Have a safe day!
Wednesday, Dec. 5
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: David Keith, Harvard University
Title: The Risks and Efficacy of Solar Geoengineering
Thursday, Dec. 6
2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Myeonghun Park, CERN
Title: Collider Bounds on Dark Matter Models for Fermi Gamma-Ray Line
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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Wednesday, Dec. 5
- Breakfast: breakfast strata
- Harvest moon vegetable soup
- California chopped-pork sandwich
- Chicken curry
- Smart cuisine: ancho chili barbecue beef
- Italian antipasto sandwich
- Assorted calzones
- Mumbo jumbo baked potato
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu |
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Wednesday, Dec. 5
Lunch
- Cajun jambalaya (shrimp, chicken and andouille sausage)
- Mixed-green salad
- Sour-cream lemon pie
Friday, Dec. 7
Dinner
- Mushroom soup with chorizo and scallions
- Pecan-crusted beef tenderloin
- Cauliflower gratin
- Brussels sprouts with lemon and bacon
- Chocolate mousse pie
Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.
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Revised "Procedures for Researchers" document available online
A revised version of PFX, the document describing procedures for researchers at Fermilab, is now available online.
The new version of the document addresses the changes that have occurred since May 2011, when the previous version was produced. The update has benefited from the input of may people across the laboratory. The resulting Web-based document provides a guide to available resources at Fermilab and how to access them, important procedures and many links to obtain more information.
Researchers and service providers are invited to send suggestions and corrections to PFX@fnal.gov in order to ensure it stays useful and up-to-date.
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University of California,
Santa Barbara
NAME:
University of California, Santa Barbara
HOME TOWN:
Santa Barbara, Calif.
MASCOT:
Gauchos
COLORS:
Blue and gold
COLLABORATING AT FERMILAB SINCE:
Early 1970s
WORLDWIDE PARTICLE PHYSICS COLLABORATIONS:
CMS, LUX (Sanford Underground Research Facility), KATRIN (Karlsruhe Institute for Technology)
NUMBER OF SCIENTISTS AND STUDENTS INVOLVED:
Nine faculty, 12 postdocs, about 15 graduate students
PARTICLE PHYSICS RESEARCH FOCUS:
SUSY and Higgs physics, dark matter searches, neutrino mass, string theory
FUNDING AGENCIES:
DOE
View all university profiles.
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Keeping its head above water
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A muskrat swims in the Tevatron pond near the F3 service building. Photo: Marty Murphy, AD
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Good Lovelies perform "Under the Mistletoe" on Saturday
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The Good Lovelies perform in Ramsey Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m.
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The Good Lovelies are not your run-of-the-mill all-girl band. Since their first performance in 2006, the band has been making waves across Canada and the United States playing countless house concerts, festivals and coffeehouses. Part folk-roots, part western swing, the Toronto-based trio relies on unerring three-part vocal harmonies and convulsively funny repartee drawn from comedic adventures on the road. They will be performing their Christmas album "Under the Mistletoe" at Fermilab on Saturday, Dec. 8, as part of the Fermilab Arts Series.
The trio consists of Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough and Sue Passmore, all of them best friends and refugees from solo careers. In 2010 they won the Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) for Roots Album of the Year and the New Emerging Artist Award at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
"Under the Mistletoe," which received positive reviews in the Globe & Mail and Toronto's NOW magazine, includes three original Christmas songs as well as a number of old classics.
The Good Lovelies will perform at the family-friendly time of 8 p.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. Tickets are $23 for adults and $12 for attendees 18 and under. For more information, call the Fermilab Arts Series box office at 630-840-ARTS or visit the Users' Office in Wilson Hall, first floor. It is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (closed for lunch).
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DNA may help scientists find 'dark matter,' the glue that binds galaxies
From The Washington Post, Dec. 3, 2012
That wonder molecule of life on Earth, DNA, is now being enlisted in the search for an exotic species zooming through the cosmos: dark matter.
Something else must surround and suffuse every galaxy, some kind of gravitational glue.
Cosmologists dubbed it dark matter, as it sheds no light. And, they say, it far outweighs all the ordinary matter—stars and planets—that they can account for.
Read more |
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Annual enrollment for benefits
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Tara Turner
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Tara Turner, benefits manager, wrote this column.
Fermilab's annual enrollment for benefits ended on Nov. 6. Thank you for your participation and cooperation! This year, for the first time in quite some time, we conducted a complete re-enrollment for health insurance benefits, receiving more than 1,700 enrollment and confirmation forms. You should have already received an annual enrollment confirmation postcard, which the Benefits Office sent to your Fermilab mail station in late November.
Here are a few reminders about your benefits as we wind down 2012 and get ready for the new year:
- Your current medical ID cards will remain valid through 2013. However, CIGNA and Blue Cross/Blue Shield will issue new 2013 medical ID cards to every participant. You should receive your new ID card during the last week of 2012 or the first week of 2013. If you do not receive your new medical ID card by Jan. 7, please contact the Benefits Office by e-mail at benefitsoffice@fnal.gov.
- Your deductible, out-of-pocket maximum and dental benefit limit will be reset on Jan. 1. Consider timing your discretionary medical and dental procedures to get the most out of your benefits with the lowest out-of-pocket spending.
- The balance of your 2012 Health Care Flexible Spending Account must be used by March 15 of next year, but Dependent Care FSA funds must be spent by the end of this month. You may submit claims to Payflex for both accounts through April 30, 2013. Any unspent funds will be forfeited. Claims may be submitted online at www.healthhub.com, by mail or by fax.
- The maximum annual deferral for 403(b) plans will increase to $17,500 in 2013. The catch-up contribution, which is available for employees age 50 or older, will be unchanged next year at $5,500. If you would like to take advantage of the higher maximum deferral, you must complete a new Salary Reduction Agreement, which is available on the WDRS benefits section Web page.
- Your first paycheck of 2013 will reflect the new 2013 employee contribution rates for coverage, any changed deductions relating to elections you made during annual enrollment, your 2013 Flexible Spending Account enrollment(s) and your 403(b) plan salary deferral. Please check your first pay stub and the Employee Self Service website to confirm that your coverage and deductions reflect the benefit plan elections you intended to make in 2013.
If you have any questions about annual enrollment or your employee benefits, please contact the Benefits Office at benefitsoffice@fnal.gov, or call a member of the Benefits Office staff for assistance.
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ES&H weekly report, Dec. 4
This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ES&H section, contains two incidents.
An employee suffered from tendonitis after using a hand tool. Restricted work makes this case a DART.
An employee walked into a tree, striking his left eye. He received first-aid treatment.
Find the full report here. |
Foundation gives a big boost to BigBOSS
From Berkeley Lab News Center, Dec. 4, 2012
A $2.1 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to the University of California at Berkeley, through the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics (BCCP), will fund the development of revolutionary technologies for BigBOSS, a project now in the proposal stage designed to study dark energy with unprecedented precision. BigBOSS is based at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
Read more |
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Sunny
