Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012
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Have a safe day!

Tuesday, Nov. 13

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

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY

Wednesday, Nov. 14

12:30 p.m.
Physics for Everyone Lecture Series - Auditorium
Speaker: David Harding, Fermilab
Title: Magnets at Fermilab

3 p.m.
LHC Physics Center Topic of the Week Seminar - WH11NE
Speaker: Steven Lowette, University of California, Santa Barbara
Title: Stop Searching in CMS

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

THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB COLLOQUIUM THIS WEEK

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

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Secon Level 3

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Flags at full-staff

Wilson Hall Cafe

Tuesday, Nov. 13

- Breakfast: All-American breakfast
- Hearty beef barley
- Classic reuben sandwich
- Beef stew in a bread bowl
- Smart cuisine: Caribbean chicken skewers
- Grilled-chicken Caesar wrap
- Assorted pizza
- Mandarin pecan chicken salad

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Nov. 14
Lunch
- Grilled flank steak
- Sautéed spinach with lemon
- Orzo with pine nuts and parmesan
- Chocolate pecan tart

Friday, Nov. 16
Dinner
Closed

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Tip of the Week

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Profile

One minute with Jennifer Raaf, co-manager for MicroBooNE TPC assembly and installation

Jennifer Raaf helps manage the construction of the MicroBooNE detector. Photo: Reidar Hahn

How long have you been at Fermilab?
I started in March of 2011. I was also part of Fermilab when I worked on MiniBooNE as a physics graduate student from roughly 2000 to 2005.

Describe a typical workday.
I work on the MicroBooNE experiment. I make sure that I and my group know what our plan is for the day and that we do it and do it safely. Before construction of the MicroBooNE detector started in September, those plans included preparing for construction by sorting all the parts to the time projection chamber, cleaning them very well and placing them in labeled piles. We've become very good at making organized piles. That sounds silly, but it has been very helpful in moving forward rapidly with the assembly once we had all the parts. We work toward the eventful day when we have a detector that is constructed properly.

What's the best part of your job?
I wanted to work at a national lab because the experiments are typically there on site, so you can be there with the experiment. Otherwise, I feel kind of disconnected as someone living remotely from the experiment site.

I know every part of the detector I'm working on, and I really enjoy that level of familiarity. Also, I get to do a little bit of everything. If I had to sit at my computer all day, I would get bored, or if I had to rasp the edges off of pieces of metal all day, I'd get bored. But the fact that if I get frustrated with my computer I can go bang on things is one of the best parts of the job.

How did you become interested in science?
Well, I really liked blowing up stuff in high school, and I wanted to do something where I could blow up stuff. I don't get to blow things up anymore, but it's still fun.

Jessica Orwig

Photos of the Day

Veterans Day celebration in Kuhn Barn

Veterans at yesterday's Veterans Day celebration in Kuhn Barn salute the American flag. More than 100 people attended the event. Photo: Jessica Orwig
The color guard hoists the American and U.S. Navy flags at yesterday's Veterans Day celebration. Photo: Jessica Orwig
Vietnam War veteran Tom Zilla spoke at yesterday's Veterans Day celebration. Photo: Jessica Orwig
Special Announcement

Fermilab's first Physics Slam - Friday in Ramsey Auditorium

On Nov. 16, five of Fermilab's finest will compete in the Fermilab Arts & Lecture Series' first Physics Slam. Each physicist will get 12 minutes to explain a complex scientific concept to the audience in the most clear and entertaining way possible. The audience decides the winner.

College of DuPage's Chris Miller, associate speech professor and creator of That Beepin' Show, will emcee the event.

The event will take place at 8 p.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. Tickets are $7. For more information, visit the event Web page.

In the News

Popular physics theory running out of hiding places

From BBC News, Nov. 12, 2012

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider have detected one of the rarest particle decays seen in nature.

The finding deals a significant blow to the theory of physics known as supersymmetry.

Many researchers had hoped the LHC would have confirmed this by now.

Supersymmetry, or SUSY, has gained popularity as a way to explain some of the inconsistencies in the traditional theory of subatomic physics known as the Standard Model.

