DRELL TO STEP DOWN AS SLAC DIRECTOR

Persis Drell is stepping down as the director of Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory after four years on the job. Drell made the announcement yesterday, saying that she was planning to return to research and teaching at Stanford after nearly a decade as a manager at the laboratory. Stanford Vice President Bill Madia and Roger Blandford, the director of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, will head up a search committee to find a replacement for Drell. Drell said she will stay on as laboratory director until the replacement is found.