JLab Newsletter: e-OnTarget - July 2007

Nuclear physicists reach for the stars
Jefferson Lab's Excited Baryon Analysis Center is helping nuclear physicists make the stuff of stars out of ordinary matter.

 

Education Secretary Morris, Senator Norment visit Jefferson Lab
Both Virginia Secretary of Education Thomas Morris and Sen. Tommy Norment have a better understanding of Jefferson Lab after visiting on July 16.

 

Safety pays at Jefferson Lab
Under a new Safety Incentive Program, a Lab employee can now receive as much as $100 for a major safety achievement. Other incentives under the program include a $50 award and modest gifts, such as a flashlight or cup.

 

Derbenev earns prize for contributions to beam polarization theory
Senior staff scientist Yaroslav Derbenev has been awarded the U.S. Particle Accelerator School 2007 Prize for Achievement in Accelerator Physics and Technology.

 

American Physical Society honors JLab scientists and users
At the 2007 American Physical Society April Meeting, five Jefferson Lab researchers were announced as recipients of 2006 APS Fellowships.

 

New chief financial officer brings 27 years experience to the job
Jefferson Lab's new chief financial officer and business operations manager, Joe Scarcello, brings with him 27 years of extensive experience in contracts, business administration and financial management at Department of Energy and other government agency facilities.

 

'In their own words' with injector scientist Marcy Stutzman
I really enjoy my work as a staff scientist with the Center for Injectors and Sources. I've always loved working with my hands as well as problem solving, and this job requires both.

 

'In their own words' with Free-Electron Laser scientist Carlos Hernandez-Garcia
It would be easy to say that my career in physics has been largely due to luck, and that would be true. It's also true that I've worked very, very hard...

 

Students set new record using Education website during 2007 testing season
A record number of Jefferson Lab's Science Education web pages were accessed this spring as students from Virginia and across the country prepared for springtime academic testing.

 

Milestones late-June through mid-July 2007
Milestones late-June through mid-July 2007

 

DOE announces two management job openings
The Department of Energy's Office of Science seeks highly qualified candidates to fill its Deputy for Programs and Biological and Environmental Research Associate Director positions.

 

 

Nuclear physicists reach for the stars (top ^)

Jefferson Lab's Excited Baryon Analysis Center is helping nuclear physicists make the stuff of stars out of ordinary matter. Probing the properties of this "stuff" could provide key insights for understanding the evolution of real stars in the early universe.

Harry Lee

Harry Lee leads the EBAC effort.

"This research can change our understanding of the evolution of stars," says Harry Lee, Excited Baryon Analysis Center leader and joint Jefferson Lab and Argonne National Lab senior scientist. "So the research we're doing here has consequences, not only in nuclear physics, but also in astrophysics and other fields."

Established in January of 2006, EBAC (link: http://ebac-theory.jlab.org/main.htm) resides within the Lab's Theory Center. Its mission is to provide theoretical support to worldwide experiments probing the structure of excited baryons. Baryons, such as protons and neutrons, are building blocks of ordinary matter. However, the baryons inside stars are thought to be more than just protons and neutrons.

"In a star, the density and temperature could be very, very high, so the matter there has not only the regular protons and neutrons, but also their excited states, what we call the N-star (N*) states," Lee explains. To really understand our universe, he says, it's important to understand all the forms matter can take. "It's not enough to understand the protons and neutrons, you need to understand these excited states, too."

Mark Paris

Mark Paris, a postdoctoral researcher, joined EBAC in October 2006.

EBAC member Mark Paris likens the normal and excited states of a baryon to a vibrating telephone cord. "If you've ever been talking on the phone and you look at the cord, you notice that it moves up and down slowly and evenly. Let's say the swaying cord is a regular baryon. Now if you twang the cord, giving it more energy, you can get more wiggles or ripples in it, and that's like an excited baryon," he explains. Paris is a postdoctoral scientist and the first full-time EBAC researcher (link: http://ebac-theory.jlab.org/research.htm).

To find out how the properties of excited baryons differ from their regular counterparts, scientists at Jefferson Lab and elsewhere are using accelerators to produce these particles. For instance, the N* program in Hall B aims to make excited baryons that have never before been seen.

