Monday, June 24, 2013
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Have a safe day!

Monday, June 24

2 p.m.
LHC Physics Center Topic of the Week Seminar - WH11NE
Speaker: Jared Evans, Rutgers University
Title: LHC Searches Examined via the RPV MSSM: Part 1 - R-Parity Violation and Higgsinos

PARTICLE ASTROPHYSICS SEMINARS WILL RESUME IN THE FALL

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II
Topic: COUPP-60 Report; ASTA Report

Tuesday, June 25

Noon
Undergraduate Lecture Series - One West
Speaker: Don Lincoln
Title: The Energy Frontier

3 p.m.
LHC Physics Center Topic of the Week Seminar - WH11NE
Speaker: Yevgeny Kats, Rutgers University
Title: LHC Searches Examined via the RPV MSSM: Part 2 – Stops and Gluinos

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

4 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar - One West
Speaker: Alex Lumpkin, Fermilab
Title: Applications of Undulator Radiation at ASTA: High-Power Beam Diagnostics and an XUV FEL Oscillator

Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

Ongoing and upcoming conferences at Fermilab

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Weather
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Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Current Flag Status

Flags at full staff

Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, June 24

- Breakfast: blueberry pancakes
- Breakfast: sausage, egg and cheese croissant
- Sloppy joe
- Smart cuisine: pasta primavera
- Pecan-crusted chicken breast
- Oven-roasted vegetable wrap
- Shrimp and crab scampi
- Texas-style chili
- Vegetarian potato leek soup

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, June 26
Lunch
- Stuffed portobello mushroom with spinach and feta
- Romaine, strawberry and orange salad
- Vanilla bean cheesecake

Friday, June 28
Dinner
Guest chefs: Grace and Gary Leonard
- Asparagus salad
- Halibut en papillote
- Pasta with cilantro pesto
- Grilled pound cake with seasonal fruit and pomegranate molasses

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Tip of the Week

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Profile

One minute with Curtis Danner, technical supervisor

Curtis Danner, certified electronics technician, works for the Particle Physics Division. Photo: Reidar Hahn

How long have you been at Fermilab?
I started working at Fermilab 43 years ago, when it was called the National Accelerator Laboratory. I was told two things during my first interviews that came true: You will be wearing eyeglasses, and you will become a jack of all trades. Additionally, I have been working for the Office of Education overseeing the repair of Lederman Science Center exhibits for 18 years. I am currently in the PPD Electrical Engineering – Infrastructure Support Group.

How did you get involved with working on exhibits at the Lederman Center?
In 1994 Marge Bardeen, head of the Education Office, was looking for help with the exhibits, which used lots of electronics. She needed someone to help with electronics support.

What is a typical day for you like?
I first check e-mails to see who is requesting help or support. We provide electronic support to all experiments, visiting scientists and users coming to us for assistance.

What is the best part of your job?
I like that every day here is different. I also enjoy the campus atmosphere, talented personnel, state-of-the-art equipment and enormous resources to build almost any machine that the experimenters here can dream of.

What do you do for fun?
My two grandsons keep me busy—they have adapted to technology at an early age, so I try to provide guidance to keep them interested. Although the 4-year-old wants to be a racecar driver, so I have to work on him more. I also enjoy reading technical books and magazines and watching television.

Sarah Khan

If there is an employee you'd like to see profiled in an upcoming issue of Fermilab Today, please e-mail today@fnal.gov.

Photo of the Day

Panoramic view of Feynman

Al Lilianstrom, CCD, stitched together several images to create this panoramic photograph of the Feynman Computing Center.
Accelerator Update

Accelerator update, June 21, 2013

Operators ramped up the Main Injector last week.

General
Operators and electrical engineering support personnel conducted Main Injector power supply testing and closed all of the Main Injector vacuum circuit breakers. Operators ramped the Main Injector up to 120 GeV. They also turned on all the NuMI power supplies and ramped them.

Linac
Linac personnel switched operations to Source B for the first time. It proved itself as efficient as Source A.

ANU, Main Injector and Recycler
Vacuum technicians completed the vacuum work and successfully leak-checked the beam pipes in Recycler section 40. They also completed the beam pipe installation at Recycler section 60.

Shielding status:

  • Service building low-conductivity water - IWS Inc. resealed the penetrations. However, the fabric bags need to be cut to length; the beads need to be repoured; and, after the beads are installed, they will need to be covered with foam to keep them in place.
  • Power supply buss-in service buildings - Mechanical technicians refoamed the penetrations, but more work is yet needed.
  • Empty RF buss - Riggers have installed the steel plates. The gravel will be poured next week.
  • RF buss MI-60 - Technicians have assembled and installed all components.

NuMI
NuMI personnel completed testing of Horn 1 thermocouples. Riggers dry-set R-blocks over Horn 1 and Target and moved the Target Hall shielding wall into place. Power supply personnel started pre-target power supply and magnet testing, which will continue until the next run begins. PPD personnel installed the controls rack for the Muon Monitor in Alcove 4 and the gas rack for Muon Alcove 4 and made the final connections for the Muon Alcove 4 gas system.

