Paula Rosen appointed Fellow of the UK Institute of Physics

We are delighted to announce that Paula Rosen has been awarded Fellow status by the UK Institute of Physics (IOP). This is their highest category of membership and is awarded following a rigorous application process involving an external sponsor and an independent review panel.

Paula is a Team Leader in Material Physics where she manages a team of experimentalists that use high-energy lasers to probe materials properties (in the plasma state) to help underwrite the physics of nuclear weapons. She has been voted by her staff as a 3-Star Leader in two consecutive Best Companies surveys and is passionate in helping her staff achieve their full potential.

AWE works closely with partner institutions in the USA under the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement via formal classified exchanges known as JOWOGs (Joint Working Groups). In 2012 Paula was appointed as the UK Chair for the JOWOG for warhead plasma physics and it has continued to flourish under her leadership. She was the first female JOWOG leader to be appointed at AWE and has served as an inspiration to her female colleagues in physics and across the STEM arena.

Paula has played a key role in fostering, developing and strengthening strategic collaborations with AWE’s partner laboratories in the US. These successful, fruitful and lasting relationships have resulted in delivery of important physics data to support AWE’s science mission.

For the past few years, she has devoted some of her time to support the MOD develop and strengthen some of their strategic relationships with the US. She has worked closely with senior scientists and government officials across the nuclear weapons complex in the US.

Paula says “I was absolutely thrilled to gain Fellowship status with the IOP. I feel very proud to have achieved this level of recognition and feel it’s a reflection of my dedication to plasma physics, my collaborative activities (with the US and MOD) and staff management throughout my career. I hope this honour will inspire others at AWE to attain this status.”