Friday - June 22, 2007

   SLAC Office of Communications: Now Double Wide

     by Kelen Tuttle and Melinda Lee

Mike Hughes installs the new sign onto Building 267.

Missing the Office of Communications? Need an excuse to get out of your own office? Take a walk to the double-wide trailers across from Building 28, the new home of SLAC communications. There you'll get a warm welcome and a tour of our new space. Stay tuned for details on an upcoming trailer-warming party!

SLAC's Office of Communications is now located in Buildings 266 and 267.

Annual Tradition
Rides Again

by Heather Rock Woods

The 2006 San Gregorio Beach bike ride participants. (Click on image for slightly larger version.)

This Saturday, for the 23rd year in a row, Ken Moffeit will lead a variable group of physicists, students, neighbors and spouses to San Gregorio Beach and back, on bikes. This year's route is 52.5 miles.

Moffeit's tradition has survived a few incidents of road rash, flat tires, and a rescheduling from summer to fall in 1994 when he returned from a year working at the lab CERN in Europe. One or two times Moffeit rode alone, but the usual group consists of 8 to 12 people.

"It started because I wanted to have some goal in early spring that would force me to get in shape for summer activities," said the convivial physicist.

In the beginning, it was a simple affair, involving a sandwich from the San Gregorio General Store eaten hastily at the beach before making the arduous return climb up Tunitas Creek Road.

Now, an elaborate picnic with folding tables and chocolate chip cookies baked by Moffeit's daughter Karen induce riders to nap and rest on the beach for several hours with the friends who drive the picnic over Skyline Ridge.

"It's a very informal ride. We have cyclists who never thought they could do it, we have a lot of half-wayers, and we have some very good cyclists." The one-way riders arrange their own return car rides.

To join the fun, contact Ken Moffeit (moffeit@slac.stanford.edu or x2772).

PULSE Summer School
Discusses FELs

by Brad Plummer

Image courtesy of Diana Rogers.

This week, SLAC and the Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering (PULSE) Center host the Ultrafast X-ray Summer School, a five-day program of comprehensive lectures and an open forum for discussions about free electron lasers (FELs). More than a hundred attendees have come to discuss new experimental techniques being developed for use on FELs such as the Linac Coherent Light Source.

New Purchasing Requirement

by Bob Todaro

Effective immediately, the Department of Energy Stanford Site Office (SSO) is requiring all contract actions exceeding $100,000 to be reviewed and approved by that office.

This new requirement is attributable to the recent purchasing system review findings which disclosed weaknesses in practices and adherence to established procedures.

This requirement is expected to be in effect through December 31, 2007. As a result, project and program officials should allow at least 3 to 5 days additional lead time in the procurements cycle for the approval of procurement actions.

Purchasing is working with the SSO to expedite the review process as well as implementing the corrective actions necessary to return to previous system approved thresholds as quickly as possible.

Questions should be directed to Purchasing Officer Bob Todaro at x 2425.

Blandford Receives Honorary Degree

by Kelen Tuttle

(Click on image for larger version.)

Congratulations to Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology Director Roger Blandford, who received an honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago earlier this month.

The University honored him with these words: Over the past thirty years Roger David Blandford has been one of the most influential theoretical astrophysicists in the world. He has held a prominent scientific leadership position at the crest of the wave of discoveries that turned this period into the "golden age" of high-energy astrophysics and has guided the quest for future discoveries.

"It's very nice to receive this undeserved honor," Blandford said with a laugh. "It was good to travel to Chicago and to catch up with good friends and colleagues, and my wife and I had a wonderful time."

Events (see all | submit)

• June 26: (12:30 p.m.) Experimental Seminar: B Semileptonic Decays in the BaBar Experiment

Access (see all)

• Increased construction traffic
• Parking and traffic barricades near Building 50
• Alpine Gate & PEP Ring Road closed
• Gates 17 & 30 open 24-7
• Research Yard bisected

Announcements
(see all | submit)

 Lab Announcements

• 2007 Winter Closure Memo
• Understanding and Applying Cultural Sensitivity In the Workplace

Community Bulletin Board

• Kyler England in Concert, June 30
• Palo Alto Concourse D'Elegance June 24 at Stanford
• Noon Concert Series Features the Saint Lawrence String Quartet
• SLAC Blood Drive - June 27
• Karen Kruger's Retirement Party

News (see all | submit)

• CERN Announces New Start-up Schedule for World's Most Powerful Particle Accelerator CERN
• New Reflections on Lunar Astronomy Science
• Fundamental Constant is Pretty Much Constant PhysicsWeb

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• Linear Café Menu
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