JLab Newsletter: e-OnTarget - February 2007

Jefferson Lab's Theory Center gets 10 million hours of supercomputer time
A project led by Jefferson Lab's Theory Center has been allotted 10 million hours of processing time by the Department of Energy's 2007 INCITE program on the Cray XT3 located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tenn. The Jefferson Lab project was awarded more time than any other project.

Jefferson Lab's 12 GeV Upgrade work moves forward
Jefferson Lab's planned 12 GeV Upgrade project made steady progress throughout December 2006 and January 2007. The onsite portion of the Department of Energy 12 GeV Upgrade Project Status Review was held at JLab, January 9-10, led by Joseph May, the DOE Federal Project Director.

International collaboration of nuclear physicists study how the strong force combines nature's fundamental building blocks into the lightest particle built of quarks: the pion
The strong force builds the stars in the heavens and the Earth we tread. It binds the tiniest bits of matter together to form the universe around us.

Two receive 2006 Isamu Abe Prizes: JLab's Jianxun Yan and SLAC's Sergei Chevtsov accept awards at international PCaPAC workshop
Jianxun Yan, a staff engineer with Jefferson Lab's Free-Electron Laser (FEL) Division was awarded one of two Isamu Abe Prizes at the Sixth International Workshop on Personal Computers and Particle Accelerator Controls (PCaPAC) held at Jefferson Lab in October 2006.

In their own words with Theory Center Post Doctoral Fellow Ross Young
I was born in Adelaide, Australia, and went through all my schooling there in public schools and then the University of Adelaide. Math has always come easily to me, and my particular interest in science and physics was sparked when I was about 10 years old and my granddad, who wasn't a scientist but read a lot, told me about the theory of relativity. I thought that was just so interesting.

Property Management: Requires the attention of everyone at JLab
"Nearly every employee at JLab is a Property Custodian -- whether you are responsible for 2 items or 200. And that means always knowing where that equipment is, keeping it properly maintained, and disposing of it appropriately when you [JLab] are done using it," says Tom Briggs, JLab's Property Manager.

Quark Cafe expands service; offers more choices
A new satellite location, authentic regional entrees, and daily healthy meal options are just a few of the new services to be offered by the Quark Cafe staff beginning in February.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car extends reduced rates to JLab employees
Jefferson Lab's recent agreement with Enterprise Rent-A-Car offers an added bonus for Jefferson Lab employees. Employees may get the same rate the Lab receives on their non-work-related rentals through Enterprise by simply requesting it.

Milestones for January 2007
Milestone entries posted by Human Resources.

 

Jefferson Lab's Theory Center gets 10 million hours of supercomputer time (top ^)

by Kandice Carter

Robert Edwards, a member of Jefferson Lab's Theory Center and the project's Principal Investigator, stops just long enough to have his picture taken in JLab's Computer Center.

A project led by Jefferson Lab's Theory Center has been allotted 10 million hours of processing time by the Department of Energy's 2007 INCITE program on the Cray XT3 located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tenn. The Jefferson Lab project was awarded more time than any other project.

According to Jefferson Lab Theory Center member and the project's Principal Investigator, Robert Edwards, researchers will use the time to calculate the properties of subatomic particles -- from the familiar protons and neutrons in everyday matter to the pi-mesons found in cosmic rays.

Specifically, researchers aim to more precisely predict the particles' behavior in experiments with powerful particle accelerators. For instance, one goal is to provide better theory predictions for research to be performed with Jefferson Lab's accelerator following its upgrade, now in the engineering and design stage. The 12 GeV Upgrade will double the energy of the Jefferson Lab accelerator's electron beam and upgrade the scientific capability of four experimental halls.

Edwards and his group will use the supercomputer time to help them run a simulation of a very important experiment planned for Jefferson Lab's upgraded capabilities. The experiment will shed light on the force that forms subatomic particles by producing so-called hybrid mesons.

