Message from the Director General at the beginning of 2007
As this is a year of Boar, which is said to attack fiercely in a strait line, I should relate to this today.
I think three types of people are very important here to get KEK going. The first type is young people for obvious reason. The second is people from outside. This is important to keep the organization from rusting. We welcome new point of views. The third is people who push themselves hard into the direction to achieve a goal. Needless to say, that the last type is the Boa type. To get the J-PARC project really going, we need the third type more than ever. I would say that I belong to the third type myself.
After I became the DG of KEK, I am pleasantly surprised to find out that KEK is very highly regarded internationally. Since I had been in non-accelerator field for neutrino researches, I was not fully aware interested in getting more collaboration with KEK. The President of India was originally a researcher on rockets and he has been eager to get young generations into scientific fields.
In the mean time, I have walked through KEK to find out KEK employees’ view. I have been to 50 groups to exchange ideas. Then I did receive many complaints, more than I anticipated. I think KEK have been getting through too much in too short a time, there are many conflicts we need to rectify. The first thing I am planning to do is to review the management structure and make it a better system. The second is to link between different fields of research. This would promote wider view on the way we carry out our researches. I would promote people to wear more than one hat. The third is to bring out excellent successors for the future. I will announce people of outstanding work at the beginning of each year.
KEK is in a transition period for the next few years in both research activities and in management. The J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex) project at Tokai Campus will be completing construction of its accelerators and is heading for the first experiment period.
The J-PARC will be the place for researches on particles, nuclei, material science, life science and so forth. Electron-positron colliding-beam accelerator (KEKB) in Tsukuba Campus has been fully utilized taking an advantage of world highest beam intensity for this type. We expect more results on the difference between particle and its anti-particle. In the same time, we start various R&D efforts for future research projects, such as International Linear Collider project (ILC) and the next synchrotron radiation project, Energy Recovery Linac (ERL), to stay on a leading role in world-wide researches.
Two years past since the reform of KEK into an Inter-University Research Institute Corporation. We are given 6 years to adjust ourselves to the new status as an independent corporation, after which period, we need to show how well we have worked it out. I consider the first two years to be an introductory years to learn and digest the reality of it. The second two years should be the time to get the real actions going, the last two years to be the time to further develop what we learnt from the 2nd period. We are entering the 2nd period where we will review operation and management scheme, enhancing good parts and modifying inadequate parts, taking advantage of our new status being less restricted by the governmental regulations. These improvements will enhance research activities in a long run.
I shall do my best to get as much outside support as possible as the facility for researchers from all over the world. I ask all the KEK employees to work hard together to get KEK going. I shall also welcome good suggestions from anyone.
Director General , Atsuto Suzuki
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