{{short description|American physicist and academic administrator}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Persis Drell | image = Drell Persis.jpg | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1955}} | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | education = {{Unbulleted list|Wellesley College (BA) |University of California, Berkeley (PhD)}} | doctoral_advisor = Eugene Commins | spouse = Jim Welch | thesis_title = Parity nonconservation in atomic thallium: the magnetic-field experiment | thesis_url = https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2b18b0pd | thesis_year = 1983 | father = Sidney Drell | fields = {{Hlist|Particle physics |particle astrophysics |X-ray FEL technology}} | workplaces = {{Unbulleted list|Stanford University School of Engineering|Cornell University |Stanford Linear Accelerator Center |Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory}} }}
'''Persis Sydney Drell''' (born 1955) is an American physicist who is the provost emerita and the James and Anna Marie Spilker Professor in the Stanford University School of Engineering, where she is also a professor of materials science and engineering, and a professor of physics. Prior to her appointment as provost, she was dean of the Stanford School of Engineering from 2014 to 2017 and director of the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Acceleratory Laboratory from 2007 to 2012. In 2025, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society.<ref>https://www.amphilsoc.org/news/aps-elects-new-members-2025</ref>
==Early life and education== Drell was born in 1955 in Boston, Massachusetts.<ref name=mercury-bio>{{Cite web |last=Krieger |first=Lisa M. |date=December 17, 2007 |title=Persis S. Drell biography |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/12/17/persis-s-drell-biography/ |work=The Mercury News}}</ref><ref name=aip>{{Cite web |url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/45286 |title=Oral History Interviews: Persis Drell |date=May 4, 2020 |publisher=American Institute of Physics}}</ref> The daughter of noted physicist Sidney Drell, Persis moved to Stanford when she was six months old.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kadvany |first=Elena |date=November 8, 2016 |title=Stanford University names engineering dean as new provost |url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2016/11/08/stanford-university-names-engineering-dean-as-new-provost/ |website=Palo Alto Online}}</ref> She earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics in 1977 from Wellesley College. She credits her physics professor, Phyllis Fleming, with her personal interest in the field, and at her encouragement, took several advanced physics courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.<ref name=":0" /> She then earned her Ph.D. in atomic physics in 1983 from the University of California, Berkeley, studying under Eugene Commins.<ref name="mercury-bio" /><ref name="aip" />
==Career== Drell began her career as a postdoctoral research associate at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a member of the Mark-II collaboration.<ref name=aip /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chui |first=Glennda |date=April 1, 2008 |title=Persis Drell: New SLAC director grapples with change |url=https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/marchapril-2008/persis-drell-new-slac-director-grapples-change |work=Symmetry}}</ref>
In 1988, Drell was appointed to the physics faculty at Cornell University and joined the CLEO collaboration working on heavy flavor physics. During her tenure, she was the deputy director of Cornell's Laboratory of Nuclear Studies and served as chair of the Synchrotron Radiation Committee.<ref name=sr>{{Cite web |last=Mead |first=Tom |date=May 1, 2002 |title=Renowned physicist Persis Drell joins SLAC as associate director for research |url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2002/may1/persis-51.html |work=The Stanford Report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231064216/http://news.stanford.edu/news/2002/may1/persis-51.html |archive-date=December 31, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2002, Drell joined the faculty at Stanford and was appointed associate director, particle and particle astrophysics (then known as research division) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (then known as the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), where she oversaw the BaBar experiment.<ref name=sr /> She joined the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Collaboration and participated in the construction of the Large Area Telescope. She became deputy director of the laboratory in 2005 and in 2007, she was named the fourth director of SLAC, succeeding Jonathan M. Dorfan. She stepped down from the lab director position in 2012 to return to full time research and teaching.<ref name=aip />
In September 2014, Drell was named dean of the Stanford School of Engineering, the first woman to serve in that role. In February 2017, Drell became the thirteenth provost of Stanford University. Drell stepped down from the Provost role in October 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hayward |first=Brad |date=November 7, 2016 |title=Persis Drell named Stanford provost |url=https://news.stanford.edu/2016/11/07/campus-announcement/ |work=Stanford News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Morgan |first=Zoe |date=May 3, 2023 |title=Stanford provost announces plans to step down this fall |url=https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2023/05/03/stanford-provost-announces-plans-to-step-down-this-fall/ |work=The Almanac}}</ref>
Drell was a member of Nvidia's board of directors for more than ten years, resigning in 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kif |first=Leswing |date=2026-01-23 |title=Nvidia director Persis Drell resigns with $26 million worth of stock after decade on board |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/23/nvidia-director-persis-drell-resigns-decade-on-board-26-million-stock.html |access-date=2026-01-25 |publisher=CNBC}}</ref>
===Recognition=== Drell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and a fellow of the American Physical Society and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krieger |first=Lisa M. |date=December 7, 2007 |title=Woman to lead atom smasher unit |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/12/07/woman-to-lead-atom-smasher-unit/ |work=The Mercury News}}</ref>
==Personal life== Drell is married to accelerator physicist Jim Welch.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Stanford Magazine |title=There's Good News and Bad News |url=https://stanfordmag.org/contents/there-s-good-news-and-bad-news |website=Stanford Magazine |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=16 March 2026 |language=en |date=1 March 2008}}</ref> They met in a chamber group at Cornell University.<ref name=":0" /> The couple has three children.<ref name=mercury-bio />
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://repository.aip.org/node/129371 Oral history interview transcript with Persis Drell on 4 May 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives] * {{Commons category-inline}}
{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box | before = John Etchemendy | title = Provost of Stanford University | years = 2017–2023 | after = Jenny Martinez }} {{s-bef | before = Jonathan M. Dorfan }} {{s-ttl | title = SLAC Director | years = Dec 2007 – Dec 2012 }} {{s-aft | after = Chi-Chang Kao }} {{s-end}} {{Stanford University}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drell, Persis}} Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century American physicists Category:American particle physicists Category:Provosts of Stanford University Category:Stanford University Department of Physics faculty Category:Cornell University faculty Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Wellesley College alumni Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Hewlett Foundation Category:American women academics Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:21st-century American women physicists