Persis Drell

Persis Sydney Drell is an American physicist who is the provost emerita and the James and Anna Marie Spilker Professor in the Stanford University School of Engineering, where she is also a professor of materials science and engineering, and a professor of physics. Prior to her appointment as provost, she was dean of the Stanford School of Engineering from 2014 to 2017 and director of the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Acceleratory Laboratory from 2007 to 2012. In 2025, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society.