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Tuesday, Jan. 29
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY
Wednesday, Jan. 30
11:30 a.m.
Brown Bag Traffic Safety Seminar - Curia II
Speakers: D. Williams and J. Bartman, IDOT
Title: Safe Winter Driving; Distracted Driving
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: S. Goldberg, Argonne National Laboratory
Title: The Federal Budget Process - Lessons That Can Be Learned
Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information. |
Tuesday, Jan. 29
- Tomato bisque
- Lemon pepper club
- Beef with peppers
- Smart cuisine: tortellini alfredo
- Grilled chicken Caesar wrap
- Assorted slice pizza
- Rio Grande taco salads
*Carb Restricted Alternative
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu |
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Wednesday, Jan. 30
Lunch
- Chicken curry
- Steamed jasmine rice
- Sautéed vegetables
- Coconut flan
Thursday, Jan. 31
Dinner
- Closed
Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation. |
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To answer employees' questions, new information appears on the furlough Web pages daily. Monday's posts address unemployment compensation, for example. Click here for the latest Q&A.
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Workshop sharpens focus on future Fermilab physics
Fermilab Director Pier Oddone spoke at the start of the second Physics of Project X workshop last week.
Following two days of workshops, Fermilab has a stronger, more competitive plan for the proposed accelerator known as Project X. More than 180 scientists from across the globe met at Fermilab to help craft the physics case for the high-intensity proton source last week in the second Physics of Project X workshop.
Fermilab Deputy Director Young-Kee Kim, together with university physicists, will present a report from the workshop to HEPAP's Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel this week.
"I feel we have a very compelling program, and I do feel that we have a great chance to succeed," said Kim.
To demonstrate to P5 that Project X has a strong, compelling physics case, Kim said, Fermilab has to send a clear message that indicates the program's strength and clarify how it stacks up against programs at other institutions.
When P5 meets at Fermilab, they will need to look at the future with new eyes. With federal budget cuts scaling back ILC R&D, P5 must outline a 10-year plan with three different budget scenarios in mind. The panel will make their recommendations in April.
"There has been a certain dose of reality injected into the debate," said Fermilab Director Pier Oddone. "If we want to have an accelerator-based program in the United States, we need to have a project completed in stages, that gets us to far-reaching goals and lets us do the most exciting physics."
To pursue a program like that, Oddone said, the laboratory needs to implement Project X, a high-intensity proton source that would offer the most flexible solution for Fermilab's long-range physics program. The project would provide both good science in the near term and a plan to evolve for the future.
Addressing the Project X workshop attendees, Kim explained the challenges ahead.
"Our excitement cannot be contained here, it has to be propagated to the whole community. We convinced all of you, but now we have to convince the rest of the world."
-- Rhianna Wisniewski
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Wide-eyed wonderment at Fermilab Open House
| Sunday's Fermilab Family Open House drew nearly 3,000 people, the largest crowd in its four-year history. Oohs and aaahs were heard flowing freely at more than a dozen hands-on science experiments like "Steady Hands," where children pass an electrical wand over a curved wire. |
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Physicists demonstrated properties of gravity, magnets, light refraction and even cryogenics at Sunday's Fermilab Family Open House. The Mr. Freeze show, performed by Fermilab's Jerry Zimmerman, kept visitors from as far away as Evanston on the edge of their seats as he used liquid nitrogen to create explosions and harden bananas to hammer strength. Zimmerman also explained to the crowd how Fermilab uses nitrogen in its experiments.
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CDF collaborator speaks on KXJZ/KXPR's Insight today
From KXJZ/KXPR's Insight show,
Jan. 29, 2008
Robin Erbacher, a CDF collaborator and assistant professor of physics at University of California Davis, will speak about particle physics and the new century on KXJZ/KXPR's Insight show from 2-2:20 p.m. today. The show, hosted by Jeffrey Callison, is available here. Streaming video of the program is available here.
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Higgs hiding in plain sight?
From ScienceNow Daily News,
Jan. 23, 2008
Thousands of particle physicists are spending billions to try to spot the elusive Higgs boson, which is key to explaining the origins of mass. But evidence of the Higgs boson--or at least a Higgs boson--may already be lying unnoticed in data from previous experiments, new calculations suggest.
