Have a safe day!

Wednesday, July 16

9 a.m.-noon
ICFA Workshop on High Order Modes in Superconducting Cavities - One West
Register in person
Registration fee: $169

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

THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB COLLOQUIUM THIS WEEK

Thursday, July 17

11 a.m.
Intensity Frontier Seminar Series - WH8XO
Speaker: Flavio Cavanna, Yale University
Title: Detection of 0-Pion CC Neutrino Interactions in LArTPC with ArgoNeuT

2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar (NOTE LOCATION) - WH3NE
Speaker: David J.E. Marsh, Perimeter Institute
Title: Cosmological Constraints on Ultra-light Axions: Planck, the High-Z Universe and BICEP2

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

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

Ongoing and upcoming conferences at Fermilab

Mostly sunny
72°/50°

Extended forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Flags at full staff

Wednesday, July 16

- Breakfast: ham, egg and cheese English muffin
- Breakfast: breakfast pizza
- Gyros
- Smart cuisine: baked pork chops
- Chicken cacciatore
- California turkey wrap
- Chicken carbonara
- Three-bean overland soup
- Texas-style chili
- Assorted calzones

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Wednesday, July 16
Lunch
- Chipotle chicken taco salad
- Banana dulce de leche pie

Friday, July 18
Dinner
Closed

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Call for applications: URA Visiting Scholars Program

Universities Research Association Inc. has announced a deadline of Monday, Aug. 25, for the submission of applications for the fall 2014 cycle of awards in the URA Visiting Scholars Program at Fermilab. Award recipients will be notified at the end of September.

These awards provide financial support for faculty and students from URA's 88 member universities to work at Fermilab for periods of up to one year. URA makes two rounds of awards each year, in the spring and fall. The application deadline for the spring 2015 cycle is Feb. 23, 2015.

Proposed visits can range from attendance at conferences or summer schools held at Fermilab to year-long research stays. Support from this program can include transportation costs and local lodging expenses during a series of shorter visits or salary support during a longer visit. Individual awardees may receive up to a maximum of $50,000 in any 12-month period.

The 88 URA member universities each have agreed to contribute $5,000 a year for five years in support of joint Fermilab-URA research and education initiatives.

For details on the URA Visiting Scholars Program at Fermilab, including eligibility, application process, award administration and the names of past award recipients, visit the URA Visiting Scholars Program website.

Tevatron magnet at Google's Chicago office

This Fermilab quadrupole focusing magnet, designed for the Tevatron, adorns Google's Chicago office. Photo: Brian Fitzpatrick, Google

It comes with its own didactic. Photo: Brian Fitzpatrick, Google

Got a minute? Colliding rare and massive particles

With the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, scientists have turned their attention to studying the particle's interactions. One interesting idea is to scatter two Higgs bosons off one another. This will require observing considerable data. In the meantime, physicists study the collisions of pairs of other bosons. In this video, Fermilab physicist Rafael Lopes de Sa explains the current situation. View the video. Video: US CMS

Where do cosmic rays come from? The answer could be in the Big Dipper.

From The Christian Science Monitor, July 9, 2014

A hotspot of powerful, ultrahigh-energy particles streams toward Earth from beneath the handle of the Big Dipper constellation. This collection of cosmic rays may help scientists nail down the origin point of the powerful particles, a century-old mystery.

"This puts us closer to finding out the sources — but no cigar yet," Gordon Thomson, of the University of Utah, said in a statement. Thomson is the co-principle investigator for the Telescope Array cosmic ray observatory in southern Utah, which discovered the hotspot, and one of the 125 researchers on the project.

"All we see is a blob in the sky, and inside this blob there is all sorts of stuff — various types of objects — that could be the source," he added. "Now we know where to look."

Read more

Check the polarities on your batteries

David Mertz

David Mertz, electrical safety engineer, wrote this column.

Recently, a PPD employee discovered a 9-volt battery (see picture below) whose terminal polarities were improperly marked. For this type of battery, the smaller of the two posts is the positive terminal. But as you can see in the picture, the larger terminal is marked as the positive one. The employee reported that the battery was obtained from the Fermilab stockroom and had a unique production code marked on the bottom.

These batteries present an equipment damage risk, as many devices are not designed to protect against reverse polarity. In this instance, the employee inserted the battery into a Techma clamp-on current meter that was equipped with spring clips. He followed the printed mark on the battery, which resulted in inserting the battery backwards. The meter was not constructed to prohibit a battery from being inserted incorrectly. As a result, the meter was damaged.

The employee reported this to the ESH&Q Section, and the issue is being investigated. The Fermilab stockroom has verified that no improperly marked batteries remain in stock.

In the meantime, Assistant Director for ESH&Q Martha Michels advises that, prior to inserting a battery in an instrument that allows the battery to be inserted in either direction, ensure the positive (smaller terminal) is aligned with the positive terminal on the instrument. Please inspect any 9-volt batteries you use to ensure they are marked properly.

If you find improperly labeled batteries, please inform your senior safety officer and return the batteries to the stockroom. Any equipment damaged by these improperly marked batteries should be documented and reported to J.B. Dawson in the ESH&Q Quality Assurance Group.

Left: The battery's terminal posts are mismarked. Right: The back of this electrical current clamp allows the battery to be inserted in either direction, allowing batteries to be installed incorrectly. Photos: Curtis Danner, PPD

'Science Next Door' July newsletter lists new events

The latest edition of "Science Next Door," Fermilab's monthly community newsletter, showcases educational and cultural events at Fermilab for the month of July. View it or subscribe to get the latest about the laboratory's public events, including tours, lectures, arts events and volunteer opportunities.

ESH&Q weekly report, July 15

This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ESH&Q Section, contains no incidents.

Find the full report here.

Fermilab prairie plant survey - July 23, Aug. 9

AZero construction update

Scottish country dancing Tuesday evenings in Ramsey Auditorium

International folk dancing Thursday evenings in Ramsey Auditorium

Outdoor soccer

Fermi Days at Six Flags Great America

Employee Appreciation Day at Hollywood Palms Cinema