Temporary flu leave policy now available online

In an effort to make contingency plans for a widespread outbreak of the H1N1 flu, Fermilab in consultation with the Department of Energy has established a temporary policy and procedure for employees who:

• need to take time off due to the flu and have few or no remaining sick days,
• need to take time off due to school closings,
• must care for family members who are ill with the flu.

These policy and procedure changes are effective immediately and remain in effect until further notice. Details and links to forms that need to be filled in to take leave can be found on this flu leave policy Web site.

The policies and practices established in this temporary policy supplement those found in the regular Fermilab policies and procedures that deal with sick leave and vacation.

Dark matter search moves forward with prototype test

Bob Barger makes adjustments inside the COUPP experiment's tank, which contains a prototype detector that will eventually search for dark matter.

COUPP scientists began filling Wednesday a prototype detector that they hope will eventually join other experiments in the search for dark matter.

The prototype is a larger version in a series of detectors that scientists began testing four years ago. The first in the series held one liter of target fluid, the next was two liters and this one is 30 liters.

The eventual goal is to deploy the new detector underground to join the worldwide search for dark matter by detecting weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, which are one of the top candidates for dark matter. Before that happens, however, scientists want to monitor the device above ground for software glitches, image quality and potential engineering problems, a process that began Wednesday.

"We'd like to make sure it works before we move it underground," said Andrew Sonnenschein, project manager for Chicago Observatory for Underground Particle Physics. "We're trying to minimize the risks for when it is far away and inaccessible."

At 3 p.m., the COUPP project team began adjusting a series of valves that would allow a liquid called iodotriflouromethane, or CF3I, to trickle into the transparent quartz jar that resembles a large test tube. CF3I is commonly used as a fire suppressant.

When a WIMP interacts with an atom in the pressurized and superheated CF3I liquid, the particle will trigger a small expanding bubble. The moment the experiment detects a bubble larger than 1 millimeter, the detector records a one-second video of the bubble.

Scientists will test the real chamber, which is made of higher-grade quartz, in the NuMI tunnel about 1,000 feet underground at Fermilab this winter, said Russ Rucinski, project engineer for COUPP. The higher-grade quartz will cut background interference.

COUPP scientists plan to eventually install the detector and other equipment more than a mile underground at SNOLAB in Sudbury, Ontario, in 2010. With the large detector shielded from cosmic rays deep underground and with a greater sensitivity than the one-liter prototype, scientists hope to extract a clear signal of WIMPs.

-- Chris Knight

IMAP password reminder

If you have not already done so, please change your password for your IMAP e-mail account by the new extended deadline of the end of the day on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

If you have not reset your password since Aug. 18, you must reset it - even if your password is already at least 10 characters long. If you do not reset your password, you will not be able to log on to your e-mail account and will need to contact the Service Desk to re-enable your account.

The password must be at least 10 characters in length to fulfill DOE password complexity requirements.

A strong password will include a combination of letters, symbols and numbers. For instructions on how to change your IMAP password on the IMAP server and on clients such as Outlook and Entourage, see this site.

Service Desk representatives will offer assistance at the Password Doctor booth in the Wilson Hall atrium during lunch hours on Monday and Tuesday. They are also available during business hours at the Service Desk and at x2345. Please bring your Fermilab identification to the booth or Service Desk.

Local small businesses make contacts

From Daily Herald, Sept. 17, 2009

Editor's note: Bob Johnson of Fermilab's Procurement Department is featured in this article.

They sat at tiny bistro tables, just the two of them.

They talked about what they do. They exchanged phone numbers.

And they were in a room with hundreds of others, all doing the same thing.

About 450 small business owners, including many from area suburbs, gathered Wednesday in Rosemont for Business Matchmaking, a type of speed-dating event for small companies seeking contracts with state and federal government agencies, including the U.S. Defense Department, Commerce Department, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. Others included Argonne National Laboratory in DuPage County, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, and Navistar Inc. of Warrenville.

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