Monday, Sept. 30, 2013
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Have a safe day!

Monday, Sept. 30

2:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar - WH6W
Speaker: Tongyan Lin, University of Chicago
Title: Dark Matter and Flavor

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

4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II
Special Topics: Prototype Intel Phi and NVIDIA Kepler Computing Cluster; Muon g-2 Status

Tuesday, Oct. 1

11 a.m.
Academic Lecture Series - One West
Speaker: Lee Roberts, Boston University
Title: Evolution of Precision Experiments

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

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR THIS WEEK

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Weather Sunny
77°/55°

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Secon Level 3

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Flags at full staff

Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, Sept. 30

- Breakfast: pancake sandwich
- Breakfast: sausage, egg and cheese croissant
- Philly chicken sandwich
- Smart cuisine: herbed pot roast
- Spaghetti and meatballs
- Garden beef wrap
- Chicken or beef nacho bar
- Minestrone
- Texas-style chili
- Assorted pizza by the slice

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Oct. 2
Lunch
- Black-bean soup with dark rum and orange zest
- Quesadillas with tomatillo salsa and salsa fresco
- Fudge pie with ancho chili

Friday, Oct. 4
Dinner
Closed

Saturday, Oct. 5
Dinner
- Beet, cabbage and mushroom borscht
- Phyllo-wrapped beef croustades
- Baby spinach with scallions and lemon
- Coffee ice cream with Baileys Irish cream

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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From symmetry

The great physics quest

In their search for fundamental truths, particle physicists have a lot in common with explorers everywhere. Image: Sandbox Studio

Humanity's first glimpse of the very deepest part of the ocean seemed disappointing indeed.

A small crew had worked for two years to prepare the Trieste — one of just two submersibles in the world — for the historic 7-mile plunge to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. But when U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard hit bottom in 1960, all they could see out the porthole was the muck stirred up by their landing. "It was like looking into a bowl of milk," Walsh, now 81, later recalled.

Yet in the annals of exploration, the dive was a huge success. It developed and tested the engineering that would make deep ocean exploration possible, opening a new realm to scientific understanding. In hundreds of dives over the next few decades, scientists in submersibles would discover a netherworld of fragile, jelly-like creatures and exuberant ecosystems fed by deep-sea vents. Their findings would reveal the ocean's pivotal role in the functioning of the planet and even, perhaps, in the start of life on Earth.

Today, all over the world, particle physicists are carrying out their own deep dives in the most fundamental exploration of all.

Their goal is to learn how the cosmos works by studying its tiniest constituents — subatomic particles — and the forces that act on them.

Like the ocean, the realm they explore is vast, extreme and extravagantly weird. Sometimes they discover the unexpected in a flash of insight; sometimes it takes years, even decades, of dogged effort to clear the dust, tease out a discovery and figure out what it means.

As in any voyage into the unknown, this one takes creativity, guts, meticulous preparation, a tinkerer's skill, a puzzler's obsession and a curious heart, not to mention the money to pay for it all. The results are wonderfully unpredictable.

"There is a combination of dream and passion to discover how the physical world actually works," says experimental physicist Maria Spiropulu of the California Institute of Technology, whose team recently developed a novel way to analyze data from the Large Hadron Collider in Europe. "A determination to break the box — not just think outside of the box — when the box gets in the way. A lot of failures and discouragement on the way, and a lot of traps and pitfalls, and a lot of perseverance and indomitable spirit in action in order to keep going."

Read more

Glennda Chui

In Brief

Winter coat drive begins tomorrow

The Equal Opportunity and Diversity Office has formed an outreach committee called Helping Hands, which has organized a winter coat exchange. Employees, users and visitors are encouraged to donate new or gently used winter outerwear — coats, hats, gloves — for women, men and children. Collection boxes will be located throughout the Fermilab campus during the month of October.

On Nov. 13 and 14 from 3-6 p.m. in the Small Dining Room, the Fermilab community will have the opportunity to select items from those collected. Items not selected will be donated to the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. For more information, view this flyer or contact Samantha Poeppelman at x3933 or at sepoep2@fnal.gov

In the News

Berkeley Lab scientist named MacArthur "Genius" Fellow for audio preservation research

From Berkeley Lab News Center, Sept. 24, 2013

Berkeley National Laboratory physicist Carl Haber, one of the recipients of this year's MacArthur Fellowships, worked on Fermilab's CDF experiment from 1985 to 2011. His work on the CDF silicon detector was one of the projects that facilitated his understanding of sound recordings, for which he received the fellowship. His advisor Mike Shaevitz at Columbia University supervised his work in the CCFR collaboration on E-701. Fermilab Today congratulates Haber on his award.