"In a typical experiment, you have a photon or an electron coming in and hitting your target, such as a proton. The proton gets excited," Paris says. In the case of Jefferson Lab's CEBAF accelerator, the incoming electron 'twangs' the proton, giving it extra energy. Extra energy transforms the proton into an excited baryon. This excited baryon doesn't last very long, falling apart nearly instantaneously. The bits the particle split into are recorded in sensitive detectors. The data collected by these detectors can reveal how an excited baryon most likely will fall apart.

One goal of EBAC is to further develop and apply theories to existing data. These theories may help scientists squeeze more information about the properties of the excited baryon from the data, allowing experimentalists to get more information out of their data and to also design better future experiments from that information.

These new theories may serve as tools for eventually tackling one of the most difficult problems in nuclear physics. Physicists are working to link the description of matter's building blocks, gleaned from experiments, to the most fundamental theory yet for describing how these building blocks make up matter: quantum chromodynamics, or QCD.

Principal EBAC Researchers

Bruno Julia-Diaz (University of Barcelona)
T.-S. Harry Lee (Jefferson Lab and Argonne National Laboratory)
Akihiko Matsuyama (Shizuoka University)
Mark Paris (Jefferson Lab)
Toru Sato (Osaka University)
Alexander Sibirtsev (Jefferson Lab, University of Bonn & FZ Juelich)
Other affiliated EBAC researchers can be found at: http://ebac-theory.jlab.org/people.htm

Facilities conducting N* research

Halls A, B and C at Jefferson Lab
MAMI at Mainz
GRAAL at Grenoble
LEGS at Brookhaven
LEPS at SPRing-8
ELSA at Bonn

"So we want to understand not only how the excited states are made, but also how QCD works to form these baryons," Lee says. If that can be established, the potential benefit is enormous. "Suddenly you understand how the matter in stars is made of baryons, and this is one of the crucial keys to understanding how stars evolve."

"There are so many things that we do not understand about the structure of baryons", says Jefferson Lab's Chief Scientist, Anthony Thomas. "States that we expect have not been seen yet, while still others are in the wrong place. Through EBAC, we have the opportunity to make a truly comprehensive analysis of the world's data, including the beautiful new results from JLab. This promises new insights into how QCD works."

EBAC is the first of the Department of Energy Topical Theory Centers, an initiative put forth in the 2002 Nuclear Science Advisory Committee Long-Range Plan. In addition to the six principal members of EBAC, two new Jefferson Lab-based members will come on board in the fall: Hiroyuki Kamano from Osaka University and Kazuo Tsushima from the University of Salamanca.

 

Education Secretary Morris, Senator Norment visit Jefferson Lab (top ^)

Secretary of Education

While visiting Jefferson Lab, Senator Tommy Norment (left) and Virginia Secretary of Education Thomas Morris (right) met graduate students participating in the DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program. Here they speak with Andrew Leister (far left) and Sara Mohon, from the College of William and Mary and Brent Terres from Old Dominion University.

Both Virginia Secretary of Education Thomas Morris and Sen. Tommy Norment have a better understanding of Jefferson Lab after visiting on July 16.

Both officials took advantage of the opportunity to learn about Jefferson Lab's advances in its scientific mission, the study of the building blocks of the nucleus of the atom. They received information about the planned upgrade of the Lab's research capabilities and its impact on future science, and spoke with participants of the Lab's popular math and science education programs.

In addition to talking with student and staff scientists regarding their research projects, Morris and Norment visited the industrial area of the Lab where accelerator components are designed, manufactured, assembled and tested.

Secretary of Education

Virginia Secretary of Education Thomas Morris (far left) prepares to meet teachers participating in the Department of Energy's Academies Creating Teacher Scientists program at Jefferson Lab. He spoke with (from right) Shonna Crisden, Syms Middle School, Hampton; Cassi Weathersbee, Benton Middle School, Manassas; Brita Hampton, Star of the Sea Catholic School, Virginia Beach; Joyce Lowry, Berkeley Middle School, Williamsburg; Carl Morrison, Grafton Middle School, Yorktown; Denise Oppenhagen, Rippon Middle School, Woodbridge; Pamela Rheinlander, Potomac Middle School, Dumfries; Travis Humble, Langley Elementary School, Hampton; and (partially visible) Carmen Fragapane, Grafton Middle School, Yorktown.

