Monday, Jan. 26, 2015
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Have a safe day!

Monday, Jan. 26

2 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Mei-Yu Wang, Texas A&M University
Title: Impacts of Galaxy Formation and Alternative Dark Matter Models on Milky Way Satellite Kinematics

3:30 p.m.
Director's Coffee Break - WH2XO

4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II

Tuesday, Jan. 27

3:30 p.m.
Director's Coffee Break - WH2XO

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR AND PHYSICS TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR THIS WEEK

Visit the labwide calendar to view Fermilab events

Weather
Weather Snow
27°/26°

Extended forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Current Flag Status

Flags at full staff

Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, Jan. 26

- Breakfast: blueberry crepes
- Breakfast: sausage, egg and cheese croissant
- Monte Cristo sandwich
- Oriental beef and vegetables
- Greek patitsio
- Spicy asian chicken wrap
- Chicken curry with naan bread
- Corn chowder
- Texas-style chili
- Assorted pizza by the slice

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Jan. 28
Lunch
- Stuffed cabbages
- Mashed potatoes
- Apple crisp cake

Friday, Jan. 30
Dinner
- Zucchini fitters with yogurt dill sauce
- Grilled swordfish with marmalade-ginger glaze
- Spinach risotto
- Lemon cheesecake

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Press Release

Science, art and hands-on fun at Fermilab’s Family Open House on Sunday, Feb. 8

Fermilab scientists, hands-on demonstrations and new tours will be on hand for this year's Family Open House. Photo: Fermilab

The Family Open House is one of the most popular annual events hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. And this year, there are plenty of new wonders for kids of all ages — even those who have been to the Open House before — to enjoy.

This year’s event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 8 from 1 to 5 p.m. in Wilson Hall. It will include activities for the whole family, from hands-on science exhibits to tours of some of the lab’s attractions. There will be a series of performances by Jerry Zimmerman, the ever-popular “Mr. Freeze,” demonstrating the (very) cool effects of liquid nitrogen, and about a dozen scientists will be ready to answer questions in the exhibit area on the 15th floor of Wilson Hall.

For the first time, Fermilab’s brand-new operations center on the first floor of Wilson Hall will be accessible for the Open House. Many of Fermilab’s experiments are controlled from this room, and there will be operators at their stations, all of them ready to talk about the work they are doing.

Read more

In Brief

Now accepting applications for the URA Thesis Award

Fermilab and the Universities Research Association invite submissions for the 18th annual URA Thesis Award competition. The award recognizes the most outstanding thesis based on work conducted at Fermilab or in collaboration with Fermilab scientists.

Nominations must be submitted to Lenny Spiegel by March 20 and should include two letters supporting the merits of the thesis being nominated. At least one letter should be from a member of the thesis committee of the Ph.D. granting institution and, for work carried out in collaboration with Fermilab scientists, at least one of the letters should come from one of those scientists.

The URA Thesis Award Committee will select the winners. The committee members will judge each thesis on clarity of presentation, originality and physics content. To qualify, the thesis must have been submitted in fulfillment of the Ph.D. requirements in the 2014 calendar year, written in English, and submitted in electronic form to the Fermilab Publications Office in accordance with Fermilab policy.

For further details consult the URA Thesis Award website.

Wellness Feature of the Month

February fitness classes, fitness center membership and discounts

Fitness Classes

Zumba Toning
Tuesdays, Feb. 3-March 10, noon-12:45 p.m.
Fitness Center Exercise Room
$40. Register by Jan. 27.

Zumba Fitness
Thursdays, Feb. 5-March 12, noon-12:45 p.m.
Fitness Center Exercise Room
$40. Register by Jan. 29.

Mat Pilates
Mondays, Feb. 23-March 30, noon-12:45 p.m.
Fitness Center Exercise Room
$76. Register by Feb. 16.

Fermilab Fitness Center

The Fermilab Fitness Center, located at 16B Potawatomi in the Village, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It features a full-size gymnasium; a weight room with free weights, strength and cardio equipment; and an exercise room with bosu balls, resistance bands and stability balls.

Memberships are $135 for a year, $110 for six months, $75 for three months and $40 for one month. Get a free trial. Student rates are available.

