SLAC Today is available online at:
http://today.slac.stanford.edu

In this issue:
SLAC Staff Members Home Safe from Japan
Two Anniversaries for KIPAC at SLAC
Staff Resource Fair Today
Astrophysics Colloquium with NASA's John Mather Today

SLAC Today

Thursday - March 17, 2011

SLAC Staff Members Home Safe from Japan

(Photo - Glen White and Mark Woodley)
Two weary SLAC travelers: Glen White (left) and Mark Woodley at a "welcome back" lunch hosted by SLAC COO Sandy Merola. (Photo by Lori Ann White.)

Thanks to the preparedness of their Japanese hosts and their own cool heads, two physicists from the Accelerator Research Division have returned home safe and sound from KEK after being caught up in the events of the earthquake last Friday in Japan. They bring with them valuable information for future SLAC travelers and an appreciation for the efforts of their SLAC colleagues to keep the lines of communication open.

At first neither Glen White nor Mark Woodley, hard at work in the control room for the Accelerator Test Facility 2 in Tsukuba, Japan, realized anything was wrong. "If you're in Japan for any time at all you'll feel an earthquake," White said. "And there was a very slow build-up for this one—one truck rolled past and shook the building and another rolled past and shook the building, but then—it didn't stop. Then the power went out and stuff started flying off the shelves." The two took shelter under tables.  Read more...

Two Anniversaries for KIPAC at SLAC

(Photo - Kavli Building dedication)
From left: Fred Kavli, Roger Blandford and Steve Kahn at the 2006 Kavli Building dedication. (Photo: Diana Rogers.)

Today marks two important anniversaries for the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, jointly located at SLAC and Stanford University. Eight years ago this day KIPAC itself was inaugurated with a grant from Fred Kavli and the Kavli Foundation, while Pehong and Adele Chen provided for an endowed directorship, held from its inception by SLAC and Stanford astrophysicist Roger Blandford.

Three years later, March 17, 2006 saw the dedication of the Kavli Building. Among luminaries in attendance were Congressional Representatives Anna Eshoo and Mike Honda, Steven Chu (who was still at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory), Fred Kavli, the Chens, and Pierre Schwob, who generously funded the Pierre R. Schwob Computing and Information Center, dedicated to the computational and large-scale visualization aspects of KIPAC research.  Read more...

Click to view the event flyer.

Staff Resource Fair Today

The Stanford Human Resources Department's Staff Resource Fair takes place today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Tresidder Student Union, Oak Lounge, as part of the Onboarding @ Stanford program. The fair is intended for all staff members, and will be especially useful for new employees who may not be aware of the richness of services, facilities, programs and plans available to them.

Exhibitors at the fair will include Stanford BeWell, the Health Improvement Program, Stanford Bookstore, Stanford Federal Credit Union and many more. The event is free. Registration is not required, but staff who pre-registered by March 14 using STARS in Axess and confirm their attendance at the Fair will be entered into prize drawings. 

(Photo - John Mather)
Nobel Laureate John Mather.

Astrophysics Colloquium with NASA's John Mather Today

This afternoon at 4:15 p.m. in Kavli Auditorium, Nobel Laureate John Mather, NASA scientist and principal investigator for the James Webb Space Telescope, will present "The James Webb Space Telescope—Science Opportunities and Mission Progress."

(Image - James Webb Space Telescope)
Artist's conception of the James Webb Space Telescope. (Image: NASA.)

The James Webb Space Telescope—the planned successor for the Hubble Space Telescope—is well on its way to being ready for launch. In this KIPAC Astrophysics Colloquium, Mather will describe the likely scientific programs of the telescope, ranging from the first objects to form after the Big Bang, through the assembly of galaxies and the formation of stars, to the potential detection of planetary systems capable of supporting life. Mather will also discuss the remaining work for the project, including testing the telescope and instrument package end-to-end at the gigantic vacuum chamber at Johnson Space Center, and developing and testing the deployable sunshield.

The colloquium is free and open to all.

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