"What is important about this [research] is that this basically tells you the rate at which you can produce hybrids," Edwards explains, which validates the degree of accuracy of the proposed experiment. "We could not do these calculations for the 12 GeV Upgrade project without a supercomputer."

The computing time was awarded as part of the 2007 Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program. The program awarded 45 projects a total of 95 million hours of computing time on some of the world's most powerful supercomputers. DOE's Under Secretary for Science Dr. Raymond Orbach presented the awards at the Council on Competitiveness in Washington, D.C. on January 8.

"That we were selected to get the highest amount of time indicated that the science is very compelling and that the Lab's mission is very compelling," Edwards says.

The project was submitted under the auspices of the United States Lattice Gauge Theory Computational Program (USQCD), a consortium of top lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD) theorists in the U.S. that spans both high-energy physics and nuclear physics. In addition to Edwards, three other USQCD members are part of the research team: Robert Sugar, University of California, Santa Barbara; Martin Savage, University of Washington; and David Richards, Theory Center, Jefferson Lab. USQCD rigorously reviewed the scientific merit of the project prior to its submittal.

For more information:
DOE Press Release
Jefferson Lab's cluster computing efforts

 

Jefferson Lab's 12 GeV Upgrade work moves forward (top ^)

12 GeV

Rebecca Yasky, 12 GeV assistant project manager – civil (standing), led the 60% Design Review Meeting of the Hall D Complex Conventional Facilities on January 24-25.

Jefferson Lab's planned 12 GeV Upgrade project made steady progress throughout December 2006 and January 2007. The onsite portion of the Department of Energy 12 GeV Upgrade Project Status Review was held at JLab, January 9-10, led by Joseph May, the DOE Federal Project Director. The two concluding bullets from the formal review close-out were:Â
"Since the June 2006 Independent Project Review (IPR), the 12 GeV Project Team has made significant progress in developing a well supported resource-loaded schedule; responding to and documenting resolutions to the IPR recommendations; and developing a credible 'Path to CD-2' schedule."

"The 12 GeV Upgrade Project is on track in their preparations and readiness for the SC IPR (DOE Office of Science Independent Project Review), OECM EIR (Office of Engineering and Construction Management External Independent Review) and September 2007 CD-2 approval."

The review committee made several constructive recommendations for further developing the project plan. A summary of this review was formally presented to DOE-NP and DOE Office of Project Assessment representatives on January 30, during a DOE 12 GeV Project Mini-Review by videoconference.

The 60% design submittal for the Hall D Complex (conventional facilities) was received from the architect-engineering (A-E) firm on December 15, 2006. Copies of the submittal were distributed to Facilities & Logistics, Hall D, Accelerator Division, Information Technology (IT) Division and the Environment, Safety, Health and Quality (ESH&Q) Division for an internal design and safety review. A meeting to discuss the review comments with the A-E's design team was held January 24 and 25.

For current information about Jefferson Lab's 12 GeV (billion electron volts) Upgrade project to the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF), please visit the 12 GeV Upgrade website. The website includes a new calendar listing 12 GeV meetings and reviews. The JLab Weekly Briefs also carry regular updates on 12 GeV Upgrade progress.

 

International collaboration of nuclear physicists study how the strong force combines nature's fundamental building blocks into the lightest particle built of quarks: the pion (top ^)

by Kandice Carter

Reviewing pion data

University of Maryland physicist Betsy Beise (left) reviews pion data in the Hall C Control room with Dave Gaskell, JLab staff scientist, and Tanja Horn, JLab postdoctoral fellow. More than 50 nuclear physicists from around the world came together to run this experiment.

The strong force builds the stars in the heavens and the Earth we tread. It binds the tiniest bits of matter together to form the universe around us. At Jefferson Lab, scientists are probing the strong force by peeking into some of the smallest strong-force bound particles of matter. Revealing how these particles are made could help unravel the mystery of the structure of all ordinary matter in the universe.

