Nigel Lockyer to step down as Fermilab director
The Fermi Research Alliance, which manages Fermilab on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, announced on Sept. 10 that Nigel Lockyer will step down after eight years as director of the lab.
Fermilab is America’s particle physics and accelerator laboratory. Our vision is to solve the mysteries of matter, energy, space and time for the benefit of all.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey receives award for early, groundbreaking work in science data management
Sloan Digital Sky Survey received the 2021 ACM SIGMOD Systems Award for its “early and influential demonstration of the power of data science to transform a scientific domain.” The award recognized the contributions of Fermilab’s Bill Boroski, Steve Kent and Brian Yanny, as well as several others, for work done from 2000 to 2008 on the database systems developed to distribute SDSS data.
DOE invests $13.7 million for research in data reduction for science
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced $13.7 million in funding for nine research projects that will advance the state of the art in computer science and applied mathematics. One of the recipients of this funding, Fermilab scientist Nhan Tran will lead a project to explore methods for programming custom hardware accelerators for streaming compression.
Bringing the whole self to science
The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science helps students and professionals find community.
Fermilab’s Chris Polly wins 1 of 10 Falling Walls Awards in physical sciences, remains finalist for Science Breakthrough of the Year 2021
Fermilab physicist and Muon g-2 co-spokesperson Chris Polly has won a Falling Walls Award in physical sciences, which honors researchers doing groundbreaking work in the observation and understanding of natural phenomena of the earth, atmosphere and space. Polly is being recognized for his contribution to the Muon g-2 collaboration. Its results earlier this year strengthened evidence of new physics beyond the Standard Model. He is also a finalist for Science Breakthrough of the Year 2021 in physical sciences.
DOE recognizes Fermilab building with award for energy efficiency
Fermilab has received the Building Envelope Campaign Award for the Industrial Center Building Addition’s energy-efficient design of windows, exterior walls and roofs. Fermilab is one of 14 awardees selected by the DOE.
Fermilab in the news
From Illinois Tech, September 16, 2021: Former Fermilab director and Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman had a portion of 33rd Street in Chicago renamed in his honor on Saturday, September 18, at an event hosted by IIT. Lederman won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics and is best known for his work on neutrino research. He was director of Fermilab from 1979 to 1989.
From the Cornell Chronicle, September 20, 2021: A collaboration of researchers led by Cornell has been awarded $22.5 million by the NSF to continue research needed to transform the brightness of electron beams. Fermilab scientists Sergei Nagaitsev and Sam Posen are part of the collaboration team working with Cornell to improve the performance and reduce the cost of accelerator technologies that would improve beams for tumor treatment, imaging individual atoms, instruments for wafer metrology, and the Large Hadron Collider.
From Discover Magazine, September 15, 2021: The the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) developed a survey in 2020 to gather information from QED-C member companies about their workforce needs. FermiLab research associate Ciaran Hughes and colleagues surveyed 57 companies involved in the incipient quantum industry to find out what kinds of skills they are looking for and those that are most in demand. This is the largest survey undertaken of the quantum industry and the results offer some surprises.