2023-Jan-04: The VERITAS Collaboration is pleased to recognize the recipients of the 2022 "Outstanding Contribution Awards". Each year the collaboration recognizes exceptional work by two individuals - a graduate student (the Simon Swordy Outstanding Contribution Award) and a postdoctoral researcher (the Trevor Weekes Outstanding Contribution Award), to "...formally recognize the significant contributions of more early-career members of the collaboration in the critical service work that enables scientific publications of VERITAS, but do not result in any scientific publications directly".
This year's recipients are:
Colin Adams (Simon Swordy Award) - Colin was awarded the 2022 Simon Swordy Award for a broad range of technical contributions to both VERITAS and the pSCT, as well as significant participation and leadership in Diversity Equity and Inclusivity (DEI) activities. Colin’s technical contributions to VERITAS include “the service task of GT factor (scaling factor for gain and throughput) calculation and code management,” and producing GT-factor corrected 0.5o wobble offset IRFs, “a critical path for future experimental results coming out of the collaboration.” In addition Colin maintains the “VERPS” proposal submission system for VERITAS TAC proposal submission and has served on the TAC from 2021-2022. With regards to the pSCT, Colin has “measured and calibrated the flasher response in the lab” and is “helping to test and debug … server-based run control code for SCT data taking.” Colin has made significant contributions to the DEI efforts of the VERITAS Collaboration including organising weekly “debug den” sessions for early-career members and informal “conversation and feedback” for graduate students, and has made many outstanding DEI contributions at his home institution.
Ste O'Brien - (Trevor Weekes Award) - Ste was awarded the 2022 Trevor Weekes award for undertaking two major service tasks within VERITAS, namely "his co-czarship of the Calibration working group in 2019-2020, and his long service on the TAC including chairship this year,… both tasks that are out of the limelight and not visible outside of the collaboration - yet both are essential to the collaboration and to our production of science publications.” VERITAS has a complicated calibration environment with a wide variety of procedures: “… keeping the enterprise on task… is a daunting task and Ste carried (and continues to carry!) it out wonderfully”. The Time Allocation Committee task is also integral to the functioning of the instrument and the collaboration, and to our production of meaningful science in a timely way. Ste has served on the TAC since 2017, chaired it in 2021-2022 and was asked by the Collaboration to (co-)chair it again in 2022-2023. “The mark of success of the TAC process is that the resulting observing plan is reasoned, robust, well-supported by the collaboration, and still flexible to ToOs and DDT requests – a tough balancing act that Ste has supported and stewarded for numerous years.”. Ste’s service contributions to VERITAS are all the more impressive which they were undertaken while he also had significant commitments to the HELIX group.
Congratulations to Colin and Ste!
Colin Adams 
Dr. Ste O'Brien
2022-Jul-05: It is with great sadness that the VERITAS Collaboration notes the passing of Ken Gibbs, who died peacefully at home on 23 June 2022. Ken was a driving force behind the realisation of VERITAS and had played a foundational role in the development of the imaging atmospheric while a graduate student with the Whipple collaboration.
Ken's 1986 University of Arizona PhD dissertation entitled "Application of Imaging to the Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique: Observations of the Crab Nebula and Pulsar" paved the way forthe first detection of a source, the Crab Nebula, at TeV energies in 1989 and the birth of a new branch of astronomy.
Ken was employed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory as Operations Manager for VERITAS from 2001 to 2011 where he was a leader in the design, construction and initial operation of the VERITAS array. Ken also made outstanding contributions to the CASA/MIA air shower experiment at the Enrico Fermi Institute of the University of Chicago from 1987 to 1993 and the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina from 1995 to 2001, with which he was a senior research associate. The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope also benefited from Ken's expertise when he served as its project manager from 2014 to 2015.
Ken was an inspirational colleague and will be sorely missed by the many people who had the opportunity to work with him.
The VERITAS Collaboration offers its sincerest condolences to Ken's wife, Lynette Wood, and family at this difficult time.
