Say no, Jerry!

Physicist Gerald C. Blazey has had an illustrious career at NIU that spanned a high-profile co-appointment with Fermilab, a stint in the Obama administration, and seven years as head of the university’s research program. will retire on June 30th.

Jerry Blazey, vice president for research and innovation partnerships at Northern Illinois University, said:

Blazey is currently Vice President of Research and Innovation Partnerships (RIPS). In response to his announcement, NIU President Lisa C. Freeman said the university was conducting a nationwide search for Blasey’s replacement, leading to a search committee led by Bob Brinkman, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. said to be killed.

“Dr. Blazey has been a valued member of the NIU community for over 25 years and is grateful for his peers, outstanding work and leadership in the Department of Physics and Research and Innovation Partnerships in Washington, DC.” Dr. Freeman noted that Blazey recently spearheaded the development of the planned $23 million Northern Illinois Community Sustainability Center (NICCS).

“Fortunately, we will be able to benefit from Jerry’s talent for another school year,” added Freeman. “In the meantime, I have full confidence in Dr. Brinkman’s ability to continue to find someone based on the momentum generated by Jerry, his team, and our faculty.”

RIPS Vice-Chancellors play a key role in advancing the mission of the University by supporting individual researchers, building teams, and collaborating between units and with other institutions. It has driven extraordinary growth in fundraising. Non-COVID-19 funding exceeded $42 million, an increase of nearly 40% over the past five years and an 11% increase from last year.

Illinois recently announced that it will begin the design phase of NICCS. The center is part of the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN), a group of research and innovation hubs under development funded by the State of Illinois, designed to accelerate Illinois’ economic growth while addressing critical global issues. intended to promote. In addition to her administrative role on campus with NICCS, Blazey is the first chairman of her Illinois Innovation Network Council, which coordinates collaboration among IIN members.

Blazey last year launched a strategy development team to work with the departments of university progress and outreach, engagement and community development to explore new ways to create, enhance and fund transformative university projects. supported

“It’s the right time for me and the university,” said Blazey, a fellow of the American Physical Society, of his retirement announcement. “Our research and innovation company is growing, we are making strides towards greater interdisciplinary collaboration among our faculty, and the new NICCS Center is on the horizon. A cohesive and amazing team, the next VP has all the ingredients to take research and innovation to the next level.”

A scientist specializing in high-energy particle physics, Blazey assumed his current position in May 2015. From 2011 to his 2014, he served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Office of the President of the United States. In that role, he was involved in formulating President Obama’s budgets for the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and also participated in exascale his computing and quantum physics and geopolitical initiatives. . Prior to that, he spent four years working for the DOE’s Office of Science, where he was program manager for the International Linear He Collider Program.

Dr. Blazey also had an illustrious career as an NIU faculty member before working in intergovernmental human resources in Washington, DC. In 1996 he came to NIU after working at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia. At NIU, he helped found and served as co-director of the Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development, ultimately leading the establishment of the largest and most diverse group of universities in accelerator science and technology in the nation.

With NIU support, Blazey served two terms as co-spokesperson for Fermilab’s international DZero collaboration in the world’s leading experiment in particle physics. His efforts contributed to important discoveries and helped establish techniques that laid the foundation for advances in the field of accelerator physics.

In 2000, Blazey was awarded the NIU Presidential Research Professorship. This is the university’s highest honor for outstanding research. He was later named Presidential Scientific Advisor to his NIU. This is a position that supports university leadership in developing scientific initiatives and is responsible for coordinating university research with federal laboratories.

“University is a fascinating and rewarding place to work. I am extremely grateful for my years at NIU and the support it has provided throughout my career,” says Blazey. I am also honored to have had the opportunity to work collaboratively with my highly qualified and dedicated colleagues. ”