Brewing a better brainstorm

Young scientists and researchers take a break to talk with their colleagues during the DZero collaboration meeting in June. A brainstorming session involving graduate students and post-docs took place as part of the meeting.

Take a batch of young DZero scientists, subtract professors and deadlines, stir in a little fun, and you could generate some bright ideas for optimizing the experiment. That was the vision of Brendan Casey, a DZero collaborator at Fermilab.

So last month, during the DZero collaboration's meeting at Fermilab, he gathered a group of graduate students and postdocs for a spirited brainstorming session.

"The most frequent feedback I've received is that the session was too short," Casey said. "That's encouraging. It means people believe this is a valuable way to think."

Casey was inspired by his experience in the Strategic Laboratory Leadership Program at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. During a customized executive education seminar on fostering creativity, participants shared ideas in carefully planned brainstorm activities. Casey, captivated by the energy and effectiveness of the exercises, decided to bring the experience home to colleagues still early in their careers.

Brainstorming is just one of the tactics participants learn in the SLLP program. Over eight intense days, spread over several months, 25 participants from Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory study leadership, innovation and strategic planning. They complete a final project in mixed-laboratory teams and present their product to both laboratory directors. Participants can also opt into a separate, week-long course through Booth's executive education program. So far, three classes of Fermilab and Argonne scientists have completed the SLLP curriculum, which was developed by representatives from both laboratories and the University of Chicago beginning in 2006.

"When we see that participants are implementing the lessons they've learned here, that's a success," said Michelle Terry, director of Operations and Education Programs for the Office of the Vice President for Research and National Laboratories at the University of Chicago. In addition to stirring ideas, she said, the program strengthens ties among the three institutions.

Casey echoed the praise. Everyone wants to think outside the box, he said, "but you have to actively pry open the box. That's what this program teaches you to do."

-- Rachel Carr

Data-taking dress rehearsal proves world's largest computing grid is ready for LHC restart

The Worldwide Computing Grid allows fast data transfer between CERN and the US CMS Tier 1 computing center, making remote operations possible. CMS employees work in the Remote Operations Center at Fermilab.

The world's largest computing grid has passed its most comprehensive tests to date in anticipation of the restart of the world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The successful dress rehearsal proves that the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) is ready to analyze and manage real data from the massive machine. The United States is a vital partner in the development and operation of the WLCG, with 15 universities and three U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories from 11 states contributing to the project.

The full-scale test, collectively called the Scale Test of the Experimental Program 2009 (STEP09), demonstrates the ability of the WLCG to efficiently navigate data collected from the LHC's intense collisions at CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland, all the way through a multi-layered management process that culminates at laboratories and universities around the world. When the LHC resumes operations this fall, the WLCG will handle more than 15 million gigabytes of data every year.

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Mass mismatch makes mystery for proton's strange cousin

From Science News, July 1, 2009

Omega-b-minus is caught in action for a second time, but its mass doesn't match previous results.

A heavy, strange cousin of the proton has been seen a second time, but it seems to have lost a little weight. The omega-b-minus, also called the omega-sub-b baryon, is a three-quark particle related to protons and neutrons. It has been observed at the Collider Detector at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, scientists announced in a paper submitted to Physical Review D and available online at arxiv.org. But CDF's measurement of the particle's mass is significantly lower than a previous measurement, leaving researchers wondering what caused the discrepancy.

"One or both of the measurements are missing the mark," says CDF physicist Pat Lukens, a coauthor of the paper.

DZero, CDF's sister detector, had observed the omega-b-minus in fall 2008 using the same proton accelerator, the Tevatron, at Fermilab. Although CDF's recent mass measurement of 6.054 billion electronvolts agrees better with the expected mass for an omega-b-minus particle than DZero's measurement of 6.165 billion electronvolts, the mismatch in the results is disconcerting, the researchers say.

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