The dignitaries also spoke with students, teachers and administrators of Jefferson Lab's varied education programs, asking detailed questions about the DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship and the DOE Academies Creating Teacher Scientists programs. Morris expressed interested in the Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science (BEAMS) program, which has helped students at some area schools improve their Standards of Learning scores.

Morris served as the president of Emory & Henry College for 13 years. A constitutional scholar and political scientist, he was a faculty member at the University of Richmond for 21 years. Morris earned a bachelor's degree in government at Virginia Military Institute, studied at Princeton University, then completed his master's and doctoral degrees in government at the University of Virginia. He has served as Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Administration of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine since Jan. 15, 2006.

Norment currently serves as the Senate Majority Floor Leader, representing the 3rd Senatorial District. He is chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules, and a member of the Senate Committees for Courts of Justice, Finance, and Commerce and Labor and the Joint Rules Committee. Norment also sits on a number of other legislative studies, commissions and boards. He was first elected to the Virginia Senate in 1991, beginning his first term in office in January 1992. Previously, he served on the James City County Board of Supervisors from 1987-1991. Norment is a partner with the law firm of Kaufman & Canoles, P.C. in Williamsburg.

 

Safety pays at Jefferson Lab (top ^)

It's been said many times that safety pays, and at Jefferson Lab it's really true.

Under a new Safety Incentive Program, a Lab employee can now receive as much as $100 for a major safety achievement. Other incentives under the program include a $50 award and modest gifts, such as a flashlight or cup.

"The purpose of this program is to encourage proactive safe behavior," said JLab Director Christoph Leemann. "We want employees to recognize that safe behavior provides many benefits to all of us, and so we want to reward those behaviors, activities and accomplishments that improve safety at the Lab."

The program, which went into effect in 2006 and had the monetary awards added in May, seeks to promote safe behaviors, activities and accomplishments to improve safety across the Laboratory, according to Craig Ferguson, associate director for the Environment, Safety, Health and Quality Assurance Division.

The program establishes three levels of awards:

  • On-The-Spot-Safety awards, which any manager or supervisor can make when they observe anyone performing a safe behavior. The award is a non-cash prize. Supervisors and managers may contact Mary Jo Bailey, ext. 7277, to get items that are currently in the ESH&Q Division inventory. Additional items will be ordered as the supply runs down.
  • JLab Safety Achievement Award, which is $50 (after taxes) and a JSA Certificate of Appreciation is submitted by any supervisor or manager and presented by any associate director, the chief operating officer or the chief scientist. To qualify an employee must be nominated for doing something above and beyond required job duties to ensure the safety of others or the environment.
  • JLab Director's Safety Award, which is the top award of $100 (after taxes). For this, an employee must be nominated by the individual's supervisor and will be recognized by the employee's associate director, the chief operating officer, chief scientist or Lab director.

"This program is the result of careful consideration among management and staff; and we are convinced that these incentives will strengthen and encourage everyone's investment in safety at the Lab," Ferguson said.

The award certificate will be presented to the employee by his or her supervisor or a member of senior management. The monetary award will follow either in the employee's next pay check or direct deposit statement. So far, more than $300 in safety awards and more than 50 cups have been presented as a result of the program.

More information and the monetary award form can be found on JLab's Environment, Safety, Health and Quality webpage, under the link labeled Safety Incentive Program or by going directly to http://www.jlab.org/ehs/safety_award.html.

 

Derbenev earns prize for contributions to beam polarization theory (top ^)

Derbenev

Yaroslav "Slava" Derbenev is a senior staff scientist with the JLab Center for Advanced Studies of Accelerators.

Senior staff scientist Yaroslav Derbenev has been awarded the U.S. Particle Accelerator School 2007 Prize for Achievement in Accelerator Physics and Technology. He was honored for his seminal contributions to the theory of beam polarization in accelerators and its control with "Siberian snakes," the theory of electron cooling and the inventions of "round-to-flat" beam optics transformations and novel six-dimensional muon cooling schemes. The award and prize of $3,000 were presented to him at the Particle Accelerator Conference in Albuquerque, N.M., at the end of June.

