Elke Aschenauer Receives Brookhaven Town Women's Recognition Award

Elke Aschenauer receives Brookhaven Town Women's Recognition Award

May 20, 2026

UPTON, N.Y. — The Town of Brookhaven recently recognized Elke Aschenauer, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, with a Women’s Recognition Award for her contributions to science and leadership in the global research community. She was honored alongside a standout group of women recognized for their impact across fields including education, medicine, emergency response, and community service. 

Each honoree is nominated by members of the community and selected for their contributions to society. Aschenauer was recognized as a leader in science, representing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) among this year’s awardees. 

“It was really impressive to see what the other awardees are doing,” Aschenauer said. “Many are dedicating enormous time to their communities — organizing food banks, supporting vulnerable populations. It highlights how much impact individuals can have beyond their primary work.”  

Aschenauer serves as division director for detector systems for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) and co-associate director for the EIC experimental program at Brookhaven Lab. She has played a central role in shaping the scientific vision for the EIC — one of the DOE’s highest-priority nuclear physics projects — since its earliest stages. 

Born and educated in Europe, Aschenauer earned her master’s degree in physics from the University of Erlangen, Germany, and her Ph.D. from ETH Zürich. She began her career with a European Union fellowship and held research positions at NIKHEF and the University of Gent before joining the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron in Hamburg. There, she became a leading figure in the HERMES experiment, which explored the spin structure of the proton. 

She later moved to DOE’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), where she contributed to the 12 GeV upgrade project, before joining Brookhaven in 2009. Since then, she has led major initiatives in nuclear physics, including coordinating upgrades to the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and co-chairing key efforts that laid the groundwork for the EIC. The EIC is being built at Brookhaven Lab in partnership with Jefferson Lab. 

Over the course of her career, Aschenauer has authored or co-authored hundreds of scientific publications and has received numerous honors, including election as a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Humboldt Research Award, and the U.S. Department of Energy Secretary of Energy Achievement Award. 

Reflecting on her work, Aschenauer emphasized the collaborative nature of modern science and the global community that makes large-scale discoveries possible. 

“You need people from everywhere,” she said. “Science is the connecting glue; it brings together people from all over the world to build something bigger than any one country or institution.”  

Much of Aschenauer’s career has focused on helping bring major scientific projects from concept to reality — an opportunity she describes as rare and deeply rewarding. 

“The EIC is one of those unique chances where you can help develop the science case from the very beginning and then see it realized,” she said.  

She credits both persistence and perspective for her career path, noting that success in science often depends on a combination of preparation and opportunity. 

At the award ceremony, Aschenauer invited fellow honorees and community members to visit Brookhaven Lab and learn more about the EIC and the science taking place on Long Island. 

“I hope they will come and see what we are building here and be proud of it,” she said. 

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov. 

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