America's accelerator future

Dennis Kovar, associate director of the Office of Science for High Energy Physics, at the "Accelerators for America's Future" symposium in Washington, D.C.

The next big thing in particle accelerators may not be so big, and it might not have anything to do with research into the subatomic secrets of the universe. Instead it could offer a better way to slice silicon into chips, treat cancer, stop terrorist attacks, tap new sources of energy, reduce the world's growing burden of nuclear waste or turn air pollutants into fertilizer.

More than 400 people are in Washington, DC this week to draw up a list of possibilities for the Office of High Energy Physics in the DOE's Office of Science, which builds and operates America's major research accelerators and funds research on accelerator technology. Called "Accelerators for America's Future," it kicked off Monday with an all-day symposium and continued Tuesday and today with invitation-only working groups focusing on industrial applications and production, national security, energy and the environment, medicine and biology, and discovery science. They'll report their findings later.

What the Office of Science hopes to get from all this is a sense of what these various accelerator users need, both now and in the future; the major cost, technical and policy barriers they face; which areas of accelerator R&D hold the most promise; and how to bridge what one speaker called "the valley of death" between basic research and deploying a new technology, according to Dennis Kovar, associate director of the Office of Science for High Energy Physics. (You can find slides from his talk and other presentations here)

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— Glennda Chui

Robert "Obie" Oberholtzer

Robert Oberholtzer, who worked at Fermilab for 41 years, died Sunday. Visitation will take place today from 4 to 9 p.m., followed by funeral services Friday at Moss Family Funeral Home.

Fermilab's Mr. Fix-It, Robert "Obie" Oberholtzer, died Sunday in Geneva after a brief illness. He was 61.

Oberholtzer began work at the switchyard 41 years ago when the laboratory first opened. During the design stages of the Antiproton Source in the 1980s, former Fermilab Director John Peoples recruited Oberholtzer to help.

"Obie knew his stuff, and he knew it extremely well," Peoples said. "He was just the soul of the Antiproton Source. You have the people who really made this place work, and Obie was one of them."

If there were power supply problems, operators called Oberholtzer first, waking him from sleep or tracking him down after work at the bowling alley, said his close friend and colleague Jim Budlong.

"His wife told me, 'Obie would just spring to attention; he'd love the challenge,'" Budlong said. "He'd get it going and then go back and tell her how he got it working."

With decades of experience at the laboratory, Oberholtzer had a knack for locating hard-to-find parts or sensing impending problems.

"He would walk through the building and say some power supply sounded funny. Sure enough if we didn't catch it in time, he'd have to fix it," said Fermilab's Keith Gollwitzer.

Oberholtzer had no problem telling others how he felt, which made him one of the best people to deliver a roast. He'd often lay down the law for young graduate students.

Roger Dixon, head of the Accelerator Division, said Oberholtzer was "one of those guys who knew everything." Oberholtzer's talent could humble his colleagues, Dixon said, whether he was playing in a softball game or fixing a power supply.

His annual Christmas party at Batavia Bowl was the best party of the year, said Fermilab's Dave McGinnis. "This year's going to be like Christmas with no Santa Claus."

Visitation will take place today from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Moss Family Funeral Home at 209 S. Batavia Ave. in Batavia, followed by funeral services Thursday at 10 a.m. Check here for more information.

— Chris Knight

Nominations now accepted for director's volunteer award

Each year, Fermilab has more than 200 volunteers who help to keep the laboratory's K-12 education programs running like well-oiled machines. These volunteers are role models and mentors for teachers and students, answer tough questions about Fermilab and its science, maintain Lederman Science Center exhibits, visit area classrooms and more.

Once a year at a reception, the laboratory recognizes the efforts of an especially dedicated volunteer. Please let the Education Office know when you're impressed by a colleague's contribution.

Nominate a Fermilab staff member, user or contractor candidate for this award.

Storage ring dust-up

High-energy physicists have finally pinpointed their dust problem. Inside multi-million dollar storage rings, high-speed trains of electrons are often derailed by micron-sized specks of dust. Now a team has shown that dust grains arise from sparks inside a Japanese storage ring, as they report in an upcoming paper in Physical Review Special Topics--Accelerators and Beams (PRST-AB), a free, online journal. The team also serendipitously caught on video one of the tiny grains being swept along in the electron beam--the particle physics equivalent of a criminal caught by a security camera. The feat opens the possibility for further characterization of the dust.

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