Monday, April 7, 2014
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Have a safe day!

Monday, April 7

12:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar (NOTE TIME) - Curia II
Speaker: Valery Frolov, California Institute of Technology, and Hartmut Grote, Albert Einstein Institute
Title: Gravitational Wave Detectors in Europe and the U.S.

2 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Anja VonderLinden, SLAC
Title: Weighing the Giants: Accurate Weak Lensing Mass Measurements for Cosmological Cluster Surveys

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

4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II

Tuesday, April 8

11:30 a.m.
Special Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Albert Stebbins, Fermilab
Title: B-Modes and the Early Universe

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

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR THIS WEEK

4 p.m.
Joint Experimental-Theoretical Physics Seminar (NOTE DATE) - One West
Speaker: Jonathan Paley, Argonne National Laboratory
Title: Measurement of Charged Pion Production Yields Off the NuMI Target in the MIPP Experiment

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Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, April 7

- Breakfast: oatmeal raisin pancakes
- Breakfast: sausage, egg and cheese croissant
- Fermi burger
- Roasted pork loin with orange mustard glaze
- Marinated roasted chicken
- Classic club sandwich
- Buffalo chicken salad
- Chicken and sausage gumbo
- Texas-style chili
- Assorted pizza by the slice

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, April 9
Lunch
- Bayou catfish with Creole sauce
- Island rice
- Sauteed green beans
- Chocolate pecan pie with bourbon cream

Friday, April 11
Dinner
- Mixed greens with dried cranberries, walnuts and blue cheese
- Veal limone
- Escarole and Tuscan beans
- Mixed berry pie

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Feature

Students turn scientist in QuarkNet masterclasses

Argonne National Laboratory scientist James Proudfoot (left), students at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, and students at Universidad Antonio Nariño in Bogota, Colombia, all meet at Fermilab for a QuarkNet masterclass. Kenneth Cecire (right) facilitates the meeting.

The kids are at it again.

Over the past four weeks, hundreds of high school students around the world visited virtually with scientists at Fermilab to present their analyses of data taken from the Large Hadron Collider. The students were enthusiastic participants in the International Particle Physics Outreach Group's International Masterclasses, which culminated in videoconferences moderated from Fermilab.

This year, students from 38 different locations worldwide joined in the masterclasses.

"We encourage the scientists to take a back seat in the videoconference and let the students do the responding," said masterclass coordinator Kenneth Cecire of QuarkNet and Notre Dame University.

At each 45-minute workshop, students from two to four masterclass institutions videoconference with a scientist-moderator at Fermilab. Prior to dialing into the conference, they also meet with a mentor — a particle physicist at a nearby university — to learn how to interpret the analysis results of their data, which come from LHC's ATLAS and CMS experiments.

"The kids are getting real data," Cecire said. "They're working with large data sets that they wouldn't normally get to work with, and they learn to see data the way scientists do."

The masterclass organizers make it possible for multiple institutions to interact with each other, working together collaboratively much the way high-energy physicists work together on a global scale. In one of the sessions, students in Fairfax, Virginia, collaborated with students more than 2,000 miles away in Medellin, Colombia.

They also get to know their mentors not only as scientists, but as regular folks.

"At some point they stop asking, 'How do I understand the difference between jets and leptons?' and start asking, 'Do you like the Nationals or the Orioles?'" Cecire said.

Through multilevel interactions with the scientists, students get to understand them the way scientists understand each other — as moderator, mentor, peer, person.

"Every year I get anecdotes where the teacher says, "My kids want to be physicists'," Cecire said. "They might not go on to be scientists, but if they understand a little bit about what we do, it makes a big difference."

Leah Hesla

From symmetry

LHC begins long road to restart

Physicists have begun to reawaken CERN's accelerator complex, with a goal of having beam ready for the next run of the LHC in early 2015. Photo courtesy of CERN

For the last year and a half, CERN scientists and engineers have been busy upgrading the laboratory's accelerator complex. Today, scientists began the process of turning the accelerators back on. In early 2015, this will culminate in the restart of the Large Hadron Collider.

"The accelerator complex has to start months before the LHC is back online because it's going to need some serious TLC [in the form of re-commissioning, debugging and tuning] following the shutdown" says LHC operation head Mike Lamont.

CERN hosts a complex system of accelerators, some of which have been around since the laboratory first started doing physics in the 1950s. These accelerators ramp beams of particles up to progressively higher energies before injecting them into the LHC.

