On Target June/July 2014

CEBAF Commissioning Milestones Culminate With First Beams to New Experimental Hall on May 7

Commissioning Milestones During Spring Run

The accelerator crew on hand for the beam-on-target achievement on April 1 included (l-r) Crew Chief Mike McCaughan, Accelerator Operators Dan Moser and Brandi Cade. Yves Roblin was the Accelerator Physics Experimental Liaison for the Hall A beamline, Accelerator Scientist Yan Wang recorded and provided insight into machine performance, and Program Deputy Arne Freyberger ran the show.

During the newly upgraded CEBAF accelerator’s brief run early this year, a number of important milestones were achieved. These were critical steps in beginning the commissioning of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility and were needed before the restart of experimental operations following the machine's first major upgrade, dubbed the 12 GeV Upgrade.
                                     
Highlights of these efforts and the upgrade project were synopsized in an article titled “CEBAF delivers first beams following upgrade” published in the July/August issue of the CERN Courier, and are excerpted here.

“CEBAF is an electron-accelerator facility that employs superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) technology to investigate the quark structure of the nucleus. The first large-scale application of SRF technology in the U.S., it was originally built to circulate electrons through 1–5 passes to provide 4 GeV electron beams. As a result of the operators’ experience in running the machine at its peak potential, the original installation eventually achieved operational energies of 6 GeV (billion electron-volts) (CERN Courier October 2000 p9).......... more


TEDF Project Team Garners DOE Award

TEDF awardMembers of the project team that led the way for construction of Jefferson Lab's Technology and Engineering Development Facility (TEDF) have a vivid analogy for what it was like to bring the project to completion...... more

 

JSA Awards $420K for FY14 Initiatives Fund Program

tech centerJefferson Sciences Associates (JSA) announced the award of $420,000 to support projects related to education, outreach and career development ...... more

 

Duke University Research Associate Receives Grant for Detector Development at JLab

Zhihong Ye“I have always loved to do projects,” says Zhihong Ye, a research associate with Duke University...... more


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CEBAF Commissioning Milestones Culminate With First Beams to New Experimental Hall on May 7

Commissioning Milestones During Spring Run

In the Hall A Counting House, where experiments are monitored as they run, the two graduate students awaiting the delivery of beam to the experimental hall on April 1 were Longwu Ou, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Mongi Diamini, Ohio University.

During the newly upgraded CEBAF accelerator’s brief run early this year, a number of important milestones were achieved. These were critical steps in beginning the commissioning of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility and were needed before the restart of experimental operations following the machine's first major upgrade, dubbed the 12 GeV Upgrade.
                                     
Highlights of these efforts and the upgrade project were synopsized in an article titled “CEBAF delivers first beams following upgrade” published in the July/August issue of the CERN Courier, and are excerpted here.

“CEBAF is an electron-accelerator facility that employs superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) technology to investigate the quark structure of the nucleus. The first large-scale application of SRF technology in the U.S., it was originally built to circulate electrons through 1–5 passes to provide 4 GeV electron beams. As a result of the operators’ experience in running the machine at its peak potential, the original installation eventually achieved operational energies of 6 GeV (billion electron-volts) (CERN Courier October 2000 p9).

In May 2012, the accelerator was shut down for its 12 GeV Upgrade (CERN Courier November 2012 p30). This $338-million project, which doubles CEBAF’s maximum energy, includes the construction of a fourth experimental hall (Hall D), as well as upgrades to equipment in the three existing halls (Halls A, B and C) (CERN Courier April 2009 p15).

Accelerator operators began the painstaking task of bringing the accelerator back online last December. By Feb. 5, they had achieved the full upgrade-energy acceleration of 2.2 GeV in one pass through the machine. Then on April 1, the operators exceeded CEBAF’s previous maximum energy. The accelerator delivered three-pass, 6.11-GeV electron beams with 2 nA average current onto a target in Hall A, and recorded the first data of the 12-GeV era, holding the pattern for more than an hour.

The operators continued to push the upgraded machine, and early on 7 May the energy was increased to 10.5 GeV through the entire 5.5 passes. In the last minutes of the day, 10.5 GeV beam was delivered into the new Hall D complex. Having met all of the major milestones in the 12 GeV project for the Department of Energy approval step, Critical Decision-4A (Accelerator Project Completion and Start of Operations), staff and users are now looking forward to demonstration of 12 GeV energy and beam delivery to Jefferson Lab’s experimental halls for commissioning and the start of experiments.

Lab Director Hugh Montgomery praised the efforts of the many Jefferson Lab staff members who made this accomplishment a reality. “It’s really appreciated the way you have worked together and, in particular, the safe way in which you have pulled this off,” he said.

The accelerator was shut down at 10:56 p.m. on May 11 so summer shutdown work could begin.

