Fermilab Today Friday, Jan. 23, 2009
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Friday, Jan. 23
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Joint Experimental-Theoretical Physics Seminar - One West
Speaker: Marc Hohlfeld, University of Bonn
Title: SUSY Searches in Tri-lepton Final States
7 p.m.
Gallery Lecture - One West
Speakers: Laurel Ross, The Field Museum; Rod Walton and Tom Peterson, Fermilab
Title: Chicago Wilderness 101
8 p.m.
Fermilab International Film Society - Auditorium
Tickets: Adults $5
Title: The Story of Qiu Ju

Monday, Jan. 26
2:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Jiangang Hao, University of Michigan
Title: Optical Galaxy Cluster Detection at High Redshift
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II
Special Topic: Longevity Studies of the CDF-II Silicon Detectors; Fermilab 3.9 GHz Superconducting RF Cryomodule

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

Weather
Weather

Chance of flurries
29°/3°

Extended Forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe
Friday, Jan. 23
- Smart cuisine: chunky vegetable soup w/orzo
- Buffalo chicken wings
- Cajun breaded catfish
- Teriyaki pork stir-fry
- Honey mustard ham & Swiss panini
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Smart cuisine: *carved turkey

*Carb restricted alternative

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Jan. 28
Lunch
- Sausage, roasted red pepper & three cheese calzone
- Caesar salad
- Hazelnut cake w/bittersweet chocolate sauce

Thursday, Jan. 29
Dinner
- Corn chowder
- Halibut w/ spicy red pepper sauce
- Island rice
- Brussels sprouts
- Lemon Napoleon

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Send comments and suggestions to:
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Feature

Energy Secretary Steven Chu looks to labs for DOE's future

Steven Chu

The Department of Energy's new leader, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, quite literally wants the organization to help save the world.

"The DOE will have to be the go-to organization for what we face in this country," Chu said in a satellite broadcast Thursday. "This agency, in my mind, is the key agency for the future of the U.S."

Chu's address to the national laboratories came a day after he was confirmed as the new administration's energy secretary. In his remarks, Chu focused on the need for new solutions to the problems facing the U.S. and the world, namely the economic crisis, combating climate change and finding alternative energy sources. To do this, he said, the country will need to rely on the national laboratories to develop a sound energy policy and to invent and transform new science and technologies that can be brought to the marketplace.

Chu called the science and work of the national laboratories critical and identified them as the "crown jewels the U.S. does not want to lose." He also commended the national laboratories for the quality of scientists they produced.

"We have a core of truly outstanding scientists," Chu said, pointing out the numerous Nobel Prize winners associated with national laboratories. "These national labs trained some of the outstanding scientists the country has today."

Chu, who served for four years as the director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory prior to his current appointment, said he believes in what DOE has been doing for many years and asked for help in making the DOE the supreme agency in the country.

"DOE is the principal support of physical sciences in the U.S." Chu said. "Science in the U.S. is going to have to be the cornerstone of our country in this century."

-- Rhianna Wisniewski

Read a Discover magazine blog about Chu's remarks

Photo and Video of the Day

Family fun at Open House

A mother and daughter participate in a static electricity activity at the Fermilab Family Open House on Saturday, Jan. 17. When touching a static electricity generator, a build up of excess electrons causes their hairs to stand on end.

Watch a video of the Open House here.

Feature

Explore nature's masterpieces in Art Gallery photo exhibit

The above photo, taken at Nippersink Creek at Glacial Park in McHenry County, is one of the many colorful photographs by Ray Mathis now on display in the Fermilab Art Gallery.

A blazing sunset, fall leaves in robust hues, the nakedness of the Utah desert: If you want to escape the Chicagoland winter, you don't have to travel to a warmer climate. Instead, check out Ray Mathis' photography exhibit on the second floor Art Gallery.

"During the dreary winter I thought this would pick up everyone's spirits a bit," said Georgia Schwender, Fermilab Art Gallery director. "The exhibit is a reminder that landscape is all around us. It doesn't have to be mountains or streams to be gorgeous. The prairie is picturesque too."

