Users' Meeting continues today

Fermilab's annual Users' Meeting continues today. Registered users and Fermilab employees who have their supervisor's permission can attend today's lectures and events, which includes talks about the Energy Frontier, including the LHC; on congressional perspectives of high-energy physics from Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL); flavor physics; astrophysics and Fermilab's proposed future experiments, including Project X, Mu2e, a Muon Collider and LBNE.

Justin Evans wins 2010 Tollestrup Award

Justin Evans

When Justin Evans began working on the MINOS experiment in 2004, he didn't expect that he'd be involved in two leading neutrino results. But six years later, Evans is now convening working groups on the MINOS experiment's world-leading measurements of the muon-neutrino and antineutrino oscillation parameters.

"It is great that the committee recognizes the work we've done is important," Evans said.

The Tollestrup Award is given annually for outstanding work conducted by a postdoctoral researcher at Fermilab or in collaboration with Fermilab scientists.

Evans, a postdoc at University College London, made significant contributions to the measurement of the larger of the neutrino mass differences, and to the first direct measurements of the muon antineutrino oscillations parameters.

Those measurements influenced the decision for MINOS to take data with an antineutrino beam, a move that is allowing the collaboration to make a much more precise measurement of antineutrino oscillation parameters.

Emanuela Barberis, from Northeastern University and chair of the Tollestrup Award committee, said Evans' work shined in all required areas.

"We had a very competitive group of submissions," Barberis said. "Justin took the lead in measurements that pertain to a fundamental area of neutrino physics. The work he has done in just a few years is reflected very poignantly in his leadership within the collaboration."

The award, which is sponsored by Universities Research Association, Inc., highlights the work Evans has already done and Barberis said it will help him in the future, too. It is important for postdocs to have their contributions recognized at an early stage in their career, Barberis explained.

"This is a huge award to get," Evans said. "And it comes at an exciting time for MINOS, with a number of new results to be released this summer."

-- Rhianna Wisniewski

Julie Kurant's chalkboard artwork reminds, inspires

Julie Kurnat, a drafter in TD's Design and Drafting Department, creates seasonal and holiday artwork on the blackboard located in the group's common area. She poses with her Memorial Day drawing. Don Mitchell from the department said Kurant's work "really livens up the atmosphere for our group." View a larger version of the drawing.

Wilson Hall closed Saturday, June 5

The high-rise building will be closed starting at 12:01 a.m. June 5 and re-open at 6 p.m. to accomodate generator upgrades. Crews must connect the power distribution from the new generator to the existing electrical switchgear, which is located in the basement of the highrise. To make the connection, the power must be shut off in Wilson Hall.

During this shutdown, crews will also upgrade domestic water pump controllers by installing energy-efficient controllers. As a result, all restroom facilities will be closed during this outage.

Additionally, Facilities Engineering Services Section staff members will take advantage of the outage and perform preventive maintenance on electrical equipment throughout Wilson Hall.

Please power down all personal electronics before you leave for the weekend.

If you have questions, please contact John Kent III at x4753.

House passes reauthorization of America COMPETES bill

From AIP FYI, June 1, 2010

"Mr. Speaker, I demand a division of the question on the adoption of the amendment to enable the separate votes" declared House Science and Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) last Friday. For the third time, the America COMPETES reauthorization bill was before the House. About an hour after Gordon made his demand, H.R. 5116 passed the House by a vote of 262 to 150.

The procedure that Gordon called for essentially untied the package of proposed changes that House Science and Technology Committee Ranking Republican Member Ralph Hall (TX) had used to stop the legislation when the House first considered it on May 13. Just before the House was to vote on the bill, Hall used a House procedure to send the legislation back to the Science Committee with instructions on how it should be rewritten. Hall's package of changes included a three-year freeze in the authorization levels for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It also reduced the authorization period from five years to three years, eliminated the authorization for several new programs in the bill, and added a new veterans' benefit. Hall's package also included a provision to prohibit the payment of salaries to employees of the Executive Branch for viewing, downloading, or exchanging pornography on a Federal Government computer or "while performing official Federal Government duties." In describing the pending vote on Hall's motion, Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) described the choice facing Members: "If you think a couple of days of suspension, a reprimand, a transfer is the right response when someone uses government computers to spread pornography, then vote against this motion. But if you think spreading pornography with a government computer is an act that should lead to dismissal, then vote for this motion. I urge a vote for this motion." Hall's motion passed by a vote of 292 to 126.

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