In Jefferson Lab's Hall C, an international collaboration of nuclear physicists, the Fpi collaboration, is studying how the strong force combines nature's fundamental building blocks into the lightest particle built of quarks: the pion.

Probing the Strong Force
The strong force is one of the four basic forces of nature, along with gravity, electromagnetism, and the less-familiar weak force. Inside the nucleus of the atom, the strong force binds the smallest particles of matter, quarks, together into protons and neutrons. In addition to protons and neutrons, it also binds together other, simpler particles, such as pions.

Like protons and neutrons, pions are built of quarks - two quarks (one quark and one anti-quark), to be exact. The quarks are bound together by the strong force. The field generated by the presence of the strong force also gives rise to additional, short-lived particles inside the pion: a bevy of quarks and gluons that constantly blink into and out of existence. This group of extra particles generated by the strong force is called the quark-gluon sea. By measuring the quark-gluon sea, scientists can study the strong force at its most basic level.

"The pion is the simplest system made of quarks by the strong force," explains Tanja Horn, a Hall C postdoc who, as a University of Maryland graduate student, joined an international collaboration of more than 50 scientists to carry out a recent Jefferson Lab experiment to measure pions. Horn says this relatively uncomplicated nature of the pion, as compared to other quark-based particles such as protons, makes it an excellent tool for probing the strong force.

Resolving the Pion with CEBAF
To accomplish this, physicists need three pictures of the pion. The first is a snapshot of the pion from afar, revealing its overall structure. The second is a very detailed look at the core of the pion, where its resident quarks can be seen most clearly. The third is at a resolution between these two extremes -- where the pion's two permanent quarks may just be discerned amongst the bustling quark-gluon sea.

These snapshots are the goal of an international collaboration of scientists, led by groups from Canada and the Netherlands, called the Fpi Collaboration. The pion's form factor (Fpi) provides information on the distribution of charge (from the two quarks and sea quarks) inside the pion. Each quark contributes to this charge, whether it's one of the resident quarks or a transitory quark appearing in the quark-gluon sea.

Previous research by the Fpi Collaboration in 2001 has already provided snapshots of the pion from afar, rife with particles from the quark-gluon sea. The Fpi Collaboration's goal in the recent experiment was to access the third picture, where the two permanent quarks may be seen amongst the quark-gluon sea particles.

Measuring Pions
The experiment was carried out in Jefferson Lab's Hall C in 2003. In the experiment, energetic electrons were sent into a hydrogen target. Physicists studied those instances in which an electron knocks a pion out of the cloud of pions surrounding the nucleus. Pions were measured in Hall C's high momentum spectrometer (HMS), and the scattered electrons were measured in the short orbit spectrometer (SOS).
The new result was recently published in the November 10 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. It shows that the resolution currently accessible with Jefferson Lab's CEBAF accelerator is still far from the region where the pion appears as a simple two-quark particle.

The effects of the four forces of nature are visible all around us. The strong force binds the smallest particles of matter together. Gravity keeps the moon in orbit around the Earth and Earth in orbit around the sun. We use the force of Electromagnetism to beam out radio and television broadcasts and provide a power source to levitate and drive new modes of mass transit. Finally, the weak force enables the sun to shine and explains some forms of radioactivity.

"We don't see just the simple picture of the pion composed of two quarks. There are the contributions from the sea quarks and gluons interacting, which we call soft contributions," Horn says. These new high-precision data are providing a stringent test for theoretical models of pion structure that attempt to incorporate these important soft quark-gluon sea contributions.

Plans are now being made for further experiments with the higher-energy electron beam proposed for the 12 GeV Upgrade at Jefferson Lab. "With the 12 GeV upgrade, we can go to a higher resolving power," she explains. The upgrade can extend the Fpi measurement, by doubling the resolution accessible with Jefferson Lab's CEBAF accelerator.

