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For SLAC Today issues after May 20, 2011, see the updated SLAC Today in the SLAC News Center.


May

May 20, 2011
    From the Director of SSRL: Looking to the Future
We in SSRL management were recently informed that the FY11 operating budget for the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource would be better than the relatively grim scenario we had anticipated. We are grateful for the efforts made by everyone in the complex budget process.

May 13, 2011
    From the Director: The Visit of the Scientific Policy Committee
It is early May. Roses are blooming and the Scientific Policy Committee has just made its semi-annual visit.

May 6, 2011
    From the Director of LCLS: Working on Becoming Even Better
A few weeks ago I breathed a sigh of relief when LCLS finally received a 2011 budget that allows us to continue our aggressive schedule in commissioning instruments, operating them for users with adequate scientific and support staff, and improving our ability to characterize and improve the quality of the LCLS pulses.


April

April 29, 2011
    From the Director: A Good Week
We will not have to have lab-wide layoffs or furloughs at SLAC this year. This is really very good news and I thank all of the people who have worked so hard to restore the cuts to the science budgets this spring!

April 22, 2011
    From the Director of the Accelerator Directorate: So… Where are we going?
Accelerator operations, accelerator research and development and technology infrastructure have been the heartbeat of SLAC. They still are, and will be for quite some time. 

April 15, 2011
    From the Director: Tragedy at Yale
Many of you may have seen the news story. In time we may learn more about what led to Michele Dufault's untimely death. Let's do all we can to keep a similar tragedy from ever happening at SLAC.

April 1, 2011
    From the Director: 20, 30, 40, 50 Year Awards Ceremony
I had the pleasure Wednesday evening to participate in a ceremony honoring staff who have been with SLAC 20, 30 or 40 years. In preparing my remarks for Wednesday's event, I was struck by how much SLAC has changed through the decades.


March

March 25, 2011
    From the Director of Particle Physics and Astrophysics: Program Priorities in Uncertain Times
Particle Physics and Astrophysics division management, along with the rest of the laboratory, has been developing plans that will allow us to react to various possible funding outcomes.

March 18, 2011
    From the Director: The Budget in Difficult Times
As many of you have no doubt heard by now, Congress this week approved another continuing resolution to fund the federal government for another 3 weeks.

March 11, 2011
    LCLS—Creating a Revolution in X-ray Science
The second annual workshop on science with free-electron lasers, sponsored by the Max Planck Society, was held last week in the society's conference center at Schloss Ringberg in the Bavarian Alps south of Munich.

March 4, 2011
    From the Director: Communication in Uncertain Times
Today I will be holding All Hands sessions in Panofsky Auditorium to update you on what we know and don't know about our budget going forward.


February

February 25, 2011
    From the Director of SSRL: Four Successful and Productive Reviews
Over the last few months, we at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource have been quite busy. It's been a whirlwind, but a very productive and useful one.

February 15, 2011
    From the Director: Budget Cuts Good and Bad
As you may have read last week, the House Appropriations Committee of Congress released a list of spending measures for fiscal year 2011 that includes some proposed deep cuts for the Department of Energy's Office of Science.

February 11, 2011
    From the Director of LCLS: LCLS under the Microscope
We in SLAC management haven't yet seen the written report, but the verbal closeout of the Department of Energy's first review of the Linac Coherent Light Source as a national user facility couldn't have been much better.

February 4, 2011
    From the Director: Developing our Energy Strategy
I have identified our photon science research portfolio as a target for significant growth (~$100M) in this decade as a necessary component of becoming the premier photon science laboratory.


January

January 28, 2011
    From the Director of the Accelerator Directorate: The Premier Electron Accelerator Laboratory
"The premier electron accelerator laboratory." This title is not only part of the mission statement of SLAC, it is what I have so far observed every day at work.

January 21, 2011
    From the Director: Biology with Free Electron Lasers
This week Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory hosted a workshop that brought together biologists, scientists and users from the Linac Coherent Light Source and others to discuss the opportunities to do biology at free electron lasers.

January 14, 2011
    From the Chief Operating Officer: SLAC Core Values
One of the PAUSE key recommendations, collected from SLAC-wide working groups, is to reinforce SLAC's core values through both communications and actual behaviors.

January 7, 2011
    From the Director: SLAC's Time!
In late December, the Department of Energy Office of Science released annual performance assessments for the national labs, including SLAC, for fiscal year 2010. SLAC did very well!

Office of Science/U.S. DOE