Under new guidelines developed by the Jefferson Lab Users’ Group Board of Directors, problem-solving is about to become easier than ever. Users will be able to bring ideas and suggestions directly to individual directors, who have been assigned specific subject areas to monitor and track. The idea, according to board chair Charles Glashausser, a professor of physics at Rutgers University, is to provide a regular avenue of communication and complaint.

"Instead of me or anyone on the board asking the vague question ‘How are things going?’, our questions can be very concrete and users will have a knowledgeable person to turn to who will be responsive," he says. "The idea is that users will communicate specific concerns to the individual responsible for a particular area. That way the board will have a far better feel for what’s really going on."

The Users’ Group board was created to act as the liaison between physics researchers and the Lab’s management and permanent administrative staff. Of the 1,500 members of the Users Group, roughly half travel to JLab to run experiments in person. The remaining 50 percent remain at their respective facilities, providing administrative, logistical and other assistance, most notably with theory and data analysis.

From left to right: Steffen Stranch, Sonja Dieterich and Charles Glashausser from Rutgers University and Konrad Aniol from CalState-LA monitor experiment E-89-019 from the Hall A control room in the Counting House. The experiment measured proton polarization induced by gamma rays. Glashausser was back at the Lab on Nov. 12 to hold a Users' Group Board of Directors meeting.

This past July, Glashausser assumed the chair of the eight-member board for a two-year term that expires in 2001. Excluding Lab representative Karen Hokansson, the board members all hail from institutions and universities active in JLab physics research. It is these directors who will implement the new procedures.

Past chair Donald Geesaman will oversee concerns involving the installation and running of experiments. Director Donal Day will monitor quality-of-life issues, including those involving accommodations, registration, badges and personal-computer assignments, while colleague Werner Boeglin will survey computing issues related to such matters as data retrieval and processing, disk-space allocation and network setup. Gary Adams will handle questions on Program Advisory Committee matters, Gail Dodge will act as the primary point of contact for graduate-student concerns and Rory Miskimen will follow up on any problems related to environmental, safety and health regulations and training.

"There are no pervading major issues that people are up in arms about," Glashausser asserts. "There are certainly things we worry about. Computing is one; getting data analyzed quickly is always a concern. But it’s being addressed.

"All of us maintain a vital interest in the Lab. Everyone wants to know that the best physics possible is getting done. So our job on the board is to make sure that all the outstanding issues are in fact being addressed."

Users' Group Board of Directors chair, Charles Glashausser, Rutgers University, discusses the agenda for the Nov. 12 Board of Director's meeting with JLab's Karen Hokansson, board secretary/treasurer.

Perhaps the biggest agenda item for both the Lab and the board is the current five-year backlog of approved experiments. Plans are in place to reduce the overload to three years by 2003. To achieve this, Glashausser says, "the bar will be set higher. " Some experiments will be winnowed at their three-year, do-or-die review point; and only the strongest proposals will be accepted.

In all, says Glashausser, the Lab has made steady and impressive progress in improving operational efficiency. The changes in the board’s feedback procedures are to insure that the forward momentum continues.

"I serve on various review panels so I get to hear what others think of Jefferson Lab," he says. "The Lab continues to do quite well – superbly, in fact. I keep hearing that this laboratory is a jewel. Given that kind of comment, it makes my job pretty pleasant."

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