More information about these commissioning achievements is available in the following articles:

CEBAF Accelerator Achieves Major Step Toward 12 GeV Upgrade Commissioning (April 3, 2014):
https://www.jlab.org/news/ontarget/target-junejuly-2014#Story2

Beam On Target! CEBAF Accelerator Achieves 12 GeV Commissioning Milestone (April 14, 2014):
https://www.jlab.org/news/releases/beam-target-cebaf-accelerator-achieves-12-gev-commissioning-milestone

CEBAF Beam Goes Over the Hump Highest-Energy Beam Ever Delivered at Jefferson Lab (May 14, 2014):
https://www.jlab.org/news/releases/cebaf-beam-goes-over-hump-highest-energy-beam-ever-delivered-jefferson-lab

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TEDF Project Team Garners DOE Award

TEDF Project Team Garners DOE Award

Pictured from left: Thomas Jefferson Site Office Federal Project Director Rick Korynta holds the 2013 DOE Secretarial Achievement Award , which was presented to the Jefferson Lab Technology and Engineering Development Facility project management team on March 26 at the DOE Project Management Workshop. Also on hand to accept the award was Rebecca Yasky, TEDF project manager; and Rusty Sprouse (second from right), JLab Facilities Management and Logistics manager. Presenting the award is: David Klaus, DOE Deputy Under Secretary for Management (center) and Chris Ackerman, DOE Office of Science program manager. DOE photo

Members of the project team that led the way for construction of Jefferson Lab's Technology and Engineering Development Facility (TEDF) have a vivid analogy for what it was like to bring the project to completion. Imagine, they say, changing a tire on your car…while it’s rolling down the highway at 60 miles an hour…or, perhaps, renovating your kitchen while preparing a full Thanksgiving Day dinner for a crowd.

The team’s dedication and hard work paid off on March 26, when the team received a Secretary’s Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of Energy. The award, presented at a DOE Project Management Workshop held near Arlington, Va., cited the group’s ability to deliver “a facility that will advance unique capabilities in superconducting accelerator technology and cryogenics at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.”

Facilities Management and Logistics Manager Rusty Sprouse, TEDF Project Manager Rebecca Yasky and Federal Project Director Rick Korynta, of the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson Site Office, accepted the award plaque from DOE Deputy Undersecretary for Management and Performance, David Klaus.

Korynta was also honored as the DOE Office of Science’s Project Director of the Year for his actions and service on the TEDF project.

Other members of the TEDF Core Integrated Project Team included Tenant Committee Chair Evelyn Akers and Dennis Miner, of the Project Management Office. Yasky took over as TEDF project manager after Keith Royston, who held the position initially, left the lab in February 2013.

The $73.2-million project, which was completed in the fall of 2013, presented some particular challenges, such as maintaining critical operations in and around the construction zone for three years. The project required not only a significant amount of new construction but also the demolition and renovation of antiquated, inefficient technical and lab space into a cohesive, state-of-the-art scientific facility.

“Further complicating matters,” the team wrote in their application for the award, “demolition, renovation and construction all had to be done adjacent to ongoing highly sensitive operations required for cryomodule fabrication for the lab’s 12 GeV CEBAF Upgrade Project.”

Because the Test Lab building was so old, Korynta pointed out, no configuration documentation was available for the interior or exterior of the existing building. It had originally been built for NASA in 1965, and then in the 1980s it was retrofitted for the lab’s use. Due to changing processes and age, the building had an inefficient layout, poor workflow, building code deficiencies and antiquated mechanical and utilities systems.

“This presented additional challenges,” he explained. “We didn’t know where anything was. Every time we put a shovel in the ground, we hit something – old phone lines, electrical wires, cooling pipes, even hunks of wood from old duct banks.”

“There were a lot of unforeseen conditions,” Yasky concurred.

The project required a delicate and complex balance between demolition, construction, renovation and operations, the team pointed out in the application. Maintaining this balance required phased execution, extensive integration and seamless communication. For instance, utility piping was installed at night above the cryomodule assembly areas, where critical work occurred during the day. During the Test Lab renovation phase, cryomodule testing was conducted during second and third shifts while the contractor worked during the day. In this way, the accelerator R&D work, and cavity and cryomodule assembly and testing activities continued in the Test Lab, so work on the 12 GeV Upgrade could proceed.

Despite the challenges the team faced, the TEDF was completed under cost and six months ahead of the project schedule. With more than 200,000 square feet of lab, office and common space, one of its most critical elements is how it transformed Jefferson Lab by establishing a central pedestrian corridor and moving traffic flow to the perimeter of the campus. In addition, the new and renovated facilities are now much more energy efficient and include geothermal, solar and water reuse systems. Best of all, its energy consumption per square foot of space is approximately half that of conventional buildings at the lab.

The U.S. Green Building Council awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Ratings to the Technology and Engineering Development building in December 2012 and to the renovated Test Lab building in January 2014. The project earned a design excellence award and a safety record award from the Engineering News Record, and a design award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

“With the completion of the TEDF project,” the DOE Secretary’s Achievement Award plaque reads, “TJNAF is well positioned to maintain and expand its world-leadership role in accelerator technologies. These achievements would not have been possible without the keen insight, dedication and professionalism of the TEDF project team.” The new complex provides Jefferson Lab staff, visiting scientists and students with state-of-the-art facilities for research in nuclear physics, accelerator science, applied nuclear science and technology and advanced instrumentation.