For more information, see the University of Regina News Release featuring experiment co-spokesman Garth Huber

 

Two receive 2006 Isamu Abe Prizes: JLab's Jianxun Yan and SLAC's Sergei Chevtsov accept awards at international PCaPAC workshop (top ^)

by Judi Tull

Photo of Yan

Jianxun Yan is a staff engineer with Jefferson Lab's Free-Electron Laser.

The Isamu Abe Prize

The Isamu Abe Prize honors the memory ofthe Personal Computers and Particle Accelerator Controls (PCaPAC) committee co-founder Isamu Abe from KEK (Japan) who died without warning in June 2002.

The prize is awarded to junior researchers with the best contributions among those presented at the biennial PCaPAC international workshops. The award, presented for the first time in October 2002, is intended to recognize and encourage people in their early career – for their innovative ideas, achievements and applications of personal computers in the field of accelerator controls.

All PCaPAC attendees considered to be early in their careers and authoring either oral or poster contributions are eligible for the prize. Jefferson Lab's Theo Larrieu, Accelerator Division, won the prize at the last workshop in 2005.

Jianxun Yan, a staff engineer with Jefferson Lab's Free-Electron Laser (FEL) Division was awarded one of two Isamu Abe Prizes at the Sixth International Workshop on Personal Computers and Particle Accelerator Controls (PCaPAC) held at Jefferson Lab in October 2006. The main objectives of the annual workshop are to continue dialogues on the use of personal computers (PCs) for controlling accelerators and to give scientists, engineers and technicians working in this field a forum for discussing opportunities and advancements – to further their mutual understanding. The Isamu Abe Prize is awarded to early-career scientists to recognize innovative ideas, achievements and applications and to encourage people in the field of control systems development.

"Jay," as his colleagues at Jefferson Lab call him, first came to the Lab as a visiting research scholar working in the Accelerator Division in 1998 while he completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Old Dominion University. He had received a Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering from Hunan University in China in 1991, and his M.S. in Technology and Application of Accelerators from the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in China in 1997.

Yan described his move to Newport News, with its wide open spaces, from the bustle and congestion of Beijing as a real culture shock. "Being here is like living out in the country," he said with a laugh. He enjoys hanging out with his many friends, both at JLab and ODU. During his time at ODU, he received an award for Excellence in Student Leadership for his work as the President of the Chinese Scholar and Student Association.

Since becoming an FEL staff engineer in 2005, he has worked on developing the ColdFire embedded microprocessor to upgrade the Beam Position Monitor (BPM) control boards and Beam Viewer control board with RTEMS and EPICS software tools. The new configuration will make the control system more powerful and flexible; and by using these open source software tools, there will be no license hassles and less cost, according to Yan.

He received the Isamu Abe Prize for his paper and presentation on his Ethernet Based Embedded System work for the FEL. Winning the prize, with its $500 cash award, has been incredibly exciting for him and those in his group, he said.

Photo of Abe awards

Sergei Chevtsov (left) from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and Jianxun Yan (right) JLab Free-Electron Laser Division, pose with JLab's Matthew Bickley, chairman of the 2006 PCaPAC workshop, after Bickley presented their Isamu Abe prizes and cash awards.

The PCaPAC committee also awarded an Isamu Abe Prize, named for the late co-founder of the conference, to Sergei Chevtsov of SLAC. Originally from Moscow, and the son of JLab's Pavel Chevtsov (Accelerator Division), Sergei worked at Los Alamos National Lab and Oak Ridge National Lab before going to SLAC in 2005. As a Research Department Software Developer, he is currently writing a beam image acquisition, management and analysis application in MATLAB. "The challenge for me," he said, "is to use tools from the 1980s in a modern context." He is also researching a general way for software applications to access data from a relational database.

"For me, winning the prize was the ultimate recognition of my work by the community of accelerator control systems developers," he said. "It was also the most work-inspiring event for me since I moved to SLAC."

