Temple Physics Professor Zein-Eddine Meziani (left) and his postdoctoral researcher Brad Sawatzky prepare a Threshold Cherenkov Detector during recent tests they conducted at the Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory in Newport News, Va.

Sawatzky has been awarded the first-ever Jefferson Science Associates Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Jefferson Lab.

The fellowship honors nuclear physics postdocs who have a record of accomplishment in physics and whose planned research will have a high impact on the Jefferson Lab physics program.

Sawatzky will use the fellowship's $10,000 grant for Jefferson-related research to purchase and assemble components of a flash-ADC-based data acquisition system. This cutting-edge electronics system, which is still in development, may allow researchers to record five times more scientific data than they can currently capture.

The fellowship was initiated by the JLab user’s group board of directors, representing roughly 1,200 scientists, including Meziani, who conduct research at the Jefferson Lab.

“We had a number of excellent fellowship candidates, which made the process of choosing the winner both more difficult and longer than I expected. Brad Sawatzky’s research proposal was chosen because he has been outstanding in all aspects of experimental physics,” said Ron Gilman, board chairman and a professor at Rutgers University.