By Judi Tull
Feature writer 

Additional information:
--TEDF Project Earns Construction Industry Design & Safety Awards (Feb. 2014):
https://www.jlab.org/news/ontarget/target-february-2014#Story3
--Jefferson Lab Marks Opening of $73.2M Tech and Engineering Facility (Dec. 2013):
https://www.jlab.org/news/ontarget/target-december-2013#Story1
--TED Earns LEED Sustainability Certification: (Dec. 2012)
https://www.jlab.org/news/ontarget/target-december-2012#sustainability

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JSA Awards $420K for FY14 Initiatives Fund Program

Jefferson Sciences Associates (JSA) announced the award of $420,000 to support projects related to education, outreach and career development to staff and users at Jefferson Lab.

Since 2006, JSA, which operates and manages Jefferson Lab for the Department of Energy, has provided more than $3.8 million to support almost 200 projects under its JSA Initiatives Fund program. The Initiatives Fund supports programs, initiatives and activities that further the scientific outreach, and promote the science, education and technology missions of Jefferson Lab in ways that complement its basic and applied research focus. Program funds also support activities of the lab’s extended users community.

The program is managed and administered by the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA), a consortium of more than 60 universities, for the JSA Programs Committee.

“The JSA Initiatives Fund program has enabled many diverse projects that have added value to the lab’s programs and have helped to further cultivate the scientific endeavors of the User Community,” said Hugh Montgomery, JSA president and Jefferson Lab director.

The FY14 Initiatives Fund Program includes new awards for 27 projects. More than half of the award funds support the education and outreach programs at Jefferson Lab. The remaining awards support postdoctoral career development, other lab programs, Jefferson Lab users initiatives and activities, and several topical science meetings.

“One of the important features of the Initiatives Fund Program is that its funds are often matched with other source funding. This year, almost $400,000 in matching and contributing funds have been committed with the new awards, making it possible to stretch Initiatives Fund dollars to support more proposals,” said 2014 evaluation committee chair, Elizabeth Beise, University of Maryland, who also commended the JSA owners for their continued support of the program.

SURA President & CEO Jerry Draayer and PAE Applied Technologies President Paul Branske noted that the investment in the Initiatives Fund Program allows Jefferson Lab and its users to engage more effectively in many educational, scientific, technical, and outreach activities that contribute to the Lab’s overall ability to accomplish its mission. SURA and PAE Applied Technologies jointly own JSA.

The full text of the March 25 JSA news release, including specific programmatic IF awards, is online at: http://www.jsallc.org/news/JSAIF20140325.pdf

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Duke University Research Associate Receives Grant for Detector Development at JLab

Zhihong Ye

Zhihong Ye, a research associate at Duke University was named recipient of the 2014 Jefferson Science Associates Postdoctoral Research Grant during an award presentation at Jefferson Lab on June 3. He is using the $11,000 grant to build a prototype detector.

“I have always loved to do projects,” says Zhihong Ye, a research associate with Duke University and the recipient of the 2014 Jefferson Science Associates Postdoctoral Research Grant.

Ye has been working on research projects since he was a freshman at Lanzhou University in northwestern China. That love of hands-on projects – and the research to support them – paid off handsomely for Ye when he was awarded the JSA Postdoc Research Grant by the Jefferson Lab Users Group Board of Directors on June 3. The grant carries an award of $11,000, which is being used by Ye to develop a prototype scintillator fiber (SciFi) tracker – a new type of detector system.

In making the award, the Users Group Board judged each applicant on his or her record of accomplishment in physics, proposed use of the research grant and the likelihood of further accomplishments in the fields of research conducted at Jefferson Lab. The award was presented during the lab’s annual Users Group meeting, held June 2-4.

“This year’s entries included both novel and ambitious research plans, all of which were very well thought out,” said John Arrington, chair of the Users Group Board of Directors and group leader of the Medium Energy Physics Group at Argonne National Lab. “The committee found them extremely informative and interesting.”

“Zhihong’s proposed SciFi tracking detector will yield better isolation and reconstruction of e-p elastic scattering and thus a cleaner extraction of the form factors at very low Q2,” Arrington continued. “The detector will greatly benefit this timely measurement of the proton charge radius, adding to the technical benefits of this important measurement over previous extractions from electron scattering.”

The research grant, awarded annually since 2008, is one of the projects funded through the JSA Initiatives Fund program, which was established by Jefferson Science Associates to support programs, initiatives and activities that further the scientific outreach and promote the science, education and technology missions of Jefferson Lab in ways that complement its basic and applied research focus. Initiatives Fund awards are for those projects that benefit the lab’s user community and leverage the commitments of others.

As a youth, Ye’s first interest was in astronomy, a field he hoped to pursue. But, with only four schools in China granting degrees in astronomy, the competition for those spots is fierce. “I was never a very good student,” he recalls, “but I’m a good learner and I have a lot of ideas.”