The exhibit, called "Nature's Masterpieces: Chicago Wilderness & Beyond," runs through March 4, and a reception with Mathis will take place in the Art Gallery on Jan. 23, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Mathis' photos feature the Glacial Park in McHenry County and national parks in Utah.

"As a teen, I set a goal to never miss a sunrise or sunset. The vast majority of my images are the product of rising long before sunrise or staying out until after sunset," said Mathis, who grew up in Niles and now lives 10 minutes away from Glacial Park.

Mathis achieves his photos' intense colors by shooting into the sun using graduated filters. For some of his photos, he waits until after the sun has gone down, which he says brings out the colors even more.

Mathis will talk about his artwork at 5 p.m. in Curia II. At 7 p.m., in One West, Laurel Ross, the Urban Conservation Director of the Chicago Field Museum, will speak along with Rod Walton of Fermilab's Ecological Land Management Committee and Tom Peterson of Fermilab Natural Areas.

-- Kristine Crane

Feature

Expanded J-Term workshop offers additional training

CMS collaborators participate in tutorial sessions during the third annual J-Term workshop, Jan. 12-16.

Scientists, postdocs and graduate students who traveled to Fermilab last week for the third annual January-term workshop, got more than just a general introduction to the CMS experiment.

Responding to high demand for more in-depth CMS physics analyses and other sessions about the detector, J-Term organizers expanded the normally two-day agenda into a week-long program.

"The workshop is much more than just a software tutorial," said Fermilab physicist Frank Chlebana, who helped organize J-Term III. "We try to make sure to have something for everyone from the basic to the advanced level."

This year's extended program allowed attendees to get more information about the various US CMS physics analysis groups. From Higgs's searches to physics beyond the Standard Model, the sessions helped to motivate participants to develop more complex analyses.

Frank Chlebana

"They get to see the results of complex analyses using real data from the Tevatron," Chlebana said. "Many people found it very useful."

Graduate students and postdocs made up roughly half of the 130 registered participants at this year's workshop. While most of the students attended J-Term III to get a crash-course on the experiment, many of the senior scientists who participated took the opportunity to learn about how they can get more people involved.

"One major purpose of the workshop is to recruit people," Chlebana said. "Many people are available but don't know what they want to do."

At the workshop dinner, which was moved from the Kuhn Barn to the Wilson Hall atrium due to the double-digit, sub-zero temperatures, meeting participants enjoyed a performance by the CDF band, DSD. The social aspect has an important role, explained Chlebana, particularly on an experiment with 3,000 people.

"We encourage people to talk to each other so that they are more than just a name on an e-mail," he said.

-- Elizabeth Clements

Announcement

Watch "The Story of Qiu Ju,"
Jan. 23 at 8 p.m.

Internationally-acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou's film "The Story of Qiu Ju" will play Friday at 8 p.m. in Fermilab's Ramsey Auditorium as part of Fermilab's International Film Society series. The film, about a peasant woman's attempt to seek justice for her husband who has been attacked by a village elder, is considered a light satire of Chinese bureaucracy. The 101-minute film also showcases images of the Chinese countryside. Tickets are available only at the door. They cost $5 for the general public, $2 for students with Fermilab ID, and $1 for children 11 and younger.

Announcements

Latest Announcements

Barn Dance Feb. 8

Have a safe day!

Changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act Jan. 16

Changes in U.S. admission procedure

Intermediate / Advanced Python Programming - Jan. 27 - 29

NALWO Brown Bag Lunch - Women as Classic: From BC to AD

ACU bill pay demonstration Jan. 29

Recreation Office Meetings

Outlook 2007 New Features classes scheduled Feb. 3 and 26

Conflict Management & Negotiation Skills class offered Feb.3

PowerPoint 2007: New Features class offered Feb. 3

Facilitating Meetings That Work class offered Feb. 4

Word 2007: New Features class offered Feb. 4

Excel 2007: New Features class offered Feb. 4

Interpersonal Communication Skills class offered Feb. 5

Barn Dance Feb. 8

Bulgarian Dance Workshop, Feb. 12

Additional activities


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