Don Rej is the Laboratory’s new acting Office of Science Program Manager, replacing former program manager B. Ray Stults, who left to take a position at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Rej had been the acting director of the Science and Technology Base (STB) Programs Office. Before taking the lead at STB, Rej was leader of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) Division, which helped build the SNS at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
“As program manager for the Los Alamos portion of SNS, Don has gained valuable expertise dealing with the Office of Science on one of its leading projects. I am quite confident in Don's abilities to lead the Office of Science programs here at Los Alamos,” said Associate Director for Strategic Research (ADSR) Terry Wallace.
The DOE Office of Science invests approximately $90 million annually in a broad portfolio of research at the Laboratory. The program manager is responsible for overseeing this portfolio. A national search for a permanent Office of Science program manager will begin later this year.
Replacing Rej as acting STB leader will be Terry Lowe, former Materials Science and Technology (MST) deputy division leader. Most recently, Lowe served as acting program manager for division and program reviews, working at the behest of the University of California President’s Office to assess the quality of the science and technology conducted at the Laboratory.
According to Wallace, “Terry Lowe has brought tremendous energy and talent to the DRC/PRC process, and I believe that he will bring a similar strong leadership to STB.”
In other changes in ADSR, Duncan McBranch will be the acting leader of the Technology Transfer (TT) Division, replacing Donna Smith who is retiring.
McBranch is currently a technical staff member in the Chemistry (C) Division, working with the Softmatter Nanotechnology Team to accelerate the commercialization of quantum dot technologies. Prior to founding QTL Biosystems in 2000, a Santa Fe start up company that licensed and developed Los Alamos technologies, McBranch was a technical principal investigator and team leader in C Division.
“I am sorry to see Donna go, but am just as pleased to have Duncan move into this position,” said Wallace. “He brings a unique combination of technology and commercialization leadership that will be essential if the Laboratory is to continue to realize commercial value from its strategic R&D investments.”
