The word accelerator often brings to mind high-energy machines like CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. But accelerators are found everywhere, from factories and hospitals to basic research labs and national security facilities. DOE’s Office of High Energy Physics has organized Accelerators for America’s Future, an Oct. 26 symposium in Washington that will break new ground in integrating research and development of many kinds of accelerators, with participation by Associate Laboratory Director and Advanced Light Source Division Director Roger Falcone, Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) Director Steve Gourlay, AFRD scientists John Corlett, Wim Leemans, Dan Dietderich, Bill Fawley, Peter Seidl, Andy Sessler, and Christoph Steier, and Ellie Blakely of the Life Sciences Division. Go here for more about Berkeley Lab’s participation.
[New York Times] Wim Leemans of Berkeley Lab’s Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) shows a touch of parental pride for the hulking machine he affectionately calls T-Rex — a high-intensity laser that pushes electrons around. But a new machine called BELLA — formally, the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator — is uppermost on his mind these days — not least, according to this account of scientific stimulus funding in the Bay Area, which also features interviews with AFRD director Steve Gourlay and other local scientists, because it could bring leadership in accelerator physics back to the U.S. More>
[Popular Science] Ting Xu of the Materials Sciences Division has been named by the editors of Popular Science as as one of the "Brilliant Ten" for 2009, an annual list recognizing young scientists who "have the gall to ask the big questions, even if those happen to be outside the traditional areas of inquiry." Xu, an expert in polymer self-assembly, was recognized for her role in developing a technique by which strands of copolymers can be induced to assemble themselves into an ordered array of 10 trillion cylinders, opening a new path to high-density memory storage, such as a disk the size of a quarter that could store 175 DVDs’ worth of data. More>
Special Event: It Takes a Team to Cut TEAM’s Ribbon Harriet Kung, associate director of science for DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences, was one of the kick-off speakers at last week’s joint meeting of the Advanced Light Source and Molecular Foundry users and took advantage of her visit to the Lab to inaugurate the TEAM 1.0 microscope at the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM). Cutting the ribbon that launched TEAM, Kung was assisted by (from left in photo) Uli Dahmen, head of NCEM and the TEAM collaboration, TEAM Project Manager Peter Denes, and Berkeley Site Office Manager Aundra Richards.
The National Science Foundation has reached into its pockets with a grant to the University of California at Berkeley to fund a preliminary plan for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) at the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota. The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Berkeley Lab are major participants in the $29 million grant. DUSEL’s principal investigator is Kevin Lesko of the Nuclear Science Division, an adjunct professor of physics at UCB, and DUSEL project manager is Kem Robinson, Engineering Division Director. More>
LBNL employees are reminded that spaces are running out for the last on-site seasonal flu vaccination clinic. The clinic will be held in Building 26 the morning of Friday, Oct. 23, and there are about 60 appointments left in the mid-morning hours. If interested, call X6266 for an appointment and bring $10 cash or check at the time of your appointment. LBNL has requested an allotment of H1N1 vaccine, but has not yet received word on when we might receive the new vaccine.
Annual Human Resources Benefits Open Enrollment begins 8 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, and ends at 5p.m. on Tuesday, November 25. All open enrollment transactions must be completed during this time period (note that the 5 p.m. deadline is a change from previous years). Any changes in coverage will have an effective date of January 1, 2010. Lab members will receive the Benefits Open Enrollment booklet at their home addresses this week from the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). Full details of health insurance choices for 2010, including health plan rates, can be found at the UCOP Open Enrollment At Your Service website. Members should be sure to look at the 2010 rates this year as some plans will have significant rate increases. Those who are satisfied with their current coverage do not need to take any action, however, those wishing to participate in a flexible spending account must enroll or re-enroll during Benefits Open Enrollment for 2010. For questions contact the HR Benefits Group at X6403 or [email protected].
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