From Kane County Connects, Dec. 19, 2019: The results of a study on Fermilab’s economic impact in Illinois are out, and they demonstrate its substantial impact on the state, including job creation, procurement of goods and services, and increased earnings for Illinois households.

From UNICAMP, Dec. 19, 2019: Ana Amélia Machado e Ettore Segreto fazem parte da colaboração internacional Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, sediada no Fermilab, e são responsáveis pelo detector de neutrinos chamado ARAPUCA., abreviação de Argon R&D Advanced Program Unicamp.

Particle physics might seem too complex for young children, but educators are finding enthusiasm and understanding even among the “Sesame Street” set.

Fermilab scientist Joel Butler has been elected vice chair of its Executive Committee. He will begin as vice chair on Jan. 1, 2020, rotating to chair-elect in 2021 and chair in 2022.

The American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields has given its 2019 Early Career Instrumentation Award to two scientists on the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab. Ana Amelia Machado and Ettore Segreto, both of the University of Campinas in Brazil, are recognized for inventing and developing a photon sensor that is currently a baseline technology for the DUNE particle detector.

Spack, a software package management tool, was recognized with an R&D 100 Award in November. Developed for high-performance computing applications, Spack is used as an end-to-end development tool within the high-energy physics community. Fermilab is a contributor to Spack, whose initial development was led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Grab your cocoa or pumpkin spice — as today we examine what’s naughty and nice.

From New Scientist, Dec. 11, 2019: Fermilab scientist Dan Hooper is quoted in this article on what scientists mean when they talk about the Big Bang. The best evidence for the big bang is all around us in the cosmic microwave background, the radiation released once the universe had cooled sufficiently for atoms to form, when it was about 380,000 years old. And that is the point: everywhere in today’s universe was where the big bang was.

From DOE, Dec. 11, 2019: Secretary Brouillette served in the U.S. Army and has three decades of experience in both the public and private sector, most recently as the deputy secretary of energy.

Scientists on Fermilab’s MicroBooNE experiment have measured neutrino interactions on argon with unprecedented statistics and precision using data on the resultant muons — in particular, the muon’s momentum and angle. The experiment features the first liquid-argon time projection chamber with the resolution and statistics to carry out such a measurement. Researchers will use the result to improve simulations of neutrino interactions. These improvements are important for neutrino experiments in general, including the Short-Baseline Neutrino program experiments and the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, both hosted by Fermilab.