 

In their own words with Theory Center Post Doctoral Fellow Ross Young (top ^)

as told to Judi Tull

Photo of Young

Ross Young, a JLab Theory Center postdoctoral fellow, was awarded the University of Adelaide's Harold Woolhouse Prize for the best Ph.D. thesis produced in 2005. His thesis, titled "Finite-Range Regularisation of Chiral Effective Field Theory," broke new ground in connecting supercomputer simulations of QCD to Nature. In collaboration with his thesis supervisors, Derek Leinweber and Tony Thomas, Ross prepared 23 refereed journal publications while completing his Ph.D. of which three were published in Physical Review Letters. Ross currently holds a postdoctoral research position at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, in Newport News, Virginia, where his research is leading to new international collaborations.

I was born in Adelaide, Australia, and went through all my schooling there in public schools and then the University of Adelaide. Math has always come easily to me, and my particular interest in science and physics was sparked when I was about 10 years old and my granddad, who wasn't a scientist but read a lot, told me about the theory of relativity. I thought that was just so interesting.

I had no particular goal for a career during my time as a student. I just kept doing things I was comfortable with and those things were science and math. Initially I stuck with a basic science degree; and during my first years at university I took general courses in math, science and physics. At one time, I actually considered going into finance since that was math-based.

But eventually I found that physics was the most interesting to me; and I realized that I wanted to know more and more. In the end, I received a Bachelor's of Science with a major in physics.

In Australia, after completing a bachelor's in the basic three years, there's an option to go on for a fourth year, called an "honors year." It's something like studying for a master's; it bridges the gap to the Ph.D. That fourth year was very difficult, almost painful, for me. It was very, very challenging.

I knew early on that I would do theoretical physics, because I'm definitely not an experimentalist. I couldn't take measurements. I couldn't sit there turning knobs. I wanted to know what the theories were.

The Argonne National Lab named Postdoctoral Fellowships

Argonne offers special postdoctoral fellowships – awarded internationally on an annual basis to outstanding doctoral scientists and engineers who are at early points in promising careers. The fellowships are named after scientific and technical luminaries who have been associated with ANL, its predecessors and the University of Chicago since the 1940s.
Fellowship recipients are assigned according to his or her scientific or technical discipline. These fellowships complement the existing Enrico Fermi and Maria Goeppert Meyer fellowships at Argonne.
Candidates for the Argonne National Laboratory Named Fellowships must display superb ability in scientific or engineering research and must show definite promise of becoming outstanding leaders in the research they pursue.
Fellowships are awarded for a two-year term, with possible renewal for a third year. The 2007 Fellowship carries a stipend with an additional allocation for research support and travel. The Fellows are competitively selected by a special fellowship committee, and are given the freedom of associating with Argonne scientists in a research area of common interest. For additional information, visit www.anl.gov/Careers/namedpostdocs.html .

At the end of my second year in college I did a summer scholarship at the Special Research Center for the Subatomic Structure of Matter at the University. It's funded by the Australian Research council. That's really when I got into quarks. Everyone there was very enthusiastic about their work and it all sounded interesting to me.

I started my Ph.D. work in 2001, and then in 2003 I had the opportunity to take a trip around the world to go to conferences. Most of the students get to do this as part of their training. I spent about a week each in the United States, Scotland, Germany and Japan. Truly, one big cycle around the world. Although I traveled alone, I was lucky enough to know someone in every country, so they were able to guide me around.

I had received an offer to do my post doc work in Vancouver but then also received an offer from Jefferson Lab. Although Vancouver might have been a more interesting city, the truth is that I wanted to be where important physics work is being done and that's here in Newport News. Physics-wise, there was really no choice. Tony Thomas [JLab's Chief Scientist] had been my supervisor for my Ph.D. work before he came here, and I knew other Australians would be following him, too, so it would be sort of homey here. So I got here in October 2004.

I love being here, where the work is actually done. I finally am getting to see theory matching up with real work and I'm finding meaning in all that I'm doing. It's great to be able to talk to people about how it all inter-relates. It's a lot of fun to be here.

