Fermilab Today Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010
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Have a safe day!

Wednesday, Oct. 27
11 a.m.
PPD/Neutrino Discussion - Hornet's Nest, WH-8XO
Speaker: Boris Kopeliovich, University Santa Maria, Valparaiso, Chile
Title: The Hadronic Nature of the Neutrino
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB COLLOQUIUM TODAY

Thursday, Oct. 28
10:30 a.m.
Research Techniques Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Andrey N. Vasil'ev, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Title: Scintillators for New HEP Calorimeters: What Properties are Not Well Understood?
2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar (NOTE LOCATION) - One West
Speaker: Ciaran Williams, Fermilab
Title: Hadronic Production of a Higgs Boson with Two Jets at NLO
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar - One West
Speaker: Lawrence Deacon, University of London, Royal Holloway
Title: Muon Cleaning in the CLIC Beam Delivery System

Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

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Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe

Wednesday, Oct. 27
- Breakfast: English muffin sandwich
- Chicken noodle soup
- Steak sandwich
- Maple dijon salmon
- Mongolian beef
- California club
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Chicken pesto pasta

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Oct. 27
Lunch
- Chicken satay w/ peanut sauce
- Peapods
- Jasmine rice
- Coconut cake

Thursday, Oct. 28
Dinner
- Closed

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Feature

Fermilab hosts 2010 USLUO meeting; Brinkman to speak

At this week's annual meeting, USLUO members will discuss progress achieved during the LHC's first proton-proton run.

This week, Fermilab will host the annual meeting of the US LHC Users Organization on Oct. 28-30. The 2010 meeting comes at the end of the LHC's first proton-proton run, making it very timely for attendees to review the past year's results and machine performance.

"We have seen an exponential increase in luminosity and the performance has been great," said Fermilab's Dan Green, CMS collaboration board chair and local meeting organizer. "The U.S. has been a big part of it all."

As part of the meeting, William Brinkman, the Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, will speak on Friday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. All Fermilab employees and users are encouraged to attend.

Earlier in the day on Friday, Steve Myers, CERN's Director for Accelerators and Technology, will talk about the status of the accelerator at 9:40 a.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. The meeting will also showcase contributions from young scientists by featuring several talks by graduate students and the latest results from the LHC experiments.

"This is a time of great excitement as the LHC has met and indeed exceeded its 2010 goal for peak luminosity," said Caltech's Harvey Newman, USLUO chair. "Data at 7 TeV is pouring in, and the LHC experiments are quickly moving towards expanding the physics landscape. Our meeting will highlight some of this progress, and especially the outstanding contributions from young scientists."

Additional information about the meeting and an agenda are available online.

-- Elizabeth Clements

Ask the Ethicist

Ask the Ethicist: Election season

Gary Leonard, Fermilab General Counsel, wrote this column.

Gary Leonard, Fermilab general counsel

Election season is upon us. We are inundated in the press with coverage of the candidates and with roadside signs and television spots proclaiming the virtues and vices of various candidates. I encourage all of you, as responsible citizens, to participate in our electoral process. Fermilab even has a time off voting policy to allow you to make time to participate.

Fermilab employees are also free outside of work to support their favorite candidates and issues in any way they choose. However, please remember that it is illegal to use any Fermilab resources to do so.

Federal legislation, referred to as the Hatch Act, regulates or restricts political activities by federal employees as well as the use of federal property for political purposes. Importantly, while Fermilab employees work for FRA, not the federal government, the property we use is federally owned and the law prohibits the use of any federal property, including buildings, facilities or grounds for political purposes. Department of Energy buildings and property, including any on the Fermilab site, may not be used for campaign activities such as town hall meetings, rallies, speeches, fundraisers, press conferences or photo opportunities. This is true even if a facility has a policy to permit use of some portion of the facilities by the public.

The law also extends to property that has been assigned to you, such as computers, telephones, copiers and even Fermilab's computing networks. So while Fermilab policy allows incidental personal use of such property, that incidental use would not include the use of DOE-owned or university-owned personal property for political activities. In fact, Fermilab has a policy that prohibits or limits the use of any university resources for political activities.

We do have political figures on our campus from time to time. Senators and representatives and their staff members come to tour the site and learn about what we're working on. These are perfectly legitimate activities, although they need to be carefully handled to ensure they cannot be interpreted as or evolve into political events. There is a clear line boundary that must you must not step over.

If you have any questions, please consult with Gary Leonard, Fermilab's legal counsel, and always keep in mind: Fermilab and politics don't mix.