"This prestigious award recognizes Slava's pioneering and profound contributions of lasting influence to several areas in Accelerator Physics," notes Lia Merminga, director of JLab's Center for Advanced Studies of Accelerators. "Previous USPAS Prize recipients include such masters in the field as Ernest Courant, Helen Edwards, Glen Lambertson, Daniel Boussard, Karl Brown, Matt Sands and Maury Tigner."

Slava, as he's known to his Jefferson Lab colleagues, graduated from Moscow State University with a master's in physics and then went on to the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk for his doctorate. While working on his doctorate, Derbenev's supervisor took him to meet Gersh Budker. "He asked me about my work and was told that I was a theorist," Derbenev said with a laugh at the memory, "and he told me the world didn't need any more theorists."

As a child he envisioned himself becoming an astronomer after his mother began to teach him about the night sky and gave him his first instruments, but his head was turned and his career course set by his high school physics teacher, who instilled in him a passion for science.

His early career was spent working at BINP, the Institute of Complete Electric Drive in Novosibirsk and the Institute of Physics in Erevan. He first came to the United States as a visiting accelerator physicist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and then went on to CERN and DESY before returning to the U.S. to work at SLAC. From 1990 to 2000, he was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. He came to Jefferson Lab in 2001, where his work focuses on advanced concepts for a proposed electron-ion collider, radiofrequency control theory and new concepts for hard radiation sources, as well as development of new concepts for electron cooling of ions and ionization cooling of muon beams for the neutrino factory and the muon collider at FermiLab. "Being here is like a professional dream," he said.

He and his wife, Svetlana, who worked in molecular spectography in Russia, live in Newport News. Their daughter and three grandchildren live in Novosibirsk, and his son lives in Los Angeles. He proudly notes that his oldest grandson is also into physics. Derbenev and Svetlana love to travel and have been on numerous European tours and cruises to the Caribbean. They've traveled the U.S. by car from Ann Arbor, Mich., to San Francisco. An as yet unfilled dream is to visit Alaska. The scientist is a self-described "passionate listener" to all types of music and loves to play chess.

"America," he said with passion, "is the best country for immigrants, especially in the professional area. Moving here was psychologically easy, but I realized right away I needed to learn better English and the culture. I love what I do here."

By Judi Tull
Feature writer

 

American Physical Society honors JLab scientists and users (top ^)

At the 2007 American Physical Society April Meeting, five Jefferson Lab researchers were announced as recipients of 2006 APS Fellowships.

The group represents a cross-section of the Lab's research areas, including experiment, theory and accelerator science. Two Jefferson Lab employees and one member of the Users Group were chosen for work done here. Two other members of the Users Group were honored for work done elsewhere.

The APS Fellowship Program recognizes members who have made advances in knowledge through original research and publication or made significant and innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology. They may also have made significant contributions to the teaching of physics or service and participation in the activities of the APS. Each year, no more than one-half of one percent of the current membership of the society is recognized by their peers for election to the status of Fellow. Fellowship nominations are made by APS members in good standing for colleagues they consider worthy of this recognition. Fellowship is therefore a distinct honor signifying recognition by one's professional peers.

Jefferson Lab's 2006 APS Fellows (alphabetically):

Wally Melnitchouk

Wolodymyr "Wally" Melnitchouk, a staff scientist in the JLab Theory Center (left) and Keith Griffioen, a JLab user and College of William and Mary physics professor and Department of Physics chair, were elected as 2006 Fellows in the American Physical Society.

Keith A. Griffioen
College of William and Mary, Physics Professor and Department of Physics Chair

Citation: For definitive experimental studies of the spin structure of the proton and neutron, both in the perturbative, deep-inelastic regime and in the non-perturbative resonance region.

"Fellowship in the American Physical Society is truly an honor. I've been blessed with excellent teachers, committed mentors, stellar students, supportive funding agents, hard-working collaborators, fantastic colleagues and a caring family who all share in the credit. We now know precisely how little the quarks contribute to the nucleon spin. In the future, with an upgraded Jefferson Lab, we will know why. I can hardly wait," Griffioen said.

Wolodymyr (Wally) Melnitchouk
JLab Theory Center Staff Scientist

Citation: For his theoretical and phenomenological contributions to the study of the quark structure of nucleons and nuclei, in particular that underpinning the nuclear physics program at Jefferson Lab.

