Symmetry: New SLAC Director Grapples with Change

by Glennda Chui

In the most recent issue of Symmetry, released last week, Glennda Chui profiles Persis Drell.

When Persis Drell became director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center last December, news accounts focused on her role as one of the first female directors of a U.S. national laboratory.

But while taking note of that milestone, the high-energy physics community focused on a more pressing question: How would Drell guide SLAC through perhaps the most challenging time in its history?

The lab had already called for voluntary layoffs, part of an effort to adjust the mix of skills in its workforce to the needs of future programs; 72 people responded. Then, just 11 days after Drell took over, Congress cut funding for high-energy physics, resulting in a 20 percent reduction in SLAC's high-energy physics budget for FY08. Drell led the SLAC management team in making the wrenching decision to lay off 119 more employees and to end operations of the B-factory, the lab's only on-site particle physics experiment, months earlier than planned. Read more in Symmetry...

National Safety Council Offers Free Online
CPR and AED Training

from OSH Online

Recognizing National Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Awareness Week, the National Safety Council is offering free online CPR and AED training this week, June 1-7. The opportunity is an easy and convenient way for people to learn or renew critical skills that could make the difference between life and death for a family member, colleague, or any individual experiencing cardiac arrest, the council says. The free training is available online (this link is active June 1-7 only).

While the free training does not include CPR and AED certification, the National Safety Council does provide certification year-round through classroom and on-line courses conducted by the council's state and regional chapters. National CPR and AED Awareness Week is sponsored by the National Safety Council, the American Heart Association, and the American Red Cross based upon facts that underscore the need for training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of an automated external defibrillator:

• More than 300,000 Americans experience sudden cardiac arrest each year;

• About 95 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before arriving at the hospital; and

• Effective bystander CPR delivered immediately after cardiac arrest—before medical personnel have time to arrive—can double a victim's chance of survival.

GLAST Launch Update

by Kelen Tuttle

The launch of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), previously scheduled for Thursday, has be delayed until Saturday morning. Learn more...

First LCLS Users Attend Workshop at SLAC

by Brad Plummer

More than 50 prospective users attended the LCLS AMO Workshop at SLAC this week.
(Click on image for larger version.)

This week, more than 50 prospective Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) users arrived at SLAC for a workshop focusing on the Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) science instrument. The workshop was geared toward helping future LCLS users prepare proposals to conduct experiments once the LCLS and the AMO instrument comes online.

The AMO instrument, which will be housed in the Near Experimental Hall, will be the first experimental LCLS endstation available to users. Scientists will use the AMO instrument to investigate how the simplest forms of matter—atoms, molecules and clusters of molecules—interact with the powerful X-ray pulses of the LCLS, and will yield clues to how such matter behaves on extremely fast timescales.

Events

June 3: (12:30 p.m.) Experimental Seminar: Past, Present, and Future of Solar Neutrino Physics
June 4: (12:30 p.m.) SASS: Viz Lab Tour, F. Zhao

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LIGO Observations Show that Gravitational Waves Not Putting Brakes on Crab Pulsar Interactions.org
Dark, Perhaps Forever NY Times

<% Response.AddHeader "Last-modified", getArticleDate() 'Response.AddHeader "Last-modified","Mon, 01 Sep 1997 01:03:33 GMT" 'Monday, December 06, 2010 %>

View online at http://today.slac.stanford.edu/

Symmetry: New SLAC Director Grapples with Change by Glennda Chui In the most recent issue of Symmetry, released last week, Glennda Chui profiles Persis Drell. When Persis Drell became director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center last December, news accounts focused on her role as one of the first female directors of a U.S. national laboratory. But while taking note of that milestone, the high-energy physics community focused on a more pressing question: How would Drell guide SLAC through perhaps the most challenging time in its history? The lab had already called for voluntary layoffs, part of an effort to adjust the mix of skills in its workforce to the needs of future programs; 72 people responded. Then, just 11 days after Drell took over, Congress cut funding for high-energy physics, resulting in a 20 percent reduction in SLAC's high-energy physics budget for FY08. Drell led the SLAC management team in making the wrenching decision to lay off 119 more employees and to end operations of the B-factory, the lab's only on-site particle physics experiment, months earlier than planned. Read more in Symmetry...

National Safety Council Offers Free Online CPR and AED Training from OSH Online Recognizing National Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Awareness Week, the National Safety Council is offering free online CPR and AED training this week, June 1-7. The opportunity is an easy and convenient way for people to learn or renew critical skills that could make the difference between life and death for a family member, colleague, or any individual experiencing cardiac arrest, the council says. The free training is available online (this link is active June 1-7 only). While the free training does not include CPR and AED certification, the National Safety Council does provide certification year-round through classroom and on-line courses conducted by the council's state and regional chapters. National CPR and AED Awareness Week is sponsored by the National Safety Council, the American Heart Association, and the American Red Cross based upon facts that underscore the need for training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of an automated external defibrillator: • More than 300,000 Americans experience sudden cardiac arrest each year; • About 95 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before arriving at the hospital; and • Effective bystander CPR delivered immediately after cardiac arrest—before medical personnel have time to arrive—can double a victim's chance of survival. Read more in OHS Online...	GLAST Launch Update by Kelen Tuttle The launch of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), previously scheduled for Thursday, has be delayed until Saturday morning. Learn more... First LCLS Users Attend Workshop at SLAC by Brad Plummer More than 50 prospective users attended the LCLS AMO Workshop at SLAC this week. (Click on image for larger version.) This week, more than 50 prospective Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) users arrived at SLAC for a workshop focusing on the Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) science instrument. The workshop was geared toward helping future LCLS users prepare proposals to conduct experiments once the LCLS and the AMO instrument comes online. The AMO instrument, which will be housed in the Near Experimental Hall, will be the first experimental LCLS endstation available to users. Scientists will use the AMO instrument to investigate how the simplest forms of matter—atoms, molecules and clusters of molecules—interact with the powerful X-ray pulses of the LCLS, and will yield clues to how such matter behaves on extremely fast timescales.	Events June 3: (12:30 p.m.) Experimental Seminar: Past, Present, and Future of Solar Neutrino Physics June 4: (12:30 p.m.) SASS: Viz Lab Tour, F. Zhao Access (see all) Loop Road Traffic Restrictions/Closures; B040 Parking Lot Closure Partial close of south side of Loop Road between South Target Road to Bldg 033 Alpine Gate & PEP Ring Road closed Gates 17 & 30 open 24-7 Research Yard bisected Announcements (see all \| submit) Lab Announcements Let's Celebrate Jonathan Juneteenth 2008 Community Bulletin Board SLAC Blood Drive - June 11 Stanford Learning and Development Summer Schedule Tech Briefing: June 6 - Using Windows' Encrypting File System at Stanford Behavior Change/Weight Management group to begin in June News (see all \| submit) LIGO Observations Show that Gravitational Waves Not Putting Brakes on Crab Pulsar Interactions.org Dark, Perhaps Forever NY Times
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<% Response.AddHeader "Last-modified", getArticleDate() 'Response.AddHeader "Last-modified","Mon, 01 Sep 1997 01:03:33 GMT" 'Monday, December 06, 2010 %> View online at http://today.slac.stanford.edu/