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Have a safe day!
Tuesday, Oct. 18
3 p.m.
LHC Physics Center Topic of the Week Seminar - Sunrise WH11NE
Speaker: Chris Vermilion, University of Louisville
Title: Proceedings from Boost 2011
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY
Wednesday, Oct. 19
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium -
One West
Speaker: Brad Sherrill, Michigan State University
Title: Science with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information.
Upcoming conferences
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Tuesday, Oct. 18
- Breakfast: Bagel sandwich
- Chicken & rice soup
- Italian sausage w/ peppers & onions
- Smart cuisine: Beef stroganoff
- Smart cuisine: Chicken Tetrazzini
- Peppered beef
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Nachos supreme
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu
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Wednesday, Oct. 19
Lunch
- Garlic soup
- Muffuletta
- Bread pudding w/ bourbon sauce
Friday, Oct. 21
Dinner
Closed
Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.
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New Service Desk system deploying - Oct. 19
The laboratory will switch to a new Service Desk system on Wednesday Oct. 19. The way users access the Service Desk will remain the same, but the site will have a different look and feel.
The current Service Desk web interface will be unavailable tonight from 5 p.m. to roughly midnight during the transition to the new system. At that time, the current system will only be available to view tickets that have already been resolved or closed. If you need assistance during this period, you will need to call the Service Desk at x2345.
You can preview the new system here. When you visit the new Service Desk website, you’ll be able to view news and Service Desk contact information. You will be required to log in to the system using your services account before accessing any submission forms. Once you are logged in, you will see familiar forms such as “Report a Safety Concern” and “Request Hardware Repair Service.” In addition, you will have various other options that will help the Service Desk route tickets to the appropriate support staff more quickly.
Read more
—Marcia Teckenbrock
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New head of the Core Computing Division
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 Jon Bakken
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Jon Bakken joined Fermilab in 1994, but he brings a starting-over-again outlook to his new post as head of the Core Computing Division.
“I fully recognize I’m the new guy here,” said Bakken, who officially assumed his new duties on Oct. 1. “I’m excited to be the Division Head and I will be doing my best to make us an efficient division, ready to help the laboratory meet its mission.”
How does he plan to achieve this? Along with the help of Mark Kaletka, now the deputy head of the Core Computing Division, he has some ideas.
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Mark Kaletka
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First, they will encourage staffers to take exercise breaks, after learning from Amy Pavnica, CD Safety Officer, that short breaks lead to increased productivity. Bakken will also work to get the word out on CD’s accomplishments. That means offering visible credit for the division’s staff, such as commending Kaletka for his leadership role in pursuing ISO20K certification for the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Bakken also would like department heads to take responsibility for submitting an article for each issue of “CD-Tracks,” CD’s monthly online publication.
Read more
—Mike Perricone
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Followup: FTL neutrinos explained? Not so fast, folks.
From Discover Magazine, Oct. 15, 2011
If you haven’t heard about the experiment that apparently showed that subatomic particles called neutrinos might move faster than light (what we in the know call FTL, to make us look cooler), then I assume this is your first time on the internet. If that’s the case, then you can read my writeup on what happened.
Basically, neutrinos move very very fast, almost at the speed of light. Some scientists created neutrinos at CERN in Geneva, and then measured how long it took them to reach a detector called OPERA, located in Italy. When they did the math, it looked like the neutrinos actually got there by traveling a hair faster than the speed of light! 60 nanoseconds faster, to be accurate.
Read more
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UChicago launches search for distant worlds
From PhysOrg.com, Oct. 14, 2011
Since 1995, scientists have discovered approximately 600 planets around other stars, including 50 planets last month alone, and one that orbits two stars, like Tatooine in Star Wars. Detection of the first Earthlike planet remains elusive, however, and now the University of Chicago joins the search with the addition of Jacob Bean and Daniel Fabrycky to the faculty.
“I can’t imagine a more profound impact on humanity than the discovery that there are other Earthlike worlds or that we are not alone,” said Rocky Kolb, the Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics and department chairman.
Read more
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Detector collaborations
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Fermilab Director Pier Oddone |
Last Sunday, I gave a keynote address on large scientific collaborations at a conference organized by the American Association for Cancer Research in San Francisco. The theme of the conference was how to translate genome discovery into effective biomarkers and therapies, from basic scientific research to drug discovery. It was an unusual talk for me to give and for biologists to hear, but one that was a lot of fun to prepare. Because the projects to translate voluminous genomic data into effective therapies have become very large and complex and require the collaboration of many institutions, the organizers thought it would be useful for me to describe how we successfully manage the very large collaborations in particle physics such as CDF, DZero, ATLAS or CMS. It was also important for me to analyze how projects in particle physics differ from large biological projects in order to understand whether the particle physics experience is at all relevant.
The complexity of some of these biological projects is mind boggling. Tissue needs to be collected from different stages of tumor development from many patients, followed by whole genome sequencing to determine the many mutations at play in the development and treatment of the disease, then tying those mutations to biological pathways and functions, understanding interactions with other pathways and identifying potential targets for new therapies. All along the way there is a lot of heterogeneity, a playground for statisticians. It is enough to give anyone a headache and it makes me glad to be a particle physicist dealing with relatively simple systems. However, the technologies involved in genome sequencing and proteomics have advanced so quickly that one can finally imagine making big strides in the war on cancer.
I was pleased that our field is recognized for the very successful model of our large collaborations. We have had time to evolve this model and build an international perspective with our institutions and funding agencies. Biological research by contrast is making its evolution into large projects at warp speed. In particular the amazing advances in sequencing technology make the generation of data today comparable to that of the LHC, quickly moving into the tens of petabytes. It is this rapid evolution that leads biologists to look for successful models elsewhere as they tackle their most challenging projects.
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NuMI protons on target
On Oct. 13, 14.07817 protons were delivered onto the NuMI target. This is the highest number ever delivered in a 24-hour period. It exceeds the previous best of 14.01517 protons, which was seen on Jan. 9, 2010. Oct. 13 also marked the end of the best seven-day period ever, with over 92.31617 protons delivered onto the NuMI target.
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Chance of showers
