New College Physics, Philosophy Alumnus Receives Honor Recognizing Pioneering Work

In 1982, New College awarded Jerry Simmons a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and physics. Last month, Sandia National Laboratories named him a Sandia Fellow, a rarely bestowed honor recognizing its scientists who are known internationally as pioneers in their fields.
Simmons is deputy director for Energy Sciences at Sandia’s Center for Physical, Chemical and Nano-Sciences, which employs 75 doctoral-level scientists and 50 technical personnel. He also is director of the Department of Energy’s Solid State Lighting Science Energy Frontier Research Center, which has its headquarters at Sandia.
Sandia is owned by a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin and performs contract work for the Department of Energy and other agencies.
Sandia officials said Simmons was recognized for his discoveries in the area of physics that examines electron tunneling — how an electron can turn up where it shouldn’t be – and for his leadership in helping to advance solid-state lighting, terahertz sources and detectors and quantum qubits.
In a prepared statement, Simmons attributed his success to his colleagues at Sandia. “Almost everything I’ve done has been a team effort with very talented people,” he said. “As a fellow I hope to spend more time working with others to explore new ideas, and then build new teams to bring those ideas closer to reality.”
Simmons was one of three Sandia scientists promoted to Fellow status in June. The last time Sandia promoted Fellows was in 2002 and 2003. There have been only six Fellows since Sandia created the honor in 1986.
After leaving New College, Simmons worked at Bell Laboratories from 1982 to 1984, and then went on to Princeton University, where he received his master’s degree and doctorate in electrical engineering.
His dissertation work was on the fractional quantum Hall effect, where he reported the first direct evidence for the existence of fractionally charged particles. His thesis advisor, Dr. Dan Tsui, was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in physics for discovering the FQHE.
Simmons joined Sandia in 1990, shortly after leaving Princeton. In 2000 he was named manager of the lab’s Semiconductor Material and Device Sciences department, where he directed teams working on DARPA, DOE and other external and internal agency projects.
In 2004, he was appointed to his current position, where he oversees Sandia’s Department of Energy/Basic Energy Sciences material sciences research projects, and serves as liaison to Sandia’s Department of Defense military technology business units. He also has managed the Nanoscience-to-Microsystems area of Sandia’s
In 2004 Simmons was named to his present position, where he oversees Sandia’s portfolio of DOE/Basic Energy Sciences materials science research projects, and serves as a liaison to the DOD military technology business units at Sandia. He also has managed the Nanoscience-to-Microsystems area of Sandia’s $150 million-per-year laboratory-directed research and development program, and has served as acting co-director of the Department of Energy Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies.
He is the author of more than 100 publications, and serves as a reviewer for many institutions and scientific journals. You can learn more about his interests and his work, including a link to an interview on NPR’s “Science Friday,” at his webpage,