Pier Oddone, director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will give a free, public lecture for high school students about studying the universe on Friday, May 7, from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. in Cornuelle Lecture Hall, Mamiya Science Center at Punahou School.

Oddone's presentation helps promote National Lab Day, May 12, a nationwide initiative that links teachers and scientists in an effort to spur hands-on scientific discovery by students in grades K-12. Seating for the lecture is limited. For reservations and information, please email Johannes Adams at jadams@punahou.edu.

Oddone's lecture, "Studying the Universe: Connecting the Very Small to the Very Large," is targeted to high school students and will focus on the relationship between subatomic physics and the origins of the universe. In addition to heading Fermilab, Oddone is a well-known physicist who invented a new type of particle collider, the Assymetric B-Factory, advancing the study of matter and antimatter.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory located in Batavia, Illinois. Fermilab houses the world's second-largest energy particle accelerator, the Tevatron, and its scientists conduct pioneering research into particle physics. Past accomplishments include the discovery of the bottom quark (1977); the top quark (1995); and the first direct observations of the tau neutrino (2000), the last fundamental particle to be observed.

Pier Oddone was appointed Director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in July, 2005. He previously served as Deputy Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he oversaw the scientific development of the laboratory. He received the 2005 Panofsky Award of the American Physical Society for the invention of the Asymmetric B-Factory. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and was elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2008.

Oddone was born in Arequipa, Peru, and is a U.S. citizen. After receiving his undergraduate degree from MIT, Oddone received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Caltech. He joined the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1972.

To learn more about Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Fermilab, visit www.fnal.gov. For more information about National Lab Day, go to www.nationallabday.org