NSD Director

Dr. James Symons is a Senior Physicist, and Director of the Nuclear Science Division, at the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). He received his B.A. degree in Physics in 1972 and DPhil. from Oxford University in 1976. Dr. Symons joined LBNL as a postdoctoral fellow in 1977.

Dr. Symons’ research interests are in experimental nuclear physics, including nuclear structure and relativistic heavy ion collisions. He is a member of the STAR experiment at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. STAR is a large experiment with the goal of understanding the properties of matter in the first few seconds after the Big Bang.

Dr. Symons is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has served on numerous national and international panels, including the DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) which he chaired from 2000-2002. During his term as NSAC chair, Dr. Symons led the development of a new national long range plan for nuclear science.