"Jefferson Lab has provided me with a wonderful environment in which to pursue my passion for hadronic physics, and I am very pleased that this award recognizes the importance of the physics being done here. As a theorist, I have always valued the opportunity that the Lab has given me to interact closely with experimental physicists, which I believe is crucial for the continued vitality of our field," Melnitchouk said.

Lia Merminga

Director of the JLab Center for Advanced Studies of Accelerators, Nikolitsa "Lia" Merminga, was elected as a 2006 Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Nikolitsa (Lia) Merminga
Director of the JLab Center for Advanced Studies of Accelerators
Citation: For leadership in designing and developing energy recovery linacs, and applications to light sources and electron-ion colliders.

"Jefferson Lab has led the way in energy recovery linacs, and our concepts for a CEBAF-based electron-ion collider are becoming increasingly mature over the years. I very much hope that our key contributions in these areas will continue and culminate in more novel accelerators built on the JLab site, in support of science. I am grateful to my JLab colleagues for exciting collaborations, and I am happy that this fellowship contributes to the Lab's recognition by the broader Physics community," Merminga said.

Dinko Pocanic
University of Virginia, Department of Physics, Professor of Physics

Citation: For leading contributions to measurements of rare decays, structure and interactions of the pi meson.

Calvin R. Howell
Duke University, Physics Professor and Director of the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory

Citation: For precision measurements of the nucleon-nucleon interaction in few-body systems using polarization observables and for service to the scientific community, especially, by mentoring students at historically black colleges and universities.

 

New chief financial officer brings 27 years experience to the job (top ^)

Joe Scarcello

Chief Financial Officer and Business Operations Manager Joseph "Joe" Scarcello is very excited about the new technologies being spun out of the work done at JLab.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Jefferson Lab's new chief financial officer and business operations manager, Joe Scarcello, brings with him 27 years of extensive experience in contracts, business administration and financial management at Department of Energy and other government agency facilities.

Most recently, he had served as a division vice president for contracts administration with DynCorp and subsequently Computer Sciences Corporation at its Applied Technology Division in Fort Worth, Texas.

Scarcello first became involved with the Lab in the fall of 2005, when he started working on behalf of CSC with representatives of the Southeastern Universities Research Association to create the Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, the new joint venture that assumed management and operations of the Lab a little over a year ago.

"I was really impressed with the enthusiasm of the people here, the focus on their science mission, and the quality of work being done," he recalled.

He returned to Fort Worth after contributing to JLab's April 2006 contract transition, which further reinforced his impressions about JLab and its mission. About a year later he had the opportunity to apply for and was offered the CFO and Business Operations manager position here. "My peers wondered why in the world I'd leave a vice president's staff position for a program operations management position. But I was looking beyond that and saw this [move] as a great opportunity to be part of something really good, something that advances technology. Work being done here has the potential to shape the future," he said. "Plus, we've never lived in this part of the country and thought Virginia would be a great place to make a home."

Joe and Mavis, his wife of 27 years, moved to Newport News in April. While their new home in Toano is under construction, they're living in an apartment in Port Warwick. Their son, Trey, has just finished his freshman year at Texas A & M; their daughter, Amanda, is an X-ray technician at a hospital in Fort Worth. Mavis continues to work as a loan officer for a national company.

Scarcello, who has a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of New Orleans, admits that he's still learning about the many capabilities of the Lab's accelerator and free-electron laser. While his education and professional experience has been in business and finance, science has always interested him.

"I have a basic understanding of the Lab's science program," he said, "and I'm very excited about the new technologies being spun out of the work we do. It's good to be part of something that's advancing science, education, research and development. I believe that the Lab is a national treasure with a bright future. It's like no other project I've been on."

He has enjoyed the various responsibilities and escalating management duties and assignments that he's handled throughout his career, which started as a summer intern at a South Louisiana oil refinery cleaning tanks and scraping sludge. He also likes outdoor recreational activities including golfing, hunting and riding his motorcycle, a Harley Davidson Heritage Softtail Classic; on which he looks forward to exploring Virginia and surrounding states.

He views his new position here as an opportunity to apply his life and business experiences to the Lab's future. "I think of the Lab as a national asset. The people here have been breaking new ground for nearly two decades; and I think the people here today have poised the Lab for exciting times in our future," he said.

