Monday - August 10, 2009
SLAC Today is
available online at:
http://today.slac.stanford.edu
In this issue:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to Receive Additional $21.8M in Recovery Act Funding for New Research Instruments
First Black Holes Born Starving
SLAC Kids Day Wants You!
Welcome New SLACers
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Monday - August 10, 2009 |
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to Receive Additional $21.8M in Recovery Act Funding for New Research Instruments The Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will receive $21.8 million in new funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funding will catalyze instrumentation construction and improvements at the laboratory's two light source research facilities, the Linac Coherent Light Source and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. The new funds secured by SLAC are part of the more than $327 million in Recovery Act funding announced by Energy Secretary Steven Chu this week, $220 million of which will go to the Department of Energy's national laboratories to support scientific research, instrumentation and laboratory infrastructure projects across the nation. "These new initiatives will help to create new jobs while allowing the U.S. to maintain its scientific leadership and economic competitiveness," said Secretary Steven Chu. "The projects provide vital funding and new tools for research aimed at strengthening America's energy security and tackling some of science's toughest challenges." With this final round of project funding, the Obama Administration has now approved the full $1.6 billion in Recovery Act funds allotted by Congress to the DOE Office of Science. In total, SLAC has been awarded $90 million in Recovery Act funding. Read more... First Black Holes Born Starving This computer-simulated image shows gas (blue) interacting with one of the first black holes (white) in the early universe, approximately 200 million years after the Big Bang. A short video of the simulation is available to
view online or
download. (Image and simulation courtesy Marcelo Alvarez, John H. Wise and Tom Abel.)
The first black holes in the universe had dramatic effects on their surroundings despite the fact that they were small and grew very slowly, according to recent supercomputer simulations carried out by astrophysicists Marcelo Alvarez and Tom Abel of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, jointly located at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, and John Wise, formerly of KIPAC and now of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Several popular theories posit that the first black holes gorged themselves on gas clouds and dust in the early universe, growing into the supersized black holes that lurk in the centers of galaxies today. However, the new results, published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, point to a much more complex role for the first black holes. "I'm thrilled that we now can do calculations that start to capture the most relevant physics, and we can show which ideas work and which don't," said Abel. "In the next decade, using calculations like this one, we will settle some of the most important issues related to the role of black holes in the universe." Read more...  SLAC Kids Day Wants You!Kids Day 2009 is fast approaching, and more volunteers are needed to escort the kids to workshops and activities on Friday, August 14. If you are interested in helping out, please contact Michelle Steger (x3011). Welcome New SLACers (Photo by Doug Kreitz.)
New SLAC staff attending the New Employee Orientation on August 6, 2009 included: Front row, left to right: Karen Bryce (Communications), Shawn Sanner (FAC), Laura Mapes (Risk Mgmt and Response), LaShelle Manning (Human Resources), Clarice Arne (LCLS Business Office) and Marlyn Arceo (OCFO Budgets). Back row, left to right: Ben Morris (Power Conversion Engineering), Tyrone Baskerville (OCFO Procurement), Sandeep Babel (Power Conversion Engineering), Jeff Du (Controls SW Engineering), Blake Flaherty (SSRL Computer Networking), Michael Maguire (FAC Support Group), James Keller (FAC Engineering & Construct), Kan Fong (PPA Financial Planning), Chiara Marrelli (Acc Tech Research) and Michael Hinojosa (LCLS EP Engineering). Welcome to SLAC! |
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