All matter is made up of indivisible bits or particles, and at first blush, the prevailing theory--the Standard Model--seems to predict that all of them have no mass. Of course, that doesn't make sense--even electrons weigh something. But if theorists simply assign masses to the particles, the theory goes mathematically haywire.
Read more
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A critical week
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| Pier Oddone |
We are in the middle of a watershed week: the URA Presidents' Council Meeting takes place in Washington on Wednesday; the first meeting of the new Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel subcommittee of HEPAP takes place at Fermilab at the end of the week; and on Friday we begin our first line of attack against the budget crisis, rolling furloughs. Just to make sure that we have enough to do, we also have the CD-2 project review of the Dark Energy Survey starting today.
The URA Presidents' Council takes place once a year and brings together university presidents and their high-level representatives to discuss the place of high-energy physics and Fermilab in the national science agenda. This year's meeting has special importance because university presidents are uniquely able to carry the message for increased support of the physical sciences. The turmoil we are suffering this year is indicative of a budget process that is broken, and that has very detrimental effects on long-range national plans. Both the Undersecretary for Science, Ray Orbach, and the President's Science Advisor, Jack Marburger, will attend the meeting. I will report on the state of the laboratory to the Council.
P5 will be at Fermilab for a three-day meeting, the first of three meetings to deal with long-range planning for the field. P5 is obligated to deliver its recommendations to HEPAP a couple of months from now, an incredibly short fuse. A significant part of the meeting will be devoted to Project X and the reach of its physics program. The charge to P5 has different budget scenarios ranging from the omnibus bill (the nightmare scenario) to higher funding levels that would allow us to build Project X, provided that we demonstrate a compelling plan to reach the physics discoveries that Project X promises. This meeting is critical for us and a difficult challenge to handle when we dealing with the great financial crisis of FY08.
The first element in coming to terms with the financial crisis is the rolling furlough that starts in a few days. You all have received packages explaining the furlough and have met with me to discuss the key issues. It is a tough sacrifice that every one of us is making for the sake of Fermilab. It is the key to our ability to defend Fermilab's future by maintaining our productivity without the massive interruption of a full laboratory shutdown. I ask for your patience, understanding and courage so that we may together bring Fermilab through this difficult period.
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Meeting today for summer internship programs mentors
The laboratory's summer internship programs need mentors to serve as advisors. The internships provide a unique and valuable
experience for the students, while also serving as an important recruiting tool.
All mentors work one-on-one with a student on a project appropriate to the student's interests and abilities. This necessitates identifying good projects and good mentors. The internships typically span 10 weeks. Projects must relate to the laboratory's mission: high energy physics, accelerator physics or technical R&D.
To learn more, please attend an informal meeting at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday in Curia II. The meeting will include a brief overview of the internship opportunities and advice about good project ideas.
-- Eric Prebys, Chair, Lee Teng Internship Committee
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Financial counseling available
Need financial advice? For financial counseling or advice, employees can
call on the resources of the Employee Assistance Program. Call the EAP 24/7
at 1-800-843-1327, and tell them you're from Fermilab. Or get directly in
touch with employee assistance counselor Brian Malinowski at 1-847-625-3532
or bmalinowski@vmceap.com. Access furlough information here.
Intermediate Word course Feb. 21
Learn how to create customized lists, tables, charts, graphics and personalized Word 2003 efficiency tools at an Intermediate Word 2003 course on Feb. 21. Learn more and enroll
Brown Bag Traffic Safety Seminar
Illinois Department of Transportation representatives Dianne Williams and John Bartman will give presentations on safe winter driving and distracted driving at a Brown Bag Lunch today from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Curia II. Prizes will be raffled.
Brown Bag Seminar on weight loss
Sheron Brown, MD, will present a Brown Bag Seminar Friday, Feb. 1, from noon to 1 p.m. in Curia II entitled 'Easy Strategies for Weight Loss."
Additional Activities |
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Snow 40°/0°
