the world.

Since 2003, Fedotov's work has been crucial in developing an electron cooling technique for planned future RHIC endeavors. Electron cooling employs cold electrons traveling along RHIC's ion beams to transfer thermal energy, or heat, away from the warm particles of the ion beams. This energy transfer cools the ion beams, which increases the density of particles in each ion beam and leads to increased collision rates. Fedotov's work with theories, experiments, and simulations was instrumental in establishing an accurate description of the cooling process using a magnetized electron beam. More recently, Fedotov has worked to develop a non-magnetized cooling approach that is less expensive and more robust than earlier versions.

Fedotov earned his undergraduate and masters degree's from Novosibirsk State University in Russia while working as a research assistant at Budker Institute for Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk and as a visiting scientist at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland in 1997 and worked there as a research associate before coming to BNL in 1999. He was appointed physicist in 2003 and was awarded a continuing appointment in 2005.

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