Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010
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Have a safe day!

Tuesday, Dec. 14
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR THIS WEEK

Wednesday, Dec. 15
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB COLLOQUIUM THIS WEEK

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Wilson Hall Cafe

Tuesday, Dec. 14

- Breakfast: Bagel sandwich
- Golden broccoli soup
- Fish & chips
- Coconut crusted tilapia
- Burgundy beef tips
- La Grande sandwich
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Chicken fajitas

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Dec. 15
Christmas Lunch
12 p.m.
- Crab cakes w/red pepper mayo
- Lemon orzo
- Sautéed spinach w/ garlic
- Chocolate raspberry torte

Thursday, Dec. 16
Dinner

- Shrimp cocktail
- Prime rib
- Baked potato
- Steamed broccoli
- Chocolate mousse pie

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Feature

Bob Mau, accelerator and operator champion, retires

Bob Mau

Bob Mau is opinionated. It’s a personality he relishes. But while Mau's vocal, straight-talking, no-nonsense persona has earned him a rough-around-the-edges reputation, it has also helped him to win many friends, settle battles and keep the Accelerator Complex systems running for decades.

Mau, head of the Accelerator Division's Operations Department retires today after 40 years at the laboratory.

"Bob is an incredible person, period. He's done an incredible job for the lab in a unique way," said Accelerator Division head Roger Dixon. "He doesn't apologize for who he is. His spelling is terrible and he says things the way he wants to, but he is one of those real characters, the kind you meet one or two of in your life and you're glad you did."

Fermilab won't lose Mau immediately. He plans to return as a guest scientist. Dixon even hopes that Mau might help with projects such as the planning for scheduled power outages in the future.

"Bob has been an integral part of the laboratory from day one,"said Steve Holmes, who worked with Mau both while Accelerator Division head and as associate director for accelerators. "He's seen everything and he's an incredible font of institutional knowledge."

It is a sentiment echoed by many who have worked with Mau. His knowledge of the laboratory's accelerator systems has made him a go-to guy for any and all accelerator-related problems and questions. Mau has gleaned that knowledge since he joined the laboratory in 1970 as a Linac electronics technician. Since then, he's been involved with tuning and troubleshooting as the laboratory turned on every accelerator and beamline.

"About a week after I was here I saw old men running up and down the Linac to reset equipment," Mau said. "I thought to myself, 'What have I gotten myself into?'"

But his colleagues' dedication and loyalty to helping Fermilab's accelerators run is one of the things that has kept Mau here.

He became part of the Accelerations Operations Department as it formed in 1971 and worked his way up through the ranks, becoming an operations specialist in 1977 and then the Operations Department head in 1979.

He spends his days coordinating, training and managing five crews of operators. He also pays a lot of attention to accelerator downtime – particularly getting the accelerator systems up and running again – and coordinating power outages, a role he's had since the 1980s.

Read more

Bob Mau, head of the Accelerator Division’s Operations Department, gave Enrico Fermi’s grandchildren a tour of the Main Control Room in 2008. Photo: Reidar Hahn

In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Ulrich Baur

Ulrich Baur

Ulrich Baur, a physics professor at the University at Buffalo who often collaborated with the Fermilab theory group and the Tevatron collider experiments, died Nov. 25. He was 53.

Baur, who held a postdoctoral appointment at Fermilab during the early years of his career, is best known for his work on electroweak physics and processes involving Higgs boson and top quark production. He produced Monte Carlo simulation programs that are widely used for W and Z production.

"Uli's energy and enthusiasm for physics were infectious. We could always count on him to work out the nitty-gritty details of the theory that were essential to get the physics done," said Ashutosh Kotwal, a Fermilab user and professor from Duke University who worked closely with Baur for the past 15 years.

But Baur's contributions to the field went far beyond calculations and codes. He also worked tirelessly to encourage the pursuit of high-energy physics both at the University at Buffalo and among young researchers. "He was a mentor to all of us in the high-energy physics and cosmology group at the university. Without his tireless efforts and inspiration this group would simply not exist," said Doreen Wackeroth, University at Buffalo professor and Baur's colleague. "I will miss his great sense of humor, his enthusiasm for physics and his guidance."

Chris Quigg, a Fermilab theorist, remembers Baur as a good-natured person who “always had a smile on his face.” Baur was an example of someone who really wanted to give to others, Quigg said.

Baur, a member of the CMS collaboration, was a driving force behind the LHC theory initiative, an NSF-funded, nationally competitive fellowship program for graduate students and postdocs that seeks to increase LHC-related theory efforts in the U.S.

"The program is now thriving and simply would not have happened without Uli's dedication and generosity with his time," said Lynne Orr from the University of Rochester Department of Physics and Astronomy. "His passing leaves a huge void. He was such a great friend and collaborator for so many years."

Baur obtained his Ph.D. in 1985 from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, and was a Max-Kade Fellow at Fermilab. Baur was a University at Buffalo faculty member since 1994 and became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2008.

A funeral service will be held Dec. 17 in Munich. A symposium to honor Baur's contributions to high-energy physics is planned for spring 2011. Colleagues set up a memorial website to honor Baur.

