SLAC Today

Monday – March 6, 2006
(Photo - Bangalore's Lal Bagh)
Bangalore is the Garden City of India

Physics Galore in Bangalore

by Erik Vance

This week, SLAC scientists will say namaste to physicists from around the world during a meeting of the minds in Bangalore, India.

Eleven accelerator physicists from SLAC are headed to India to discuss the International Linear Collider. The much-anticipated event is a combination of two meetings: the Linear Collider Workshop and the ILC Global Design Effort Meeting.

Tor Raubenheimer, who heads the ILC accelerator effort at SLAC, said the meetings are an opportunity for scientists to compare notes on detailed accelerator design issues as well as on topics ranging from detector engineering to document storage management. He said such face-to-face meetings are hugely important for international collaborations.

SLAC’s Nan Phinney said there are good reasons to have the meeting in India. “The president of India right now is a physicist. So they are quite interested in bringing technology and fostering basic research,” she said. “They are really starting to look around and become involved in more projects.”   Learn more...
(Director's Column - Dorfan Today)

NEW DELHI, INDIA March 5, 2006 – I have just returned from a two-hour visit to the exquisite Indian Presidential palace including an exhilarating discussion with the Indian President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. The exchange with the President, a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering, moved freely from debating the exciting, open questions in the birth and evolution of our Universe, to practical matters of how India is engaging the technology challenges of the twenty-first century, to the specifics of how India can get more involved in accelerator-based science. The common element tying these diverse topics together was the much hoped-for involvement of India in the International Linear Collider (ILC). Our delegation included Fermilab Director Pier Oddone, DESY Director Albrecht Wagner and Global Design Effort Director Barry Barish. President Kalam exuded charm, warmth and a keen sense of the nature and importance of basic science, challenging us for an hour with penetrating and perceptive questions.

(Photo - Jonathan Dorfan with Indian President Kalam) Front row (left to right) : Dorfan, President Kalam, Oddone, Prof. Shivpuri. Back Row: Wagner, Mishra, Barish, Kephart. (Click on image for larger version)

The visit to President Kalam headlines an intensive series of meetings across India this past and upcoming week regarding collaboration between the United States and India in the area of accelerator-based science. While this is mostly in the context of India’s role in the ILC, synchrotron radiation machines are also a prominent part of our discussions and I have featured the LCLS strongly in my presentations. The series of meetings and site visits began here in Delhi this past Thursday at the Inter-University Accelerator Center. On Friday we met in the morning with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi and subsequently with a group of high energy physics PhD students at the university. Friday afternoon and dinner we were hosted by an Indian delegation led by Professor Ramamurthy, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology. Tomorrow we fly to Indore for an all-day visit to the Center of Advanced Technologies (CAT), where we will see amongst many other things, India’s newly completed 2.5 GeV synchrotron radiation machine. Then on to Mumbai (Bombay) for meetings at the Department of Atomic Energy, and visits to the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Bhabha Atomic Research Center.

This visit was organized by Fermilab’s Shekhar Mishra and includes, in addition, SLAC’s Vinod Baharadwaj, and Fermilab’s Bob Kephart. I will return to SLAC this coming Thursday, but the rest of the delegation will proceed on to Bangalore to attend the combined meeting of the 2006 Linear Collider Worldwide Study and the Global Design Effort. A large contingent of SLAC physicists and engineers will be attending these two meetings.

So far it has been an exhilarating trip, thanks to the excellent organization of Shekhar and the warmth and graciousness of our Indian hosts.

SLAC Welcomes
New Employees

(Photo - New Employees)

On Wednesday, March 1, fourteen people attended SLAC's new employee orientation.  From left to right, they are: Edwin Viray (CEF), Marianne Taliaferro (HR), David Pindroh (BSD-Purchasing), Gus Venancio (BSD-Property Control), John Boczek (LCLS), Xiaobia Huang (SSRL-Accelerator Physics), Gordon Scrimger (BSD-Purchasing), Chloe Zubieta (Jt. Ctr. Struct. Genomics), John A. Ward (SSRL-Beam Line Development), Justus Freeman (SCCS), Boris Ilinets (CEF), Mark Shepherd (CEF), Feng Zhou (ILC), Carolyn Templeton (TIS).

Document Control Celebrates with Style

By Juhi Yajnik

(Photo - Valeriana Allende)

Every year, employees in the Document Control department can expect to have their desks assailed by coworkers. Last week, it was Valeriana Allende’s turn.

To celebrate her 30th birthday, Allende’s coworkers wrapped her entire work station in newspaper. Everything – the chair, the telephone, the computer, even the tape dispenser – was covered in black and white paper. “They went all out!” Allende said with a big smile.

Not everyone’s birthday is celebrated in the same way. For Delicia Gipson’s birthday they dangled musical notes all over her desk. Dennis Leonardo was surprised with a frenzy of Jennifer Lopez photographs. And Dianne Morris’ 2004 birthday party was celebrated with a big birthday bash of 30 guests. Each year they try to surprise each other with a new theme.

“We are like a family,” said Dianne Morris, data entry leader of the Document Control Department.

The department houses and archives SLAC drawings and other specification materials. They also provide printing and copying services.

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