So, instead, he entered Lanzhou University in 2001 and majored in theoretical physics; he graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree in June 2005. During those years, his undergraduate advisor, Bitao Hu, encouraged him to think about going on for his Ph.D. Hu had been a postdoc at Hampton University and provided the recommendation for Ye to be accepted there.

Ye first came to the U.S. in the summer of 2005. Working with Liguang Tang as his advisor at Hampton University, he began work in Hall C the following winter and in Hall B the following year.  In 2010, he joined the University of Virginia and worked with his advisor Donal Day on the thesis project “Short-Range Correlation at large x (Experiment E08014 in Hall A). Ye received his Ph.D. in Experimental Nuclear Physics in 2013. Now at Duke University, he works under the supervision of Haiyan Gao.

Since November 2013, he has been working in Hall A performing the Geant4 simulation and detector R&D with colleagues to design the new Solenoidal Large Intensity Device (SoLID). They are designing new detector systems, studying each detector’s performance and estimating the overall event rates and background sources.

While working on the design for the new SciFi tracking detector for which he won the grant to build a prototype, he has also been working in Hall B, preparing the Proton Charge Radius (PRAD) experiment, designing triggers fot the experiment’s data acquisition system and working with graduate students on the Monte Carlo simulation.

“I appreciate all I’ve learned,” he says, “and I appreciate this award. It will help me complete my experiment. Everyone has been so helpful. I have talked to many people, and no matter how busy they are, they will stop and help me. While working on several exciting projects, I have obtained extensive knowledge about nuclear physics, experimental techniques and, most importantly, the skills of problem solving and collaborating.”

“I plan to finish this prototype project in one year. If we prove it can work, then we’ll move to a full-size detector that I think could find its usefulness in many projects,” he adds.

“I could not have done this without the support of others,” he acknowledges. Among the many mentors and colleagues he credits, he is also grateful for the support of his wife, Zongwen Yang, who received a master’s degree in educational psychology at Virginia Tech. She is, he noted, particularly understanding of the long hours his work requires.

In the same week he learned that he’d received the JSA grant, the couple found out that their first child is expected in mid-October. “I am very lucky,” he said, smiling.

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Young Physicist from Syracuse University Receives 2014 Thesis Prize

Rakitha Beminiwattha

Rakitha Beminiwattha, a post-doctoral research associate with the Department of Physics at Syracuse University, was awarded the 2014 Jefferson Science Associates Thesis Prize during the Jefferson Lab Users Group Annual Meeting, held at the lab June 2-4. Beminiwattha’s thesis was based on his work on a large-installation experiment called Q-weak.

As a youth growing up in Sri Lanka, Rakitha Beminiwattha was drawn to engineering, carrying a sketchbook around with him and designing electric cars. By the time he hit middle school, though, his interest turned, first, to astronomy and then to the physics and math that explain it all.

His favorite book, he recalled, was “The Inflationary Universe,” described as a compelling, first-hand account of Alan Guth’s paradigm-breaking discovery of the origins of the universe and his rise from young researcher to physics superstar.

Now, a young researcher at Syracuse University, Beminiwattha is involved in design work for two experiments being planned to run at Jefferson Lab, and he was recently recognized for work he did at the lab while pursuing his Ph.D. at Ohio University. He received the 2014 Jefferson Science Associates Thesis Prize during the annual Users Group meeting held June 2-4. His thesis, titled “First Determination of the Weak Charge of the Proton Through Parity Violating Electron Scattering,” was written on his work in data acquisition, software development and data analysis for the Q-weak experiment. He received his Ph.D. in nuclear and particle physics from OU in 2013.

“My data analysis work focused on the extraction of the physics asymmetry from part of the accumulated data and applies background and radiative corrections to obtain the 21 percent measurement of the weak charge of the proton,” Beminiwattha explained.

He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Peradeniya in Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, an experience he acknowledges was not initially easy.

“I didn’t do really well in my university qualifying exams,” he noted, “and I barely made it into the university. But once I got there, things really took off for me.”

The university traditionally offers a three-year degree. Fewer than a dozen of the 200 students in each class are selected to complete a four-year degree, and Beminiwattha was one of them. His final two years were focused on theoretical physics and quantum mechanics. Toward the end of his time there, he was fortunate enough to come under the tutelage of Upali Karunasiri, who mentored and guided him as he looked toward the future. During the year after his graduation, he worked as a teaching assistant, managing a laboratory for first-year students.

He first came to the United States in 2007 to begin his Ph.D. work at Ohio University. The small college town of Athens, Ohio, was a surprise. “The America we know in Sri Lanka is from the movies,” he said with a laugh. “This was very, very different.”

Through high school and college, he intended to pursue solid state physics, but the small accelerator at Ohio University piqued his interest. As he learned more about it – and about the existence of Jefferson Lab – he became intrigued by the idea of working for a national lab. In the summer of 2009, he and his wife, Buddhini Waidyawansa, moved to Newport News. She has a postdoctoral position working in simulation and design in Hall C.

