International Linear Collider workshops tend to be hectic. Meetings are scheduled back to back and often overlap. The days start early and end late. The coffee breaks are a brief, necessary respite. In a virtual collaboration, the three Conventional Facilities & Siting Group leaders understand that face to face time is precious, making it easy to spot the trio together. A meal together here and a coffee there can add up to a lot, and the CFS group leaders take advantage of every minute. For this next workshop at Fermilab from 22-26 October, however, there will be a new CFS co-leader on the block – John Osborne from CERN.

The three Conventional Facilities & Siting Group leaders (left to right), Vic Kuchler, John Osborne and Atsushi Enomoto.

Osborne joins Fermilab's Vic Kuchler and KEK's Atsushi Enomoto and takes over for CERN's Jean-Luc Baldy, who retires in November. For the past nine years, Osborne worked on the CMS experiment for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Because the ILC will likely follow in the footsteps of CMS by assembling the detectors on surface and lowering them underground, Osborne's feels comfortable joining the ILC.

“It's great to join the project at this early stage,” he says. “For the LHC, I wasn't involved so early. For the ILC, I can use my experience from the LHC to help from the start and contribute to major components like the cavern and shafts.”

Before CERN, Osborne gained tunneling experience from his time spent as a civil engineer on the London Underground. He was involved in the construction of the Canary Wharf station - one of the largest stops on the Tube that has 50,000 people pass through on a daily basis and even served as a venue for a wedding once. From Osborne's perspective, a tunnel for the London Underground is not so different from a tunnel for a particle physics project. “Instead of trains, there are electrons,” he says. “For me, it's the same.”

Osborne made his first official appearances in his new role at the IRENG07 workshop at SLAC, and at the Positron Source EDR KOM at Daresbury, UK. He looks forward to joining the CFS group again at the upcoming ILC workshop at Fermilab.

-- Elizabeth Clements