Feyzi named new director of Physical Sciences Laboratory

Farshid Feyzi takes over this week as director of the Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL), the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s in-house engineering, manufacturing and project consultation center.

PSL serves a unique function as a partner for researchers and others in need of rare, one-of-a-kind products across a wide and varied spectrum. For example, PSL electrical engineering group consults on and builds scientific instruments, computer interfaces, digital processing modules and data systems. The lab’s mechanical engineering group offers expertise in the design and manufacturing of tools and equipment for complex multi-function scientific instruments.

Feyzi is a mechanical engineer by training, earning a master’s degree from UW–Madison in 1982 and has worked most of his career at PSL, starting as a project engineer and most recently serving as the technical director at PSL.

“PSL enjoys an enviable record of more than 40 years and 6,000 projects in support of basic research,” Feyzi says. “We continuously take on new projects with new challenges. The core competency at PSL and the cumulative experience of its staff are key to our success.”

While at PSL, Feyzi has overseen many large international scientific projects, including the Compact Muon Solenoid at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva Switzerland, a project that has received much media attention lately. He was responsible for leading the PSL team in the design and integration of the five-story tall and 2,400-ton endcaps used on the project. Other recent activities include directing the PSL contribution to the IceCube project, a neutrino telescope at the South Pole.

In addition to the large-scale undertakings listed above, Feyzi has participated in and directed literally hundreds of other projects during his tenure at PSL and stresses that projects of any size, scale and budget are welcomed. Examples of projects range from these enormous international scientific experiments above to designing and building a small piece of lab equipment, animal cages, surgery tools and more.

“If a researcher on campus has a back-of-the-envelope idea and needs something built, we are here to help design and build it,” Feyzi explains.

The main PSL center is located south of Madison in rural Stoughton, but PSL also maintains an office on the main UW–Madison campus in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Building.