Shekhar Mishra aspires to Research, Design and Develop large gadgets; that would help understand the nature of this mysterious world we live in. While doing so he wants to help develop and share these technological developments to help improve the quality of life of the people on this earth and to leave our planet safe for the generations to come. Physics is an international science by nature. It is of the utmost importance to Mishra that we promote science and technology internationally, without any national boundaries, and work together as a society, as a nation and as citizens of this world to encourage and train the next generation of scientists. Mishra is working with government and industry leaders to communicate the long-term benefits of investing in science and technology.
Shekhar Mishra is a Senior Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, USA and the Fellow of American Physical Society. He has held many senior management positions at Fermilab including: Deputy Project Manager, High-Intensity Superconducting Proton Accelerator (HISPA); Deputy Director, International Linear Collider; and Head, Main Injector Department.
Mishra’s research interests are in experimental High Energy Physics; accelerator physics, design, construction, and operation. Mishra has made significant contributions in the research, design, and development of the state-of-the-art technologies for particle physics experiments, proton-antiproton synchrotrons, electron-positron linac, and proton superconducting linac. Mishra has significantly cited fundamental physics and discoveries papers including- the discovery of top quark, b-quark meson production, nuclear shadowing effect of J-psi and Dimuon production, the discovery of Hyper-nuclei and associated eta meson production in pion-nucleon collision.
India nuclear program requires HISPA for conversion of Thorium into Uranium. Mishra innovated an India Institutions and Fermilab Collaboration for indigenous development HISPA. Mishra is the founding US Technical Coordinator of the US-India strategic interest Discovery Science Collaboration, that enables the development of high-intensity proton accelerator technologies for physics and nuclear energy applications. Under his scientific, technical and management leadership, Fermilab is concluding the Research and Development needed to build a HISPA under this Win-Win collaboration with Indian DAE institutions.
Mishra received Ph.D., Nuclear Physics (1987), University of South Carolina. As a Research Associate at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, he worked in Associated eta meson production and 1st hyper-nuclei discovery groups. Mishra joined the Fermilab staff and played a leading role in B Meson experiment (1989). Mishra was the first physicists hired on the Main Injector Project (1991) and grew to head that department. He played a significant role in the design, construction, and commissioning of two proton accelerators, the backbone of the record-setting Fermilab complex.
He continued physics interest in b-quark at DZero experiment at Fermilab, enhanced the experiment’s capabilities in detecting b quark which led to many discoveries including Bs mixing that help our understanding of matter-antimatter asymmetry. DZero team discovered top quark in 1995.
Mishra was appointed Deputy Director, International Linear Collider, Fermilab (2005). He played a vital role in the international development of Superconducting Radio Frequency proton and electron accelerator technologies, associated infrastructures, and industries.
In 2006, Mishra innovated international participation in US-based accelerator construction, 1st for the US-DOE. Dr. Oddone, Director, Fermilab, Dr. Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India and Dr. William Brinkman, Director, Office of Science, guided Mishra in leading the development of US-India strategic interest collaboration in Particle Physics and Proton Accelerator. The collaboration has been operating under the US-India S&T Agreement since 2011.
The collaboration has established superconducting accelerator development infrastructures collaborating Indian DAE laboratories and Fermilab. The dedicated efforts of Mishra, India is acquiring capabilities to build proton accelerator for peaceful use of Nuclear energy and Fermilab physics. It is one of the best “Win-Win” scientific collaboration for the two largest democracies of the world.
Over last decade Mishra has worked with Dr. Abdul Kalam, President of India, Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India, Prof. Leon Lederman, Nobel laureate, and many distinguished scientists and administration officials in the US, India, Japan, China, Germany and South Korea.
He is married and has two children Pranav and Nisha. Pranav is a graduate in Biology from the Washington University St. Louis and Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, India. Nisha is a graduate in Mass Communication at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Nisha works for a Real Estate Investment Firm in Chicago.