[Cuga] A message from the Physics Division

[Jodi Patient]

To the Jefferson Lab User Community, 

As some of you may have already heard, Volker Burkert has announced 
his intention to step down from the Hall B Group Leader position as 
soon as a new Hall Leader can be appointed by Jefferson Lab management. 
We will set up a search committee to cast a wide and international 
search for qualified candidates shortly. 

Volker made this announcement at a high point for Hall B. The CLAS12 
construction was successfully completed last year, and with multiple 
international contributions to ancillary detectors what has resulted 
is a superb modern detector. This large-acceptance spectrometer has 
been designed to both withstand high luminosity operation with electron 
beams, and to fully reconstruct and characterize nuclear reactions with
multiple particles in the final state with specialized tracking and 
particle identification systems, some on the cutting edge of technology. 
The first 12-GeV physics data has been taken, and exciting scientific 
results are anticipated to emerge shortly. 

Beyond having been the Hall B Leader for over 15 years, Volker indisputably 
is accepted as one of the worldwide leaders in the N* and GPD scientific 
programs. The progress in our understanding of the spectrum of excited states 
of the nucleon is easily verified by the progress shown in the Particle Data 
Booklet over the last decade. Volker has also been one of the groundbreaking 
contributors to the GPD science case towards the three-dimensional imaging of 
the quark structure of the nucleon, a flagship of the Jefferson Lab 12-GeV 
scientific program. A recent article in Nature related to the pressure 
distribution in the nucleon, co-authored by Volker, follows analysis of 6-GeV 
results and shows exciting prospects for our 12-GeV program. 

You will see an advertisement towards a search for a new Hall B Group Leader 
shortly, and we will work with Volker towards a successful transition. We do 
thank Volker for his stellar contributions to Jefferson Lab and CLAS science, 
to CLAS12 construction, development of its science case, for his over 15 years 
as Hall B Group Leader, and for his undoubtedly further scientific efforts.