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<i>Sent on behalf of Andrew Hutton</i><br>
<br>
Geoff Krafft has been the Director of CASA for the last seven years
and has done an outstanding job. Under his leadership, the 12 GeV
design was finalized and accelerator physics support provided to the
12 GeV Project; the 12 GeV commissioning was successfully organized
and carried out; the MEIC design made significant progress; and many
other smaller accelerator physics tasks were completed successfully.
At the same time, Geoff has also regularly taught an introductory
course on accelerator physics at ODU, an area where he excels.
During this time, Geoff has not been able to spend as much time as
he would have liked on “real” accelerator physics as administrative
duties have taken priority. Geoff has now asked to have his
administrative load reduced so that he can spend more time on
research, and I have agreed to his request. <br>
<br>
One of the things that Geoff points to with pride is his mentorship
of Mike Spata, who has been the Deputy Director of CASA for the last
year and is now ready to step up to take the leadership role. Mike
started his career at Stony Brook University, moving to JLab to
participate in CEBAF commissioning. Mike rapidly rose to become the
MCC Group Leader, acquiring a solid reputation for his
organizational abilities, particularly for his leadership in the
renovation of the control room. In this period, Mike was also
responsible for coordinating the installation and commissioning of
the HKS II experiment (a million pounds of equipment from Japan),
earning praise from our Japanese colleagues for his professional
attitude and effectiveness. Mike joined CASA in 2007 to participate
in the development of the beamline model and to manage the
diagnostics, high-level applications, safety systems and extraction
for the 12 GeV Upgrade. Mike was also the lead CASA scientist on
commissioning planning. In parallel, Mike returned to school,
obtaining his PhD in accelerator physics in 2012. <br>
<br>
As of July 16, Mike Spata will become the Director of CASA, and
Geoff will be appointed as a CASA Fellow while acting as Deputy CASA
Director until October. Geoff will be able to spend more time on
accelerator physics theory and to mentor the junior members of CASA,
as well as spending more time on outreach activities. Please join
me in wishing Geoff and Mike success in their new roles and in
helping them to be successful. <br>
<br>
Andrew Hutton<br>
Associate Director, Accelerators<br>
<br>
<br>
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