An obituary for Ken can be found here: (https://www.islandssounder.com/obituaries/kenneth-gibbs-passages/)
2022-Feb-24: The VERITAS collaboration notes with sadness the passing of Prof. Tom Gaisser. Prof. Gaisser was a long-term friend to VERITAS, and served on our External Science Advisory Committee for many years. A summary of his many contributions to the field of cosmic rays and particle astrophysics can be found here.
2022-Jan-20: The VERITAS Collaboration is pleased to recognize the recipients of the 2021 "Outstanding Contribution Awards". Each year the collaboration recognizes exceptional work by two individuals - a graduate student (the Simon Swordy Outstanding Contribution Award) and a postdoctoral researcher (the Trevor Weekes Outstanding Contribution Award), to "...formally recognize the significant contributions of more early-career members of the collaboration in the critical service work that enables scientific publications of VERITAS, but do not result in any scientific publications directly".
This year's recipients are:
Deivid Ribiero (Simon Swordy Award) - Awarded for "wide-ranging service contributions to both the pSCT and VERITAS". For VERITAS, these include contributions to VEGAS development - most importantly, he implemented a necessary new feature: telescope-dependent handling of noise for lookup tables in order to remove a road block from the VEGAS GT factor implementation. In 2020, SAO developed a remote observing capability to cope with the pandemic, and Deivid worked to set up and configure VNC for remote observing for both the VERITAS control room and the pSCT trailer. Deivid has also worked on three critical areas of the pSCT optics: Mirror panel edge sensors, software and alignment. He has been actively involved in mentoring, by helping to host a VEGAS analysis bootcamp in Summer 2019 and working with undergraduates at Barnard and Columbia. Deivid has also contributed to outreach efforts, including taking photos that often make it to press releases and cover pages.
Qi Feng - (Trevor Weekes Award) - Awarded for "Numerous contributions to the success of ongoing observations of the VERITAS Observatory, and multiple innovations in the commissioning of the optics system for the prototype SCT Telescope". Qi implemented ongoing critical upgrades to the VERITAS DQM software and Quicklook analysis that ensured VERITAS observations for the entire collaboration. Qi also made vital contributions to the pSCT optical alignment and flasher systems, and was one of the key people to get the pSCT operational, leading to the successful publication of the instrument's detection of the Crab nebula. Qi's leadership in the Muon Hunter project which brought gamma-ray science to tens of thousands of members of the general public as well as his role as a mentor at all levels were also highlighted.
Congratulations to Deivid and Qi!
Deivid Ribiero 
Dr. Qi Feng
2021-Feb-03: The VERITAS Collaboration is pleased to recognize the recipients of the 2020 "Outstanding Contribution Awards". Each year the collaboration recognizes exceptional work by two individuals - a graduate student (the Simon Swordy Outstanding Contribution Award) and a postdoctoral researcher (the Trevor Weekes Outstanding Contribution Award), to "...formally recognize the significant contributions of more early-career members of the collaboration in the critical service work that enables scientific publications of VERITAS, but do not result in any scientific publications directly".
This year's recipients are:
Alisha Chromey (Simon Swordy Award) - Awarded for Alisha's role in the Analysis and Callibration Working Group (ACG) and observing shifts: "Her work focused on CARE simulations processing at Georgia Tech and on NERSC, developing and testing the NERSC production pipeline, developing a set of updated and improved data/MC comparison scripts... data/MC comparison studies to validate CARE, newer versions of VEGAS, the GT factors, and the ITM... Alisha has performed outstanding service to the Collaboration through her work."
Mireia Nievas Rosillo- (Trevor Weekes Award) - Awarded for "... leading the effort over the past 12-18 months to understand the change in response of the VERITAS instrument to Cherenkov light. She studied and implemented a solution and provided therefore to the VERITAS collaboration the necessary means to continue publishing results. ... The impact of her work extends to any ongoing and future analysis of VERITAS data and cannot be understated...".
Congratulations to Alisha and Mireia!
Alisha Chromey 
Dr. Mireia Nievas Rosillo
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