I do miss my Vegemite, a spread made of leftover brewer's yeast extract, spices and vegetables, and my iced coffee, which is a cold, flavored milk drink that's really iconic of southern Australia. Fortunately, the Red Star restaurant in City Center, where I live, carries a local beer that's brewed in Adelaide, so I don't have to do without that.

I have one more year here, and it's time for me to start applying for positions. The only thing I'm sure of is that I want to stay in physics. I'll just keep doing what's comfortable and interesting for me and see where it leads.

Editor's note: Recently Ross was offered and accepted a prestigious position at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) as the Eugene P. Wigner Postdoctoral Fellow. He will make the move to Argonne in the fall of 2007.

 

Property Management: Requires the attention of everyone at JLab (top ^)

Photo of Briggs

Tom Briggs, JLab's Property Manager, asks all Property Custodians to know the location of the property assigned to them and to follow Tom's Guidelines for Better Property Management.

"Nearly every employee at JLab is a Property Custodian -- whether you are responsible for 2 items or 200. And that means always knowing where that equipment is, keeping it properly maintained, and disposing of it appropriately when you [JLab] are done using it," says Tom Briggs, JLab's Property Manager.

"For the Lab to do a more effective job of managing government property, it comes down to each person at JLab doing a better job of managing their assigned equipment and materials," Briggs notes. "This is an important part of everyone's job. Over the years, some employees have allowed large amounts of property to accumulate on their property lists. Some of it may be old or broken; or the custodian may not have informed Property Management when they moved items into storage, sent items away for repair, or traded items in on the purchase of a replacement. Also, too many new Property Custodians taking over old accounts have signed for everything on the list without actually going out and finding or accounting for each item."

"This isn't good," Briggs notes. "Anything on your property list that you aren't using, don't have a plan to use, is nonfunctional, or don't know where it is, is a liability for you as well as the Lab. Items in your account stay valued at the original purchase price; they don't depreciate. You may look at a listing for a 6-year-old computer (that you cannibalized to keep another office computer running) and view it as worthless. But it doesn't depreciate, so during a DOE inventory, it is listed as a $4500 computer that now appears to be missing. This creates problems for everyone. You need to turn the computer in through Excess Property and get it off your List of Assigned Property." He urges everyone to visit the Property Search page in MIS and pull up their List of Assigned Property.

During January 2007, all JLab Property Custodians are required to complete an annual validation on all sensitive items and equipment valued at $5000 (or greater) assigned to them.

Property management is something DOE is focusing on, according to Briggs. "DOE wants the Lab to properly dispose of old stuff and do a better job of managing the stuff we use," Briggs notes. It has become such a high-interest issue that the Employee Performance Appraisal System now requires a supervisor's input stating how well an individual maintains the property assigned to him/her.

Tom's Guidelines for Better Property Management
---Keep track of your property.
---Don't sign for equipment or materials you haven't seen or don't know where it is.
---Make sure all equipment is tagged or marked appropriately. (Make sure anything personally owned is marked with your name.)
---If you make a new piece of equipment, contact the Property Office to get it tagged or marked appropriately.
---If you have visitors or users bringing their own equipment on campus, it must be appropriately marked. The Property Office can provide property tags for visitor/user equipment and materials.
---Don't take government property off campus without the appropriate Property Office paperwork (except exempt items like laptop computers and PDAs which are meant to be mobile).
---Don't leave government property unattended in your personal vehicle, or anywhere that it could be stolen.
---If you think something has been stolen, notify JLab Facility Security Officer Kris Burrows, ext. 7548, or email burrows@jlab.org.
---If you discover something is missing, notify JLab Property Manager Tom Briggs, ext. 5430, or email tbriggs@jlab.org.
---If you are shipping something off campus for repairs, first notify the Property Office, send it off campus through Shipping and Receiving.
---If you are loaning a piece of equipment to another lab or institution, first complete the appropriate paperwork through the Property Office.
---Don't throw away old or broken equipment or unused materials. Contact the Property Office to determine the appropriate way to dispose of all equipment and unused or leftover materials.
---Anything that could be perceived as "scrap" material must be turned in to the Property Office.
---Don't cannibalize equipment unless you first get approval from the Property Office.
---Don't trade materials or equipment with other work sections. Turn the items in and have the other work section get the items assigned to it through the Property Office.
---Currently DOE prohibits allowing anyone outside of JLab's Computer Center to access your hard drive, this includes for repair or replacement. Always contact the Computer Center if your computer isn't functioning properly.
---DOE has a moratorium on hard drive disposal. Specifically, no government-purchased hard drives can leave JLab for disposal, warranty exchange, repairs etc. If you have a hard drive for disposal, please drop it off at the Stockroom Service Counter in Bldg. 90. Do not toss it in the trash.

