Fermilab Today Wednesday, September 27, 2006  
Calendar

Wednesday, September 27
3:30 p.m. Director's Coffee Break - 2nd floor crossover
THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB ILC R&D MEETING THIS WEEK

Thursday, September 28
1:00 p.m. ALCPG ILC Physics & Detector R&D Seminar - Hornets' Nest (WH-8XO) Speakers: N. Mokhov and S. Striganov, Fermilab
Title: Machine-Related Backgrounds in the SiD Detector at ILC
2:30 p.m. Theoretical Physics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: K. Ellis, Fermilab
Title: Seminumerical Methods for NLO Monte Carlo at Tevatron and LHC
3:30 p.m. DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4:00 p.m. Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar - 1 West
Speaker: D. McGinnis, Fermilab
Title: Beam Commissioning Software Developed by Fermilab for the LHC

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

Weather
WeatherChance of Showers 65º/45º

Extended Forecast

Weather at Fermilab

Security

Secon Level 3

Cafeteria
Wednesday, September 28
-Italian Wedding with Meatballs
-Diner Style Patty Melt
-Chicken a la Mer
-Mongolian Beef
-Greek Chicken Panini w/Feta Cheese
-Assorted Slice Pizza
-Chicken with Pesto Cream

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Cafeteria
Wednesday, September 27
Lunch

-Crepes w/Black Forest Ham and Gruyere
-Arugula and Sweet Red Pepper Salad
-Chocolate Mousse w/Butter Cookies

Thursday, September 28
Dinner
-Coquille St. Jacque
-Beef Kabob w/Vegetables
-Rice Pilaf
-Pecan Torte w/Bourbon Cream

Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation.

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Profiles
Deaf employee sends mail through, to and from the lab
Julius Borchert started working as a mail carrier here in January.
Ever wonder what happens to your mail after you drop it in a slot at Fermilab? Chances are it's been picked up, sorted and driven to the post office by Fermilab employee Julius Borchert, who is completely deaf. "When I am at work, I have to depend on reading lips," Borchert said in an email. In spite of not hearing or speaking, Borchert has had no trouble making friends since he started working as a mail carrier here in January. "Everybody likes Julius," said Borchert's boss Brian Niesman. "He's a really cool guy."

Borchert was born in the Chicago suburb Park Ridge. It was two years before his parents realized their child's first words would be signed--not spoken. "At age two, a doctor found out that I was profoundly deaf," he explained. "That's when my parents realized they would have to learn sign language." When he was 13, the family relocated to St. Charles. Borchert remembers driving down Kirk Road for the first time. "I saw a road sign that said 'Fermilab' next to a big entrance with open land," he recalled. "I told my parents that I would like to work at Fermilab someday."

Twenty years later, after being laid-off from a mail-clerk job in Lombard, Borchert got his wish. "I was really excited to start," he said. Borchert likes his co-workers, he likes learning about the science that happens here, and he likes the job itself. "In the morning, we receive a large volume of mail from the Batavia Post Office, we sort mail by name and mail station," he said, adding that he is still trying to memorize all 2,000 employee names and locations. Another heap of mail arrives after lunch, and Borchert often stamps and delivers outgoing mail to the Batavia Post Office. "It keeps me busy all day," he said.

After work, Borchert attends social events organized by the Fox Valley deaf community. He also co-hosts a Deaf Coffee Chat every fourth Friday of the month at Caribou Coffee in Batavia, where deaf people, ASL students and interpreters get together. "I wanted to start something new," he said. "We had a very successful inaugural event and it's growing bigger and bigger each month."
--Siri Steiner


GSA elections underway, vote by September 29
Graduate Student Association elections started last Friday and voting will continue until this Friday, September 29. "We encourage all the students to cast their votes to make GSA as representative as possible," said GSA President Christobal Cuenca Almenar. Read more about each candidate's platform and vote on the GSA website.
In the News
Berkeley Lab Research News, September 25, 2006:
From Zero to a Billion Electron Volts in 3.3 Centimeters
BERKELEY, CA - In a precedent-shattering demonstration of the potential of laser-wakefield acceleration, scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working with colleagues at the University of Oxford, have accelerated electron beams to energies exceeding a billion electron volts (1 GeV) in a distance of just 3.3 centimeters. The researchers report their results in the October issue of Nature Physics.

By comparison, SLAC, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, boosts electrons to 50 GeV over a distance of two miles (3.2 kilometers) with radiofrequency cavities whose accelerating electric fields are limited to about 20 million volts per meter.
Read More

An honor to attend
This week's column is written by Dave Carlson, head of Business Services

While representing Fermilab at the Department of Energy National Laboratories Improvement Council
Dave Carlson
Dave Carlson
last week in Washington, DC, I also had the honor of attending the memorial service for Jed Brown at Fort Meyer, and the interment at Arlington National Cemetery. Jed, the former Associate Director for Operations Support at the lab, was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a combat veteran of Vietnam, and a general (retired) in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Gary Leonard, of the Directorate legal staff, and Fred Bernthal, President of Universities Research Association, Inc., also attended the memorial service and joined the procession from the Fort Meyer Old Post Chapel to the Arlington gravesite, where Jed was buried with full military honors. The service was very meaningful and moving, with its time-honored dignity and symbolism: the riderless horse, the caisson drawn by six white horses, the military escort in full dress uniforms. Cannon and rifle reports pierced the stillness at the gravesite with their tributes. An American flag was folded with somber precision and presented to Jed's widow, Jean. It is a scene I will never forget.

As for the business end of the trip, the NLIC meets every two months. The council is made up of senior representatives from laboratories throughout the DOE system, who work to bring modern management improvement principles to the lab's administration and operation. Their goal is to have the labs focus on the science and carry out the DOE science mission as efficiently as possible. Fermilab's presence as a single-purpose lab is important on the council, which includes multi-purpose labs and National Nuclear Security Agency labs. Speakers at this meeting included NNSA chief operating officer Tyler Przybylek, and Associate Under Secretary of Energy Richard Moorer. A major topic of discussion involved avenues of collaboration with the Energy Facility Contractors Group, a volunteer organization of senior level executives from DOE contractors. EFCOG strives to improve the cost-effectiveness of DOE programs with active information exchange in areas such as best management practices, industry standards and advances in technical and managerial areas.

An American flag was folded with somber precision and presented to Jed's widow, Jean. (Click on photo for larger image.)
Announcements

EAP Orientation
There will be an Employee Assistance Program orientation today, September 27, and on October 4, at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in Curia II. The presentations will take only 15-20 minutes and will cover an introduction to VMC EAP, counseling, web-based services, and allow time for questions about EAP services.

Free training on digital certificates
Fermilab is offering a "Digital Certificate" class on October 2, from 1:00 to 4:30, with other dates to follow. Digital certificates are commonly used at Fermilab and the broader open science community. If you've ever shopped online, the underlying technology that allows the transaction to remain secure is based on the use of digital certificates. This free course will provide background on certificates, then give specific instructions on how to install certificates in your browser, including the two most popular certificates at Fermilab: KCAs and DOEGrids. Internet Explorer, the Netscape family, and Safari will be addressed. The course schedule is here.

Unix Users Meeting
There will be a Unix users meeting today, September 27, at 1:00 p.m. in WH2SW. Topics include: accessing the security baselines from DocDB, Linux updates and Grid certificate mapping.

Upcoming Activities

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