Kerstin Borras becomes APS Fellow

Important American award for DESY scientist

Kerstin Borras. Bild: DESY

Kerstin Borras, Leading Scientist at DESY and Helmholtz Professor at RWTH Aachen University, was today appointed a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). She is honoured for her “outstanding contributions to particle physics including providing exemplary leadership at DESY, Fermilab, and CERN."

Kerstin Borras is very experienced in managing large international collaborations due to many years of collaboration. The Large Hadron Collider, the huge particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva, delivers particle collisions to four detectors. One of these huge detectors, the Compact Muon Solenoid or CMS, is Kerstin Borras’ scientific home. She is an expert for calorimeters, a special type of particle detector, and for the data analysis in the search for dark matter. She has also been involved in CMS management for a long time, most recently as deputy head of the entire research collaboration, which consists of more than 5300 people from over 50 countries.

"I am very honoured about this award," says Borras. "Our large international collaborations want to unravel the secrets of our universe together. This is an immense effort for the institutes and their staff on a global level. However, we must make sure to also not neglect the individual in the process. This requires a precise and very responsible management, which the fellowship reflects."

The American Physical Society has more than 50,000 members and is the second largest physics association in the world after the German Physical Society (DPG). Scientists who have made extraordinary contributions to research or important research or technology developments can be made Fellow. This honour is awarded annually to a maximum of half a percent of the APS members.