"Although the Lab mission is a change of focus for me, it's an opportunity to help improve processes and take things that are working well and make them even better. I've really enjoyed meeting the people who are at the heart of the Lab, seeing the machines and developing an understanding for everything we do here. I hope my work at the Lab will be beneficial for everyone."

By Judi Tull
Feature writer

 

'In their own words' with injector scientist Marcy Stutzman (top ^)

as told to Judi Tull

Injector

Marcy Stutzman is an injector scientist with the Accelerator Division Center for Injectors and Sources.

I grew up in the small town of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh. My dad worked at a steel mill and my mom was a nurse. My mother was of that generation where a career meant that she could be a nurse, teacher or secretary. But I think now that she would have made a good scientist if she'd had that option.

I went to public schools and, in my junior year in high school, I had an absolutely wonderful physics teacher. That changed my life. Physics made sense to me.

I was accepted at Penn State and received a full scholarship from my dad's employer, the Timken Company. They paid for all my classes, books, plus most of my room and board.

After my first year of school, I was accepted to a summer research program that introduced me to experimental physics research, which I enjoyed much more than my classes. During this summer program, I also met my future husband, Douglas Higinbotham, and decided to attend the University of Virginia for graduate school in part because he was there. I finished my Ph.D. at UVa in 2000, where I wrote my dissertation on ultra-low temperature studies of conductivity in silicon.

Doug and I moved to Newport News when Doug started his post-doc with MIT working in Hall A. During that time I taught at Thomas Nelson Community College and at Christopher Newport University. We both were hired as staff scientists here in 2001.

I really enjoy my work as a staff scientist with the Center for Injectors and Sources. I've always loved working with my hands as well as problem solving, and this job requires both. I work with the vacuum systems for the CEBAF photoguns and with the gallium arsenide photocathodes that are used to make the highly polarized electron beam for CEBAF. I am also involved with work on polarimeters to characterize photocathodes in our lab, which are then installed in the CEBAF. In the near future, the Injector Group will also be installing a new "load locked" gun in the tunnel that will enable us to change photocathodes more quickly and generate the electron beam in a chamber that has better vacuum, both of which should lead to more reliable operation of the photoguns.

The best part of working here is that every day is different, and it's always challenging. I get to do problem solving and thinking on paper as well as the actual mechanical work. I like bolting vacuum chambers together!

When I'm not at work my life is totally consumed with chasing our nearly-3-year-old son, Robert, around our home.

 

'In their own words' with Free-Electron Laser scientist Carlos Hernandez-Garcia (top ^)

as told to Judi Tull

Carlos Hernandez-Garcia

Carlos Hernandez-Garcia is the injector group leader in Jefferson Lab's Free-Electron Laser Division.

It would be easy to say that my career in physics has been largely due to luck, and that would be true. It's also true that I've worked very, very hard - especially since English is not my first language - to achieve what I have. I was born in a small town in Mexico, Jiquilpan, which in the indigenous tongue means "place of the blue blossom" because we have many trees with blue-purple flowers that blossom in the spring and cover the ground with a carpet of flowers.

I always knew I would work in some kind of physics. I'd been fascinated by science and with fixing things. My grandfather, my dad and my uncles are all dentists. As I grew up, my grandfather - who was the only dentist for miles around and also into amateur radio - showed me how he created some of his own instruments and taught me about vacuum tubes and antennae.

After high school I went to the Institute of Technology in Monterrey with the intention of studying physics engineering. But when I'd graduated I found it difficult to be admitted to a university in the United States for advanced studies because the tests were given in English and, in general, we Latin American students did not fare well.

Somewhat resigned, I took a job in Monterrey working for a non-profit organization that promotes science for young people. Through the president of that organization, I was fortunate enough to meet David Ernst, the head of the physics department at Vanderbilt University. David was very keen on Latin American students in physics because he had taught at the graduate level in Mexico City for a long time. He was willing to take a chance; he gave me and a student from Peru the opportunity to enter Vanderbilt as graduate students, on probation, with the opportunity to prove ourselves.

That was terrific, but I had no money, no sponsor, no scholarships. But luck was with me again: one of my uncles offered to pay my tuition and I was able to begin. At the end of my first semester, however, my uncle's business was not doing as well and I was suddenly without money again. When I told them at Vanderbilt that I'd have to leave they said, "We're not letting you go," and gave me a teaching assistantship.

