NIST and JILA Fellow Ana Maria Rey
Ana Maria Rey has been appointed a NIST Fellow as of August 21,2017 by the Acting Director of NIST. JILA is a research and training partnership between the University of Colorado and NIST, and Ana Maria is one of the several JILA Fellows who are NIST employees. Ana Maria was named a NIST Fellow in recognition of her world-leading program in quantum theory, her pioneering work in quantum many-body physics, and her continuing powerful collaborations with experimentalists at JILA, at NIST, and across the world.
NIST Fellow is the highest scientific position at NIST, and is limited to no more than 40 of the more than 1,800 scientific employees across the organization who demonstrate unique scientific leadership and innovation. The NIST Director also relies on the NIST Fellows to provide advice and guidance about current and future research directions for the organization. Ana Maria joins Eric Cornell, David Nesbitt, Jun Ye, and Judah Levine as JILA Fellows who are also NIST Fellows.
“It’s a great honor for me,” Ana Maria said. “NIST has been part of my life, my research and my career since I did my PhD thesis work with Charles Clark of NIST. I chose to become a theoretical physicist because I heard (NIST Nobel Laureate) Bill Phillips giving a talk at NIST.”
“Becoming a NIST Fellow is the latest of many well-deserved honors for Ana Maria in her enormously productive scientific career,” said Tom O’Brian, Ana Maria’s NIST supervisor at JILA. “Ana Maria has a huge impact on JILA, NIST, and the international scientific community. She and her group have the unique ability to fully collaborate with experimentalists. They have developed new theory that directly advances experiments such as the world’s best atomic clocks, world-leading programs in ultracold molecules, and world-record entanglement of ions for quantum simulation––among many other accomplishments. Ana Maria is also an exceptional mentor and teacher, preparing her graduate students and postdoctoral researchers for highly productive careers of their own. JILA and NIST are extremely fortunate to have Ana Maria’s leadership.”
Congratulations to Ana Maria.