All-hands meeting Friday

An all-hands meeting will take place at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 19, in Ramsey Auditorium. Director Pier Oddone will discuss the focus group reports and how the laboratory plans to address the findings.

Employees can prepare for the meeting by reading and discussing the focus group reports.

Dave Augustine, master matchmaker

Dave Augustine

Six months before a shutdown, Dave Augustine begins pressing physicists and engineers from across the Accelerator Division to name the jobs they want completed in the brief window of beam-free time.

And he starts scanning his own mental records to pinpoint the people qualified to undertake those tasks.

Since 2002, Augustine, a supervisor in the AD's Mechanical Support Department, has played the role of a master matchmaker in the shutdown process.

"It can be difficult to plan, prioritize, and find people for so many jobs," said Augustine, who's worked at Fermilab for 33 years. "I enjoy working with many talented people."

First, Augustine compiles a "wish list" of maintenance and construction tasks, incorporating requests from colleagues and an online system. Next, he works with mechanical supervisors from many divisions and sections to pair personnel with tasks. In many cases, Augustine can tap people who have previously performed a job successfully. But he is just as happy to help train new hands. During the shutdown, Augustine patrols the tunnels to track progress and consult with supervisors. In the end, everything on the "to-do" list is completed, plus about three percent more jobs that turn up as work proceeds.

"Dave does a great job," said Scott McCormick, a supervisor in AD who has worked with Augustine to coordinate Tevatron upkeep. "His knowledge of the Accelerator Complex is vast. He understands what needs to be done and knows who to ask to do it."

Augustine made his last match a week before this year's shutdown, but he's already thinking about what comes after that. Behind his desk are laminated charts of the Booster, Main Injector and Tevatron, each stippled with marker notes about the summer's plans.

"As soon as these jobs are done," Augustine explained, "I'll hit those charts with Windex and starting putting up jobs for the next shutdown."

-- Rachel Carr

DASTOW photos now online

Fermilab employees and spouses help their children sweep the pond near the Lederman Science Center for insects as part of Daughters and Sons to work day on June 10. DASTOW photos from this year's event are now online.

Construction begins on world-class light source at Brookhaven National Laboratory

From Brookhaven National Laboratory, June 15, 2009

Project will enable scientific discoveries for the 21st Century, bring jobs to Long Island

UPTON, N.Y. - The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory announced today that it is beginning construction of the conventional facilities at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a project that will advance energy research for the nation and create hundreds of jobs for Long Island over the next several years. Energy Secretary Steven Chu visited the laboratory earlier this year and announced $150 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the facility, some of which went towards accelerating the construction of NSLS-II.

"The NSLS-II will allow the scientific community to focus on some of our most important scientific challenges while creating jobs and promoting a clean, affordable energy economy," said Secretary Chu. "Pioneering research will remain critical if the U.S. is to stay a global leader when it comes to innovation and competitiveness."

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