Fermilab Today

How did you end up at Fermilab?
I have an engineering background — a Bachelor of Engineering in electronics and instrumentation from India. I have a keen interest in government relations. I worked 10 years as an assistant to the consul general of India at the consulate in Chicago. I decided I wanted to move closer to home [in the western suburbs] because my daughter was 18 months old, and I wanted to spend more time with her. Then I saw the opening at Fermilab ...

How long have you been at Fermilab?
Five years. I started here as the administrative assistant in the Program Planning Office for about three-and-a-half years. In early 2014, I started working as the executive assistant to the lab director, and from Oct. 1, the chief of staff to the Directorate.

What does your typical day look like, and what is your role at the laboratory?
It usually starts early. After dropping my daughter off at school, my workday is challenging, busy and exciting. I like that and the fast pace.

In my present role I provide comprehensive administrative policy and programmatic support, strategic planning and international engagement for the Director's Office, including the laboratory director, deputy director and chief operating officer. As part of my role I serve as an integrator and facilitate the lab director's agenda, strategy and direction with the senior leadership team.

I find this very interesting, and my days are intense and productive.

What's the most exciting part of your job?
I work on multiple projects and interact with many people within the lab. I also work with leadership in the DOE Office of High Energy Physics, key staff members in the Office of Science, the Office of Science Technology and Policy, and the FRA Board, as well as national and international labs and especially international funding agencies. I enjoy facilitating a complex web of interactions that is rapidly emerging as the LBNF/DUNE project advances.

What are some things you like to do outside of work?
My daughter is now six years old, and I love spending time with her. My family likes to travel around the U.S. and to different countries to visit famous landmarks. I like to paint. Oil painting, mostly scenery and flowers. That helps me relax.

—Chris Patrick

In the News

Strong interaction between antiprotons is measured for the first time

From Physics World, Nov. 5, 2015

By examining the aftermath of the collisions of gold ions at close to the speed of light, an international team of physicists has measured the strong interaction between pairs of antiprotons for the first time. The researchers found that at very short distances, antiprotons — the antiparticles of protons — attract each other just as protons do. While this result was expected, it should improve our understanding of how antinuclei are held together. It also further strengthens the idea that charge, parity and time-reversal (CPT) symmetry is a fundamental symmetry of nature.

This latest experiment was carried out by the STAR collaboration at the Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). As well as showing that the force between antiprotons is attractive, the team was also able to measure two other important parameters – the scattering length and the effective range of the interaction.

Video of the Day

Why I Love Neutrinos - Steve Brice

Neutrino Division Deputy Head Steve Brice calls neutrinos the oddballs of the universe. View the 1-minute video. Video: Fermilab

In Brief

Proton Accelerators for Science and Innovation workshop - Nov. 11-13

The third workshop in the series titled Proton Accelerators for Science and Innovation will take place at Fermilab from Nov. 11-13, with plenary sessions in Wilson Hall, One West.

Registration is free. Register in person outside One West beginning Nov. 11. Learn more on the meeting Web page.

In Brief

PIP-II room name winner and next meeting room contest

Name this IARC meeting room.

Jenny Thorson, FESS, is the winner of the recent contest to name a meeting room in the PIP-II office suite. The name of the conference room is now Innovare, an Italian word meaning "to innovate, to reform, to change."

It's time to name a fourth meeting room in the IARC building. See the picture above. The name should reflect invention and innovation.

The contest is open to Fermilab badge holders. The deadline for submissions is Monday, Nov. 30. The winner will be announced shortly afterward. As with the previous IARC room naming contests, the winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Altiro Latin Fusion in Geneva.

Email your submissions to Dawn Staszak and enter "IARC meeting room naming contest" in the subject line.

Photo of the Day

Spectral lines of Wilson Hall

nature, sky, sculpture, Acqua Alle Funi, water

Wilson Hall is wonderfully colorful in a sunset. Windows go from red to blue as they approach the sky, which is the limit. Photo: Giulio Stancari, AD

In the News

Neutrinos win again: 1,300 physicists share Breakthrough Prize for particle experiments

From Scientific American, Nov. 8, 2015

It's been a banner year for neutrinos. Last month two physicists won the Nobel Prize for determining that the elusive fundamental particles can switch between three types, or flavors. Now the same finding has netted its discoverers the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics — a $3-million award launched three years ago by billionaire venture capitalist Yuri Milner. There is one key difference between the two honors, though: the Breakthrough Prize will be split among 1,370 physicists.

Seven leaders of five experiments as well as all of the co-authors of the scientific papers reporting the experiments' groundbreaking results will become Breakthrough laureates. The five teams will share the prize money ($600,000 to each), with two thirds of those purses going to the leaders and one third to the collaborators. The huge pool of winners is a record for the Breakthrough Prizes. (The largest group until now was the 51 scientists who shared the award last year for the discovery that the universe is accelerating.) This is also a huge departure from the way science prizes are traditionally awarded — each of the science Nobels is famously limited to three laureates. "We think it's important to recognize that an awful lot of hard work by a lot of people goes into these experiments," says physicist Edward Witten, chair of the Breakthrough physics prize Selection Committee and one of the inaugural Breakthrough Prize winners. "We thought it was important to symbolically include all the participants who were involved."