Much of the recent maintenance has been routine — such as replacing cables and fixing damaged or worn components. But some of the upgrades have involved installing new technology, such as new radio-frequency cavities that will help accelerate the beam.

Today physicists switched on the source, the part of the accelerator complex in which they strip electrons from hydrogen atoms to produce the protons that will eventually circulate in the LHC. Next week, they plan to start recommissioning the part of the machine called Linac2, a linear accelerator that gives the protons their first push.

After that will come the booster, the second accelerator in the chain, which received some of the most significant upgrades during the shutdown.

"When we get the beam going around the booster, it will be a very important moment," says Paul Collier, the head of the beams department. "Among other things, we are making a complete upgrade of its control system, which is the nervous system of the machine."

Read more

Sarah Charley

In the News

Man in the muon

From NIU Today, April 3, 2014

For David Hedin — a man accustomed to working with elementary particles traveling at nearly the speed of light — there's just no slowing down.

And that's saying something, considering that Hedin's long record of achievements first earned him an NIU Board of Trustees Professorship in 2009.

Read more

Tip of the Week: Sustainability

Managed print services offer big sustainability benefits

Through managed print services, the Core Computing Division will soon consolidate all Fermilab's print devices.

The Core Computing Division has been rolling out a new managed print service (MPS) operated by Dell Managed Services and, in the process, is making Fermilab a little bit greener.

Managed print services, soon to be deployed sitewide, will be centrally managed and ensure not only that we use up-to-date devices, but also that the laboratory is not using more than what is needed to print, fax or scan.

MPS is far more sustainable than our current — soon to be former — print situation. Previously, anyone could purchase a printing device, and because coordination within an organization was minimal, departments ended up purchasing more devices than necessary. The lack of coordination also led to the purchase of a wide variety of printer models, which meant the lab also needed a wide variety of consultants to service them.

Managed print services takes care of both of these problems. Fewer printers means less energy use, and maintaining only a limited number of models will help reduce personnel energy use.

With managed print services, only EPEAT options are available. EPEAT stands for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. The Federal Acquisition Regulation requires that at least 95 percent of federal agencies' electronic purchases be EPEAT-registered products, provided there is an EPEAT standard for a particular product type.

Products can be registered as EPEAT if the manufacturer meets strict environmental criteria, addressing its full life cycle from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal or recyclability. EPEAT products consume less energy, meet Energy Star specifications and are made with less toxic materials, thus reducing harmful air emissions and decreasing the risk in hazardous waste disposal.

The MPS printing default will be duplex black and white. This will not only help reduce energy and supply consumption, it will cut down on paper use. In fiscal year 2013, Fermilab pulled from the stockroom 10,427 reams, or 5,213,500 sheets, of paper.

MPS' enhanced reporting will allow for a better understanding of the lab's specific printing needs. This will help us identify where and how we can trim the amount of paper we consume.

With the March MPS rollout in the Computing Sector and Accelerator and Technical divisions, Fermilab now has 60 fewer devices. Some older devices have been replaced with more energy-efficient ones.

MPS' environmentally friendly default settings and efficient use of resources contribute to shrinking Fermilab's environmental footprint. A small change in printing habits can make a big difference in further greening your workplace.

Katie Kosirog

Photo of the Day

On the fence

A drop of water clings to the barbed wire fence near the bison farm just before falling away. Photo: Steve Krave, TD
In Brief

Employee Advisory Group information session tomorrow

The Employee Advisory Group steering committee will present an information session on Tuesday, April 8, from noon to 12:30 p.m. in One West. All employees are invited to attend to learn more about the committee and its work. Current EAG members will be available to answer questions.

Nominations are being accepted until April 18 for new members to serve on the EAG, which provides Fermilab's senior management with recommendations from an employee perspective. Employees are welcome to nominate their colleagues or to self-nominate.

Nomination forms are available online or in the Office of Communication on the atrium level of Wilson Hall. More information about the EAG is available on the EAG website.

Announcements

Today's New Announcements

Book Fair - April 8-9

LabVIEW seminars scheduled on April 10

Strength Training registration due April 11

Interpersonal Communication Skills course - April 16

Edward Tufte artist reception - April 16

Tour guides for Illini Alumni event - May 3

West bike rack area closed

On sale now: Fermilab Natural Areas hats and shirts

Abri Credit Union gives away two $1,000 scholarships

Active For Life Multilab Challenge

Walk 2 Run

2014 Fermilab Golf League season is upon us

Wednesday Walkers

Scottish country dancing meets Tuesday evenings at Kuhn Barn

International folk dancing meets Thursday evenings at Kuhn Barn