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Tuesday, Oct. 16
11:00 a.m.
Academic Lecture Series - Curia II
Speaker: B. Dobrescu, Fermilab
Title: Physics in Extra Dimensions - Part 1
11:30 a.m.
Brown Bag Traffic Safety Seminar - One West
Speaker: T. Lukens, IDOT
Title: New Traffic Laws; Aggressive Driving (Speeding, etc.);
DUI - Driving Under the Influence Including a DUI Victim's Wall Display
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY
SEMINAR TODAY
Wednesday, Oct. 17
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 - One West
Speaker: V. Vassiliev, University of California, Los Angeles
Title: Ground-Based Gamma-Ray Astronomy - from VERITAS to AGIS
Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information. |
Tuesday, Oct. 16
- Golden broccoli & cheese
- Southern style fish sandwich
- Coconut crusted tilapia
- Spaghetti w/meatballs
- *Toasted almond chicken salad on croissant
- Assorted slice pizza
- Chicken fajitas
*Carb Restricted Alternative
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu |
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Wednesday, Oct. 17
Lunch
- Ropa vieja (shredded flank steak)
- Platano maduro
- Moro (rice & black beans)
- Mango flan
Thursday, Oct. 18
Dinner
- Mussels in saffron sauce
- Duck w/pinot noir sauce
- Moroccan sweet potato stew
- Bittersweet chocolate Irish whiskey cake
Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation. |
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Letter from Ray L. Orbach, DOE Under Secretary for Science
Dear Colleagues:
Dr. Robin Staffin has asked to be reassigned to a position in Forrestal as a senior science advisor to the Director. I have agreed to this and look forward to working with him in this new role. I am detailing Dr. Dennis Kovar to serve as the acting director of the Office of High Energy Physics.
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| Dennis Kovar |
Dr. Jehanne Simon-Gillo will be detailed to the position of acting director of the Office of Nuclear Physics while Dr. Kovar carries out the responsibilities of his new position. In these positions, Drs. Kovar and Simon-Gillo will be responsible for budgets, personnel in the respective offices, and for planning, both short and long term. Both appointments are effective today.
I wish to extend my thanks and appreciation to Robin for his leadership and contributions to the U.S. particle physics program as associate director of the Office of High Energy Physics. Over the past four and a half years, under Robin's leadership, the Fermilab Tevatron has broken luminosity records, the NuMI-MINOS beamline and detector were completed, the B Factory at SLAC will successfully complete its historic run this year, and particle astrophysics has been established as a major new dimension of exploration.
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| Robin Staffin |
Internationally, next generation accelerator R&D that will explore the Terascale has been a major area of research and international collaboration, and expanded US presence and support is helping to make the Large Hadron Collider at CERN one of the most exciting, anticipated physics experiments for this decade and beyond.
Today, particle physics boasts an unprecedented number of fundamental questions and opportunities for transformative discoveries. The sense that the answers to these questions are within our grasp provides a new vibrancy and excitement to this field. The particle physics community has a vision and ambitious goals, which require the development of a path forward that is adaptable and robust.
Dennis Kovar will have my full support to help the field identify this path forward.
Dr. Kovar has expertise and experience, both as a practicing scientist in his field and as a federal manager in the Office of Science. He worked in the field as an experimental nuclear physicist for 20 years doing accelerator based experiments prior to coming to DOE, and at DOE he has spent almost as long involved in both program and project management, with experience in user facilities, accelerator operations, and major projects. I believe that he brings the skills and experience needed to guide OHEP in the challenging times ahead, and I will give him my full support in this endeavor.
Dr. Simon-Gillo is an experienced administrator and scientist, with a clear vision for the future of nuclear physics. The community is fortunate to have someone of her ability and experience to guide the nuclear physics program in Dr. Kovar's absence.
I ask you to join me in thanking Robin Staffin for his contribution to the Office of High Energy Physics and in giving Dennis Kovar and Jehanne Simon-Gillo your full support as they carry out the responsibilities in their respective offices.
Sincerely,
Raymond L. Orbach
Under Secretary for Science
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The great cosmic roller-coaster ride
Scientific American, November 2007
Could cosmic inflation be a sign that our universe is embedded in a far vaster realm?