Things were going very well with my studies, and it was time for me to think about my thesis project. I wanted to work on something powerful, and lasers were very popular. David Ernst directed me to Charlie Brau, who had been director of the Free-Electron Laser at Los Alamos in the mid-1980's and one of the biggest contributors in the FEL field. He was looking for an assistant to help build a tabletop FEL.

Another stroke of luck! I was very fortunate to have Charlie as my thesis adviser, because when I walked in the door I knew absolutely nothing about FELs. Those years were filled with a lot of hard work and a lot of learning, even though we were ultimately not able to build the tabletop FEL. My focus shifted to condensed matter, to understand how to produce the electron beam. I finished my thesis in 2001 with my dissertation: Photoelectric Field Emission From Needle Cathodes Induced by CW (Continuous Wave) and Pulsed Lasers.

During the time I was working on my Ph.D., I had attended FEL conferences and had met, among other people, Fred Dylla, Jefferson Lab's former chief technology officer and associate director for the FEL. Fred encouraged me to consider the Lab. I came here in September 2001. And, as has been the case for me, I feel privileged to work among the best people in the field.

I am currently the group leader for the FEL injector. This is an excellent match for me - between my thesis and work experience. It's all been above my expectations. I've become interested in things I never even thought about, such as accelerator physics. I'm coordinating the efforts to assemble an electron gun test stand, which is separate from the FEL gun, with a goal to produce an electron beam adequate for the 100 kilowatt FEL that's been proposed for the Navy. We continue to learn; we continue to push the technology.

I'm married and have two children. My wife, Scarlet, has a law degree and a master's in human resources development. We live in Yorktown and like to spend as much time outside as we can, going to parks and that sort of thing. We also enjoy trips, especially to Washington, D.C., to visit the museums. But our favorite thing is to spend time in the kitchen, cooking together - even the kids. They love it!

If I have an unfulfilled dream, it's that I would love to drive a Formula One race car; I've wanted to do that since I was a little kid. Formula One racing is very technical; I think that's why I like it. Plus, going real fast!

 

Students set new record using Education website during 2007 testing season (top ^)

A record number of Jefferson Lab's Science Education web pages were accessed this spring as students from Virginia and across the country prepared for springtime academic testing.

Steve Gagnon

Steve Gagnon, Science Education webmaster, posted the first version of JLab's Science Education website during the summer of 1995. This spring the website hit new high-use records for a 24-hour period and for a single month.

"Just 12 years ago we posted the first version of our Science Education website," recalls Steve Gagnon, Science Education webmaster. "We started out with a 'tour of the atom' and generic science education information; and had 166 pages accessed that first month. We thought we were doing great."

In one day during May 2007, approximately 3.5 million pages were accessed.

The number of Science Education web pages accessed over the years has steadily climbed - and at times jumped up dramatically. Use of the website hit new high levels after 2000 with the advent of Virginia's annual Standards of Learning testing. In an agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia's Department of Education, JLab developed and has continually managed and maintained a Standards of Learning web resource for elementary-, middle- and high-school students to use in preparing for the annual exams. The website allows students, teachers, parents - anyone with Internet access - to test their math, science and technology knowledge against the previously used SOL test questions.

It was also during 2000, that the Science Education website went live with its popular "Who Wants to Win $1,000,000" math and science quiz.

"May was our peak month this year" Gagnon notes, "with a record 59 million hits during that one month - averaging out to nearly 1.9 million pages accessed each day. The single highest-use day was May 14 - a few days after the expected peak - with a record 3.5 million pages accessed during a 24-hour period. Many schools across the Commonwealth conducted their SOL testing during May. We had never seen pages-accessed numbers that high before."

The website includes questions from the 2006 Virginia SOL tests, and includes questions going back to 2000. Test categories include 3rd grade math and science; 5th grade math, science and technology; 6th and 7th grade math; 8th grade math, science and technology; and high school algebra I & II, geometry, earth science, and chemistry.

The interactive design of the site lets a person request 10, 20, or 40 random, multiple-choice questions from a single category. Or if a teacher wants the class to review a series of specific subcategories, the teacher can have the students go to JLab's SOL index page and make an assigned series of selections from the 'options' offered. Then all of the students will go through the same fixed set of questions. "We think this feature is very useful," Gagnon comments. Participants are told immediately if their response is right or wrong.

