Fermilab Today Wednesday, July 5, 2006  
Calendar
Wednesday, July 5
12:00 a.m. Summer Lecture Series - Curia II
Speakers: T. Peterson and R. Yarema, Fermilab
Title: Engineering at Fermilab
3:30 p.m. DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK 2nd Flr X-Over
-There will be no Fermilab ILC R&D meeting this week
-There will be no Fermilab Colloquium this week

Thursday, July 6
2:00 p.m. ILC Detector R&D Meeting - West Wing (WH-10NW)
Speaker: R. Yarema, Fermilab
Title: Fermilab Initiatives in 3D Integrated Circuits and SOI Design for HEP
3:30 p.m. DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
-There will be no Theoretical Physics Seminar this week
-There will be no Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar this week

Click here for a full calendar with links to additional information.

Weather
WeatherMostly Sunny 79º/55º

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Secon Level 3

Cafeteria
Wednesday, July 5
-Italian Wedding w/Meatballs
-Diner Style Patty Melt
-Chicken A La Mer
-Stuffed Cabbage
-Greek Chicken Panini w/Feta Cheese
-Assorted Slice Pizza
-Chicken w/Pesto Cream

The Wilson Hall Cafe accepts Visa, Master Card, Discover and American Express.

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Cafeteria

Wednesday, July 5
Lunch
-Oriental Chicken Salad w/ Vegetables
-Banana Bourbon Cake
w/Bourbon Creme Anglais

Thursday, July 6
Dinner
-Beet and Roquefort Salad w/Walnuts
-Steak Au Poivre
-Roasted New Potatoes w/Garlic and Rosemary
-French Green Beans
-Blueberry Shortcake

Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation.

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New chief operating officer eyes Fermilab's future
Former Fermilab associate director for administration Bruce Chrisman is settling into his new job as chief operating officer. (Click image for larger version.)
What does Bruce Chrisman see as the big challenge in his new job as Fermilab's chief operating officer? "My prime goal," said Chrisman, who assumed his new position in April, "is to maintain what I see as a very efficient operation while strengthening the esprit de corps within support operations, with close attention to safety."

The former associate director for administration said he hopes to strengthen Fermilab operations in preparation for a successful bid to host the International Linear Collider. "The ILC will be a huge project that will require a level of formality that Fermilab is just beginning to learn to deal with," Chrisman said. Reinforcing the lab's policy of transparency is something he also says will be key to moving forward.

As COO, Chrisman will oversee several departments including the Business Services Section, the Laboratory Services Section and the Facilities Engineering Services Section. The new position was created in order to streamline Directorate functions while increasing the visibility of financial operations through the appointment of a chief financial officer.

Fermilab Director Pier Oddone expressed his excitement about Chrisman's new role. "Bruce is an enormously talented manager, recognized within the entire DOE system as one of the most knowledgeable and skillful senior executives," Oddone said. "He brings to the position his experience from both the government and private sectors, his complete understanding of how the system functions and how we have to operate to be successful. I am very excited to have Bruce in the senior management team at Fermilab - I also get a better night's sleep knowing that Bruce is on board!"

Before filling the shoes of COO this year, Chrisman first worked at Fermilab in 1970, leaving the laboratory and returning twice during his career. While away from the facility, he worked at Yale and a law firm in Chicago - jobs he said lacked the allure of Fermilab. "I've come back because I find the people stimulating and the work intriguing," Chrisman said. "I was too far removed from physics - it's my intellectual touchstone."
--Dave Mosher

photo
hawk
AD's Greg Vogel found this hawk behind the east booster tower a couple of weeks ago. Recent surveys show that Fermilab hosts 241 bird species. (Click on image for larger version.)
In the News
The New York Times
July 4, 2006:

Physics Awaits New Options as Standard Model Idles
For most of us, any physics is new physics.

Having stopped paying attention somewhere back around "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" or the discovery that you can make sparks by shuffling your feet on the carpet and then touching a doorknob (or another person), we amateurs respond with the same glazed mixture of wonder and incredulity to the latest abilities of computer chips or the expansion of the universe.

