UEC Candidate Statement - H. Lee Sawyer, Jr.

I have been working on experiments at Fermilab since the mid-1980s, when I was a graduate student at Florida State. 
I still recall the exhilaration I felt the first time I drove up to Wilson Hall! Fermilab is the premiere facility 
for particle physics in the U.S., and I feel a responsibility as a user to do my part in helping the lab to 
maintain that preeminent position. I imagine every candidate will say that this is a critical time for the lab and 
the user community, and they will be right. There are major challenges ahead for the lab as we near the end of Run II 
of the Tevatron, the start of LHC operations, and decisions concerning the future of the International Linear Collider. 
The entire user community will be called upon in the coming years to communicate to the public the need for basic science 
research and facilties like Fermilab.  

Communicating science is something that I have had a chance to do often in my current position as department head. I 
have had the chance in recent years to talk to civic groups, schools, and politicians about the need to increase funding 
for the physical sciences. I look forward to having the opportunity to represent the user community during the annual 
Washington trip. I also plan to take part in the UEC's outreach efforts to communicate the science being done at Fermilab.
As a group leader, I am responsible for sending students and postdocs to Fermilab, and I am acutely aware of many of the 
"Quality of life" issues that the UEC addresses.   

The UEC has always had a responsibilty to represent the entire user community. As a member I would bring to the UEC the 
perspective of a researcher at a smaller institution as well as one from an EPSCOR state in the Deep South. Of course, 
all members of the UEC need to represent all of the user community, and I will do everything I can promote good 
communication within the user community as well as to our outside stakeholders.