|
Tuesday, April 1
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY
Wednesday, April 2
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: R. Zhu, California Institute of Technology
Title: Precision Crystal Calorimeters in High Energy Physics
Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information. |
Tuesday, April 1
- Golden broccoli & cheese
- Southern style fish sandwich
- Coconut crusted tilapia
- Spaghetti w/turkey meat sauce
- La grande sandwich
- Assorted pizza slices
- Chicken fajitas
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu |
|
Wednesday, April 2
Lunch
- Enchilada de pollo
- Ensalada Mexicana
- Pineapple flan
Thursday, April 3
Dinner
- French onion soup
- Fillet mignon de pinot noir sauce
- Roasted baby potatoes w/garlic & rosemary
- Sautéed green beans
- Chocolate soufflé w/frangelico crème anglais
Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation. |
|
|
Young scientists exchange ideas at LPC Physics Forum
The last LPC Physics Forum took place on March 20.
Every other Thursday, young scientists gather at the LPC Physics Forum. They learn about the newest analysis tools, discuss their latest research findings and absorb advice from senior scientists. Every couple meetings they get pizza too.
Fermilab's Boaz Klima and Brown University's Greg Landsberg started the forum in October to create a casual learning environment for graduate students and postdocs working on the CMS experiment at the LHC. "It's nice to hear what other people are doing and why they are doing it," said Klima. "You might learn something applicable to you."
The bi-weekly meeting also gives graduate students and postdocs more visibility - an important factor for members of the huge collaborations at the LHC. "We actively seek young people to give talks so that they will gain extra recognition," Landsberg said. This extra face-time, he explained, becomes particularly useful for young scientists when they seek letters of recommendation.
Len Apanasevich, a postdoc from the University of Illinois-Chicago, regularly attends the physics forum. As a graduate student, he worked with 20 to 30 other physicists on a fixed-target experiment at Fermilab. Now a member of the nearly 3,000-member CMS collaboration, Apanasevich said that the LPC Physics Forum helped him adjust. "CMS has a ton of meetings. You just can't go to all of them," he said. "The forum is nice because we get a status report, and the heavy hitters at Fermilab regularly attend. It helps to have that expertise and bounce ideas off people."
The next LPC Physics Forum will take place on April 3 at 1 p.m. in the Sunrise Room on the 11th floor. The forums last two hours, allowing ample time for discussion. Klima and Landsberg welcome anybody to attend and encourage those who are not at Fermilab to participate via videoconference.
-- Elizabeth Clements
|
String theorists hope to classify the cosmos
From nature.com, March 26, 2008
Dimensions of space-time used to order potential universes.
Physicists' search for a theory of everything is entering territory more familiar to biologists: taxonomy. A small team of theorists is meeting in Tucson, Arizona, in April to discuss how to classify the billions upon billions of different possible universes created by string theory, which describes fundamental particles and forces as vibrating strings.
Read more
|
Making science fun with the help of toilet paper
From Daily Herald, March 30, 2008
Three grown men used leaf blowers to send sheets of toilet paper billowing over a crowd of children and their parents.
And it was all in the name of science.
By getting air molecules to move faster, the air pressure is reduced, and the toilet paper rolls rapidly unfurled.
It was just the first lesson in the annual Wonders of Science program Sunday afternoon at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia. Children from second to seventh grades were educated and entertained with a series of experiments.
"We just want them to be excited about science," said Downers Grove North High School science teacher Tom Redig.
Read more
|
|
|
A long run ahead
 |
| Pier Oddone |
As I look at the Tevatron program over the next couple of years, and after extensive consultation both inside and outside the laboratory, I have decided that the best course of action is not have a shutdown of the accelerator complex during FY08. Instead, in the Spring of 2009 we would have a shutdown of about 10 weeks. There is an increased risk of developing problems during such an extended run lasting until a year from now, but the risk is acceptable. The advantage of this new schedule is that we would have only this single shutdown through FY2010, thus maximizing the integrated luminosity over the balance of the Tevatron program.
We have proposed to DOE to run the Tevatron through the end of FY10. The agency is considering this request. If approved, built into the DOE's budget request for FY10 and maintained through the budget process, we would have 30 months from this point through the end of FY2010. With a single shutdown we have to allow a loss of about four months for the actual shutdown plus start-up time, leaving a net 26 months of high luminosity running through September 2010. This would be very good news for the Tevatron program. We would collect more than four additional inverse femtobarns, more than doubling the luminosity collected so far and providing real opportunities for discovery.
There are, of course, worse possibilities. After the budget experience of this year, we are no longer surprised by dragons and demons. If a new catastrophe should strike - something I do not expect at this point - then planning to run through to the spring without a shutdown is also a prudent course of action. It would give us most of what was promised for a full 2009 run by effectively using this year's shut-down and turn-on period to accumulate luminosity instead.
Long runs, lasting a year and a half as will be the case by next Spring, will be very demanding for everyone involved in operations. But the payoff could be the stuff of legends.
|
|
Have a safe day!
Blood Drive April 22, 23
Mark your calendars. Heartland Blood Centers will conduct a Fermilab Blood Drive on April 22 and 23 from 8 a.m to 2 p.m. in the
Wilson Hall Ground Floor NE Training Room. Appointments can be scheduled on
the Web or by calling Diana at x3771 or Margie at
x5680. More information can be found here.
NALWO lunch April 9
The next NALWO luncheon is Wednesday, April 9, at noon at Chez Leon. This is a chance to meet other laboratory women, network or just relax over a meal. The cost is $12. Anyone interested can RSVP by Sunday, April 4, to Marjorie Appel via e-mail or by phone at (630) 293-9349.
SciTech summer camps
The SciTech Hands-on Museum offers Science Adventure Camps for children
age 6-8 and age 9+. Week-long camps begin on June 23 and run from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m. Fees range from $200 to $225 per week. Before- and after-care is available for an extra fee. For more information, visit the SciTech Web site.
Scottish Country Dance Tuesday
Scottish Country Dancing will meet Tuesday, April 1, at Kuhn Barn on the Fermilab site. Instruction begins at 7:30 p.m. and newcomers are always welcome. Most dances are fully taught and walked through, and you do not need to come with a partner. For more information, call (630) 840-8194 or (630) 584-0825 or folkdance@fnal.gov.
Additional Activities
|
|
Cloudy 42°/24°