Beminiwattha had served as the student representative on the JLab Users Group Board of Directors, which is how he became aware of the thesis prize. He waited, he said, until the very last minute to submit it, after his advisor encouraged him to send it in. “This is a really big deal, to win this,” he said.

The prize is awarded for the best Ph.D. student thesis on research related to Jefferson Lab science and includes a $2,500 cash award and a commemorative plaque.

"As is usual, the quality of the theses nominated for the JSA Thesis Prize presented a challenge in selecting a winner,” said John Arrington, chair of the Jefferson Lab Users Group Board of Directors and group leader of the Medium Energy Physics Group at Argonne National Lab. “This year’s entries represented the impressive physics programs being carried out in Jefferson Lab’s experimental halls, as well as in the theory group."

“The Users Group Board performed the first round of review, narrowing the field to the top three candidates.  The winner was selected by this year’s panel of distinguished judges: Ron Ransome, Rutgers University; Bill Briscoe, George Washington University; and Rocco Schiavilla, Old Dominion University/Jefferson Lab. Our thanks go to the distinguished committee members, the users who nominated the theses and supervised the excellent work these students performed, and as always, the Jefferson Science Associates Initiatives Fund, which supports this prize."

“I love the work I’m doing now,” Beminiwattha said. “I’m currently involved with designing two 12 GeV era experiments. The first experiment is the parity violating asymmetry measurement of lead (Pb) to determine the neutron radius (PREX), and the second experiment is the proposed Solenoidal Large Intensity Device experiment (SoLID). SoLID has a broad range of physics measurement capabilities including but not limited to a test of the Standard Model, spin structure of nucleons, and hadronic physics related to QCD.”

“Currently, my main responsibilities in the PREX experiment include optimizing collimation to reduce background contamination. For the SoLID experiment, my main goal is to understand the background contributions to the main detectors and to find methods to minimize them.”

The Thesis Prize was established in 1999 by the Southeastern Universities Research Association and is now one of many projects supported by the JSA Initiatives Fund program, which was established by Jefferson Science Associates to support programs, initiatives and activities that further the scientific outreach and promote the science, education and technology missions of Jefferson Lab in ways that complement its basic and applied research focus. Initiatives Fund awards are for those projects that benefit the lab’s user community and leverage the commitments of others.

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Lab Earns 7th Consecutive Award for Exemplary Environmental Stewardship

Award for Exemplary Environmental Stewardship

Patty Hunt (left to right), Thomas Jefferson Site Office Environmental Management program manager; Scott Conley, environmental engineer, ESH&Q Division; and Bill Mooney, Sustainability and Energy manager, paused for a moment to be photographed with the 2013 HRSD platinum award. The award plaques are on display in the Support Service Center lobby, Bldg. 28.

Jefferson Lab was recognized by the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) on May 8, for its sustained, outstanding environmental compliance.

The lab received a Platinum Achievement Award for its “exemplary compliance record for greater than five consecutive years of continued perfect compliance. The award demonstrates the laboratory’s commitment to environmental excellence,” noted Joe Arango, Thomas Jefferson Site Office (TJSO) manager, in a letter to Lab Director Hugh Montgomery. “Congratulations to you and your staff for a job well done.”

The lab was among five organizations that earned a 2013 HRSD Platinum Achievement Award for perfect permit compliance for seven consecutive years (2007-2013). This placed the lab among the top 25 organizations among the 140-plus cities, industries, and other public and private entities recognized by HRSD for exemplary compliance with their environmental permits and outstanding pollution prevention efforts.

During the awards event, held in Norfolk, Hampton Roads Sanitation District General Manager, Ted Henifin, said, “The continued hard work and commitment of these businesses and industries will help HRSD ensure that future generations will inherit clean waterways and be able to keep them clean.”

Henifin was joined by David Paylor, director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, in recognizing the many award recipients at this year’s event.

Representing Jefferson Lab at the awards reception was Scott Conley, ESH&Q Division, and Patty Hunt, TJSO Site Office Environmental Management program manager.

This award reflects the lab’s continued commitment and dedication to carrying out our pollution prevention and spill protection programs, according to Bill Rainey, JLab's Environmental, Safety and Health Programs manager. "Permit compliance is a constant priority and this sustained level of performance is only possible because the line organizations understand their critical role and take this responsibility seriously," he said.

In addition to “sanitation” pollution prevention, Jefferson Lab’s sustainability initiatives also include atmospheric pollution prevention (i.e., greenhouse gases), and reduction of solid-waste pollution. Annually, the lab recycles or diverts approximately 90 percent of its non-hazardous solid waste – preventing it from winding up in area landfills, according to Bill Mooney, Sustainability and Energy manager.

Contact Rainey, ext. 7898, or email wrainey@jlab.org, for information about the lab's Environmental Management System, which includes pollution prevention and spill protection activities and efforts. He would also like to be informed about lab improvements and advancements underway in any area of sustainability and environmental compliance.

