Ross has played an integral part in SLAC's accelerator activities

Marc Ross

for many years. He started as a graduate student in 1979, became a full staff member in 1983, and worked on the Stanford Linear Collider until 1998. Ross remembers "fifteen years of 8 o'clock meetings seven days a week." In the process, Ross has built up a wealth of experience that has made him a respected expert on linear colliders. He has wide national and international experience, having made important contributions to programs at Fermilab, KEK in Japan, and DESY in Germany.

"Congratulations, Marc, from everyone at SLAC," said SLAC Director Jonathan Dorfan. "You have made a tremendous contribution to the lab's accelerator program and we will miss you enormously. We look forward to working right alongside you as you apply your impressive skills and deep technical knowledge to strengthen working relationships between SLAC and Fermilab and drive the ILC project forward."

Fermilab Director Pier Oddone welcomed Ross's appointment.

"I am delighted that Marc is joining Fermilab and will play a key role in developing the technology for the ILC," Oddone said. "He brings enormous energy and technical talent. He is recognized world-wide for the strong collaborations that he has developed in the ILC community. He will help us build an even stronger collaboration between the groups at Fermilab and SLAC and, extending well beyond that, to the world-wide collaboration."

Ross looks forward to building a strong bridge between SLAC and Fermilab and the other laboratories and universities working on the ILC.

"Scientific collaboration among labs and universities must be a grassroots process," Ross said. "Global connections begin at home. It is in this spirit that I have accepted the position at Fermilab. We will develop the strong, unified national and international organization required to build the International Linear Collider."
--Neil Calder and Judy Jackson

Test samples were taken from the east and west sides of Fermilab on June 8, June 15 and June 22. The latest west-side sample revealed the West Nile virus. This is not a new phenomenon at Fermilab. Last summer's tests revealed a total of 5 infected sample batches onsite, and samples from the summer of 2004 revealed 2 infected samples. Infected mosquitoes have also been found in other test areas of Kane and DuPage counties this summer, such as West Dundee, West Chicago, Elgin, Aurora and Naperville.

According to The Beacon News, no birds have tested positive for the virus, and no human cases have been identified in Kane County this year. Fermilab Roads and Grounds' Mike Becker says the Kane County Health Department has been testing for West Nile at Fermilab for three years, and Fermilab participates in annual meetings with DuPage and Kane County Health Departments to discuss expectations for each mosquito season. "I have spoken with both Fred Carlson (Kane County Health Department) and Tad Koeune (DuPage County Health Department) this morning and neither is surprised that we have turned up a positive," said Becker. "I described our larviciding and adulticiding program to them again, as I had done earlier in the year and they had no additional suggestions. We will continue to adjust our program based on their recommendations." Fermilab's Roads and Grounds crew places cork-sized insecticide briquettes in standing water to discourage breeding, and sprays the adults a couple times a week--targeting populated areas like the Village and DZero.

80 percent of people infected with West Nile have no symptoms; a smaller percentage experience flu-like symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. Only .7 percent experience more severe version of the sickness, occasionally leading to coma and in rare cases death. You can read more about West Nile in last week's safety tip.
--Siri Steiner