Stanford and SLAC

On an oak-studded hillside a mere two miles from Stanford University lies the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC). Run by Stanford for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), SLAC is home to a 2-mile-long linear accelerator, a synchrotron and the world’s most powerful X-ray laser. Experiments there probe everything from the most intricate molecular details of artwork or cellular structures to the origins of the universe and materials for better batteries. SLAC's scientific mission has diversified from an original focus on particle physics and accelerator science to include cosmology, materials and environmental sciences, biology, chemistry and alternative energy research.

SLAC is one of 17 DOE national laboratories that tackle the critical scientific challenges of our time. The most comprehensive research system of its kind in the world, DOE labs take a multidisciplinary approach to translating basic science into innovation. As one of 10 labs stewarded by the DOE Office of Science – the nation’s biggest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences – SLAC supports the office’s mission in the development, construction and operation of unique, open-access scientific user facilities.

The relationship between SLAC and Stanford goes back 60 years, to a meeting where Stanford physicists helped plot construction of the linear accelerator. Since that time, collaborations between Stanford and SLAC scientists contributed to four Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry. Now their proximity supports several joint research centers and institutes and creates unparalleled opportunities for Stanford faculty and students to investigate the world we live in and solve real-world challenges.

The President of Stanford appoints the SLAC Board of Overseers and charges them with providing comprehensive and independent oversight of SLAC’s mission, science and operations for the University and DOE. The Board’s role is to provide guidance, oversight and advice to the President of Stanford and SLAC management with respect to the scientific and technical direction of SLAC and its long-range objectives, laboratory operations, budget and facility plans, land use, outreach, technology transfer, personnel matters and risk management, as well as the relationship with DOE.

The Board operates through four standing committees chaired by senior Stanford officials associated with the committee’s functional areas as noted below, with the exception of the Scientific Policy Committee. This committee Chair is nominated by the Laboratory Director, approved by the Board Chair and invited to serve on the Scientific Policy Committee by the President of Stanford. Committee Chairs and the Board Chair appoint leaders from peer national laboratories, universities, and Stanford to serve as committee members.