John Anderson to retire – April 29
[John Anderson, Jr.]
After more than three decades at Fermilab, John Anderson, Jr. will retire on Friday, April 29. He first started at the lab in 1980 as an interlock technician, and then left in 1986 to finish his degree. Anderson returned to the lab in 1991, and spent the next 30 years in various roles. He was an interlock engineer and group leader, an ES&H department head and senior safety officer in the accelerator division, an associate head in the office of the CSO, and a PIP-II project ES&H manager.
Anderson says one of the most memorable projects he worked on was the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. As originally presented to him, the project was supposed to be about 10% of his time for six months. Roughly four years later, with thousands of hours invested by Paul Czarapata, Glen Federwitz, Angela Prosapio and Anderson, they completed the wind baffle motion control, and telescope and instrument change safety interlock systems. Contributions to the telescope construction earned all of them a “Builder of the SDSS” designation.
Anderson’s most significant recognition was on Sept. 22, 2016, at the DOE Accelerator Safety Workshop hosted at Fermilab. He was honored by being presented with the DOE Accelerator Safety Program Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Scott Davis, Accelerator Safety Program Manager in the DOE Office of Science.
Anderson notes several significant individuals with whom he has worked over the years: Lia Merminga, Chris Mossey, Paul Czarapata, Arkadiy Klebaner, Martha Michels, Steve Holmes, Amber Kenney, Sergei Nagaitsev and Roger Dixon.
In retirement, Anderson plans to spend more time with his four kids and six grandkids, and travel extensively with his wife Janet for the next year or two in their RV. He would like to spend more time on his ancestry research and visiting the places his ancestors lived.
An informal reception is being planned, but details are not yet available. We wish John all the best as he retires!