Monday - May 15, 2006

SLAC's GLAST Collaboration celebrated the shipping of LAT last Friday with a potluck outside Building 24.

SLAC's GLAST Collaboration Celebrates the Shipping of LAT

by Kelen Tuttle

With a potluck and much good cheer, SLAC's GLAST Collaboration gathered last Friday to mark the shipping of the Large Area Telescope (LAT). The instrument, which will measure gamma ray photons in outer space, set off on a 3,000 mile journey to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., last Thursday.

"We've cleared the Rockies and we're on to the Gamma Rays," said Ev Valle, DOE Site Office Federal Project Director.

As part of the festivities, the GLAST Collaboration presented LAT Project Manager Lowell Klaisner with a special gift: a fused 14 inch plate depicting GLAST and the Milky Way, created by GLAST Experimental Physicist and stained glass artist Richard Dubois.

"Lowell has been pivotal in getting the LAT built and pushing the commissioning," said Dubois. "One only works on a small number of these projects in one's career, so milestones like this should be well appreciated."

Latest news: The LAT arrived safely at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory on Sunday morning.

Early next week, you will each receive a colorful brochure describing SLAC, its current programs and our plans for the future. The audience for this brochure is our many sponsors, primarily those in Washington, a number of whose offices and key officials we visited three weeks ago (see my column in the May 1 issue of SLAC Today). The brochure served as the centerpiece of our presentation on behalf of the laboratory and by all reports, it was extremely well received.

While the graphical presentation is strong and eye-catching, it’s the text that carries the important messages. I hope you can find the time to look past the striking images and read the text. The approach we took was to tell a story, in the active voice, of a laboratory that has a widening scientific vision, a vision that retains, but expands, its strengths in photon science and in particle and particle astrophysics. The commitment of Stanford to this legendary laboratory is front and center in the brochure.

The opportunities and very large expansion in photon science are outlined in terms of the strong SSRL synchrotron program with its new SPEAR3 accelerator and the revolutionary new Linac Coherence Light Source (LCLS). As you all know, the LCLS is in construction and, when operational the Spring of 2009, will be the world’s first x-ray free electron laser. These two key elements are in place and guarantee a very long, stable and expandable future. Together, they will serve a growing population of photon sciences users on our site. The President’s FY2007 budget supports this program exceedingly well with a major increase, about $10M or 40% for SSRL operations and user support, full funding for the LCLS construction project (about $123M) and full funding for the design construction of a group of the LCLS instruments (the LCLS Ultrafast Science Instruments project, $10M). The brochure calls out how we are expanding the highly successful “center of excellence” model of the Kavli Institute into four new centers for photon science. One of these, the Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering (PULSE) center is already well established and growing rapidly.  Read more...

SLAC to Host Web Engineering Conference

by Chandra Shekhar

SLAC will host the International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE2006) this summer, bringing together practitioners, researchers, and those that want to learn more about web engineering. Anyone interested in attending this conference should register online.

"Web-based services have grown so complex that ad-hoc methods no longer work," said SLAC's Bebo White, local organization chair of the conference. "The web now requires a systematic engineering approach, and that is what the conference hopes to promote." Read more...

Web Calendar Redesign

by Krista Zala

The online web calendar that managed the Experimental Seminar Series schedule has recently changed. Now all seminars are searchable (by title, speaker, institution and so on) in a MySQL database that's backed up daily.

Tom Glanzman, who implemented the changes, also integrated three new seminar series into the calendar: Theory Seminars, Departmental Colloquia, and GLAST Science Lunches. Users can also see the calendar of a single series for all scheduled lectures in the "All Physics Events" link.

Electrical Safety Tip:
Power Strip Safety

by the Electrical Safety Committee

There are more and more electrical components in our offices and laboratories, so everyone runs out of outlet space. A common remedy is to use a surge protected power strip. An overloaded power strip can cause fire, shock and damage to equipment. Please remember:

• Do not daisy-chain power strips

• A power strip should be plugged directly into a wall socket

• Power strips are not rated for heaters, refrigerators, toaster ovens, or other high power devices. Use them only for office equipment such as computers and printers

• All power strips should be rated to 120v and 20 amps and be UL listed—find the listing mark on the back

Events (see all | submit)

• May 15: (4:15 p.m.) SLAC Colloquium: The ATLAS Experiment - Getting Ready for the LHC
• May 16: (8:00 a.m.) SSRL Workshop: Synchrotron X-ray Scattering Techniques in Mat & Env Science
• May 16: (12:30 p.m.) Experimental Seminar: First MINOS Results from the NuMI Beam

Access (see all)

• 1/1 - 5/15: Loop Road Near Kavli Building Reopens Today
• 5/2 - 5/30: Sand Hill Rd Construction
• 4/3 - 6/1: Short Spur Road Off North Access Road Closed
• 3/27 - TBA: Alpine Gate Temporarily Closed
• 3/31 - TBA: Gate 17 Hours Extended During Alpine Gate Shutdown

Announcements
(see all | submit)

 Lab Announcements

• Public Speaking Course 6/6/2006
• Limited Access to PeopleSoft Financial Applications
• The DOE designates May as National Electrical Safety Month
• Register now for LoopFest V - June 19-21, 2006

Community Bulletin Board

• SLAC Wine Tour
• Stanford Drama Department presents Deianeira
• Invitation to Japanese Cultural Day
• Juneteenth Celebration Tickets Now On Sale
• Great Strides: Taking Steps to Cure Cystic Fibrosis (Palo Alto)
• Employee Appreciation Day at the NCAA Tennis Championships

News (see all | submit)

• Bill Would Require Free Public Access to Research Papers  Science
• Record-Breaking Laser is Hot Stuff  Nature
• Particles Not Particularly Useful  Daily Press
• New Look for "Newton's Bucket"  Physics Web

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• Linear Café Menu
• Employee Milestones
  
  
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What's Cookin' at the Linear Cafe (see weekly menu)

Monday
Breakfast Boosters	Bagel Sandwich with Bacon and Cheese and Breakfast Potatoes	$4.73
Hot	Roasted Vegetable and Lentil Soup OR Hot and Sour Chicken Soup	$2.35/$2.95
Taste	Garlic Rubbed Roast Beef with Onions or Roasted Turkey with Polenta and Seasonal Vegetables	$5.65
Good Food For You	Organic Wheat Pasta with a Bolognese or Roasted Vegetable with Marinara Sauce, Garden Salad and Garlic Bread	$5.25
Tossed	Greek Chicken Salad with a Lemon Vinaigrette	$5.45
Panini	Roasted Pork Loin with Balsamic Caramelized Onions	$5.65
Sandwich Favorite	Philly Cheese Steak served with Onion Rings	$5.35