Fermilab Today

During his last two years at Fermilab, Matthew Toups has played a critical role on a number of the lab's neutrino detection experiments. His hard work and dedication has earned him the 2015 Tollestrup Award.

Each year, the Universities Research Association presents the Tollestrup Award to a postdoctoral researcher at Fermilab who conducted outstanding work in collaboration with Fermilab scientists. According to Daniel Whiteson, chair of the award committee, Toups received this year's award for his contributions to the liquid-argon-based short-baseline neutrino program at Fermilab, including MicroBooNE and the Short Baseline Near Detector (formerly known as LAr1-ND).

"I'm ecstatic. Alvin Tollestrup was a great experimentalist, so to be given an award in his name means a lot," Toups said.

"Alvin Tollestrup has set a very high standard, and URA is pleased to present this award in his name to Dr. Toups for his outstanding research," said Marta Cehelsky, executive director of URA.

Toups' main roles have been to co-lead the commissioning of MicroBooNE, a 170-ton liquid-argon time projection chamber (TPC), and develop ways to collect the ultraviolet light produced from interactions of high-energy particles with atoms in liquid-argon TPCs.

Measuring signals from the light release is critical for determining the moment when an interaction between a neutrino and an argon atom occurred. During his first year at Fermilab, Toups built and installed a system for collecting ultraviolet light for MicroBooNE. Using this knowledge, he is currently working to design a next-generation light-collection system for SBND.

"At this point, Matt is a world leader on light collection in liquid argon, which is why he was chosen as the co-leader of the detector commissioning," said Janet Conrad, Toups' advisor and an MIT professor working on MicroBooNE. "He has been able to handle all sorts of surprises and has overall been an absolutely outstanding postdoc."

MicroBooNE is just the beginning — liquid-argon technology is central to many of Fermilab's current and future neutrino detection experiments.

"The hope is that we can take what we learned in MicroBooNE and build something even better for the near detector, which can then be used as a test bed for the long-baseline experiment, DUNE," Toups said.

—Diana Kwon

In Brief

All-hands celebration takes place on June 17

Everyone is invited to attend an all-hands celebration on Wednesday, June 17, at 9:30 a.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. Learn about recent milestones including the LHC restart, record 400-kilowatt-plus accelerator performance, first electron beam at the superconducting test accelerator and the Mu2e groundbreaking.

The celebration begins with nontechnical presentations from 9:30 to 10 a.m., followed by coffee and bagels in the atrium.

In the News

President Obama names scientists Pellegrini and Shank as 2014 Enrico Fermi Award recipients

From Energy.gov, June 8, 2015

WASHINGTON — President Obama has named Dr. Claudio Pellegrini and Dr. Charles V. (Chuck) Shank as recipients of the Enrico Fermi Award, one of the government's oldest and most prestigious awards for scientific achievement. The Presidential award carries an honorarium of $50,000, shared equally, and a medal. The award is administered on behalf of the White House by the U.S. Department of Energy.

In the News

An earthling's guide to black holes

From The New York Times, June 8, 2015

Welcome, earthlings, to the place of no return — a region in space where the gravitational pull is so strong, not even light can escape it. This is a black hole.

It's ok to feel lost here. Even Einstein — whose Theory of General Relativity made it possible to conceive of such a place — thought the concept was too bizarre to exist. But Einstein was wrong, and here you are.

You shouldn't be here. You will surely get pulled in. But fear not dear Earthling, this is just your mind thinking. It has taken your brain millions of years to get here. So let's get started.

From WDRS

New spaces, services and faces at the International Services Department

Kay Van Vreede

Kay Van Vreede, head of the Workforce Development and Resources Section, wrote this column.

New spaces
A lot has been happening behind the scenes with the International Services Department. "Behind the scenes" is a fitting description as some believe that the International Services Department offices are not exactly easy to find. That is about to change: We are currently developing plans to relocate these offices to a much more visible, accessible and welcoming area in FY16. Stay tuned!

New services
We are planning to enhance the user's overall experience with the delivery of new services, living assistance and convenience. Please help us understand what current services you find valuable and what services you would like to see enhanced or added. All lab users are encouraged to participate in the survey.

New faces
We are very excited to announce that Griselda Lopez is now leading the International Services Department in the role of manager. Griselda was a business analyst in the Core Computing Division prior to taking on this role. She holds a master's degree in business administration from Aurora University, is fluent in Spanish and brings with her more than 13 years of experience at Fermilab. In addition, Griselda brings personal experience in immigration and international travel. This has fueled her passion for this area of the lab. Welcome, Griselda!

Valery Stanley is our new senior international services administrator and comes to us from a law firm specializing in immigration. There she was a paralegal and a subject matter expert in immigration processing. Valery brings more than eight years of experience in U.S. immigration law. As a former immigrant herself, she can personally understand what it is like to go through the process. She obtained degrees in international business and international relations from Schiller International University in Germany and France, has lived and traveled abroad extensively, and is fluent in Russian. We are excited to have Valery on the Visa Office team to provide insight into the complicated immigration law regulations. Welcome, Valery!

Meet the International Services Office staff. From left: Linda Granbur, international services associate; Kim Pearce, international services associate; Stacey Vassallo, human resources services manager; Kappy Sherman, international services administrator; Griselda Lopez, international services manager; Valery Stanley, international services administrator senior; Cheng Hwei Liu, administrative support assistant. Photo: Reidar Hahn

Photos of the Day

Purple petals

These irises are growing in the BEG courtyard. Photo: Barb Kristen, PPD

Prairie spiderwort flowers are usually open in the morning. Each flower lasts only a single day. Photo: Leticia Shaddix, PPD

The woodland flower phlox usually grows in bunches. Photo: Leticia Shaddix, PPD

Safety Update

ESH&Q weekly report, June 9

This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ESH&Q Section, contains two incidents.

An employee stepped off a one-foot ledge, lost his balance and fell. He caught himself on his left arm. He reported to medical the following day with shoulder pain and was later seen by an orthopedist. X-rays for fracture were negative. Medication was prescribed, making this case recordable.

A contract employee cut a finger on his right hand while pushing a cart of metal sheeting spools. He received first-aid treatment.

See the full report.