Friday, Oct. 29
- Breakfast: chorizo burrito
- *Italian vegetable soup
- Teriyaki chicken
- Tuna casserole
- Southern fried chicken
- *Mediterranean baked tilapia
- Eggplant parmesan panini
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Assorted sub sandwich
*Carb-restricted alternative
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu
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Wednesday, Nov. 3
Lunch
-Northern Italian lasagna
-Caesar salad
-Cassata
Thursday, Nov. 4
Dinner
-Mixed greens w/ pecans, goat chees & dried cranberries
-Lamb chops w/ herb & olive crust
-Garlic mashed potatoes
-Sauteed tri-colored peppers
-Pear tart
Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.
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Brinkman to speak at 4 p.m. today at USLUO meeting
This week, Fermilab hosts the Annual Meeting of the US LHC Users Organization from Oct. 28-30. The 2010 meeting comes at the end of the LHC’s first proton-proton run, making it very timely for attendees to review the past year’s results and machine performance.
As part of the meeting, William Brinkman, the Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, will speak today at 4 p.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. All Fermilab employees and users are encouraged to attend.
Additional information about the meeting and an agenda are available online.
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Fermilab gets new flexible spending account vendor
Fermilab has contracted with PayFlex to administer the laboratory's flexible spending account plan. PayFlex will begin managing Fermilab employees' FSA plans on Jan. 1.
PayFlex offers some enhancements to the FSA plan at Fermilab, including: direct deposit for both health care and dependent care, faster claim turnaround, improved first call resolution for claims issues to the call center, a mobile application and electronic update options.
Changes due to the health care reform include:
- The need for a doctor's prescription and store receipt for reimbursement of most over-the-counter drugs and medicines
- Eligible items, such as insulin or diabetic and first aid supplies will not require a prescription, but a receipt is still required
You can read more about the changes to the 2011 FSA plan here.
Enrollment, or re-enrollment, for Fermilab's FSA will take place Nov. 1-22. Employees must re-enroll every year to maintain a Health Care or Dependent Care account.
A representative from Pay Flex, Shay Butler, will give a series of presentations and will host question and answer sessions in November. Presentations will take place:
- 10-11 a.m. on Nov. 4, in One West
- 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Nov. 11 in One West
- 2-3 p.m. on Nov. 17, in CDF's The Big Room conference room
If you have never enrolled in an FSA, this is a good opportunity to become familiar on how you can benefit by setting aside on a pre-tax basis funds to pay for health and/or dependent care claims. |
Training requirement for records management
By Monday, Nov. 1, Fermilab employees and other personnel working on the Fermilab site will receive an e-mail about a new online training module on records management.
As a government contractor, Fermilab has special responsibilities for keeping records. This applies to all documents, regardless of physical form, created or received by Fermilab in connection with laboratory business that are worth preserving for their documentary or informational value.
Although most people at the laboratory do not need a detailed understanding of records management, everyone at Fermilab should be familiar with the basics. To ensure this, Fermilab has set up an online training module for records management for everyone working on site. Please check your e-mail and complete this 20-minute course online, which is part of your ITNA requirement.
Specific definitions and examples can be found in the Fermilab Records
Management Handbook. If you have questions or comments, please contact Heath O'Connell, hoc@fnal.gov, head of Fermilab Information Resources.
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Help preserve and restore the prairie at event Oct. 30
This year's prairie harvest will take place tomorrow on Saturday, Oct. 30. Fermilab employees are welcome to help collect seeds for re-planting, which is a step in preserving and restoring the prairie. A picnic lunch will be provided. Attendees should wear field clothing – long pants and long sleeves and closed-toed shoes – and gloves. Bring hand clippers and paper bags if possible. The harvest will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on site.
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Send in the scientists
From Science Progress, Oct. 27, 2010
Why Mobilizing America's Researchers Makes Sense for Diplomacy
Scientists as diplomats? Beyond longstanding cross-border, science-specific collaboration, the role of individual scientists representing the United States abroad would not immediately jump out as the best use of U.S. government resources of U.S. universities’ faculty members. The Obama administration thought otherwise—and is reaping the benefits in the Muslim world. U.S. universities should take notice.
The administration got things started with an address to the National Academy of Sciences in April 2009, during which President Obama announced major initiatives to boost research funding and bolster math and science education. The president called science, “more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, and our environment than it has ever been.”
In November 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named three prominent U.S. scientists—professors Ahmed Zewail of the California Institute of Technology, Elias Zerhouni of John Hopkins School of Medicine, and Bruce Alberts of the University of California, San Francisco—to serve as the country’s first three Science Envoys as part of President Obama’s “New Beginning” initiative with Muslim communities around the world. In the year since their appointment, the Science Envoys traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia to identify opportunities to deepen partnerships in science and technology.
Read more
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Collaborative relationships key to LBNE success
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Members of the LBNE collaboration from September 2010 meeting |
For upcoming experiments such as the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment, accelerators and detectors aren’t the only machines that must run smoothly. These experiments rely on another type of well-oiled machine – the team of scientists, engineers and project specialists that must work seamlessly to move the experiment forward.
As LBNE approaches its Critical Decision-1 review early next year, the experiment collaborators have come together to develop a complete conceptual design and prepare documentation for the review. The collaboration, which has grown to more than 280 members from 54 institutions, has provided essential input for the LBNE Conceptual Design Report.
“The scientists in the LBNE collaboration have formed strong working relationships with the LBNE engineers and project team to clarify the science requirements so that LBNE’s design is both functional and frugal,” said LBNE co-spokesperson Milind Diwan.
Over the summer, the collaboration established a physics working group for each major area of study to evaluate the scientific sensitivities for all potential variants of the experiment. The resulting report has played a key role in determining LBNE’s science priorities and will assist in choosing the design that produces the best science within the project’s budget.
Scientists and engineers in each of the sub-projects are working closely to develop a design that best meets the experiment's science requirements. Collaborators in the beamline working group produced beam optimization studies that have significantly influenced the beam design. In the near detector group, the collaboration has helped develop the strategy for measuring important processes for the LBNE oscillation program and is working with project engineers to tailor the design of the near detectors.
LBNE has two far detector technology options (water Cherenkov and liquid argon), and LBNE scientists, engineers and project control specialists are working to evaluate the performance and cost for each technology to determine the best configuration for the experiment.
LBNE holds collaboration meetings every six months to discuss their progress and how to continue to advance the experiment.
“In an experiment, scientists, engineers and project specialists all work toward the same goal, and they have to find the best way to work together most efficiently, which can be a challenge for such a large endeavor,” said LBNE collaborator Bonnie Fleming. “It’s great to see the LBNE team already working together so closely to develop the best science case and design.”
-- Amelia Williamson Smith
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Don't be afraid: GSA Halloween party tonight
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GSA members enjoying Halloween in 2009 |
You see some strange things at Fermilab. But the scenery tonight might get a little stranger. That's the date of this year's Graduate Student Association annual Halloween party, where you're likely to see ghouls, witches and maybe even a Jersey Shore look-a-like or two, celebrating in the barn.
The party will take place at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Kuhn Barn.
The event will feature a costume contest, free food, candy and beverages and, of course, a performance by the CDF band, Drug Sniffing Dogs. |
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