Alignment
Alignment personnel aligned the B source and LEBT line. This is the section that gets moved into place when sources are switched. The three components are the source, trim magnet and solenoid. Alignment personnel also located the building corner points for the future MC-1 Building for FESS.

View the AD Operations Department schedule.

Tip of the Week:
Ecology and Environment

Fermilab: where physics meets ecology

Birdwatching is one of the many nature activities people enjoy on Fermilab grounds. Photo: Reidar Hahn

Fermilab is a unique federal facility, not only because of its mission to explore the most basic properties of the universe, but because our 6,800 acre campus is open and accessible for the public to enjoy the site's many natural areas by walking, biking, birdwatching or photographing nature.

The Fermilab grounds are a green island in a region of intense development. The lab has areas of tallgrass prairie, woodlands and wetlands as well as civil construction and row crop agriculture. The site sits astride three watersheds, feeding the DuPage and Fox rivers. It is really a microcosm of the northern Illinois landscape.

There are many opportunities to experience nature, whether out of scientific curiosity or aesthetic appreciation. The Fermilab Roads and Grounds Department and the not-for-profit group Fermilab Natural Areas use prescribed fire, mowing, harvesting and replanting native plant seeds, and management of invasive plants to restore functioning ecological systems. These efforts have resulted in a rich ecosystem, with multiple communities of plants and animals available to the public and to lab employees to observe and study.

Many have taken advantage of these opportunities. There is a detailed record of bird sightings beginning in 1985 and documenting over 280 species of birds using the site. More recently added, a butterfly Web page documents over 50 species of butterflies and moths. Stewards affiliated with FNA are currently monitoring and studying dragonflies, amphibians and snakes. The Education Department also maintains a website for kids to identify plants.

All that said, there are limits to what the visitor can expect. Fermilab is not a manicured site. The Roads and Grounds Department maintains the site with limited resources, so providing a site that is perfectly groomed is not feasible. Mowing schedules are limited, and in many cases are actually designed to protect wildlife. For example, many open fields are not mowed until after ground-nesting birds have finished their nesting season. Unlike many parks and forest preserves, we don't typically provide outdoor facilities like resting benches and restrooms.

Some inconvenience is inherent in natural areas. Mosquitoes, poison ivy, ticks, tall vegetation and the occasional coyote should really be considered as part of the experience. Visitors can enjoy and appreciate many aspects of nature, including some that may not be immediately perceived as positive!

Rod Walton

Milestone

New employees - June

The following regular employees started at Fermilab in June:

Geoffrey Cluts, CCD; Byron Golden, TD; Narasimha Nunna, CCD; Katherine Pripusich-Sienkiewicz, FESS; Cherri Schmidt, DO; Kathryn Zappia, ESH&Q.

Fermilab welcomes them to the laboratory.

In the News

Fermilab names Nigel Lockyer as new director

From Nature, June 21, 2013

Physicist Nigel Lockyer has been appointed the new director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. In September he will move from his post as director of TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics in Vancouver. Lockyer spent many years working on Fermilab's Tevatron, and earned renown for measuring the lifetime of the bottom quark. Under his lead, TRIUMF built new experiments and international agreements, worked to produce better medical isotope supplies, and developed a commercialization arm, Advanced Applied Physics Solutions. Nature spoke with him about Fermilab's future focus on a large neutrino experiment.

Read more

In the News

New director named for Fermilab

From The Beacon-News, June 20, 2013

The newly appointed director of Fermilab in Batavia wants you to know he's been rooting for the U.S. particle physics program for a long time.

And also for the Blackhawks.

"Let's say I'm a big hockey fan," Nigel Lockyer, currently the director of TRIUMF, Canada's flagship particle physics laboratory, said. "And I am certainly rooting for the Blackhawks. Prior to Vancouver falling out of contention they were my first choice."

But Lockyer said that it's definitely the grand opportunities on the horizon in fundamental particle physics research that are bringing him back to the Fox Valley.

"It's an exciting time in the world for particle physics," he said.

Read more

Announcements

BuZheng Qigong & Tai Chi Easy - begins today

Fermilab Prairie Plant Survey (Quadrat Study) - June 26, July 19

Registration for FEMA assistance due July 9

Behavioral interviewing course scheduled for July 18

Gypsy moth treatments at Fermilab

Summer intern Friday tours

Sitewide domestic water flushing

Volunteer opportunity - Coat Drive 2013

10K Steps drawing winner

Pool memberships at Fermilab

Ultimate Frisbee Mondays and Wednesdays

Outdoor soccer at the Village

International folk dancing moves to Wilson Hall for summer

Scottish country dancing meets Tuesday evenings in Auditorium

Join the Tango Club