Fermilab Today Wednesday, November 14, 2007
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Wednesday, Nov. 14
10 a.m.
Special Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: C. Tschalaer, B. Franklin, A. Siddiqui, F.Wang - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Title: Optical Stochastic Cooling Experiment Plans at MIT/Bates and Prospects of OSC at the Tevatron
THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB ILC R&D MEETING THIS WEEK
2:30 p.m.
Special Particle Astrophysics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: W. Valkenburg, LAPP, Annecy
Title: What do WMAP and SDSS Really Tell About Inflation?
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: A. Melissinos, University of Rochester
Title: Lasers in High Energy Physics

Thursday, Nov. 15
1 p.m.
ILC ALCPG Physics and Detector R&D Seminar - WH-10NW, West Wing
Speaker: C. Gatto, INFN, Lecce
Title: Status of the Simulations in ILCroot
2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: A. Petrov, Wayne State University
Title: Charm Mixing in the Standard Model and Beyond
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar - One West
Speaker: S. Kazakov, KEK
Title: High-Power RF Sources and Components for Linear Colliders

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

Weather

Weather

Mostly sunny 57°/31°

Extended Forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe
Wednesday, Nov. 14
- Creamy mushroom chicken soup
- Cajun chicken ranch
- Chicken Wellington
- Parmesan baked pork chops
- Smoked turkey panini pesto mayo
- Assorted slice pizza
- Chicken alfredo fettucine

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Nov. 14
Lunch
- Pork satay w/peanut sauce
- Sautéed Asian vegetables
- Steamed jasmine rice
- Banana spring rolls

Thursday, Nov. 15
Dinner
- Curried butternut soup
- Spiced rubbed duck w/port wine sauce
- Corn risotto w/tomato and basil
- Rum raisin soufflé

Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation.

Archives

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Result of the Week
Safety Tip of the Week
ILC NewsLine

Info

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

Send comments and suggestions to:
today@fnal.gov

Feature

Unusual inspiration for "Biological Impulses"

"Periwinkle Sparkle", an abstract painting by Beverly Kedzoir, is now on display in Fermilab's Art Gallery as part of the "Biological Impulses" Exhibit. The exhibit will end Jan. 21.

Fermilab's new art exhibit features works by artists who bridge the gap between art and the sciences. Yvette Kaiser Smith and Beverly Kedzior find inspiration in unusual places like grocery stores and comic books. Smith's sculptures and Kedzior's abstract paintings embrace the organic while highlighting basic biological and mathematical elements.

Their works is displayed in an exhibit entitled "Biological Impulses" now through Jan. 21 in the Fermilab Art Gallery. They will host a Gallery Talk during a reception on Nov. 16 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Both artists have developed a unique process to create their pieces. Smith's process begins with a cluster of continuous strands of fiberglass that she crochets into patterns using a standard crochet hook. She then coats her creation in polyester resin and hangs it to dry like laundry, letting gravity pull the sculpture into a unique shape.

Kedzior creates abstract paintings by scraping rollers, trowels, scrapers and adhesives across her work. She splashes paint, creates layers and makes crisp edges using masking tape. "This gives the pieces rich texture," said Kedzior.

Kedzior draws her inspiration from images in medical, biological, horticultural texts and also in comics. "My early influences were Dr. Seuss, the Jetsons, Disney and, later, Pixar," she said.

Her pieces "Red Spurt" and "Periwinkle Sparkle" showcase abstract organs and planets. Intestinal-pinkish shapes, spurts of paint and rings of sparkly blue represent outer and inner space, according to Kedzior.

Smith found her inspiration in a grocery store jar of tripe. She was attracted by the mix of beauty and ugliness in the food. She strives for the same mix in her art.

Smith's "Identity Sequence e 4" is made up of individual bridge-like crocheted fiberglass pieces strung together in series representing each successive number in e, a mathematical constant like Pi. "The materials I work with are very organic," she said, "so the math gives structure to the work."

-- Haley Bridger

"Misconception," a crocheted fiberglass sculpture by Yvette Kaiser Smith, is now part of the "Biological Impulses" exhibit in the Fermilab Art Gallery through Jan. 21.

Photo of the Day

Burn, prairie burn

Senior groundskeeper Martin Valenzuela of Roads and Grounds lights an area of the prairie during a controlled burn of areas of the prairie along Pine Street on Tuesday. Roads and Grounds and the Fermilab Fire Department worked together to insure a successful burn. Sections of the prairie are burned each year to rid those areas of non-native plants.