Read Baur's obituary from University at Buffalo.

-Rhianna Wisniewski

In the News

Homestake lab supporters stunned by science board rejection of funds

From Rapid City Journal, Dec. 12, 2010

When state lawmakers approved $5.4 million for the underground science laboratory at Homestake early this year, they called it "bridge" funding that would carry the project to the solid ground of federal money in 2011.

Now some are wondering if they built a bridge to nowhere.

News spread in the South Dakota Capitol last week that the National Science Board had rejected an expected $29 million award needed by the underground laboratory after state funding runs out next year. It surprised state lawmakers and had the governor and the state's congressional delegation hustling to get the funding restored.

It also raised question about the future of a dream-like project aimed at producing cutting-edge science that already accounts for 150 jobs and a financial commitment of $250 million.

Read more

Director's Corner

Changing of the guard

From left: Paul Hommert, Michael Anastasio, Sam Aronson, Thom Mason, Secretary Steven Chu, Pier Oddone and Paul Alivisatos.

On Monday I attended my last meeting with Secretary Chu as member of the executive committee of the National Laboratories Directors’ Council (NLDC).  Two of the members, Michael Anastasio, director of Los Alamos, and I, rotate out and two new members, Paul Hommert, director at Sandia and Paul Alivisatos, director of Berkeley, rotate in.  The two remaining members are Sam Aronson, director of Brookhaven and Thom Mason, director of Oak Ridge, who takes over the chairmanship of the executive committee.

The NLDC was formed during Secretary Bodman’s tenure as a mechanism for the Secretary to interact with the directors of the national laboratories across the broad front of issues that confront the laboratories and the DOE.  The full NLDC meets about once a year and its executive committee either meets personally or on the phone with the Secretary on a monthly basis.  Since its formation the NLDC has provided critical input to the Secretary on many proposed policies and requirements, making their application often simpler and more practical.  These policies and requirements are often generated, with the best intentions, in the bowels of the DOE that are remote from the experience of actually running a laboratory.  While several mechanisms exist at a lower level for the DOE to consult with the laboratories as new policies and requirements are developed, nothing works as effectively as closing the loop directly with the Secretary.

Secretary Chu is committed to streamlining and simplifying the operations of the Department, making them more efficient and economical.  This will be especially important for all of the national laboratories in the coming years of austerity.  We are very fortunate to have a Secretary who has the fortitude to tackle this issue among the many other challenges the Department faces.  We are also fortunate to work very closely and constructively with our DOE site office and the DOE Office of High Energy Physics, both keenly aware of the Secretary’s message.

Milestone

Retirement event

A luncheon to honor AD’s Bill Wickenberg, a 40-year employee, will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 7, at Riverview Banquets, 1117 North Washington Ave. (Rt. 25) in Batavia. The cost is $20. Contact Nancy Sells, x4446, by Monday, Dec. 27, to RSVP or for more information.
Photo of the Day

Helmholtz Association president visits Fermilab

Jürgen Mlynek (far right), President of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, toured Fermilab on Dec. 8. Giving the tour of Fermilab’s SRF Accelerator Test Facility are, from left: Fermilab’s Jerry Leibfritz, Manfred Wendt and Stuart Henderson, associate director for accelerators. Photo: Reidar Hahn

Accelerator Update

Dec. 10-13

- Five stores provided ~57 hours of luminosity
- Booster configured RF to operate on one pre-pulse
- Store 8351 quenched due to separator spark
- I- source vacuum pump failed
- H- brought online
- TRF5 fiber module repaired
- ECool corrector magnet power supply settings reloaded

*The integrated luminosity for the period from 12/6/10 to 12/13/10 was 53.02 inverse picobarns.

*NuMI reported receiving 7.118 protons on target during this same period.

Read the Current Accelerator Update
Read the Early Bird Report
View the Tevatron Luminosity Charts

Announcements

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Timecard instructions for non-exempt employees working on half holiday

Reminder: timecards due early for week of Dec. 20 - 26

Reminder: timecards due early for week of Dec. 13 – 19

Eastbound Butterfield Road closed until Dec. 20

Card stampers today

Free webinar on navigating a changing tax environment today

Free martial arts class - Dec. 15

Free 10-minute holiday wellness massages Dec.15-16

Reserve now for extra Chez Leon lunch on Friday, Dec. 17

Annual potluck party and skits - Dec. 17

Symposium celebrates 25th anniversary of first collision at Tevatron - Dec. 17

Movie tickets make gift giving easy

Medical Department holiday schedule

School's Out day camp - Dec. 21-22, 27-29

Weight Watchers introduces new PointsPlus program

Guided practicas for Argentine Tango thru Dec. 29

Submit a topic suggestion for Disability Awareness Seminar

Fermilab Today holiday schedule

Open basketball at the gym

Folk dancing on Thursdays in December

Fermilab Blood Drive - Dec. 20 & 21 (Walk in only)

Fermilab Arts and Lecture Series box office winter schedule

Users Office holiday hours

Accelerate to a Healthy Lifestyle Program through Dec. 31

Disney On Ice presents "Toy Story 3"- Feb. 2-13

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