The new observation, reported at the Hadron Collider Physics conference in Kyoto, is not consistent with many of the most likely models of SUSY.

Read more

Director's Corner

This week's FALC meeting

Fermilab Director
Pier Oddone

The Funding Agencies for Large Colliders organization, known as FALC, was formed in 2003 with a different name—the Funding Agencies for the Linear Collider. One of FALC's early activities was to set up a common fund to support the Global Design Effort that would carry out the R&D and the design of the ILC. The L in FALC was generalized from "Linear" to "Large" a few years later.

FALC is a voluntary organization set up by the agencies of the principal countries that support particle physics. It meets twice a year to discuss all issues relevant to the construction of very large global facilities. It has served to acquaint the senior managers of the various national agencies with their counterparts in other regions of the world, helping to build the trust necessary to someday embark on a large global facility. FALC also invites three laboratory directors, one each from the Americas, Asia and Europe, to participate in their meetings.

The latest meeting of FALC took place yesterday at Fermilab. It is a particularly interesting time for this organization with the discovery at CERN of a Higgs-like particle and the statements by the Japanese high-energy physics community of their strong desire to host the International Linear Collider in Japan. While the Japanese government has not issued a formal statement inviting the world to help Japan build this global facility, the ILC clearly enjoys strong political support in Japan, where it is part of a broader effort to create a new global city. It is natural in the interim for our Japanese colleagues to seek support from the rest of the world, which would help convince their government to go ahead with such a project.

FALC has undertaken the writing of a report on the Global Design Effort activities of the last few years with the purpose of articulating the lessons learned for both the science community and the funding agencies. To this end, FALC heard extensive presentations from GDE members on their successful experience in completing the R&D and the technical design of the ILC, despite turbulence in the various collaborating regions. The GDE will complete the technical design for the ILC before the end of the year. Then, in December, an augmented ILC Project Advisory Committee will review the design at KEK. Early in the New Year an ad-hoc committee led by Norbert Holtkamp of SLAC will conduct an independent cost review. Finally, at the February 2013 meeting of the International Committee on Future Accelerators, a new linear collider organization will begin, merging the management of the ILC and CLIC efforts under Lyn Evans' leadership.

Members of the Funding Agencies for Large Colliders met this week at Fermilab. Photo: Reidar Hahn
Special Announcement

Physics for Everyone - tomorrow at 12:30; employee site tours - Nov. 27 and 29

On Wednesday, Nov. 14, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Ramsey Auditorium, Technical Division Deputy Head Dave Harding will give a talk titled "Magnets at Fermilab." The talk will include time for questions and answers.

"Physics for Everyone" is a non-technical lecture series about Fermilab science and culture. Information on upcoming lectures and video of previous lectures is available on the series website. This lecture series is organized by the Diversity Council Subcommittee for Non-Scientific and Non-Technical Employees.

Employee Site Tours of the Technical Division's Industrial Area, where state-of-the-arts magnets are built and tested, are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 27, noon to 1 p.m., and Thursday, Nov. 29, noon to 1 p.m. Each tour is limited to 20 people. An e-mail RSVP to scharles@fnal.gov is required.

Construction Update

Integrating CDF Assembly Hall and the IARC OTE building

The integration of the CDF Assembly Hall and the IARC Office, Technical and Education Building is under way. Photo: Ron Foutch, FESS

As part of the integration of the CDF Assembly Hall and the Office, Technical and Education Building for the IARC program, construction has moved into CDF. Contractor Barton Malow has modified the structure in CDF and is installing a pedestrian bridge to link the OTE second floor with the CDF offices on the third floor. The bridge is a continuous truss that will span the full distance over the CDF Assembly Hall. As an added benefit, the bridge will serve as a viewing area for activities in the Assembly Hall. In addition, Barton Malow added structural reinforcement to the CDF roof for increased snow loads.

Announcements

Today's New Announcements

Book Fair - Nov. 15-16

Artist reception - Nov. 16

Deadline for UChicago Tuition Remission Program - Nov. 26

Windows 8 at Fermilab

Indoor soccer

Professional development courses

Fermilab employee discounts

Atrium work updates