Employee Discounts
Fox Valley Fitness
Norris Recreation Center
Vaughan Athletic Center
Hollywood Palms Employee Appreciation Day

For more discounts, visit the employee discount Web page.

In the News

Crunch time for pet theory on dark matter

From Nature, Jan. 21, 2015

After decades of searching and multiple no-shows, it is crunch time for a leading theory of what comprises dark matter, the mysterious stuff thought to make up around 85 percent of the universe's matter.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Europe's particle-physics lab near Geneva, Switzerland, is scheduled to restart in March after a major upgrade. It is widely seen as the last chance in a generation to create — and thus confirm — theoretical particles known as WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles. A super-sensitive 'direct-detection' experiment, which is designed to catch naturally occurring WIMPs streaming from the heavens, is also due to start this year.

Read more

Tip of the Week:
Quality Assurance

Improved issues tracking at Fermilab with iTrack

The iTrack Task Force worked to take a closer look at the Fermilab's management tracking system to identify how to make it more useful and user-friendly. Their efforts produced an updated system, which will give the laboratory a clearer view of its reviews and assessment activities.

Just over one year ago, Fermilab announced iTrack as the one laboratory-authorized method for tracking items related to assessments, reviews, tours, inspections and similar activities. A task force was formed with representatives from around the laboratory to determine how the lab could make the system more effective. Fast forward to today, and we see that iTrack has received a much-needed upgrade to ensure the tool is able to meet the evolving needs of the laboratory. The upgrade will allow us to improve our issues tracking and reporting capabilities. It will also serve as a data source for quality assurance metrics on FermiDash related to the issues management program.

Based on the final report of the iTrack Task Force, the ESH&Q Section Quality Assurance Group worked closely with the Core Computing Division to make the tool more useful and user-friendly. The upgrades include a streamlined data entry process; improved reporting capabilities with preset queries available at the click of a mouse; enhanced search capabilities through which users can now perform text-based searches; and upgraded search output results exportable to Excel.

Quality Assurance Manual chapter 12030, iTrack Procedures and Risk Assignment, was also updated and includes instructions for using iTrack. Items to be tracked in iTrack include results from activities where formal reports are issued, including DOE reviews, external program reviews, incidents or events such as near misses, organized safety inspections and walkthroughs, self assessments and director's reviews. For items that are not recorded in iTrack, such as routine equipment inspections, action items and tasks from meetings, new employee orientation tours, and items found during normal work activities, divisions and sections can choose a method that best fits their needs to track these items to completion.

The ESH&Q Quality Assurance Group will provide training to data entry personnel to acquaint them with the new data entry methods. Additional information and help guides have been posted on the ESH&Q iTrack Web page. For questions about upgrades or to attend a scheduled training session please contact ESH&Q's QA team.

Kathy Zappia, ESH&Q Quality Assurance Communications Group

Photo of the Day

Capering coyote

The caperin' coyote looks for his friend the leapin' lizard. Photo: Bridget Scerini, TD
Milestone

New employees - January

The following regular employees started at Fermilab in January:

Padma Akella, TD; Omar Al Attasi, TD; Paul Bainbridge, AD; Krysia Jacobs, OCIO; Chris Rossman, FS; Alejandro Sosa, AD; Stoyan Stoynev, TD; Yulia Trenikhina, TD

Kris Anderson, AD; Marcel Borcean, FESS; Christina Frank, OCIO; and Aleksandr Romanov, AD; started in December.

Fermilab welcomes them to the laboratory.

Announcements

Today's New Announcements

URA Thesis Award Competition

Fermi Singers seek new members in New Year!

Zumba Toning registration due Jan. 27

Linux User Group meets Jan. 28

Zumba Fitness registration due Jan. 29

Vaughan Athletic Center membership rates effective Feb. 3

Writing for Results: Email and More - Feb. 27

Fermilab Functions - March 3, 5, 11

Interpersonal Communication Skills course - March 10

Managing Conflict course - March 24

2015 FRA scholarship applications accepted until April 1

Windows 8.1 approved for use

GSA updates mileage rate to 57.5 cents for 2015

Abri Credit Union appreciates our members

The Take Five challenge and poster winter 2014/2015

Scottish country dancing Tuesday evenings at Kuhn Barn

Indoor soccer