In the News

Want to clean up at poker? Study physics

From NPR's All Things Considered,
Oct. 23, 2010

A few years ago, physicist Jeff Harvey invited Eduard Antonyan to a game of poker at a friend's house. Antonyan was a graduate student of Harvey's at the time, in the physics department at the University of Chicago.

"I invited Eduard to play because we're always looking for new victims," Harvey tells NPR's Guy Raz. "But it didn't exactly work out that well."

It turned out Antonyan was pretty good.

"He took my money," Harvey says. "We didn't invite him back after that."

Antonyan would eventually find other ways to play. Today he plays online, where he says he hauled in $10,000 on his best night. But what's interesting about Antonyan and Harvey is not how much they win - but why.

Read more

From the Business Services Section

Thank you for exceeding
99 percent

Dave Carlson, head of the Business Services Section, wrote this week's column.

Dave Carlson

They may not be as exciting as some physics results, but the BSS Property and Inventory Control Department announced some excellent results during the last couple of months.

The first result came from a comprehensive assessment, which is conducted by the Department of Energy every three years in order to ascertain the condition of the Fermilab property management system. The FRA contract with DOE requires the laboratory to maintain a DOE-approved property management system. The positive findings of the FY2010 assessment have led to the approval of our system for another three years.

The second news item is the superb outcome of our property inventories. DOE has national targets for equipment and sensitive item inventories of 98 and 99 percent, respectively, and our results for FY2010 were 99.7 and 99.9 percent. Outcomes such as this are only possible because of the hundreds of property custodians at Fermilab as well as our Property Department maintain close accountability of the assets that are entrusted to us by DOE. Thank you for taking such excellent care of our laboratory's assets.

To make sure we maintain our splendid record, I'm sharing these simple tips and reminders concerning the use and care of government property.

  1. The vast majority of property located at Fermilab site belongs to the U.S. government. The use of this property is restricted to the performance of work under FRA's prime contract with the Department of Energy. If you have a question or concern about the proper use of government property, you should speak to your supervisor.
  2. It is the responsibility of employees, users and subcontractors to protect government property from theft, loss or misuse. Report theft, loss or misuse of government property to Fermilab security.
  3. A Fermilab Property Pass must be completed when taking assets off site. This pass only authorizes removal of government property from the site. It does not and cannot authorize use of that property for personal purposes.
  4. Property Office policies and procedures must be followed when assets are transferred, exchanged, traded in, disposed of or taken apart for reusing parts. Notify the Fermilab Property Office when any of these changes in status occur.

Fermilab has consistently shown its responsibility in these areas. Only with your continued efforts can we demonstrate excellence in our stewardship and use of DOE government property.

In the News

Panel wants U.S. to chase 'God Particle'-If there's money

From Science Insider, Oct. 26, 2010

Keep going. That's the advice today from a federal advisory panel to government officials responsible for running the last U.S. atom smasher. But the panel's caveat-only if you get more money-means there's a good chance the Tevatron collider at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) will have to close next fall.

The ad hoc Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) urged officials at the Department of Energy (DOE) to keep running the collider through 2014 instead of shutting it down in September 2011 as planned. The three extra years of data-taking would give Fermilab physicists a shot at spotting the Higgs boson before it's nailed by Europe's more-powerful Large Hadron Collider, which will shut down for 15 months in 2012 for repairs.

The search for the Higgs "is the most exciting issue in all of physics," Charles Baltay, a physicist at Yale University and chair of P5, told members of the federal High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP), which immediately adopted P5's report at its meeting here. "We should seize the opportunity."

Read more

Safety Update

ES&H weekly report, Oct. 26

This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ES&H section, includes no recordable incidents. Find the full report here.

Safety report archive

Announcements

Latest Announcements

Chicago Blackhawks November discount tickets

Yoga begins Nov. 2

Indian Creek Road to closed today and 10/28

Scrappers meet Nov. 2

Toastmasters - Nov. 4

Bone density screenings - Nov. 2

Free CERN LHC book

International Folk Dancing Halloween party - Oct. 28

English country dancing for Halloween, Oct. 31, with live music at Kuhn Barn

Nov. 22 deadline for The University of Chicago Tuition Remission Program

Employee Art Show: April 2011

Argentine Tango through Nov. 3

Accelerate to a Healthy Lifestyle program

Fright Fest discount tickets at Six Flags

Chicago Blackhawks discount tickets

Needles and Threads introductory meeting schedule

Facilitating Meetings That Work class - Nov. 4

Management and Negotiation Skills class - Nov. 9 & 16

Word 2007: Intro class - Nov. 9

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