 

Quark Cafe expands service; offers more choices (top ^)

Photo of Quark Cafe staff

The Quark Cafe staff poses for a group photo. The team includes (back row, from left) Food Services Director Jesse Miller, Ashmere Spratley, and Christopher Thornhill, and (front row, from left) Dianne Greene, Sandra Graham, and Dianne Bellew.

A new satellite location, authentic regional entrees, and daily healthy meal options are just a few of the new services to be offered by the Quark Cafe staff beginning in February.

Changes are coming to the Quark Cafe. The cafe, which is run by Eurest Dining Services, a member of the Compass Group North America, already offers a full range of food service at Jefferson Lab, including breakfast and lunch at its CEBAF Center location and full onsite event catering. Now the cafe is planning to enhance these services.

Jesse Miller, the Food Services Director for Quark Cafe, says cafe staff members are working to provide a new satellite location, expand menu options, and offer better values to customers. Of these, Miller says the biggest addition to the cafe's offerings is a satellite location on the accelerator site.

"Beginning in February, we're going to begin a pilot program where we'll offer food behind the fence from 11 a.m. to noon. We'll start out offering wrapped sandwiches made fresh that morning, chips, soda or water for $5, including tax," he says. "Depending on the response, we may be able to offer other options as well in the future."

Back at the Quark Cafe in CEBAF Center, another new program will offer new choices from the grill. "We're also rolling out a daily fresh grill," Miller says. Customers will be able to choose from hot sandwich staples, including fresh subs, grilled cheese sandwiches and freshly prepared burgers. "Everything will be made to order in about five to seven minutes," he says.

New lean menu items will help customers keep their New Year's resolutions to eat healthy. "We're rolling out a program called Balanced Choices. A sample lunch might include a bottle of water, a grilled piece of chicken and a steamed vegetable. The options will change daily, so the lean choices don't become boring," Miller adds.

In addition, Tuesdays will become international days. "There will also be Theme Tuesdays, where we'll offer regional cuisine from around the world," he says. German, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Thai, Indonesian, Italian, Polynesian, and Indian menus are already planned. Miller hopes to spice up other days of the week as well. "We're also going to be doing more cultural cuisines throughout the menu. So we'll be looking for recipe or idea submittals." Anyone who submits a recipe that is later served in the cafe will get a free lunch combo meal.

Miller says all of these expanded services join the new programs that have already been phased in. Thursday's Chef's Table, served from noon to 1 p.m., with its upscale entrees has proved popular; and after a successful test period, the breakfast hours have been permanently extended to 10 a.m. "We're also expanding our OutTakes items, the grab-and-go things. We'll have brownies, cookies, and fruit bars regularly. We've also begun to increase our variety in breakfast pastries. Ours taste better than the prepackaged ones we've sampled, and they're less expensive."

Miller says recent survey participation and other feedback spurred the changes. "We're just trying to expand people's opportunities to get what they want." Drop by Quark Cafe or check the weekly menu online.

