Letter for Jeff Abels Spring 2026

I am writing to nominate Jeff Abels for the Senior Rookie Award. I have worked closely with Jeff in hiring technicians for my lab, and he has been a lifesaver.

I am an experimental particle physicist working at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. My group will build and test over 5,000 silicon modules — essentially radiation-hard digital cameras. These modules will be built and tested on CMU's campus and then shipped to CERN for installation. The work requires a large team of engineers and technicians.

At the start of the project, I was very worried about how we would find the technicians to hire. The job description is almost a cartoon: we need highly skilled, low-paid, temporary workers.

As we set up and commissioned the lab, we stumbled onto a solution: post-bacc students. These are graduating seniors, typically CMU physics majors, who want to take a gap year before applying to grad school — either for personal reasons to spend another year in Pittsburgh, or to bolster their CVs before applying to the most competitive programs.

These students have been a great fit for the lab, but they place a heavy load on the hiring staff. Turnover is built in: each fall our techs leave us to start PhD programs. It is critical for the project that we maintain continuity in the production process and do not lose the institutional memory we have built up.

Jeff has played a key role in ensuring that our lab fills the positions we need. I have worked closely with him to coordinate ad postings and ensure timely hiring that maximizes overlap with the outgoing techs.

Jeff has been critical in keeping this model working. It would mean a lot to me and my group if he were honored with this award — he is exactly the kind of person it was meant to recognize.

I am writing to nominate Jeff Abels for the Senior Rookie Award. I have worked closely with Jeff in hiring technicians for my lab; he has been a lifesaver.

I am an experimental particle physicist working at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. My group will make and test over 5000 silicon modules: essentially radiation-hard digital cameras. These modules will be built and tested on CMU's campus and then shipped to CERN for installation. This work involves a relatively large team of engineers and technicians to assemble modules.

When starting the project I was very worried about how we would find the technicians to hire. The job description is almost a cartoon: we need high-skilled, low-paid, and temporary workers.

As we set up and commissioned the lab, we stumbled upon a solution to our hiring problem: post-bacc students. These are graduating seniors, typically CMU physics majors, that want to take a gap year before applying to grad school. They either have personal reasons to spend another year in Pittsburgh or want to bolster their CV before applying to the most competitive schools.

These students have worked out great in our lab, but have been a big burden on the hiring staff. They inherently have a large turnover, as each fall our techs leave us to join PhD programs. It is critical for the project that we maintain continuity in the production process and do not lose the institutional memory that has been built up.

Jeff has played a key role in ensuring our lab posts and fills the needed positions. I have worked closely with him to coordinate the posting of ads and ensuring the timely hiring to maximize overlap with the outgoing techs.

Jeff has been critical in keeping this model working. It would mean a lot to me and my group if he were honored with this award. Jeff seems like exactly the kind of person that this award is meant to honor.