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	Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011

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Have a safe day!

Wednesday, Jan. 5
1:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar (NOTE DATE and TIME) - One West
Speaker: Reinabelle Reyes, Princeton University
Title: Dark Energy or Modified Gravity? A Proof of Concept of a Robust Observational Test Using Weak Lensing and Redshift Distortions
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: Roland Horne, Stanford University
Title: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster: What Happened and Why

Thursday, Jan. 6
1 p.m.
Computing Techniques Seminar - FCC1
Speaker: Tom Hacker, Purdue University
Title: Milliseconds to Decades: Developing a Data Life Cycle Cyberinfrastructure for Scientific Data
1:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar (NOTE DATE and TIME) - One West
Speaker: Nicola Mehrtens, University of Sussex
Title: The XMM Cluster Survey
2 p.m.
Computing Techniques Seminar - FCC1
Speaker: Saurabh Bagchi, Purdue University
Title: Sharing Computational Resources on the Grid: How to do it Reliably and Unselfishly
THERE WILL BE NO THEORETICAL PHYSICS SEMINAR THIS WEEK
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY

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Mostly cloudy
34°/18°

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Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe

Wednesday, Jan. 5

- 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, Jan. 5
Lunch

- Chicken enchiladas
- Refried beans
- Spanish rice
- Coconut cake

Thursday, Jan. 6
Dinner

- Coquille St. Jacques
- Pork tenderloin w/ marsala sauce
- Steamed broccoli
- Roasted potatoes w/onions
- Apple turnover w/ cream chantilly

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

Flexible Spending Account card error

Fermilab employees might have received Flexible Spending Account Cards in the mail from CIGNA. CIGNA issued VISA cards in error. CIGNA is not Fermilab's FSA provider for 2011. Do not activate these cards.

If you did receive a card or cards, please shred or destroy them. If you have already activated a card, please contact a member of the Benefits Department staff, listed on the following page.

Special Announcement

Particle physics photowalk calendar now available

Last summer, Fermilab was one of five laboratories from four countries to participate in the first global particle physics photowalk. All together the laboratories welcomed more than 200 photographers to tour their grounds and translate the work of science into the works of art. A 15-month calendar featuring the 15 winning images, including three from Fermilab, is now available in the Office of Communication. Stop by and pick up your copy today while supplies last. For more information, contact Elizabeth Clements.

Milestones

Ray Stefanski retires after 41 years

Fermilab scientist Ray Stefanski, who was integral to the design and completion of construction of the MiniBooNE experiment, celebrates the completion of construction in 2002.

It was late summer of 1969 when Ray Stefanski drove his Sunbeam Alpine from Brookhaven to Fermilab. The coupe allowed him a great view as he drove past the Fermilab landscape.

"I thought, this could be a good place to stay for a few years, and then I'll get myself a real job," Stefanski said.

But he was attracted to the intellectually adventurist spirit of the laboratory and its founding director, Robert Wilson, and the physicist found himself pursuing exciting project after project. Now, more than 41 years later, Stefanski has gone to look for adventure elsewhere. He retired in December.

"Bob Wilson encouraged us to explore crazy ideas," Stefanski said. "He was our inspiration to try new things all the time and he really stood up for what he believed in."

Stefanski has tried to model Wilson's approach in his career.

"In the 1970s, Ray was Mr. Neutrino," said scientist Herman White. "He was undaunted by any project that needed to be done and we were doing things that had never been done before."

Stefanski initially worked as part of the Neutrino Department in the original Research Division on the design and construction of the Neutrino Area. He then participated in several neutrino experiments and helped to design and build neutrino beams.

In 1974, Stefanski, White's first supervisor, was part of a team trying to provide beam to the 15-foot bubble chamber. A magnet failed in a target tube and they had to tune around it. White had an idea and Stefanski gave him an opportunity to prove it.

"Ray said, 'Well, if you have a better tuning suggestion, you've got until 6 a.m.' I spent all night working on this and early in the morning Ray walks into my office to see if I needed help," White said.

White's solution did work out. He credits Stefanski for taking him seriously early on in his career.

Fermilab scientist Steve Brice shared White's sentiment. Stefanski was his first supervisor as well.

"When I started, I was an associate scientist not familiar with the laboratory at all," Brice said. "Ray made sure that I found my feet and fit in."

-- Rhianna Wisniewski

In the News

Quest for dark energy may fade to black

From The New York Times, Jan. 3, 2011

What happens to a dark energy dream deferred?

An ambitious $1.6 billion spacecraft that would investigate the mysterious force that is apparently accelerating the expansion of the universe — and search out planets around other stars, to boot — might have to be postponed for a decade, NASA says, because of cost overruns and mismanagement on a separate project, the James Webb Space Telescope. The news has dismayed many American astronomers, who worry they will wind up playing second fiddle to their European counterparts in what they say is the deepest mystery in the universe.

"How many things can we do in our lifetime that will excite a generation of scientists?” asked Saul Perlmutter, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, who is one of dark energy’s discoverers. There is a sense, he said, “that we’re starting to give up leadership in these important areas in fundamental physics.”

From the Particle Physics Division

What a year

Mike Lindgren

I love the winter holidays, and I always try to take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. During that time I usually just eat too much and try to not think about work. Last week, however, I thought it would be fun to look back and think about our 2010 accomplishments.

Fermilab and its Particle Physics Division achieved every science and operations goal that we had for 2010, and everyone—admins, technicians, engineers, and scientists—should be proud of the year we had. The collider experiments at the Tevatron and LHC performed exceptionally well and reached their luminosity goals; our neutrino experiments ran at high efficiency and collected a vast amount of data; our particle astrophysicists built new detectors while taking data with existing ones; and our theorists explored the new experimental results and published conclusions and predictions.

CDF and DZero published on average a paper a week, including the best constraints yet on the Higgs boson and a hint at a new form of matter-antimatter asymmetry, and we saw the first results and publications from CMS. MINOS and MiniBooNE published exciting data about potential differences between the interactions of neutrinos and antineutrinos, and MINERvA finished the construction of its detector and began taking data with the full detector. NOvA got CD-3b approval from DOE and is in full production mode to produce parts for the 14-kiloton neutrino detector in Minnesota. COUPP is commissioning two detectors to search for dark-matter particles, the CDMS upgrade is well underway, and DES has begun shipping parts of its Dark Energy Camera to Chile for installation on the Blanco telescope.

We also strengthened the project teams that are working on the planning and design of the LBNE, Mu2e and MicroBooNE experiments, which are making their way through the early stages of the DOE approval process. We now have a solid foundation on which we can further develop the technical feasibility of these projects.

Our test beam facility was in constant use as scientists worked on improving particle detector technologies. Our detector R&D program continues to lead the world in the development of 3D ASIC chips and advancing liquid-argon research, and our new R&D advisory board is now in place and meeting regularly.

None of this happens without great teams of people. This includes our colleagues from universities and collaborating institutions, who supported us in all these efforts, and we supported them. Seeing the successes of all these collaborations reinforces my view that it is imperative for all of us to work closely together for the field to advance.

So many things working so well only happens when very skilled, dedicated people work together very hard for long stretches of time. It was a year when it seemed like everyone I talked to was working on multiple projects.

It was an honor to work with everyone this past year, and I hope that 2011 will be equally rewarding.

Milestone

Death

Dorothy Poll, a former Fermilab employee, passed away peacefully at the age of 86 on Dec. 21, 2010 at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Sue and Ken Schultz. Dorothy, ID number 264, was the head nurse in the Medical Department from 1968-1986. Services have taken place.

Read Poll's obituary.

Safety Update