Susan Ting

Institute
MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Biographical Sketch

Dr. Susan Mark Ting heads the Administration and Communication (A&C) group of the Electromagnetic Interactions (EMI) group of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science, MIT.  A&C was established on 1 October 1983, to assist the MIT-EMI leadership in the complex administrative and logistic demands of the international collaborative effort then being mounted, L3, at LEP/CERN.  The L3 experiment was conducted from 1981 to 2003 at the 27 km LEP Collider and involved 600 physicists from 20 countries including the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, both East and West Germany, Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, India and Pakistan, and 12 other countries. 

Dr. Ting continues here responsibilities with the AMS experiment on the International Space Station.  AMS is the unique precision magnetic spectrometer which measures charged cosmic rays in the rigidity range from GV to TV.  In 14.5 years, AMS has collected over $2.6 \times 10^{11}$ events.  The results from AMS have completely changed our understanding of the production and propagation of cosmic rays.  None of the results can be explained by the current cosmic ray models.  The AMS results require the development of new theoretical models of cosmic rays.

Dr. Ting commutes between MIT and CERN to complete her responsibilities.  

The mission of the A&C Group remains to provide the MIT-EMI group with administrative, fiscal and logistic support though functional links between the MIT-EMI group and DOE, the MIT-EMI group and LNS administrations, the AMS international collaborators, NASA, the media and CERN.

A&C is composed of Ph.D. physicists with the following responsibilities:

  1. Preparing the EMI group’s budget proposals to the Dept. of Energy.
  2. Preparing press releases on major experimental results for the American Physical Society and for leading periodicals such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.
  3. Preparing detailed brochures for experiments of the EMI group, L3, AMS-01 on the Space Shuttle, AMS-02 on the International Space Station.  These brochures are presented to the scientists and politicians who visit AMS.  
    The brochures and the press information packages were produced by the A&C Group in close cooperation with the MIT-EMI Group.  These highlight the unique and important contributions from each collaborating country in AMS.  This recognition has been valuable in obtaining support from the AMS collaborating countries’ funding agencies as well for media interest and visibility of AMS around the world.  The A&C Group continues to interact closely with the 14-member nation AMS international collaboration and NASA on administrative and logistical issues.
  4. Participating in selecting new members to join AMS.
  5. Monitoring accounts and financial transaction between MIT and CERN.
  6. Preparing briefing materials for the AMS Principal Investigator to testify in Congressional hearings.

The A&C Group reports to the Director of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science.