Fermilab Today Wednesday, April 25, 2007
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Wed., April 25
9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
TESLA Technology Collaboration meeting
1-West
View schedule here. THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB ILC R&D MEETING THIS WEEK
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4:00 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium
1 West
Speaker: H. Weise, DESY
Title: The European XFEL Free Electron Laser at DESY

Thurs., April 26
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
TESLA Technology Collaboration meeting
1-West
View schedule here.
1:00 p.m.
ALCPG ILC Physics and Detector Seminar - West Wing, WH-10NW
Speaker: M. Barone, Fermilab
Title: The ILC Document Server Project Suite: ILCAgenda, ILCDoc, ILC-EDMS
2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: A. Weber, Max Planck Institute, Munich
Title: Dusting for SUSY's Fingerprints in Precision Data
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4:00 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar
1 West
Speaker: R. Raja, Fermilab
Title: Accelerator Driven Nuclear Energy - The Thorium Option
6:00 p.m.
UTeV Seminar - 1 West
Speaker: M. Demarteau, Fermilab
Title: A Walmart ILC Detector?

Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

Weather

WeatherShowers 53°/41°

Extended Forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe
Wednesday, April 25
-Vegetable beef
-Fish & chips
-Smart Cuisine: Grilled salmon
-Country fried steak w/ pepper gravy
-Beef & cheddar panini w/ sauteed onions
-Assorted pizza slices
-Cavatappi pasta w/ Italian sausage & tomato ragu

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, April 25
Closed

Thursday, April 26
Dinner
- Coquille St. Jacques
- Veal piccata
- Risotto confetti
- Chocolate fondue w/ dipping fruit

Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation.

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Info

Fermilab Today is online at:
www.fnal.gov/today/

Send comments and suggestions to:
today@fnal.gov

Special Announcement

SciBooNE moving today: Some roads closed from
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.


To move the final major detector component of SciBooNE, Roads D and B, and Power Line Road between CDF and Giese Road will be closed today between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. View a map of the road closures here. Fermilab Today will feature a story on SciBooNE in tomorrow's issue.

Feature

Conference Office brings global physics together


Cynthia Sazama and Suzanne Weber of the Conference Office spend many of their days at the registration tables just west of the atrium in Wilson Hall.

Not enough time and not enough hands is the norm this time of year at Fermilab's Conference Office, but the dedicated two-woman team makes sure that about 24 yearly conferences and workshops go off without a hitch.

"It's unbelievable the amount of work it takes. Every conference is different, and we're doing six things at once," said conference events coordinator Suzanne Weber, who has worked 17 years at the lab. "It's fun, though. I love it."

Conference Office manager Cynthia Sazama, an integral presence at the lab since the earliest days with founding director Robert Wilson, has badge No. 12. But her focus is on the future. "Fermilab's quest to secure the proposed ILC means that we are especially happy to host the ILC related meetings," she said. "Researchers are also happy to come here to see what we are doing in the way of ILC research and development."

Sazama said this is the busiest time of the year in the Conference Office. The lab is currently hosting the TESLA Technology Collaboration meeting, its fourth sponsored gathering in April, following The LHC Early Phase for the ILC, LoopFest IV, and The President's National Math Advisory Panel. Next comes the push for the summer season, with eight more conferences running through early September.

Sazama estimates that it takes at least six months to plan a two- to four-day event, with 50 to 100 international visitors. Registration forms, Web sites and promotional posters must be created and sent to 615 institutions worldwide. Fermilab doesn't recruit conferences, but many organizations flock here because it's cost effective. "The advantage is that holding a conference here is a lot cheaper than at a hotel," Sazama said. "The facilities are already built in. It's not as glamorous a place as a hotel or resort, but it's much more economical." An added perk: visiting scientists can meet with Fermilab researchers to swap ideas.

The office works with worldwide conference-planning teams and coordinates projects with Fermilab secretaries. "I really enjoy working with different people around the world. It's great when everything comes together and everyone is happy," Weber said. "I have a small part in that, but it's a part."

-- Kate Raiford

Feature

Kodee's journey home


Kodee, a Brittany Spaniel from a nearby neighborhood, was lost at Fermilab on April 1. He survived 19 days on the site and in areas aurrounding the lab before he was rescued last Thursday, April 19.

After 19 days of being lost in Fermilab and surrounding areas, Kodee has been reunited with his family. "I can't believe it. I was dumbfounded," said Kodee's owner, Peggy Reed. "He only weighs 32 pounds - he's skin and bones, you can see his ribs, but other than a few cuts on his nose, he's fine." It was a reunion Reed nearly didn't believe possible. Kodee, a 7-year-old Brittany, escaped from his yard on April 1 when a strong wind blew the yard gate open. "We couldn't catch him," said Reed.

