Name:            Sten
Job Title:       Electrical Engineer
Department:  Particle Physics Division – Electrical Engineering
Service:         30 years
Education:     Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Detroit

What are the best reasons to work at Fermilab?
The chance to be part of a worthwhile enterprise. The idea of discovery is a compelling one. The opportunity to work with smart, driven physicists.

What has been your most fun experience at Fermilab?
Working on detector systems with young, enthusiastic post-doctoral researchers. There is a very satisfying learning process going in two directions. I learn about the physics goals of the experiment how they drive the performance requirements of the detector systems; the post-doc gets a crash course in practical electronics.

What do you like best about your job?
The interactions with the physicists. You are constantly being challenged. It has been fun to do work on a volunteer basis for the Quarknet physics education program.

When you came to Fermilab, did you anticipate having the level of responsibility you currently have?
I have never thought about responsibility in such specific terms. There is the particular moment when you get a little flutter in your stomach when a proposal is accepted – you now have to deliver on your claims. In a more general sense, there is the responsibility to produce the best device you can for the most reasonable outlay of resources.

What do you see as the greatest opportunity at Fermilab?
To be part of the next phase of development in particle physics. The field is in transition from the Tevatron era to high intensity physics in the U.S. while the highest energy physics is will now be in Europe. Fermilab engineers are involved in projects located at CERN and other facilities abroad.

What is the most important thing that keeps you working at Fermilab?
The fact that I don’t have to give such a question any thought.

Anything else to add? The work here is very wide ranging. I have worked on detectors for fixed target and colliding beam experiments, controls for the Sloan telescope and more recently instrumentation for accelerators.