 

Enterprise Rent-A-Car extends reduced rates to JLab employees (top ^)

Jefferson Lab's recent agreement with Enterprise Rent-A-Car offers an added bonus for Jefferson Lab employees. Employees may get the same rate the Lab receives on their non-work-related rentals through Enterprise by simply requesting it.

Carol Kinsey, JLab Travel Supervisor, says the reduced rate could save employees money on vacation car rentals in popular destinations, where demand is high. For instance, rental car rates are higher in the Hampton Roads area during the summer due to the influx of tourists.

"Depending on the time of year and where you're renting from, you may be able to get a better rate than we can online," Kinsey notes. "Their internet specials are usually very good, so I would check that out before you ask for the JLab rate."

To check Enterprise rates, visit: http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/home.do

Enterprise maintains airport counters at popular destinations. In addition, Kinsey reminds employees that Enterprise will pick up its customers and transport them to the nearest service location.

The Lab signed an agreement with Enterprise late last year to meet the Lab's rental car needs. Rentals obtained from Richmond International Airport, Norfolk International Airport, and Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport or other destinations arranged by the Lab's contract travel agency, CI Travel, are already being provided by Enterprise.

 

Milestones for January 2007 (top ^)

Hello
Rhonda Barbosa, Human Resources Manager, Office of the Chief Operating Officer
Julie Criswell, User Support Technician, Information Technology Division
David Griffin, Accelerator Operator, Accelerator Division
Robert "Macon" Hodges, Mechanical Designer, Physics Division
JoAnne Newman, Occupational Nurse, Environment, Safety, Health & Quality (ESH&Q Division
Jerry Nines, Mechanical Technician/Machinist, Physics Division
Ahmed Sidi-Yekhlef, Mechanical Engineer, Accelerator Division
Anthony Slade, Cryogenics Mechanical CAD Designer, Accelerator Division
Riad Suleiman, Injector Scientist, Accelerator Division
Cyril Wiggins, Mechanical Designer, Physics Division

Goodbye
Richard Bundy, SRF Senior Technician, Accelerator Division
Tim Fox, Accelerator Operator, Accelerator Division
Michael Gericke, Hall C Post Doctoral Associate, Physics Division
Megan Ivory, FEL Technical Student Intern, Free-Electron Laser Division
Jade Johnson, Human Resources Assistant, Office of the Chief Operating Officer
Cary Kravets, FEL I&C Mechanical Student Intern, Free-Electron Laser Division
Ryan Slominski, Control System Graduate Student Intern, Accelerator Division (departed Dec. 20, 2006)
Cameron Sorlie, FEL Engineering Student Intern, Free-Electron Laser Division
Ivy Thomas, Administrative Assistant, Office of the Chief Operating Officer
Stacy DeVeau, Science Education Administrator, Office of the Chief Operating Officer
(Feb. 7, 2007)

Congratulations!
Patty Hunt, Staff Engineer in JLab's Environment, Safety, Health and Quality Division, has successfully completed the Professional Engineering Licensing Exam and is now licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Patty manages JLab's Safety Lab, which includes industrial hygiene and chemical, environment and laser safety practices. Patty took the PE exam in environmental engineering in October 2006 and received notification of her licensure early in January 2007.

Patty had a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry and a Master's in Occupational Health when she started working at JLab. "But," she notes, "I quickly realized that I needed more engineering expertise to survive in this environment!"  With JLab's Tuition Assistance Program, Patty went back to college to earn a B.S. in Environmental Engineering. She then pursued the PE licensing.

Joe Beaufait, Physics Division, Hall C senior technologist, earned a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from Old Dominion University in December 2006. He plans to begin working toward a Master's Degree in Systems Engineering at ODU this fall. He used the JSA Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) while working on his bachelor's degree. For more information about TAP, contact Bruce Ullman, Training and Performance manager.

 

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Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, manages and operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, or Jefferson Lab, for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. JSA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc. (SURA).

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science