All-hands meetings Friday

Fermilab Director Pier Oddone will hold all-hands meetings on Friday, May 23, in Ramsey Auditorium. Oddone will meet with employees from the Accelerator Division, Technical Division, Accelerator Physics Center, Facilities Engineering Section, Finance Section and Directorate at 11:30 a.m.; and with employees from the Particle Physics Division, Computing Division, Work Force Development Section, Business Services Section, ES&H Section, and Center for Particle Astrophysics at 1 p.m. The sessions will be videotaped and posted to the Fermilab Web site after the meetings.

First round of awards in URA Visiting Scholars Program

A new program will allow some researchers to will work at Fermilab this year. Universities Research Association, Inc., one of FRA's two parent organizations, announced the URA Visiting Scholars Program awards last week. The awards will help researchers from URA institutions work at Fermilab for up to one year.

"These awards to young faculty, postdocs, and grad students allow them to better afford a stay at Fermilab, and to participate in research and training activities with Laboratory colleagues and mentors," URA Vice President Ezra Heitowit said. "The enthusiastic response from our first round of awardees has been most gratifying."

The program is one of a number of corporate commitments to Fermilab made by Fermi Research Alliance's parent organizations and by other participating Illinois universities. The 89 URA member universities have each agreed to contribute $5,000 a year for five years in support of joint Fermilab-URA research and education initiatives. Support from this program can range from transportation costs to local lodging expenses during short visits to stipend support during a longer visit. Individuals may receive a maximum of $50,000 in any 12-month period.

An evaluation committee of URA-appointed members of the FRA Board of Directors from universities in each of the seven URA geographic regions reviewed award applications. Awards ranged from $3,600 to $49,500 for the 17 recipients.

The awardees are:
Emanuela Barberis, Northeastern University; Marcela Carena and Harry Cheung, Fermilab (for selected participants from URA member universities in the 2008 Hadron Collider School); Benjamin Carls, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Charles and David Cox, University of California, Davis; Andre De Gouvea, Northwestern University; Richard Evans, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Patrick Fox and Graham Kribs, University of Oregon; Davide Gerbaudo, Princeton University; Igor Gorelov and Sally Seidel, University of New Mexico; Michael Kordosky, College of William and Mary; Marek Szymon Kos, Syracuse University; Jeffrey Nelson, College of William and Mary; Elvira Gamiz Sanchez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Pavel Snopok, University of California, Riverside; Marco Trovato, University of Pisa; Shannon Zelitch, University of Virginia; and Guo Quan (Jack) Zhang, University of New Mexico.

The URA Visiting Scholars Program committee will present a second round of awards this fall. For program details and application procedure, please visit the program Web site.

Gardeners wanted

Begonia image courtesy of Purdue University.

Gardeners, get your gloves. Today between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. join Roads and Grounds staff to plant annuals on the west side of Wilson Hall, outside the Auditorium. Two flats, or about 50 plants, are available for planting.

The Roads and Grounds staff is also looking for gardening stewards to take care of the flower beds throughout the year. If interested, see staff at the planting event or call Roads and Grounds at x3303.

The Fermilab Natural Areas group will also sponsor a volunteer planting event Thursday, May 22, from 3:30 until 6 p.m. Join Roads and Grounds staff along the south shore of Swan Lake. The live plants will help to create a more natural shoreline that will resist erosion and provide texture and color. Volunteers should wear boots and prepare to plant in wet and sloppy conditions. For more information call Roads and Grounds at x3303.

Batavian elected local Mensa chief

From Kane County Chronicle, May 19, 2008

For Matt Crawford of Batavia, being smart is not just a state of mind, it's an elected position and his family's culture.

Crawford, 52, who works at Fermilab, has been elected local secretary - or president - of Chicago Area Mensa. Mensa is an international organization for people whose IQ is in the top 2 percent of the population. The group was founded in England in 1946, so its local presidents take the British term local secretary.

But that's not all: Crawford's wife, Robin, and their children, Lindsay and Owen, also are members.

"It's a mild honor," Crawford said of his new position. "It shows my group has confidence in my ability to keep things organized and efficient."

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