Reed canvassed area neighborhoods with fliers and enlisted the help of Fermilab Today. An April 3 special announcement requesting information about Kodee's whereabouts yielded dozens of responses from employees who spotted Kodee across the lab, including Dzero, CDF and the dog training area and north of the lab at Fabyan parkway. Many, like security supervisor Chuck Morrison, had seen Kodee run by, but the dog was too quick to catch. She and her daughter combed Fermilab property daily looking for Kodee, but after 10 days, sightings grew infrequent and Reed began to lose hope. Temperatures plummeted to below freezing and a storm blanketed the area with snow. "I never thought I'd see him again," Peggy said. "I kept thinking -- when do you stop looking?"

But on Thursday, April 19, Reed received a call. Aurora Animal Control had found Kodee at Pierce and Route 25 near downtown Aurora. "I'm amazed. I just want to thank everyone, particularly at Fermilab, for all of their help," Reed said.

Kodee has been microchipped and the gate to Reed's yard has been reinforced to prevent him from escaping again.

-- Rhianna Wisniewski

From FESS

Special words of gratitude

Today's column is written by Kay VanVreede, head of the Workforce Development and Resources Section.

Kay VanVreede

Today is Administrative Professionals Day,
a day to celebrate people we rely on every day to keep things running smoothly through all areas of Fermilab. Our administrative professionals handle so many reponsibilities behind the scenes that I think we can lose track of their enormous daily contributions. We might also forget to express our gratitude for all these individual services, so I want to say "Thank you!" to all these dedicated people, across the entire lab site.

As an example, I have been thinking about the wide range of tasks which are handled so well by administrative professionals in our own Workforce Development and Resources Section. They are people you all know and look to for services you need every day. Here are a few of the services they provide to the entire lab community: service awards and luncheons; relocating new people to the Lab; coordinating our tuition assistance program; getting our summer students hired; unraveling problematic health claims; helping retirees with insurance payments; selling gym memberships; helping users with IDs and many other issues; selling tickets to arts and lecture events; running the Lederman science center store and selling Fermilab logo gear; cataloging and ordering books for the teachers' resource center; coordinating all the teacher travel for workshops here at the Lab; processing salary actions for employees, and even running the Administrative Professionals Day event (which took place last Friday). The topic for the day was the need for clear communication in asking for what you need. People can apply this principle to developing more effective relationships here and at home. And clear communications, like all the work our administrative professionals do, benefits all of us.

So a special thanks to all the WDRS administrative professionals, and special thanks again to all of you administrative professionals around the Lab. Science is our mission, but you provide the infrastructure and the framework to keep everything humming, every day.

In the News

Chicago Sun-Times,
April 24, 2007:

3-D images put NASA up close with sun

Evanston native says we may learn to forecast solar activity

In a now classic interview, British prankster Sacha Baron Cohen asked Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, if one day a human being might step foot on . . . the sun.

The flabbergasted former astronaut responded no because, first of all, it's really, really hot there -- 27 million degrees Fahrenheit at its core.

Suggested Cohen: "We could go in da' winter, when it's colder."

Astronomers love that Ali G joke. It reminds them there's still a lot to be taught -- and learned -- about that big, ol' burning ball in the sky.

Scientists say they are making progress on both fronts. On Monday, NASA released the first 3-D images of the sun -- pictures showing solar explosions that can cause electrical power blackouts and scramble airline communication on Earth.

Read More

About.com,
April 23, 2007:

This week in physics history

Apr. 23, 1858 - German physicist & Nobel laureate Max Planck is born. Planck is credited as the father of quantum physics, because his solution to the ultraviolet catastrophe in blackbody radiation involved assuming that energy traveled in discrete packets, which he termed quanta. He derived a value, later called Planck's constant, which is crucial to performing quantum physics calculations. Out of this finding, Albert Einstein was able to explainthe photoelectric effect and, subsequently, the field of quantum physics was born. He received the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.

Read More

Announcements

Pine Street entrance closed
Due to repaving operations, both the inbound and outbound lanes of Fermilab's Pine Street entrance will continue to be closed through Friday, April 27. Each day the Pine Street entrance will be closed at 6 a.m. and will reopen by 6 p.m. The Wilson Street entrance will be open between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. The schedule is dependent on the weather.

Fermilab Friends membership drive
and lunchtime fair this week

Fermilab Friends for Science Education, a non-profit organization, is holding a membership drive and lunchtime fair on April 23-26 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Wilson Hall Atrium. Join other staff members in providing the extra support that helps Fermilab's K-12 education programs thrive.
Events
- Monday, "Estimation:" Winners get a jar of treats
- Tuesday, "Crush a walnut:" Try our unique nutcracker, the Walnut Collider
- Wednesday, "Levitate a train"
- Thursday, "Test your knowledge of Fermilab history"

Upcoming Activities

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