Oddone to meet Thursday with divisions, sections

Meetings will discuss upcoming furloughs

Director Pier Oddone and senior lab managers will meet with employees of all divisions and sections on Thursday, Jan. 24, in Ramsey Auditorium. The one-hour meetings will provide information and respond to questions about the rolling furlough program that will begin in February as a budget-cutting measure.

9:30 a.m.
Accelerator Division, Technical Division, Accelerator Physics Center

11 a.m.
Computing Division, Particle Physics Division, Center for Particle Astrophysics, CMS Center

1:30 p.m.
Business Services Section, Directorate, ES&H Section, Facilities Engineering Section, Finance Section, Workforce Development & Resources Section

In addition to attending the meetings for their divisions and sections, employees who are visa holders and their supervisors should also attend a special meeting at 3:30 p.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. Employees should reserve visa-related questions for this meeting.

Employees will receive packets of furlough information by campus mail today, Wednesday, Jan. 23. The materials are also available online at http://www.fnal.gov/faw/furlough/

URA creates Visiting Scholars Program, seeks applications

To support joint Fermilab-URA research initiatives, the Universities Research Association has initiated a Visiting Scholars Program that will provide researchers with more than $400,000 per year for the next five years. The program will support visits by researchers from URA member institutions to work at Fermilab for periods of up to one year. The application deadline for the first round of scholarships is March 1.

As part of a commitment under the new FRA/DOE contract for the operation of Fermilab, the 89 URA member institutions each have agreed to contribute $5,000 per year, for the next five years, to support research at Fermilab. The seven regional URA representatives on the FRA Board of Directors are administrating the Visiting Scholars Program. Applicants must be employed by, or in the case of students enrolled at a URA member institution.

"This program is for students, postdocs and faculty doing research in high-energy physics experiments, astrophysics, theory, accelerator physics, material science and computer science related to the Fermilab mission," said Northwestern University physicist Heidi Schellman, one of the URA regional representatives on the FRA Board. "We will judge the applications on their scientific merit. Individual awards may be up to a maximum of $50,000 in any 12-month period."

Visits eligible for scholarships include trips to conferences and summer schools as well as year-long stays at Fermilab. The scholarships can pay for costs such as transportation and lodging during short visits or can provide stipend support during a longer visit. To obtain more information and to apply for a scholarship, visit this Web site.

Since January 2007, URA and the University of Chicago jointly manage the laboratory as the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC. Last year, the University of Chicago announced a Strategic Collaborative Initiatives program as part of its FRA commitment.

-- Kurt Riesselmann

Meridian String Quartet performs

The Meridian String Quartet performed a sold-out show on Sunday in the Fermilab Art Gallery.

Dark days, bright outlook

From Beacon News, Jan. 21, 2008

Despite cash crisis, Fermi director encouraged by outpouring of support

Pier Oddone has been the director of Fermilab for 2½ years, coming to Batavia from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.

During his time, the lab has weathered its share of funding crises, but Oddone says the latest is the worst of his career, and the worst in the lab's history.

Last month, Congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill that took a huge bite out of funding for high-energy physics. At Fermilab, the result was a $52 million cut from what had been expected, effectively shutting down research on two main projects at the lab -- the International Linear Collider and the NOVA neutrino experiments.

Within days of hearing the news, Oddone called an all-hands meeting at Fermilab and announced 10 percent of the staff would have to be laid off, and the rest put on rolling furloughs. Since then, he and the lab have received an outpouring of support from the local communities, and Oddone holds out hope that Illinois' federal legislators are listening and will restore the funding.

Read more

Read all related news stories here.