Have a safe day!
Wednesday, Dec. 17
3:30 p.m.
Director's Coffee Break - WH2XO
THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB COLLOQUIUM THIS WEEK
Thursday, Dec. 18
2 p.m.
Neutrino Seminar - WH8XO
Speaker: Alexey Petrov, Wayne State University
Title: When Leptons Interact with Gluons: Implications for Taus, Muons and Neutrinos
2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar (NOTE LOCATION) - WH3NE
Speaker: Ye Li, SLAC
Title: Merge NNLO with Parton Shower
3:30 p.m.
Director's Coffee Break - WH2XO
Visit the labwide calendar to view Fermilab events
|
|
Wednesday, Dec. 17
- Breakfast: crustless quiche casserole
- Breakfast: ham, egg and cheese English muffin
- Western barbecue burger
- Spinach and jack cheese enchilada
- Chicken parmesan
- Zesty turkey pastrami sandwich
- Peruvian beef and potato stir fry
- Split pea soup
- Texas-style chili
- Assorted calzones
Wilson Hall Cafe menu |
|
Wednesday, Dec. 17
Lunch
- Pork tenderloin with brandy cream sauce
- Sweet potatoes
- Roasted broccoli
- Cranberry cake with warm caramel sauce
Friday, Dec. 19
Dinner
Guest chef: Marty Murphy
- Antipasto
- Baked mostaccioli
- Mixed green salad
- Spiedini
- Sauteed spinach
- Raspberry parfait with assortment of Christmas cookies
Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.
|
|
Gaining support for new long-baseline neutrino experiment at Fermilab
 |
| Jim Strait, project director for Fermilab's proposed long-baseline neutrino experiment, answers a question at the Dec. 12 meeting to form a new collaboration at Fermilab. Photo: Reidar Hahn |
On Dec. 5 and 12, many of the world's neutrino scientists gathered at CERN and Fermilab, respectively, to learn about the newly proposed next-generation long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. These meetings were established to discuss a new letter of intent (LOI) for the experiment.
The LOI, which is currently signed by more than 350 scientists from more than 100 institutions around the world, leverages the Fermilab neutrino facility to undertake an experiment at Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota.
The two meetings were designed to be identical in content. Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer kicked off both meetings with a historical overview as well as a high-level plan forward. Jim Strait, project director for the proposed long-baseline neutrino experiment, discussed the Fermilab facility and what is being offered. ICFA Neutrino Panel Chair Ken Long and I presented the LOI in our role to bring the world's long-baseline neutrino community together, and Fermilab Deputy Director Joe Lykken summarized the current discussions on the international governance process. Lively panel discussions followed, giving attendees a chance to interact with the LOI authors and learn more about the proposal. Copies of the talks are online.
People can find the current draft of the LOI and sign it from the website. The deadline to sign it prior to its presentation to the PAC is Jan. 11, 2015.
The next step in the formation of this new international collaboration is its first meeting, to be held at Fermilab from Jan. 22-23. It is open to anyone who is interested in joining this new scientific endeavor. Sergio Bertolucci, CERN director of research and the interim Institutional Board chair for the collaboration, has called the meeting and will announce the agenda in the coming weeks.
—Rob Roser
 |
| More than 150 people attended the collaboration-forming meeting at Fermilab on Dec. 12. Photo: Reidar Hahn |
|
Deck the halls with Nobel physicists
 |
| Symmetry presents a physics twist on the craft of cutting paper snowflakes. Image: Sandbox Studio |
If you're looking for a way to decorate for the holidays while also proudly declaring your love of science, symmetry has got your back. Below you'll find templates for paper snowflakes with winners of the Nobel Prize in physics incorporated into the designs.
With the help of a printer, paper, an X-acto knife (preferably with some sharp replacement blades at the ready) and a cutting board or mat, you can transform your home into a flurry of famous physicists.
