Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012
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Have a safe day!

Wednesday, Nov. 28

2 p.m.
LHC Physics Center Topic of the Week Seminar - WH11
Speaker: Si Xie, California Institute of Technology
Title: The Present and Future of the Higgs Sector

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: Thomas Handler, University of Tennessee
Title: Science and Public Policy

Thursday, Nov. 29

2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Prashant Saraswat, Stanford University
Title: Displaced Supersymmetry

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR THIS WEEK

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

Ongoing and upcoming conferences at Fermilab

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Take Five

Weather
Weather Sunny
39°/26°

Extended forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Current Flag Status

Flags at full-staff

Wilson Hall Cafe

Wednesday, Nov. 28

- Breakfast: breakfast pizza
- Tomato florentine soup
- Ranch house steak sandwich
- Chicken cacciatore
- Smart cuisine: Tex-Mex turkey pot pie
- California club
- Italian beef calzone
- Chicken carbonara

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Nov. 28
Lunch
- Oven-roasted trout with lemon dill stuffing
- Steamed green beans
- Blueberry crisp

Friday, Nov. 30
Dinner
- Clam chowder
- Grilled lamb chops with balsamic glaze
- Stuffed tomatoes with pesto
- Julienne of zucchini
- Amaretto cheesecake

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

Archives

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Result of the Week

CMS Result

Physics in a Nutshell

Tip of the Week

User University Profiles

Related content

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From the ES&H Section

ES&H: Working behind the scenes to keep you safe

Nancy Grossman

Nancy Grossman, head of the ES&H Section, wrote this column.

It takes a village to create a strong ES&H culture. We are fortunate to have countless people out in the field working to improve the ES&H program at the lab on a regular basis, most of whom do not even work in ES&H. They include employees submitting ES&H concerns, stockroom employees searching out green products and engineers designing systems to keep doses to personnel low. The 15 Fermilab ES&H subcommittees are also key to our strong ES&H program. Many of the people on these committees also are not ES&H personnel, but serve to keep our labwide ES&H programs effective. I thank all of these people for helping to make Fermilab's program more effective by constantly working to appropriately address hazards and minimize our impact on the environment.

You may have noticed some of the recent changes made thanks to the Traffic Safety Subcommittee's efforts. The TSS was formed in 2007 to enhance and improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists and with the goal to reduce the frequency of traffic-related accidents.

TSS members respond to inquiries, complaints and suggestions. Some are sent directly to TSS members; some are passed on through division, section or sector grass roots safety organizations, and some come through the Fermilab Service Desk. Their investigation process usually involves a team of TSS members who meet at the problematic location to analyze and discuss the inquiry, complaint or suggestion. These investigations have resulted in additional safety policies, new training, exchange of information and several modifications to the traffic or parking patterns at Fermilab. Some of these results include:

  • Restrictions or modifications to parking lots or parking spots to reduce blind spots
  • Erection of a stop sign at the intersection of Schwann (access road to MINOS) and Giese Roads
  • On-site traffic accident map with narrative and photos
  • Placement of the portable "stop for pedestrian" signs strategically located throughout lab grounds

As a final note on traffic safety, everyone should be aware that on Nov. 19, a Quiet Zone became effective, and trains will no longer sound their horns at the CN Railroad crossing at Batavia Road on the east side of the lab. We all know the physics: Trains cannot stop quickly to avoid collisions. Please be careful and make sure to check before crossing railroad tracks.

University Profile

Vanderbilt University

NAME:
Vanderbilt University

HOME TOWN:
Nashville, Tenn.

MASCOT:
Commodore

COLORS:
Black and gold

COLLABORATING AT FERMILAB SINCE:
1976

WORLDWIDE PARTICLE PHYSICS COLLABORATIONS:
ANSE (NSF), CMS, DYNES (NSF), Quarknet

NUMBER OF SCIENTISTS AND STUDENTS INVOLVED:
10 faculty, five postdocs, 14 graduate students

PARTICLE PHYSICS RESEARCH FOCUS:
Vanderbilt physicists have been working at Fermilab since the mid-1970s. They were major players in a series of charm photoproduction experiments that used the wide-band photon beam. Our current physics efforts use data from the CMS experiment to search for new physics such as supersymmetry and exotica. The group led the development of a campus-wide shared computing facility at Vanderbilt, which now serves as the Tier 2 computing facility for the heavy-ion program of CMS. The particle theorists at Vanderbilt work on models for dark energy and dark matter, neutrino physics and astrophysics, models for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, indirect dark matter detection signatures, LHC modeling BSM, topological modeling of glueballs and aspects of black holes.