HRSD serves a population of 1.6 million in 17 cities and counties in southeastern Virginia. Its 13 treatment plants can handle up to 249 million gallons of wastewater every day.

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Maintenance & Cleaning Firm Earns Small Business Award for 2013

Small Business Award for 2013

Prestige Maintenance staff (left to right) Sandra Coltrain, Operations Managers John Harmon and Tom Harmon and Project Manager Evelyn Moragne EL accept the JSA 2013 Outstanding Small Business Subcontractor Award trophy from Jefferson Lab Chief Operating Officer, Mike Dallas.

Prestige Maintenance, Inc., the small, disadvantaged HUBZone company that handles the cleaning and housekeeping services for Jefferson Lab, was named winner of the Jefferson Science Associates 2013 Outstanding Small Business Subcontractor Award.

The business, with corporate offices in Oklahoma City, Okla., and a satellite office in Newport News, was first awarded Jefferson Lab’s janitorial services multi-year subcontract in 2005 and was again the successful awardee in 2011. The contract requires Prestige to provide all management, labor, materials and equipment in conjunction with the cleaning and housekeeping services it provides for 40 buildings at the lab.

Prestige was selected for the subcontractor award by Jefferson Lab’s small business advocacy team. It was selected from the dozens of small businesses that provided services or products to the lab during fiscal year 2013. The initial list was shortened to the top 53 subcontractors, then to the top six finalists, according to Danny Lloyd, Jefferson Lab’s Small Business Program manager.

The purpose of the award program is to recognize and reward the top-performing small firms doing business with Jefferson Lab, according to Lloyd. Any small business, including woman-owned, veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran, HUBZone, or disadvantaged business doing work for the lab may be considered for the award. This marked the 23rd year that the lab has presented the award.

Senior Jefferson Lab and Department of Energy managers presented the award to management representatives and key employees from Prestige Maintenance at a reception held at the lab on April 25.

Department of Energy Deputy Site Manager Scott Mallette congratulated the company and remarked on the importance of the work it does at the lab. “Your work has been very much noticed,” he said. “The qualities that distinguished your company included your dedicated team, safety consciousness, use of environmentally friendly products and quality service.”

Mike Dallas, the lab’s chief operating officer, presented the distinctive trophy to Prestige Maintenance operations managers Tom Harmon and John Harmon and on-site project manager, Evelyn Moragne EL, saying, “Even though our mission is nuclear physics, it takes a team to do our work. We appreciate what you do for us.”

Jefferson Lab Subcontracting Officer's Technical Representative (SOTR) Mike Lewellen said that Prestige Maintenance has distinguished itself in its adaptability to the lab’s changing environment. “Prestige continues to effectively demonstrate its ability to respond to and manage a multitude of immediate-action cleaning tasks and emergency service calls, including room configurations for meetings, set up for special events, Test Lab cleanrooms, classrooms, top-down cleaning and sanitizing the cafeteria, construction cleaning and special cleaning jobs,” he noted. “During the lab’s construction and renovation work, they accomplished many after-hours special cleaning requests, including coordinating with lab staff and construction management to comply with safety requirements.”

In addition, he pointed out that the company promotes safety at every opportunity through individual behavior and teamwork and by providing safe-work leadership by example. Prestige is also a major contributor to environmental efforts by employing effective procedures, products and equipment designed to reduce environmental concerns while maintaining superior performance.

During fiscal year 2013, through daily separation of solid waste from recyclable materials and paper and corrugated cardboard, Prestige waste reduction and recycling efforts helped the lab divert 93 percent of its waste from the landfill, according to Lewellen.

“This award means a lot to us, to our company and to our president, Lorenzo Henderson,” Tom Harmon said. “We’re honored to receive an award like this and especially to see our staff acknowledged in this way. It’s a great day for Prestige.”

Moragne EL and day-shift cleaner, Sandy Coltrain, were also on hand to accept the award. They represented the company’s staff of 15 who works at Jefferson Lab. They also singled out night supervisor Helen McCright for special praise.

Locally, Prestige Maintenance also provides grounds maintenance at Ft. Eustis and at Langley Air Force Base.

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DOE Hosts Accelerator Safety Workshop, Aug. 5-7

The Department of Energy is sponsoring the 2014 Accelerator Safety Workshop (ASW), which will be held at the DOE Germantown Campus Aug. 5-7. The DOE accelerator community works hard every year to encourage and improve communication across the DOE complex, especially across the DOE accelerator community, according to Bob May, Jefferson Lab EHS&Q deputy.

The September 2013 annual workshop was conducted as a video teleconference with an emphasis on improving readiness, he noted. The resulting communications across the community recently led to the development of a new Order (DOE 420.2C), a new Guide (DOE 420.2-2), and a draft technical standard to address the clearance of material from accelerator facilities.

According to May, the intent of the 2014 ASW is to continue sharing experience and gaining consensus on how safety systems are efficiently applied to accelerator facilities and to share lessons learned from the readiness review process and accelerator commissioning effort, as well as accelerator operations, maintenance and decommissioning or re-purposing.