For us, the world is constant naïve novelty. The same cannot be said for professional physicists, the ultimate insiders....

Then the feeling vanishes. It happened this spring when two teams of physicists at Fermilab succeeded in measuring a particularly odd schizophrenic particle, known as the strange neutral B meson, that flips back and forth between being itself and its own opposite antiparticle three trillion times a second. Weird as that behavior is, it was right on the money as predicted by the Standard Model.

"Our real hope was for something bizarre," admitted Young-Kee Kim of the University of Chicago and a spokeswoman for one of the Fermilab teams.

In an e-mail message later, Dr. Kim said that she was undaunted. "We are explorers," she said, "and I cannot imagine how exciting it will be when we get even one step closer to true nature!! This belief and this desire is so huge that we will never give up."
Read More (registration required)

photo
An Honorary Membership
In this new column, Fermilab Today will alternate letters from the eight division and section heads. In today's issue, Accelerator Division head Roger Dixon describes what he calls the "x-operator club."

About two weeks ago, I walked down the hall
Roger Dixon
Roger Dixon
from my office to the Main Control Room. It was after hours, and I wanted to check on the progress of the accelerator startup. Someone sitting at a Booster console told me that Bill Pellico was working on a problem in the Booster low-level RF room. I could not resist paying him a visit.

Bill is one of the machine experts who began his career at Fermilab as an accelerator operator. He's a member of the "x-operator club" that is incredibly important to the successful operation of the accelerator complex. Many club members hold high-level positions in the Division, and most of them make many sacrifices in their personal lives to be available to solve problems whenever they occur. Bill happens to be an expert at making the 8 GeV Booster work.

In the low-level area, I found Bill pulling a module out of a rack of electronics. He looked up and pointed out that the RF room is not where the Wine and Cheese seminar is held. We both laughed. It was Bill's acknowledgement that I hold an honorary membership in the "club." It was also a reminder that I am not a real member, despite spending many hours in the MCR during the early part of my career--a fact that only makes me dangerous in the eyes of real club members. The implicit message: "You are welcome to stay, but don't touch anything." Dedicated people like Bill have made my 3 1/2 years as Accelerator Division Head both successful and fun.

Next week's column will feature Computing Division head Vicky White.

Accelerator Update
June 29 - 30
- Lithium Lens trips off
- D4 wet engine repair
- NuMI trips
- Proton abort kicker trips
- KRF4 trips off
- Machine Reports

Read the Current Accelerator Update
Read the Early Bird Report
View the Tevatron Luminosity Charts

Announcements
ILC Town Hall Meeting at VLCW06 Submit Your Question Today
Do you have a question about the Reference Design Report for the ILC? Or are you wondering about an ILC detector concept? Do you worry about how machine and detectors will work together? Or perhaps you have a question about the proposed timeline for building the ILC? At the Vancouver Linear Collider Workshop 2006, you will have the opportunity to ask your questions about the ILC on Thursday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Union Building Ballroom. If you have a question for the panel, please submit it in advance to communicators@linearcollider.org by Wednesday, July 12.

Fermilab Barnstormers
The Fermilab Barnstormers will have a set of trainer airplanes available to fly every Wednesday at noon, at the Model Airplane field across from the Pioneer Cemetery (rain date on Thursday). Come try your hand at flying models and learn what our hobby can offer. We will sell tickets at each session for a July raffle of a radio controlled aircraft. For further information, please contact Jim Zagel, x4076, or Rick Mahlum, x4316.

International Folk Dancing
International Folk Dancing will meet Thursday, July 6, in Ramsey Auditorium in Wilson Hall. Dancing begins at 7:30 p.m. with teaching earlier in the evening and request dancing later on. Newcomers are welcome and you do not need to come with a partner. On July 13, there will be a dance party with live music by accordionist Don Weeda. Info at 630-584-0825 or 630-840-8194 or folkdance@fnal.gov.

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