You might not think that cosmologists could feel claustrophobic in a universe that is 46 billion light-years in radius and filled with sextillions of stars. But one of the emerging themes of 21st-century cosmology is that the known universe, the sum of all we can see, may just be a tiny region in the full extent of space. Various types of parallel universes that make up a grand "multiverse" often arise as side effects of cosmological theories. We have little hope of ever directly observing those other universes, though, because they are either too far away or somehow detached from our own universe.
Some parallel universes, however, could be separate from but still able to interact with ours, in which case we could detect their direct effects. The possibility of these worlds came to cosmologists' attention by way of string theory, the leading candidate for the foundational laws of nature. Although the eponymous strings of string theory are extremely small, the principles governing their properties also predict new kinds of larger membranelike objects-"branes," for short. In particular, our universe may be a three-dimensional brane in its own right, living inside a nine-dimensional space.
Read More
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Thank you
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| Pier Oddone |
Yesterday marked a transition in the management of the Office of High Energy Physics in the Department of Energy. Undersecretary of Science Ray Orbach announced that, in accordance with Dr. Robin Staffin's request, he was appointing Robin to the position of senior advisor to the director of the Office for Science. Robin has led OHEP as associate director for nearly five years, a difficult but exciting period for our field.
During that time, the Tevatron, SLAC's PEPII B-Factory and the neutrino program at Fermilab performed remarkably and produced many important results. At the same time the U.S. program made significant contributions to the LHC and its detectors. This new frontier will soon open a vast territory to explore. Preparations for the International Linear Collider, the machine to follow the LHC, received remarkable impetus in the last few years. The Joint Dark Energy Mission, which follows the pioneering work supported by OHEP has been recommended to be the first of the "Beyond Einstein" probes.
Through these challenging times, Robin has been a friend and supporter of Fermilab. On behalf of the laboratory I want to thank him for his help over the years and for his devoted service to our particle physics community.
Welcome
We are fortunate to have Dr. Dennis Kovar as the interim associate director of OHEP. He is a very experienced nuclear physicist with an extensive background in accelerator-based research and a successful program manager in the Office of Science.
He has the respect of his colleagues in DOE and beyond, especially in places that count such as the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. I have known Dennis since my Berkeley years when LBNL depended on him for the support of its extensive nuclear physics program. I was impressed always with his deep understanding of the program. He guided the national nuclear physics program through turbulent times and now he brings battle-tested skills to help particle physics through the challenging transitions ahead. On behalf of our laboratory community I want to welcome Dennis and pledge our commitment to support him and work with him for the benefit of our field.
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Have a safe day!
Brown bag traffic safety seminar today
A brown bag traffic safety seminar will be held today from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in One West. Opening remarks regarding Fermilab traffic safety will be made by Bruce Chrisman. IDOT's Toshi Lukens will address new traffic laws. The seminar also will cover aggressive driving and DUI information. Door prizes will be raffled.
Interpersonal Communication Skills
Learn effective communication strategies by assessing your communication
style and developing skills for more productive work relationships through
the "Interpersonal Communications Skills" course on Oct. 18. Learn more and enroll.
Wilson Hall east parking
lot closed Oct. 22-26
The Wilson Hall east parking lot will be closed Oct. 22-26, for the
ALCPG07 meeting. Handicapped parking in the east lot will still be
available. The Fermilab taxi will pick up passengers on the west side of the
building.
Don't use Fermilab e-mail for politics
Recently, Fermilab employees and users have received e-mails asking them to
support petitions or political campaigns. Fermilab employees and users are
not allowed to use their Fermilab accounts ("fnal.gov") to respond to such
e-mails or to send out such solicitations. More information on
prohibited activities and the appropriate use of the laboratory's
computing network is outlined in the Fermilab Policy on Computing.
Wilson Hall exterior restoration
work begins on Wednesday
Wilson Hall will undergo concrete repair, power washing and concrete sealing beginning Wednesday, Oct. 17 through mid-December, weather permitting. This phase of the Wilson Hall 5-year inspection and repair cycle will affect the east side of Wilson Hall only. Noisy work will be limited to early morning hours before 9:00 a.m. Parking and pedestrian traffic will be limited along the east side depending on which building bays are being serviced. Motorcycle and bicycle parking will be temporarily moved from the east to the west side lot starting Oct. 29. For more information, contact Russ Alber (630)840-2501 or ralber@fnal.gov.
Additional Activities |
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Chance of showers 69°/51°
