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From the Director of Operations: Essential Upgrades in 2010

(Photo - Alexander Merola)
(Photo by Linda Cicero.)

Happy New Year and New Decade. It seems like just the right time to focus on the Operations Directorate's firm plans for 2010 as well as our planning process for the decade. 

Visible and helpful changes to the SLAC workplace environment will take place this year! The Operations Directorate will provide online tools for time reporting, applicant tracking and some performance tracking. There will be a larger suite of products available through online procurement, greatly cutting down on time/effort to procure. We will increase SharePoint services and strengthen the ability to search and find SLAC documents wherever they reside. We will begin to modernize the computer center with a $2M investment and see improved cell coverage for AT&T cell phones. We are implementing a staffing profile in the Office of the Chief Finance Officer and Computing to help move us in the right directions. And there will be changes in the SLAC Library offerings and services which we are still working out.

The Research Support Building project will move from a paper planning exercise into early implementation. This project will eventually create a new 53,000 square foot building and will fully modernize Buildings 28 and 41, while removing 13 of our older trailers. About 800 staff members will need to move to accommodate the needed modernization and trailer demolitions; about 120 of these moves will take place later in 2010.

A seismic assessment of SLAC will be conducted. All of SLAC is committed (and succeeding) to create one of the safest national labs in the system while aggressively pursuing mission. This seismic assessment is another real symbol of our safety commitment to each other.

We will more aggressively move to centrally-managed and field-deployed model for certain identified services.

We have increased the Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds by $1.4M as we more aggressively fund those initiatives and ideas that underpin our scientific future!

We will plan for this decade. We have about a $150M challenge to bring SLAC's infrastructure and services to the level required by lab management's shared SLAC vision. This includes new and modernized scientific and conventional facilities as well as a modern business environment including supporting IT. We are focusing on ensuring the most key element, our intellectual talent, is up for this challenge. During 2010, we will develop an implementable five year plan that will address these issues. As part of this effort we will benchmark our indirect costs with other institutions to help the Associate Laboratory Directors and Lab Director reach well informed decisions.

We will work tightly within the SLAC governance structure. We will ensure strategic alignment with the SLAC vision and Ten Year Plan working closely with the ALDs. We will preview and discuss our significant plans with the SubCouncils and seek their feedback regarding how we are doing.

We will stay closely coordinated with our partners in the Department of Energy SLAC Site Office and Stanford University. SLAC will be the most competitive place to do science in the DOE community; we will make significant progress this year and guarantee that outcome in the years to come.

—Alexander Merola
  SLAC Today, January 15, 2010