Simply download the snowflake templates, print them, follow the folding instructions, and cut out the gray areas, making sure to cut through every layer of paper (but not your fingers!). Then unfold the paper and revel in your creation.
Practice makes perfect, but remember, no two snowflakes are supposed to be alike anyway.
Start making physicist snowflakes
—Kathryn Jepsen
|
Hero complex
 |
|
Scientist Brendan Casey displays his role models on his cubicle wall.
Photo: Troy Rummler, OC |
|
The magnetic wand that cleans oil spills
From Motherboard, Dec. 12, 2014
View a 12-minute video on how to use magnets to clean oil spills on Motherboard's YouTube channel.
Oil spills are an unavoidable part of our future on this planet. Until we no longer have to rely on the messy stuff, we will still have to pump oil and ship it around the world, and drilling and shipping inevitably means spills.
In this season of Upgrade, we head out to Fermilab, the nation's premier particle physics laboratory, to talk to Arden Warner. Warner, whose day job as a physicist consists of colliding high speed particles together, thought of a unique way to clean up oil spills using magnets.
Read more
|
|
Network upgrade for the Fermilab Village
 |
|
Timothy Niemiec
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Andrew Rader
|
|
Timothy Niemic, telecommunication specialist, and Andrew Rader, network architect, wrote this column.
Since scientists rarely keep a 9-to-5 work schedule, it is important for them to have network access around the clock. This is also true for our visitors staying in the dorms and residences in the Fermilab Village.
Unfortunately, lack of high-speed fiber connections and aging infrastructure made the Village network inadequate and unreliable. Village guests sent a clear message that they wanted the situation improved. As a result, a project was undertaken to provide the Village with networking service comparable to the standard service we have in our homes. The new Village network service is based on the modern VDSL2+ standard and runs over repaired copper phone lines. This is the same technology that is used by many network service providers for residential areas.
Much of the copper cable in the Village dates back to the '80s, which is beyond the expected service lifetime. Many locations had cables that served multiple locations, degrading the quality of service due to excessive lineal footage. There were also many spliced sections of buried cable that had become waterlogged and needed to be repaired. Although the telephones in the Village still worked fine, the cables could not support adequate data transfer rates needed for Internet access. The Telecommunications Group upgraded and repaired the copper infrastructure so the facilities could support the new networking service.
The new networking VDSL2+ service is based on equipment that can support fiber for future infrastructure upgrades. We can therefore leverage the equipment to incrementally upgrade to fiber optic connections to each house as it becomes financially feasible.
The old Village networking service was limited to a maximum of 5 Mbps of data transfer and was only available in a limited number of locations. Many areas had poor or no network service. The new service has rates of up to 90 Mbps; the typical user will see actual rates of 10 to 60 Mbps depending upon the distance from the central service point. These rates, coupled with a reliable network connection, allow for most day-to-day work to be performed.
If you are not getting reliable networking service in the Village, please open a Service Desk ticket, and our staff will investigate and remedy the situation.
|
Fermi Site Office's Rory Simpson retires this month
 |
|
Rory Simpson
|
Rory Simpson has worked for the federal government for nearly 40 years, and he spent the last six of those years serving the Fermi Site Office. Now he is retiring. His last day is Dec. 31.
Simpson serves a key role in Fermilab operations. As FSO lead contracting officer and a business manager, he oversaw the administration of the $400 million-per-year contract between the federal government and Fermi Research Alliance to manage and operate Fermilab.
Now that he is leaving the laboratory, Simpson plans to ski, ride his motorcycle and enjoy all life has to offer.
Colleagues are invited to an informal reception on the Wilson Hall second-floor crossover on Thursday, Dec. 18, from 2-5 p.m.
|
ESH&Q weekly report, Dec. 16
This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ESH&Q Section, contains two incidents.
An employee's finger became caught between a door and a latch, resulting in a contusion. The employee was given ice and a bandage.
An employee reported to the Medical Office that he experienced difficulty hearing.
See the full report.
|
|
Cloudy
