Fermilab Today

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010

Tuesday, Aug. 10
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY

Wednesday, Aug. 11
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: Greg Engel, University of Chicago
Title: Design Principles of Photosynthetic Light Harvesting

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

Upcoming conferences

Take Five
Tune IT Up

For information about H1N1, visit Fermilab's flu information site.

Chance of thunderstorms
86°/72°

Extended Forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Secon Level 3

Tuesday, Aug. 10
- Bagel sandwich
- Chicken & rice soup
- Italian sausage w/peppers & onions
- Beef stroganoff
- Chicken lemon
- Peppered beef
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Chicken tostadas

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Wednesday, Aug. 11
Lunch
- Stuffed summer vegetables
- Tomato & mozzarella salad
- Vanilla bean cheesecake w/ fresh strawberries

Thursday, Aug. 12
Dinner
- Closed

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Fermilab Arts Series releases 2010-2011 season schedule

Fermilab's Arts Series recently announced its 2010-2011 schedule.

Fermilab Arts Series, which seeks to enrich life in the western suburbs with live performing arts and lectures, has announced the lineup for its 2010-2011 season. Highlights include:

Gizmo Guys - 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010; Tickets are $16, $8 for ages 18 and under.

Comedy jugglers Allan Jacobs and Barrett Felker have won international competitions and have taught at top circus schools. This event is held at a special, earlier time to accommodate families. Learn more.

Suzanne Vega - 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010; Tickets are $29, $15 for ages 18 and under.

Singer and songwriter Suzanne Vega brings her brand of contemporary folk music to the Fermilab stage. Learn more

What Is Project - 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010; Tickets are $20, $10 for ages 18 and under.

Greg Pattillo (beat box flute), Eric Stephenson (cello) and Peter Seymour (bass) take the stage with their high-energy chamber music. The group has more than 20 million YouTube views. Learn more

A Celtic Christmas with Tomaseen Foley - 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010: Tickets cost $28, $14 for ages 18 and under.

Tomáseen Foley's "A Celtic Christmas" uses music, dance and storytelling to recreate the night before Christmas in a remote farmhouse in Ireland. Learn more

Best of Dance Chicago - 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011; Tickets cost $28, $14 for ages 18 and under.

"Best of Dance Chicago" returns to the Fermilab stage with a new and varied line up of artists. This year's production is dedicated to the memory of long time Auditorium Committee volunteer and Dance Chicago Festival lover, Dr. Morris Binkley. Learn more

View the rest of the 2010-2011 schedule

Purchase tickets for three or four performances and receive a 10 percent discount; five or more performances and receive a 20 percent discount. Learn more

Wilson Hall west side road closed Thursday-Monday

The road on the west side of Wilson Hall leading to the Linac will be closed for resurfacing beginning Thursday morning. The road is scheduled to reopen during the evening on Monday, Aug. 16. Please see the diagram (pdf) for more information.

Users Executive Committee elections now open

Users can vote for the next members of the Users Executive Committee now through Friday, Aug. 19. Members of the UEC serve as a communication channel between the Fermilab user community and laboratory management. UEC members also participate in public outreach activities, organize visits to Congressional offices and coordinate the Fermilab Annual Users' Meeting, plus other physics and outreach workshops.

Detecting the unseen

From The Minnesota Daily, Aug. 6, 2010

University students are building parts for a neutrino detector in hopes of helping scientists explain the origin of the universe.

Leaning up against a table, Christian Kluge stared intently at the work in front of him, pencil in hand. Metallic pings and the buzz of sawing and welding bounced off the walls of the enormous warehouse, but he remained focused.

Building a machine that can detect miniscule particles is no easy feat. When those particles may hold answers to how the universe was created, Kluge's work has even more weight.

"If we screw up, then they're not going to ever find anything," the fifth-year aerospace engineering major said.

Kluge was just one of 20 students working at the NOvA warehouse in Southeast Como, where University of Minnesota students have been helping to build two neutrino detectors.

Pier Oddone

The FRA Board of Directors meets three times a year for two days. Six of its seven subcommittees (Physics, Strategy, Administration, ES&H, Audit and Compensation) meet the first day of the meetings in parallel sessions and kick the tires hard on their respective subjects. The seventh subcommittee of the board is the Executive Committee and it meets on a separate schedule. On the second day of the FRA board meetings, the board meets in full. One of the innovations in recent board meetings has been to tackle a couple of issues of importance for the laboratory both in break-out groups and with the whole board. This leads to valuable advice to the laboratory as the board members bring many perspectives to the table: that of academic, business and policy leaders. In addition to its own oversight through these meetings, the board also sets up two visiting peer review committees every year, one for the physics program and the second for reviewing the laboratory's administration.

Last week, we had the three day meeting of the FRA administrative review committee to review and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of Fermilab's administrative organizations and operations support systems (Finance; Environment, Safety & Health; IT; Facilities Engineering Services; Business Services; Workforce Development and Resources and the Office of Quality and Best Practices). Members of the committee have varying backgrounds in diverse aspects of administration and are generally familiar with DOE and its laboratories. The committee heard presentations from the various sections as well as an overall view of the laboratory. The committee carried out some 30 follow-up interviews and reviewed numerous documents.

Many of the managers at the laboratory were at the closeout presentation where we received the committee's observations, comments and recommendations. The committee was generally complimentary about the laboratory's operations, ranking Fermilab very high in the overall system of DOE laboratories. At the same time it made a number of recommendations on how to improve our systems. We are fortunate to have this advice. But most importantly we should be very proud of the remarkable operations staff who gives their all in support of the laboratory's programs. These are not easy days, but we deliver a great program. We could not do it without the commitment of both science and operations staff.

Playing with dark matter

From National Public Radio, Aug. 8, 2010

It's a remarkable development in the history of astronomy that we now believe most of the Universe comes in "dark" or invisible forms.

So for your scientific enjoyment I include a TED talk on dark matter and dark energy by particle physicist Patricia Burchat.

I also include a little interactive from McGraw-Hill that will allow you to explore how astronomers conclude that the universe is full dark matter. Make sure you read over the Introduction and How To sections to see how it all works.