WHAT SETS PARTICLE PHYSICS AT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY APART?
Our major asset is diversity: in physics interests, technical expertise, gender and ethnicity. Vanderbilt has a strong heavy-ion group that plays a leading role in studies of the quark-gluon plasma at CMS. The synergy between particle and nuclear physics gives us a strong presence in all aspects of the CMS experiment: physics, hardware and computing.

FUNDING AGENCIES:
NSF, DOE

View all university profiles.

Director's Corner

It can be done

Fermilab Director
Pier Oddone

In today's competitive world, where the focus is often on the short term, conveying the excitement and value of particle physics to the public and policy makers is hugely important. But communicating particle physics to a lay audience is usually much more difficult for us scientists than giving a technical lecture in front of our colleagues.

In our favor is the nature of the questions we tackle. They intrigue the public beyond many of the scientific questions that have a shorter time horizon. The Higgs-like particle discovered at the LHC this year generated an enormous amount of press worldwide and large crowds for Higgs-related scientific lectures and events. The nature of dark matter and dark energy, the world of neutrinos, the possible existence of hidden dimensions—all have a deep sense of mystery that appeals to a broad audience. But communicating these concepts without a lot of mathematics is quite a challenge.

That challenge was met beautifully in Fermilab's first Physics Slam. It was met not only once, but five times by the five speakers that entered the competition. I was struck by how different and yet how effective all the different approaches were in conveying difficult concepts. I was also struck by the audience: These were the thousand teachers, students and neighbors who, among all the choices they could have made on how to spend their Friday evenings, chose to overflow our auditorium to learn about particle physics.

While the slam was a competition, settled on the spot by the volume of the applause, the results were very close. The applause was huge for each of the presenters, as loud as I have heard for any performance. Only an electronic meter with a much better calibration than my ears could determine the winner, and even then only by a small margin. There was clearly great appreciation for the effort and the effectiveness of the communication that took place. The many questions that followed the presentation were a credit not only to the speakers but to the audience that stayed engaged throughout. Part of our role as Fermilab scientists and employees is to act as ambassadors for our lab and our science. I challenge all of us to follow the slammers' examples and seek out creative and compelling ways to bring particle physics to the public.

Photo of the Day

Do you see it? It sees you

A great horned owl blends into the background as it suns itself by the side of the road in Big Woods on Monday morning. John Juneau, AD
Safety Update

ES&H weekly report, Nov. 27

This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ES&H section, contains one incident.

An employee suffered a minor laceration to his finger when his hand accidentally brushed up against sharp metal. He received first-aid treatment.

Find the full report here.
In the News

Sesame synchrotron is a flash of unity in Middle East

From BBC News, Nov. 25, 2012

Amid rising tensions in one of the world's most volatile regions, an audacious project to use science for diplomacy is taking shape in the heart of the Middle East.

In this land of ancient hatreds, a highly sophisticated scientific installation is being built in Jordan.

It has support from countries that are usually openly hostile to each other.

The plan is for a multi-million-pound synchrotron particle accelerator, known as Sesame.

It has backing from several Arab nations, together with Turkey, Pakistan, Cyprus, Iran and—astonishingly—Israel as well.

Read more

Announcements

Today's New Announcements

Wilson Hall super science stocking stuffer sale - Dec. 4-5

Playgroup Holiday Party - Dec. 7

Fermilab's Holiday Celebration - Dec. 13

Environment, Safety & Health Fair - Nov. 29

NALWO Holiday Tea - Dec. 4

C2ST screening of "A Beautiful Mind" - Dec. 6

Holiday stress relief massages - Dec. 20

Professional development courses

International Folk Dancing every Thursday through December

Indoor soccer

Fermilab employee discounts

Atrium work updates