New UEC sets priorities for coming year
 |
| Todd Adams |
At its September meeting, Fermilab's six newly elected Users' Executive Committee members, along with its continuing members, developed priorities for the coming year.
Heading the group is the new UEC chair, Todd Adams, associate professor of physics at Florida State University. As a collaborating member of the DZero and CMS experiments, he’s a frequent traveler to Fermilab, and he’s keen to foster communication between the UEC and laboratory users.
“We’re 13 committee members, but there are about 2,600 users out there,” he said. “We represent them, and we’re interested in hearing any suggestions and comments they have.”
Maintaining a satisfactory quality of life for all who use Fermilab is a high priority for the UEC. The committee invites users to drop a line to anyone on the UEC regarding any matter, whether a suggestion about the taxi service schedule or questions about safety concerns at the laboratory.
A significant effort for the 2010-11 UEC members will be to formulate a clear message for their annual visit to Washington, D.C. Every spring they visit the capital to discuss the challenges and opportunities of high-energy physics and basic science with policy makers.
“Our Washington trip is going to be important, given the possibility of the extension of the Tevatron and the uncertainty of the budget post-election,” Adams said.
The UEC also plans the annual users meeting, which takes place every June at the laboratory.
Adams takes over as chair from Ron Moore, who's excited about the new faces at UEC.
"I like having a broad representation across experiments, and both younger and older members," he said of the UEC's diverse membership, which includes five postdoctoral students and one member who previously served twice on the UEC.
Adams looks forward to working with a group that's willing to engage with the community.
“We’re very happy with the new candidates and looking forward to a productive year,” Adams said.
-- Leah Hesla
|
Sunny
