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In this issue:
LCLS Groundbreaking: A Users Guide
Profile: Hans Imfeld: Surveyor With a Green Thumb
Controls and Power Electronics Department Reorganized
Blood Drive Today
Diwali Luncheon This Thursday

SLAC Today

Wednesday - October 18, 2006

LCLS Groundbreaking: A Users Guide

The LCLS Ground Breaking this Friday promises to be the event of the year at SLAC.

The event will take place this Friday, October 20, from 10 a.m. in the parking lot of the Collider Hall (Building 750) beneath a canopy erected especially for the occasion.

There are two ways to get to the celebration. The weather promises to be beautiful on Friday, so you may prefer to walk. To walk to the site, pass through Gate 17 and take an immediate left to follow the north leg of the PEP Ring Road, which will be closed to traffic. Follow the same route in reverse after the ceremony.

For those who prefer to take a shuttle, buses will run from Parking Lot C, opposite the Guest House, starting at 9:30 a.m. These shuttles will pass along the south leg of the PEP Ring Road. After the groundbreaking the same buses will provide transportation back to Parking Lot C.  Read more...

(Weekly Column - Profile)

Hans Imfeld: Surveyor With a Green Thumb

(Image - Garden Club)
Garden Club president Hans Imfeld (right) and club members Freeman Owens (middle) and Domingo Sanchez (left) visit the community garden during a recent lunch break.

As a survey engineer in the Metrology Department, Hans Imfeld knows the lay of the land at SLAC better than most people. But the one plot of earth he knows especially well has more to do with beans and peppers than beamlines and PEP-II.

Several times a week, Imfeld spends time in SLAC's community garden. Tucked away behind the Guest House, the garden is a nearly one-acre section of land where members of the SLAC Garden Club grow everything from grapes to garlic.

Imfeld is the club's president, a gig he took on shortly after helping to set up the garden in its current location five years ago. He was a natural for the initial work that needed to be done: "Since I'm a surveyor, I measured out the plots," he explains.

The garden contains about 80 plots—each measuring 10 feet by 20 feet—that are tended by the club's 60 members. Any SLAC employee may join the club, space permitting, for a nominal annual fee.

The diversity of the club's membership is one of the aspects of community gardening Imfeld says he most enjoys. "You get people from all over the world, and you talk gardening and learn from each other," he says.

One year, a colleague from Italy offered Imfeld a large zucchini. Imfeld at first declined, playfully accusing his fellow gardener of trying to get rid of the overgrown squash, which was likely to be mushy and full of seeds. But his colleague persisted, explaining that this was a different type of zucchini. "It turns out it was an Italian variety I had never heard of before—a Romanesco," says Imfeld, "and it was excellent."

Imfeld, who doesn't have enough room at home for a garden, shares his plot at SLAC with three coworkers. This year, they grew grapes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, beans, lettuce, and carrots. Imfeld produced four gallons of pasta sauce and the "first vintage of SLAC wine" from the harvest. Of course, sometimes enjoying the fruits of his labor is simply a matter of walking out to the garden for a snack: "There's nothing like a vine-ripened tomato," he says.

Controls and Power Electronics Department Reorganized

The Controls and Power Electronics (CPE) Department is being reorganized to create a more effective team and to integrate the needs of LCLS Project with the ongoing support of the PEP, SPEAR and ILC programs. Many members of CPE are already supporting the LCLS project while others have transferred and have a full-time role. The main features of the reorganization are as follows:

- CPE will be split into two separate departments within the Operations Directorate, Controls and Power Conversion.

- Controls will be headed by Hamid Shoaee, replacing Rusty Humphrey who has just retired. Ron Chestnut will serve as Deputy Department Head, his current position in CPE.

- Power Conversion will be headed by Paul Bellomo, currently Deputy Head of CPE. Paul's new Deputy will be Craig Burkhart, currently in R. Cassel's Pulse Power Engineering Group.

- Members of LCLS Controls currently hired into the LCLS Division will be transferred to the new Controls Department headed by Hamid Shoaee in order to make the lines of communication and authority as clean as possible. Others in the LCLS Controls project engineering group on loan from other Departments or Divisions of course will remain with their current home groups. Read more...

Blood Drive Today

(Logo)SLAC will host a blood drive in the Panofsky Auditorium Lobby today from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. This drive is open to all members of the SLAC community and the general public. Half of all donors will receive a free warriors ticket.

Appointments will be given priority, but walk-ins are welcome! To learn how to make an appointment and for more information about the blood drive, visit the Human Resources website.

Diwali Luncheon
This Thursday

The Indian Community at SLAC invites everyone to sign up for tomorrow's Diwali Luncheon. The event, which takes place on Thursday from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., will feature traditional Indian dancers, music, featured videos on India and sumptuous Indian food. "This year's festival will be larger than past years," said event co-organizer Kiran Polavarapu. "We invite the entire SLAC community to take part."

Reservations can still be made by contacting one of the following organizers:
Kausalya Ganapathi, x4157
Kiran Polavarapu, x4970
Garima Srivastava, x5067
Mary Mathew, x4236
More information...

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