J. Patrick Looney Named Brookhaven Lab's Assistant Laboratory Director for Policy and Strategic Planning
July 14, 2005
UPTON, NY - J. Patrick Looney, a physicist who was Assistant Director for Physical Sciences and Engineering at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in Washington, D.C., has been named Assistant Laboratory Director for Policy and Strategic Planning at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory. After joining the Laboratory in February on a part-time basis, he took on his new position full-time on July 1.
Brookhaven Lab Director Praveen Chaudhari created the new position to help increase funding for the Laboratory's scientific programs. Brookhaven is funded primarily by DOE, and, for fiscal year 2005, the total Laboratory budget is $467 million.
Chaudhari said, "As Brookhaven continues to experience an extended period of flat or slightly reduced DOE funding, we have a stronger need than ever for an individual who can focus on strategic planning for the present and future of this Laboratory and also maintain and build relationships with key policy-making personnel. Patrick Looney brings a host of policy-making and strategic planning skills to the Laboratory."
Specifically, Looney will oversee Brookhaven's business plan, which develops the direction of its scientific programs, as well as the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, a competitive program for Brookhaven scientists in which Brookhaven Lab designates funding for highly innovative and exploratory research that fits into the mission of the Laboratory. Looney will also be responsible for the Laboratory's technology transfer functions, including collaborations with industry and work for others; and for increasing funding from sources other than DOE.
According to Looney, the three major strategic thrusts currently at Brookhaven are: the soon-to-be-built Center for Functional Nanomaterials, where scientists will study and make materials at the atomic level, with the aim of understanding how to improve materials' chemical or physical functioning; the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a proposed new facility that would extend the limits of the current Light Source by producing x-rays more than 10,000 times brighter for basic and applied research in numerous sciences; and the development of the QCD Lab, the coupling of Brookhaven's world-class accelerator, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and a nuclear theory component to propel Brookhaven to the forefront of nuclear physics research worldwide. This includes Brookhaven's proposed upgrade of RHIC to RHIC II, which would increase the collider's rate of particle interactions by tenfold.
"I am very impressed with the outstanding science at Brookhaven," Looney said. "My view of management's role is to facilitate such science, which is the prime work product at Brookhaven. Since I've been responsible for the oversight for all physical sciences in federal programs, including the Department of Energy, my experience translates well into how to position Brookhaven Lab to compete for new funds."
After earning a B.S. in physics from the University of Delaware in 1984, Looney went on to Penn State University, where he earned two more degrees in physics: an M.S. in 1986, and a Ph.D. in 1987. From 1987 to 2002, Looney held several research positions at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, eventually becoming a program analyst, responsible for developing policy and program plans for all aspects of NIST research. In March 2002, Looney became the Assistant Director, Physical Sciences and Engineering, in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he worked closely with other White House offices, including the Office of Management and Budget, to coordinate policy development and set budget priorities. Looney is a Fellow of the AVS American Science & Technology Society.
2005-10352 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
