Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Brookings
Physics and Mathematics ,
After earning a B.S. in Physics and a B.S in Mathematics from South Dakota State University in 1979. Gerald Charles Blazey received a Ph.D. in experimental particle physics in 1986 from the University of Minnesota with a study of sub-nuclear pion-proton scattering. As a research scientist with the University of Rochester, he contributed to the design, construction and operation of the DZero proton-antiproton detector at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. His research focused on quantum chromodynamics, or the theory of quarks and gluons. After joining Northern Illinois University, he was promoted to professor in 1998 and subsequently appointed a distinguished research professor. He also founded and served as director of the Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development at NIU. From 2002 to 2006, he served as co-spokesperson for the DZero experiment and in 2005 was elected as fellow of the American Physical Society while on leave from NIU, he served the country as program manager for the International Linear Collider for the Department of Energy from 2007 to 2010 and as assistant director for the physical sciences in the Executive Office of the President from 2011 to 2014. Blazey’s wife Jean is a 1979 graduate of the SDSU College of Nursing.