To check out the Jefferson Lab Education web page for these and other games and activities, visit http://education.jlab.org/ . To access the SOL practice tests or to play the $1,000,000 math and science quiz, click on the Games & Puzzles icon.

"Testing season is effectively over now," Gagnon says. "During the summer we serve between 150,000 and 170,000 pages daily."

"Our website server never actually crashed during the active test season," Gagnon adds, "but it was running at full capacity for a few weeks. We won't survive next year's peak with the current arrangement. I hope to discuss options with the IT Division."

 

Milestones late-June through mid-July 2007 (top ^)

Hello

Robert Danforth, Radiological Control Technologist, Environment, Safety, Health & Quality Division
Robert Ewing, Radiological Control Technologist, ESH&Q Division
Michelle Folts, Electronic Media Student Intern, Information Technology Division
Charles Garrison, Journeyman/Master Electrician, Engineering Division
Judith Hill, Radiological Control Technologist, ESH&Q Division
Brian Jump, Computer Center Technical Student, Information Technology Division
Gretchen Kadesch, Human Resources Consultant, Office of the Chief Operating Officer
Valery Kubarosky, Hall B Staff Scientist, Physics Division
Melody Prior, CFO Assistant, Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Shyla Thomas, Student Aide, Engineering Division
Vaclav Vylet, Radiation Control Manager, ESH&Q Division

Goodbye

Audrey Daly, Technical Writer, ESH&Q Division
Christina Krasche, ES&H Manual Document Assistant, ESH&Q Division

These Milestone entries, listed alphabetically, are actions posted by Human Resources from late-June through mid-July 2007. Current JLab career opportunities are posted at: http://www1.jlab.org/mis/jobline/

DOE announces two management job openings (top ^)

— The Department of Energy's Office of Science seeks highly qualified candidates to fill its Deputy for Programs position (Announcement #SES-SC-HQ-013 (kd)).

The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, with a 2007 budget of $3.8 billion. It oversees the nation's research programs in high-energy and nuclear physics, basic and fusion energy sciences, and biological, environmental and computational sciences. The Office of Science is the federal government's largest single funder of materials and chemical sciences, and it supports unique and vital parts of U.S. research in climate change, geophysics, genomics, life sciences, and science education. The Office of Science also manages 10 world-class laboratories and oversees the construction and operation of some of the nation's most advanced R&D user facilities, located at national laboratories and universities. These include particle and nuclear physics accelerators, synchrotron light sources, nanoscale science research centers, neutron scattering facilities, bio-energy research centers, supercomputers and high-speed computer networks.

The Deputy for Programs provides scientific and management oversight of the six program offices by ensuring program activities are strategically conceived and executed; formulating and defending the Office of Science budget request; establishing policies, plans, and procedures related to the management of the program offices; ensuring the research portfolio is integrated across the program offices with other DOE program offices and other federal agencies; and representing the organization and make commitments for the DOE in discussions and meetings with high-level government and private sector officials.

To apply for this position, see the announcement and application instructions at http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/ses.asp under the vacancy announcement of # SES-SC-HQ-013 (kd). Candidates are asked to submit their online applications by August 29.

— The Department of Energy's Office of Science seeks highly qualified candidates to fill its Office of Science for Biological and Environmental Research Associate Director position (Announcement # SES-SC-HQ-014 (kd)).

With an annual budget of more than $500 million, the BER program is the nation's leading program devoted to applications of biology to bio-energy production and use and to environmental remediation. The BER program supports major research programs in genomics, proteomics, systems biology, and environmental remediation. The program is also one of the nation's leading contributors to understanding the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, aerosols, and atmospheric particulates on global climate change.

The Director of Biological and Environmental Research is responsible for all strategic program planning in the BER program; budget formulation and execution; management of the BER office including a federal workforce of more than 30 technical and administrative staff; program integration with other Office of Science activities and with the DOE technology offices; and interagency integration. Qualified candidates are asked to submit their online applications by Sept. 5.

These positions are within the ranks of the U.S. government's Senior Executive Service (SES); members of the SES serve in key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. To be considered for these positions you must apply online. It is important that you follow the instructions as stated in the announcements.

 

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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