Fermilab Today Tuesday, July 29, 2008
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Tuesday, July 29
Noon
Summer Lecture Seminar - One West
Speaker: R. Pasquinelli, Fermilab
Title: Engineering at Fermilab
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY

Wednesday, July 30
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: J. Buongiorno, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Title: The Nuclear Renaissance in the U.S.

Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

Weather

WeatherChance for Thunderstorms
89°/72°

Extended Forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe
Tuesday, July 29
- Creamy turkey vegetable
- Chili dog
- Tomato Swiss steak
- Chicken cacciatore
- Italian Panini w/provolone
- Assorted slice pizza
- Super burrito

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, July 30
Lunch
- Pecan crusted chicken salad
- Carrot cake

Thursday, July 31
Dinner
Closed

Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation.

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Info

Fermilab Today
is online at:
www.fnal.gov/today/

Send comments and suggestions to:
today@fnal.gov

Feature

Prairie's solar panels
help offset CO2

Solar panels, currently located in Fermilab's prairie, aid a carbon sequestration experiment.

Soaking up the energy of the sun, solar panels in Fermilab's prairie could unlock a way to slow global warming.

"The panels have actually been on site for close to two years," said Rod Walton, Fermilab's resident ecologist. "People may not have noticed them because they were in a more remote area."

The 50-square-foot solar panels power an Argonne-led experiment to determine which plants best capture harmful carbon emissions from the atmosphere.

"Eventually, we hope to understand what to plant and how, so we can offset the amount of CO2 and decrease the greenhouse gases that add to global warming," Walton said.

The solar panels fuel a small computer that measures the flow of air directly above prairie, corn and mixed-plant communities at Fermilab. From this data, scientists determine the amount of CO2 each plant traps in its roots. So far, Illinois's native prairie grass performs very well.

"Most plants have most of their biomass above the soil. But prairie plants like switchgrass keep 60 percent of their biomass below the ground," Walton said. "So that is where the carbon stays."

Argonne researchers will compare their data to that collected at similar experiments across America. The panels can be seen on a mobile unit at the dog training area along Batavia Road and in a corn field at the east corner of Fermilab. The Argonne-owned panels will remain at Fermilab.

"Weather patterns vary from year to year, so it's important to get as much data as possible," Walton said. "You can bet on seeing the panels for quite awhile."

-- Jennifer L. Johnson

Photos of the Day

Japanese students, teachers, visit Fermilab for QuarkNet

Several high school students and physics teachers from Japan visited Fermilab last week. On their visit, which was supported by Japan's secretary of education, the students and teachers attended several particle physics lectures, toured the laboratory and took a tour of Argonne. QuarkNet professor Ken Cecire hosted the group and organized several high-energy-physics activities.
In the News

Interest in Soudan physics lab growing

From Timberjay Newspapers, July 25, 2008

Soudan’s underground physics laboratory is suddenly the place to be.

While the lab was passed over last year as the site for the nation’s Deep Underground Science and Education Lab, or DUSEL, continuing delays at the planned DUSEL site in South Dakota have left Soudan as the only operating high energy physics lab in the country— and that has prompted researchers to take a second look at the Minnesota facility.

At least two new experiments are slated to arrive at the lab within months, and one of the existing experiments, which was supposed to be moved to a deeper facility near Sudbury, Ontario, will apparently remain in Soudan longer than researchers had originally planned.

In addition, initial planning is now underway for a brand new neutrino detector at the lab, to replace the existing MINOS detector when its useful life ends a few years from now.

The sudden popularity of the Soudan lab is due in part to delays in dewatering of the Homestake Mine, near Lead, South Dakota. That mine was selected as the site for the DUSEL last year, but wetter than average weather in that region recently has slowed efforts to remove the huge amounts of water that have slowly engulfed the mine since 2003, when the facility's owner, Barrick Gold Mining, turned off the huge pumps that kept the mine dry. The delay left some researchers who had expected to locate their experiments at Homestake looking for alternatives. And in the U.S., that means Soudan.

Read more

Director's Corner

Farewell to Mont

Associate Director for Research at Fermilab Hugh Montgomery (left) and Fermilab Director Pier Oddone (right) celebrate Mont's new position as director of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility at a farewell party Monday.

Yesterday we gave a warm send off to Hugh Montgomery, Associate Director for Research at Fermilab. He will now become director of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Over Mont's 25-year career at Fermilab he has left a hugely positive mark on many aspects of our institution, both when carrying out its physics program and in managing diverse parts of the enterprise. His management roles culminated with his appointment in 2002 as associate director for research with responsibility for particle physics research, computing, the CMS Center and the Particle Astrophysics Center. It is hard to think of Fermilab without Mont. While we will miss him greatly, we are also very proud that one of our own has been selected to lead a major national laboratory.

Fermilab is going through a golden period in productivity on the three frontiers of particle physics. At the energy frontier CDF and DZero continue to produce impressive results. The laboratory heard the report last Friday in the session to review the new results to be presented at the International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP2008) next week. On the neutrino frontier the results of MiniBooNE, MINOS and SciBooNE are also the dominant component in this physics area. On the Astrophysics frontier we have again world class results from SDSS, Pierre Auger, CDMS II and COUPP. While it takes many to achieve such successes, Mont has made a unique contribution to them by managing the always-scarce technical and financial resources that have accomplished such a great program.

My close working relationship with Mont has been only over the last three years. They have been a difficult three years with the national planning for high energy physics in turmoil, the very demanding competition for the Fermilab contract and the even more demanding challenges posed by the huge budget cut delivered last year by the omnibus bill. Throughout these turbulent times Mont has provided steady leadership to our research program and has been an invaluable member of the senior management team. Mont, from all your friends and colleagues at Fermilab, we wish you good luck (and good budgets) in your new endeavors.

Accelerator Update

July 25-28
- Four stores provided ~64 hours and 30 minutes of luminosity
- DZero experiences network problems due to a small power outage.
- E-Cool front end problems

Read the Current Accelerator Update
Read the Early Bird Report
View the Tevatron Luminosity Charts

Announcements

Have a safe day!

UEC elections underway
Elections for the 2008-2009 Users' Executive Committee are now open. Votes must be cast by Aug. 5. More information is available here.

Swimming lesson registration
ends Thursday

The final swimming lesson session starts on Monday, Aug. 4 and lasts for two weeks.
Four classes are offered:
9-9:40 a.m. - Youth Lessons
9:50-10:30 a.m. - Youth Lessons
10-10:30 a.m. - Preschool Lessons
10:40-11:10 a.m. - Preschool Lessons
Registration will close on Thursday, July 31 at noon. Register at the Recreation Office on WH15 (x5427).

Fidelity representative at
Fermilab July 30

Fidelity representative, Jim Stair, will conduct individual counseling sessions at Fermilab on Wednesday, July 30. Sessions will take place in the Aquarium conference room located on the 15th floor of Wilson Hall. Call Fidelity at 1-800-642-7131 or visit the Fidelity Web site to make appointments.

Accelerated C++ Short Course
On Aug. 4, Fermilab will offer the first session of Accelerated C++: A Short Course in Practical Programming by Example. The eight-session course teaches computer programming in modern standard C++. Participants receive TRAIN credit upon successful completion of the course. No tuition is charged; the only cost is for the required textbooks. A subsidy is available for most students. Walter Brown, who participates on Fermilab's behalf in the international C++ standardization effort, is the course instructor. Register here.

Scottish Country Dancing Tuesday
Scottish Country Dancing will meet in Ramsey Auditorium Tuesday, July 29. 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 e-mail.

 
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