Natalie Roe, Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences, will retire this month after almost four decades in particle physics and cosmology research at Berkeley Lab
Natalie joined Berkeley Lab in 1989 as a postdoctoral fellow, having earned her Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University and her undergraduate degree (also in physics) from Harvard University. In 2012, she became the director of Berkeley Lab’s Physics Division, and she was appointed Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences in July 2020.
As Physics Division Director and as ALD, she has overseen many successful physics experiments, expanding Berkeley Lab’s research efforts in dark matter, dark energy, cosmic microwave background (CMB), as well as broader approaches in quantum information science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Her efforts include guiding experiments like the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Kitt Peak, Arizona, and the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Experiment in South Dakota, through construction, commissioning, and transition to operations. She oversaw upgrades for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the ATLAS Experiment, and the construction of the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array (GRETA). She has also managed significant scientific contributions to Daya Bay, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), the Mu2e muon-to-electron-conversion experiment, the Proton Improvement Plan II, and the Linac Coherent Light Source-II High Energy (LCLS-II-HE). She also initiated a Lab-wide project management support framework to improve support for smaller initiatives like CUPID (Cuore Upgrade with Particle Identification) and TESSERACT (Transition-Edge Sensors with Sub-EV Resolution And Cryogenic Targets).
Natalie’s scientific career spans a variety of research topics in particle physics and cosmology, ranging from W boson studies at the Fermilab Tevatron, to CP violation studies at the SLAC B Factory, to dark energy studies with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and DESI. She has cultivated an enduring interest in instrumentation, including work on the D-Zero electromagnetic calorimeter, leading the design and construction of the Silicon Vertex Tracker for the BaBar experiment at SLAC, and serving as the Instrument Scientist for BOSS. As group leader for Berkeley Lab’s MicroSystems Laboratory for nearly a decade, she was responsible for the fabrication of the charge-coupled devices (CCDs) used in both the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and BOSS. In 2012, she initiated Berkeley Lab’s Interdisciplinary Instrumentation Colloquium, an event that is still held regularly to facilitate information exchange and interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers at Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, the Space Sciences Laboratory, and collaborating institutions.
As an active advocate for Berkeley Lab’s stewardship values, Roe has championed diversity, inclusion, and career advancement opportunities, cultivating a robust workforce and recruiting talented early career scientists who are now successful leaders in their fields. She helped launch the Physical Sciences Area Mentoring Program in 2020, and she has expanded the Area’s supervisor training program to support both new and seasoned managers in engaging more effectively and efficiently with their teams. She was a founding member of Berkeley Lab’s Women Scientists and Engineers Council (WSEC) in 2008, now known as the Women’s Support & Empowerment Council, and she serves as an executive sponsor of the Lab’s Early Career Employee Resource Group. During her tenure as ALD, she has expanded the Area leadership and communications team, and led the recruitment of key leadership positions, including division directors for the Physics, Nuclear Science, Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP), and Engineering Divisions.
Natalie is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She chaired the 2024 HEPAP Facilities Subpanel and is a past chair of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Particles and Fields. She has served on a variety of national and international advisory committees, including the National Academy of Sciences Elementary Particle Physics (EPP) Panel, the DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP), the CERN Scientific Policy Committee, the Fermilab Physics Advisory Committee (FNAL PAC), the International Committee on Future Accelerators (ICFA), the NSF Physics Division Committee of Visitors, the SNOLAB Experiment Advisory Committee (EAC), the TRIUMF Particle Physics Experimental Evaluation Committee (PP-EEC), the NOIRLab Management Oversight Committee, and the DESY Scientific Council.
In this short career highlights tribute video, several of Natalie’s colleagues expressed their appreciation for her research and leadership, as well as gratitude for her support and advocacy over many remarkable years at Berkeley Lab.
