Brookhaven Lab names John Hill permanent director after international search
John Hill took over Brookhaven Lab with 3,000 workers under him, as the East End campus pushes ahead on the Electron-Ion Collider and other major projects.
John Hill has taken permanent control of one of Suffolk County’s most important federal assets, a move that could shape hiring, research spending, and the lab’s economic reach across Long Island.
Brookhaven Science Associates named Hill permanent director of Brookhaven National Laboratory effective May 21 after a competitive international search. Hill had served as interim director since September 2025 and also became president of Brookhaven Science Associates, the partnership of Stony Brook University and Battelle that runs the lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The appointment matters far beyond the campus in Upton. Brookhaven says it is the only multidisciplinary national laboratory in the Northeastern United States and one of New York State’s largest centers of scientific research. The lab was established in 1947 on the eastern end of Long Island on the former site of Camp Upton, a central Suffolk County installation that operated during both world wars. That history has made Brookhaven one of the county’s most durable federal presences, with its decisions rippling through jobs, contracts, and research partnerships.
Hill now oversees about 3,000 scientists, engineers, technicians and professionals at a moment when Brookhaven is preparing for major long-term work. The lab is advancing the Electron-Ion Collider, planning upgrades to NSLS-II, and expanding research in artificial intelligence, quantum systems, microelectronics, materials science and high-resolution imaging. Those projects are the kinds of capital-intensive efforts that can bring construction work, technical hiring, and outside research dollars to Suffolk County over many years.
Brookhaven’s broader footprint already reaches well beyond its fences. In fiscal year 2024, the lab drew more than 7,200 facility users and guest researchers, and its education and workforce programs attracted more than 30,000 participants annually. That gives Hill a platform that affects not only federal science policy but also the pipeline of students, engineers and technicians moving through the region.
The stakes are especially clear around the Electron-Ion Collider. In 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $100 million New York State investment in the project, which Brookhaven describes as a machine designed to collide electrons with protons and nuclei to probe the inner structure of matter. Brookhaven and Jefferson Lab are partners on the effort.
For Suffolk County, Hill’s elevation is less a ceremonial transition than a handoff at a pivotal moment for federal funding, local jobs and the next wave of science-driven economic activity on Long Island.
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