The workshop atmosphere is informal, and open discussion is encouraged throughout. Individuals interested in attending or wanting more information, may contact Harry Fanning or Bob May, Jefferson Lab’s representatives on the workshop organizing committee, or visit the webpage at: http://bnl.gov/asw2014/.

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DOE Sponsors Food Drive Through July 31

 Foodbank of the Virginia Peninsula

The Department of Energy is again participating in the “Feds Feed Families” food drive. The DOE encourages its federal employees to volunteer by collecting food for those in need. Since the campaign began in 2009, federal workers have donated and collected 24.1 million pounds of food and other non-perishable items to support families across America.

At Jefferson Lab, the Thomas Jefferson Site Office (TJSO) is collecting donations from its federal employees to benefit the Foodbank of the Virginia Peninsula.  There is no expectation of Jefferson Lab employee participation in this program, although anyone wishing to contribute may do so.

If interested, items most needed include: canned meats (fish, ham, chicken, beef stew, etc.), canned fruits and vegetables, complete meals (boxed meals, pasta and sauce, mac and cheese, etc.), boxed cereals, rice, granola bars, peanut butter, and hygiene products (shampoo, tooth paste, deodorant, soap, diapers). Please don't bring items in glass containers.

Marked donation boxes for non-perishable food items are located in the CEBAF Center lobby through July 31. For more information on Feds Feed Families, please go to their website at:

Feds Feed Families or contact Steve Neilson at ext. 7215.

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Lab Architect Appointed to State Board

Christine Snetter

Christine Snetter, an architect with Facilities Management and Logistics, was among four individuals appointed to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Certified Interior Designers, Land Surveyors and Landscape Architects.

On Dec. 20, 2013 the governor’s office announced appointments to 17 Virginia boards and commissions. Among those appointments was a member of Jefferson Lab’s staff.

Christine Snetter, an architect with Facilities Management and Logistics, was among four individuals appointed to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Certified Interior Designers, Land Surveyors and Landscape Architects.

Snetter was initially sworn in during a ceremony in December at the court house in New Kent and sworn in again in the spring under the new administration. She will serve on the board for a term of four years. The first meeting of the board was held on Feb. 12 in Richmond. She has served on several boards of this type in the past.

“The citizens of the Commonwealth will undoubtedly benefit from your commitment to share your time and talents in public service. I hope you derive personal satisfaction knowing that your contributions are helping to build ‘A Commonwealth of Opportunity’ for all Virginians,” wrote Courtney Groves Winters, director of appointments for the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, in a letter notifying Snetter of the appointment.

 

 

 

 

 

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Milestones for March - May 2014

Hello
Krishna Adhikari, HDice Technical Support, Experimental Nuclear Physics Division
Marc Charette, Computer Center Student Intern, Information Technology Division
Edward “Scott” Conley; Environmental Engineer; Environment, Safety, Health & Quality Division
Jeanette Covington, Budget Analyst, Chief Financial Officer Division
Lindsey DeHart, Computer Center Student Intern, Information Technology Division
Gagik Gavalian, Staff Scientist, Experimental Nuclear Physics Division
Virginia Hagen-Gates, Superconducting Magnet Engineer Co-Op Student, Engineering Division
Evan Hoye, Facilities Mechanical Technician, Facilities Management and Logistics Division
William Oliver, Cryogenics Mechanical Design/Operations Engineer, Engineering Division
Mike Robbins, Public Affairs Associate, Chief Operating Officer Division
David Schleeper, Cryogenics Mechanical Design/Operations Engineer, Engineering Division
Andrew Seitz, Technical Student Intern, Information Technology Division
Amy Sy; MuPlus Postdoc; Accelerator Operations, Research and Development Division
Wayne Williams, Facilities Mechanical Technician, Facilities Management and Logistics Division
Jameelah Young, HelpDesk Technical Student Intern, Information Technology Division

Goodbye
Mark Bear, Experimental Nuclear Physics Division
Michael Brown; Environment, Safety, Health & Quality Division
Thomas Grummell, Engineering Division
Alcatrous Johnson, Experimental Nuclear Physics Division
Paul Judd, Information Technology Division
Michelle Lechman, Chief Operating Officer Division
Jeanine Leung; ESH&Q Division
Anthony Lumanog, Facilities Management and Logistics Division
Kelly Mahoney, Engineering Division
Troy Mattox, Information Technology Division
Charlene Polk, Chief Financial Officer Division
Gary Slack, Engineering Division
Sharon Williams, Chief Financial Officer Division

These Milestone entries are full-time, term, casual and student actions provided by Human Resources and listed alphabetically for March - May 2014.

Jefferson Lab is currently seeking qualified individuals for 30 positions including scientific, postdoctoral fellow, engineering, technical, information technology, management, and co-op and student intern positions. All current employment opportunities are posted at: https://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_jeffersonlab/external/search.do

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In Memoriam:
Lab Community Mourns Passing of Long-time Staff Member and Engineer, G. Arnold

Gregory A. “Greg” Arnold

Greg Arnold, a senior systems coordinator in the Engineering Division, passed away on April 9.

