Users Executive Committee Minutes, September 28, 200 Present: J. Conway(C), S. Hagopian(N), L. Groer(N), J.Huston(C), R. Plunkett(C), P. Sheldon(N), B. Tannenbaum (outgoing chair), S. Towers(C), W. Taylor(C), R. Tschirhart(N), C. White(C), E. Zimmerman(N) Absent: F. Garcia (N) Guests: B. Chrisman, R. Rubinstein, M. Witherell Notes: (C) - continuing member (N) - new member. Since the GSA elections have just ended no GSA members attended this meeting. 1. Welcome and Committee Business ********************* The 2002 UEC election had a record voter turnout of over 500 voters. Thanks to all who voted and to the Election Committee (Benn Tannenbaum, chair, Gordon Watts, webmaster). The following new members were welcomed to the UEC: Sharon Hagopian (Florida State University - D0), Leslie Groer (Columbia - D0), Paul Sheldon (Vanderbilt - FOCUS, BTeV), Bob Tschirhart( Fermilab - KTeV, CKM), Eric Zimmerman (University of Colorado - KTeV, NuTeV, BooNE, CCFR) and Fernanda Garcia (Fermilab - MiniBooNE). Benn Tannenbaum was thanked for the excellent job he did a UEC chair last year. Chris White was elected UEC chair for 2002-2003. The duties of the UEC chair include meeting monthly with the lab director, arranging UEC meeting agenda, fielding user E-MAIL, and giving reports to the Board of Overseers and the URA. S. Hagopian was selected as Recording Secretary and webmaster. The UEC meeting time was changed from 10:00 AM to 9:00 AM. (10 approved, 1 opposed). 2. Non-U.S. Users Issues - R. Rubinstein, B. Chrisman *************** There is no good visa for Fermilab non-U.S. users. Long lasting experiments may require extended stays or frequent trips, sometimes on short notice. J1 visa holders may have to leave for at least one year after a three year stay, depending on their citizenship and source of funding. Last year Fermilab developed a ideal visa category, called the "Scientific Researcher Visa", but implementation would require Congressional action. It would be easier to modify an existing visa category. There is already a proposed (by the State Department) modification to the J1 visa, which would extend the length of stay from 3 to 5 years. Fermilab is working with others on further modifications to the J visa. (See the UEC minutes of Dec. 8, 2001 for more information about current visas.) Due to increased security concerns, it is no longer possible for those on a B1 visa, or dependents of those on a J1 visa, to get a Social Security number, which is usually needed to open a bank account. Discussion are underway between Fermilab and a local bank to allow exceptions to this policy for Fermilab ID card holders. The DOE is considering requiring more information from non U.S. citizens before approving them for a Fermilab ID card. It would be especially difficult for those who are citizens of countries on the Terrorist States lists to get approval. More information will be distributed if these changes are adopted. 3. State of the Lab - M. Witherell ********************************** Accelerator/Experiments Recent records were set of peak luminosity (3 e31) and weekly integrated luminosity (4.7 pb-1). In June the PAC gave Stage I approval to the D0 and CDF Run2b Upgrades. Last week the DOE Lehman review recommended that the Upgrade projects be baselined after some adjustments to the proposed cost and schedule. The projects will now proceed to an External Independent Review to be conducted by the DOE Office of Engineering and Construction Management. There will be an DOE Accelerator Review at the end of October. In preparation for this review, a plan for increasing the accelerator luminosity during FY03 has been developed. The base (stretch) goal is an integrated luminosity of 200 pb-1 (320 pb-1) by the end of FY03. The Recycler will be commissioned next fall, so its effects will be felt in FY04. MiniBooNE saw its first event in September, 2002. NuMI and MINOS are on schedule. Changes are planned that will allow some increase in the repetition rate for MiniBooNE. Budget The President's budget for the DOE, which was adopted with few changes by the House Appropriatations Committee, has no increase for HEP except for $11M for the LHC. Starting October 1 the DOE will be operating under a continuing resolution. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) made a strong statement in support of increased spending for the physical sciences, as did the House Appropriation Bill. (See:http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/pcast.html) Security The Directorate worked hard last year to get public access to the laboratory. The recent security requirements mean that more work will have to be done on this again. It is important to the relations with the nearby community that access to some areas be allowed. 4. Committe Assignments and General Discussion ************* A new committee, Non U.S. Issues, was proposed by Rob Plunkett and approved unanimously. It will deal with some of the issuses discussed in section 2 above and be a point of contact for non U.S. users who are having difficulties. The standing committees of the UEC and their chairs for 2002-2003 are: - Quality of Life (QL), chair - Sherry Towers - Inreach (IN) chair TBA - Outreach (OR), chair - Paul Sheldon - DC Visit (DC), chair - Joey Huston - Users Meeting (UM), chair - John Conway - Non U.S. Issues (NI) chair - Rob Plunkett Initial expressions of interest for membership are: QL IN OR DC UM NI John Conway x x Sharon Hagopian x x Fernanda Garcia x x Leslie Groer x x x Joey Huston x x x Rob Plunkett x x Paul Sheldon x x Bob Tschirhart x x Wendy Taylor x x Sherry Towers x x x Chris White x Eric Zimmerman x x x Chris White will contact the new GSA representatives about their committee preferences. The UEC discussed how to improve DOE science funding for FY04. It was suggested that university faculty should work with university administrators, university lobbists and other science faculy at their home institutions to increase congressional awareness of this problem. Representative of the Museum of Science and Technology (MSI) toured Fermilab last week and were very impressed. Chris White continues his discussion with MRI on setting up a display in the science area for one day. If it is successful in attracting people, repeats or a more permenent display are possible. ----------------------------------------------- | The next meetings are tentatively scheduled | | for October 19, November 16 and December 14.| -----------------------------------------------