In the News

Belle discovers a new
type of meson

From KEK press release, Nov. 13, 2007

An international team of researchers at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Tsukuba, Japan, the "Belle collaboration"*1, recently announced the discovery of an exotic new sub-atomic particle with non-zero electric charge. This particle, which the researchers have named the Z(4430)*2, does not fit into the usual scheme of "mesons", combinations of a quark*3and an antiquark that are held together by the force of the strong interaction.

The Z(4430) particle was found in the decay products of B-mesons (mesons containing a "bottom" quark) that are produced in large numbers at the KEKB "B-factory", an electron-positron collider at the KEK laboratory. While investigating various decays of the B meson in a data sample containing about 660 million pairs of B and anti-B mesons, the Belle team observed 120 B mesons that decay into a Z(4430) and a K-meson. The Z(4430) then instantly decays into a "Psi-prime" (Psi-prime) particle and a pi-meson (see Figure-1). The Belle team found that this particle has the same electric charge as the electron and a mass about 4.7 times that of the proton.

Read More

From WDRS

Diversity

This week's column is written by Kay Van Vreede, head of the Workforce Development and Resources Section

Kay Van Vreede

In her column last week Vicky White talked about the diverse circles that the people in Computing walk and work in on a regular basis. Here in WDRS we're always in search of great new additions to the Fermilab family. In order to attract those individuals, we've recently launched a new recruiting campaign, "Diverse People. Diverse Jobs."

We want our job seekers to know that we are an organization that values our very diverse family of employees, collaborators, users and visitors. In addition to scientist, we offer many types of positions, which surprise many job seekers.

Our campaign began with "Employee Profiles," a new feature on the Employment Web site. In "Employee Profiles," employees describe what they like about working for Fermilab. The campaign continued with the creation of the brochure "Diverse People. Diverse Jobs" for potential employees. It provides information on career opportunities, work-life options and employee perspectives.

The latest campaign piece, a six-minute video about Fermilab's mission and its work environment, was developed by Employment and Visual Media Services. We often show it in our new employee orientation and at job fairs.

Thanks to everybody who participated in making these tools. They will help attract some great new employees for Fermilab.

Photo of the Day

SC07 opening night

Members of Fermilab's Computing Division and VMS's Fred Ullrich stand in front of Fermilab's booth on opening night of SC07 in Reno.

Milestones

New hires

New hires Nov. 5 - 12

  • John Freeman - research associate - PPD
  • Marie Herman - administrative support assistant - TD


Safety Update

ES&H weekly report, Nov. 13

This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ES&H section, presents the Fermilab injury statistics in a new way. Fermilab now has worked 39 days since its last OSHA recordable injury. The full report is here.

Safety report archive


Announcements

Have a safe day!

Benefit enrollment
Your opportunity to review and change your benefits for the 2008 plan year will be from Tuesday, Nov. 13, through Wednesday, Nov. 28. You will find enrollment materials on the Benefits Office Web site. Representatives from Blue Cross and CIGNA will be available on Wednesday, Nov. 14, from 8 a.m. to noon and Tuesday, Nov. 20, from 1 to 5 p.m. They will be located in the Aquarium Conference Room on the 15th floor of Wilson Hall.

Project X physics workshop Nov. 16-17
Fermilab will host a users' workshop Nov. 16-17 to discuss the physics of Project X. The group will meet at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 16, in One West. A wine and cheese talk by Michelangelo Mangano runs from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The Saturday session will be partly in One West, but also will include parallel sessions in different rooms. Streaming video of the sessions will be provided. The agenda can be found here. You should register if you plan to attend in person or via streaming video. Online registration is available.

Secure Coding course Jan. 15 and 16
This course focuses on Web applications and clearly defines the software security problem. It introduces and describes a set of software security best practices called touchpoints and much more. Learn more and enroll

Habitat restoration Saturday
Please join the Habitat Restoration group on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. in the Lederman Science Center parking lot for coffee and doughnuts. From there we will go to the area where we will cut down non-native plants. Please dress for the weather and bring gardening gloves. For more information contact Barb Kristen or Rachael Bridger. In the case of inclement weather please call the Fermilab operator to check for cancellation.

Additional Activities

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