The American Physical Society (APS) has honored a physicist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory for her work building a community for early-career researchers.
ORNL Research and Development Associate Brennan Hackett received the Distinguished Service Award from APS’ Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP) for organizing networking events aimed at welcoming young scientists to the prestigious professional organization.
“For more than a century, APS has been the leading society in our chosen field of physics, which makes an award from APS a significant, and appropriate, marker of achievement for Brennan,” said ORNL Physics Division Director Marcel Demarteau. “In only a short time since her return to ORNL, Brennan has made substantial contributions to some of our flagship projects. We can’t wait to see what she will do in the future.”
Hackett shared the award with her fellow event organizer Rebecca Toomey from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The two were the youngest researchers to ever receive the honor. The award “is intended to recognize those who have made substantial and extensive contributions to the nuclear physics community,” according to APS.
“This is an impressive honor for such an early-career researcher to receive, and those of us who know Brennan know it reflects her character,” said Cynthia Jenks, associate laboratory director for Physical Sciences at ORNL. “Brennan’s scientific merit is matched by her dedication to opening science to a new generation of researchers.”
Hackett and Toomey spent the past five years organizing community-building and networking events for early-career scientists at the APS DNP’s annual meeting, an event that can be overwhelming for newer researchers.
“It can be really difficult for young researchers to understand how to navigate the environment of a professional society like APS and for them to find opportunities to be involved,” Hackett said. “We felt that creating a community at this annual event was extremely important for Ph.D. retention, professional growth and building excitement about science.”
Hackett said an important feature of the sessions was that they brought in both experienced speakers and early-career scientists to present their journey, making the event more relatable for all attendees.
The most recent event Hackett and Toomey organized was called "Navigating Change." It was focused on teaching scientists how research is funded and how they can find opportunities to advocate for research and development resources. This new event was meant to empower the next generation of early-career scientists to understand how they can have an impact and get involved in professional societies.
Hackett received her bachelor and master’s degrees in physics from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom and earned her Doctorate in Physics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She joined ORNL as a graduate research assistant in 2018. She performed her postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, Germany, then returned to ORNL in 2024 as a neutrino scientist.
Hackett’s work at ORNL focuses on next-generation detector technologies, including the development of specialized scintillating materials for the ORNL-led Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless Double beta decay, or LEGEND. She is also leading development of an optical detection system for the COHERENT collaboration’s liquid argon detector, which aims to make the first precision measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nuclear scattering on argon.
“Brennan shows great concern and regard for her fellow scientists every day, so it makes sense that she would be honored by APS for helping build communities among researchers,” said senior staff researcher Jason Newby, who leads ORNL’s Neutrinos Research Group. “She is an outstanding physicist and a wonderful human being, as well.”
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
-- Greg Cunningham