Gregory A. “Greg” Arnold, a senior systems coordinator in the Engineering Division, passed away on April 9. He had been a member of the Jefferson Lab staff for 26 years. He worked in the Accelerator Division for many years before moving into the Engineering Division upon its creation. He started working at the lab in 1988 as a radiofrequency/microwave associate before becoming a deputy group leader, and then a group leader before being promoted to senior systems coordinator in 2009.

A funeral service, led by Dr. Allen M. Davis, was held on April 17 at Weymouth Funeral Home. The family received friends following the service. Interment was private.

Arnold worked for Hughes Aircraft Company for five years as a development engineer and then as an engineering associate at Los Alamos National Lab, N.M., before being hired early in the effort to build the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility.

In addition to his many work duties and responsibilities, he participated in Jefferson Lab safety activities, such as being a drill and response monitor for the lab’s first-ever Tornado Response Drill in 2008.

He attended the Cleveland Institute of Electronics, majoring in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, the University of New Mexico (EE), and Pima Community College (EE). He enjoyed golf and participated in the United Way’s Day of Caring events.

An obituary for Arnold was published in the April 15 issue of the Daily Press and posted online at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailypress/obituary.aspx?n=gregory-a-arnold&pid=170652564&fhid=14851

 

Lab Community Mourns Passing of Retired Environmental Engineer, L. Even

Linda L. Even

Linda Even, retired Jefferson Lab environmental engineer, passed away on May 24.

Linda L. Even, 62, passed away on May 24 at her home of 21 years in Newport News, due to metastatic breast cancer.

Born in Evanston, Ill., on Sept. 15, 1951, to Mary Ann (Ziegele) and Paul Arthur Even, she grew up in Skokie, Ill., attending St. Peter’s Catholic School and Niles East High School. After graduating high school in 1969, she attended Illinois State University at Normal for two years – intending to be a teacher – before deciding to follow a technical education at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Working part time to support this change in goals, she graduated from the NU Technological Institute with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Engineering in 1977.

From 1977 to 1993, she worked at Fermi National Accelerator Lab in Batavia, Ill., where she progressed from energy conservation and architectural services to the chairmanship of the Fermilab Engineering Policy Committee, the field liaison for construction and related environmental issues such as the Wetlands Mitigation for the $150M Main Injector Project, and the construction project manager for the assessment, planning, design, and construction of the site-wide radiation shielding upgrade. During this period, she earned a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering at IIT in 1988. In 1993 she moved to Jefferson Lab, where among many other things, she became responsible for environmental reporting to federal, state and local agencies.

In 2002, Even and her husband, Rolland Johnson, founded Muons, Inc., a private R&D company specializing in particle accelerators. After retiring from Jefferson Lab in 2010, she returned to working as the environmental engineer at Muons, Inc., a position she held until her death.

Even’s personal interests included tennis, volleyball, gardening, boating, opera and travel. She was an avid tennis player and often organized teams and leagues at peninsula tennis facilities (Hilton Tennis Club, where she served on the board; Riverside Wellness and Fitness Center and Centre Court) and the USTA. She was a supporter of many causes, including the Nature Conservancy and ACLU, and she was actively involved in Al-Anon.

A memorial and Catholic Mass were held on May 28, at Weymouth Funeral Home. Internment followed at St. Peter’s Church in Skokie, in June.

An obituary for Even was published in the May 28 issue of the Daily Press and posted online at: https://www.jlab.org/memo/lab-community-mourns-passing-l-even-former-environmental-engineer-memorial-set-6-8-pm-wednesday

 

Lab Community Mourns Passing of Newsletter Feature Writer, J. Tull

Judi Tull

Judi Tull, newsletter feature writer, passed away on May 26.

Judi Tull, 66, the Jefferson Lab newsletter feature writer, unexpectedly died from a heart attack on May 26. She had been the contract feature story writer for the OnTarget newsletter since the summer of 2000.

She had previously been a reporter for the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot, and for the past seven years had worked for a publication called “The Shopper,” in Chesapeake.

Her zest for life and indomitable spirit were celebrated by family, friends and relatives on May 30 at Peninsula Funeral Home, Newport News.

A Daily Press news article announcing her passing is online at: http://articles.dailypress.com/2014-05-27/news/dp-nws-judi-tull-obit-20140527_1_former-daily-press-writer-mistake

The obituary for her is online at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailypress/obituary.aspx?n=judi-tull&pid=171159294&fhid=4202

 

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The On Target newsletter is published monthly by the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), a nuclear physics research laboratory in Newport News, Virginia, operated by Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. Possible news items and ideas for future stories may be emailed to jlabinfo@jlab.org, or sent to the Jefferson Lab Public Affairs Office, Suite 15, 12000 Jefferson Avenue, Newport News, VA 23606

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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