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Tuesday, Feb. 5
2 p.m.
Special Accelerator Seminar - Curia II
Speakers: I. Sugai and Y. Irie, KEK
Titles: New High Durability Carbon Stripping Foil;
Status of J-PARC
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar - One West
Speaker: R. Fliller, Fermilab
Title: Advanced Accelerator R&D at the A0 Photoinjector
Wednesday, Feb. 6
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: B. Uzzi, Northwestern University
Title: Complexity and Human Creativity: Scientists and Artists
Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information. |
Tuesday, Feb. 5
- Golden broccoli & cheese
- Southern style fish sandwich
- Coconut crusted tilapia
- Spaghetti w/meatballs
- La grande sandwich
- Assorted slice pizza
- Chicken fajitas
*Carb Restricted Alternative
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu |
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Wednesday, Feb. 6
Lunch
- Northern Italian lasagna
- Caesar salad
- Cassata
Thursday, Feb. 7
Dinner
- Closed
Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation. |
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FY09 budget request
President George Bush presented his FY2009 budget request Monday.
Last month, Steven Goldberg, assistant director of Argonne National Laboratory and a former OMB staffer explained the budget process in a colloquium lecture.
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Fermilab theorist wins Humboldt Research award
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| Chris Quigg. Image courtesy of Mariana Cook |
Fermilab theoretical physicist Chris Quigg has received an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award, a prestigious award recognizing a lifetime of achievement in research.
"What is very sweet about getting this sort of recognition is knowing that other people took time to make it happen," Quigg said. "Some generous people took the time to write exaggerations about my career."
Ulrich Nierste and Johann Kühn, both of the Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics at University of Karlsruhe in Germany, nominated Quigg. Their nomination cited his broad interests and extensive work in electroweak symmetry breaking, which has led to a better understanding of the Higgs mechanism in the Standard Model.
Nierste and Kühn called Quigg a pioneer of the Standard Model. In their nomination they also highlighted his work explaining charmonium spectra and showing the potential of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos for cosmology and astroparticle physics.
As part of his award, Quigg will spend a total of 6-12 months at various institutions in Germany. He plans to divide that time into two-month segments, spread between 2008 and 2010. During his stay in Germany Quigg will further explore electroweak symmetry breaking with a focus on the LHC. Quigg also will continue his theoretical studies in astroparticle physics, a topic that fits in with the Karlsruhe Research Center's experimental program.
He believes that his German colleagues' motivation to nominate him included a desire to bring the university and research center closer together. "We have interests that span both institutions," Quigg said. He looks forward to bringing insights from his German experience back to Fermilab.
Quigg will receive his award at a ceremony in Berlin in June. More information on the award can be found here.
--Rhianna Wisniewski
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Physicists hope U.S. budget will mean an end to research cuts
From New York Times, Feb. 5, 2008
Under President Bush's proposed federal budget announced on Monday, research in the physical sciences would receive a hefty boost.
That is welcome news to physicists in a broad swath of fields, from those who study the tiniest of fundamental particles to those trying to understand basic science that could lead to future energy sources. It is especially welcome after two years of tight financial constrictions resulting from money wrangling between Congress and the White House that have turned off some experiments, delayed others and left some scientists unemployed.
Under the proposed budget for fiscal year 2009, the United States would resume contributing to an international collaboration to build an experimental fusion power plant called Iter. Employees at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the nation's top institution in particle physics, would no longer be forced to take two days of unpaid furlough each month. Design work on particle physics experiments would resume, and cutbacks in other programs might be restored.
The Office of Science at the Energy Department, which finances much of the physical sciences research, would receive an increase of nearly 19 percent, to $4.72 billion from $3.97 billion. Raymond L. Orbach, science under secretary at the Energy Department, said the proposal would begin to mend cuts made this year in high-energy particle physics, nuclear physics and basic energy research.
Read more
See all related news stories here
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Tough news
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| Pier Oddone |
Today I must give you some difficult news. To fit within the FY08 budget and to prepare for the likely extension of the FY08 level into the next fiscal year, I expect to proceed with the layoffs we discussed in our meetings in December. This is an extremely painful step. I know the anxiety that it causes in all of you. It is painful for me personally to make this decision, because I know the devotion that each of you has for our laboratory and the loyalty that you have demonstrated to me since I arrived at Fermilab nearly three years ago. Nevertheless, I must do what is necessary to maintain Fermilab's viability as a great science laboratory in this turbulent time. We will proceed with as much help and assistance to our employees as possible.
This announcement comes a day after the President's budget request to Congress for FY2009 became public. The good news is that the budget request for particle physics restores funding to the level before the devastating cuts in this year's omnibus bill. For Fermilab, this request, if enacted by Congress, would fund the projects that are the key to our future accelerator program, namely NOvA, SCRF R&D and ILC R&D. At the same time it would strongly support ongoing operations of the Tevatron, the current neutrino programs and particle astrophysics. The budget request is indeed good news.
The bad news is that, as in FY08, there is a long way between the budget request and the actual budget for FY2009. The budget request for the Office of Science will show a large increase over the enacted budget for FY08. The situation is similar to last year's when proposed increases to the Office of Science yielded to the crunch created by the FY08 appropriations impasse.
While we will do everything in our power to support the FY09 budget request for particle physics, every Washington expert tells me to prepare for a continuing resolution that might last into the new administration. Such a continuing resolution would extend the present difficult budgets well into FY09. At the same time, relief in FY08 in the form of a supplemental appropriation is not guaranteed and is at best several months away. We hope for such a supplemental bill. It would allow us to stop the furloughs. It would get us moving again on the crucial programs for our future that are now dead in the water. But even with the best efforts of those who have pledged their help we cannot count on this as a basis for fitting within our budget constraints. This is why I have no choice but to proceed with layoffs.
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Register for S/CI training
Technical personnel and managers can sign up for suspect/counterfeit items identification training, scheduled to take place Feb. 11-14 at Fermilab. This training is required for construction supervisors and task managers. Three courses are offered: course 1, "Suspect/Counterfeit Items Identification", a two-hour, hands-on experience; and course 2, "Suspect/Counterfeit Items DOE Program", a 1.5-hour overview of DOE's S/CI program; and course 3 "Suspect/Counterfeit Items Train the Trainer", a three-hour, Q&A session intended for Fermilab individuals with responsibility to provide S/CI training for personnel within their division or section. Courses must be taken in order. Register at the ES&H Web site or contact Joel Kofron, x8444
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
Scottish country dance Tuesday
Scottish country dancing will meet today, Feb. 5, at Kuhn Barn. Instruction begins at 7:30 p.m., and newcomers always are welcome. Most dances are fully taught and walked through, and you do not need to come with a partner. Call (630) 840-8194 or (630) 584-0825 or e-mail for more information.
Additional Activities |
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Rain/snow 35°/31°