A Berkeley Lab physicist who developed a way to digitally restore old audio recordings that are too fragile to play was named a MacArthur "genius" Fellow today (Wednesday, Sept. 25).

Carl Haber, a senior scientist in the Physics Division, is among 24 recipients to receive the prestigious award — $625,000 in unrestricted funds over the next five years — by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Foundation cited that Haber's work "is poised to revolutionize the preservation of rare, damaged, and deteriorating sound recordings of immense value to our cultural heritage."

Haber is the fourth Berkeley Lab scientist to be named a MacArthur Fellow.

His noninvasive optical sound recovery method has breathed new life into some of the earliest recordings ever made. It acquires high-resolution digital maps of the surface of audio media — such as wax cylinders, tinfoil recordings, and shellac discs — without touching them. It then applies image analysis methods to recover the data and reduce the noise of scratches and other damage.

Read more

Tip of the Week:
Quality Assurance

Tracking issues at Fermilab

ESH&Q recently rolled out iTrack, a new system that will allow the laboratory to efficiently keep track of reviews and assessments in all areas.

Fermilab is subject to a rigorous schedule of reviews, inspections, assessments and audits. These range from internal inspections and self-assessments to regulatory audits required by state or federal agencies to formal reviews conducted by the Department of Energy or the FRA board. A number of methods for tracking the results of these examinations have been employed over the years, and this made it very difficult to track the status of findings across the laboratory in an organized and efficient way.

One of Fermilab's goals has been to move toward integration of the numerous issues-tracking systems scattered throughout the laboratory to ensure better visibility, resolution, tracking functionality and consistency. We needed a program that had functionality similar to that of our old ones and, at the same time, that could remain flexible enough to handle multiple input sources. I am pleased to announce we have successfully met our goal through the development and implementation of iTrack. iTrack is now the one laboratory-authorized method for tracking issues related to assessments, reviews, tours, inspections, financial audits and other records and evaluations across the laboratory.

iTrack is an Oracle database that was built to integrate existing tracking systems such as frESHTRK. With a single interface, iTrack refers to all assessments, tours and inspections as a "review" and any finding, recommendation, issue or opportunity for improvement as an "item." The single reference terminology allows the system to cover multiple input sources even though the terminology used by each separate input source is unique. The system also allows for greater functionality because multiple items can be entered for one review and multiple owners can be assigned as corrective action owners. The new iTrack program uses a KCA certificate for authentication to establish your identity and access rights as you enter the system. This allows for easier access and means you have one fewer password to remember. System enhancements include automatic email reminders for those who have been assigned items and the ability for "responsible persons" to update and close out their assigned items within the program.

The roll-out of iTrack is now in full swing. A quality assurance team is working hard on its implementation by working with all organizations to determine specific training needs. Additional information on iTrack, training and user guides are available on the ESH&Q's iTrack website.

T.J. Sarlina

Photo of the Day

Prairie Fire, Fermilab Softball League champions

Congratulations to the Prairie Fire, this season's Fermilab Softball League champions. Kudos go to all the league's teams for an excellent season: Big Bangers, Boomers, Final Force, Lightning Rods and Prairie Fire. Photo: David Hockin, ESH&Q
Special Announcement

Users Office closed today and tomorrow

The Users Office will be closed today and tomorrow due to the department's move to Wilson Hall One North. If you have any questions or need to reach the office, contact Amanda Thompson at x4203 or petersen@fnal.gov or Samantha Poeppelman at x3933 or sepoep2@fnal.gov.

Milestone

New employees - September

The following regular employees started at Fermilab in September:

Karl Drlica-Wagner, CPA; Scott Engel, BSS; Kenneth Garmon, DO; Yann Guardincerri, CPA; Nigel Lockyer, DO; David Mertz, ESH&Q; Daniel Olivarez, TD; Andrew Whitbeck, CMS.

Fermilab welcomes them to the laboratory.

Announcements

Today's New Announcements

Scottish country dancing meets Tuesday evenings at Kuhn Barn starting Oct. 1

International folk dancing meets Thursday evenings at Kuhn Barn starting Oct. 3

Fermilab Photo Club members exhibit application deadline - Oct. 1

Power Writing Workshop offered Oct. 24

Writing for Results: Email and More class offered Dec. 11

SPIE digital library online trial at Fermilab

NALWO "English Conversation" mornings

Accelerate to a Healthy Lifestyle

Indoor soccer now on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Basketball open gym on Wednesdays