Fermilab features

The annual DOE Project Management Achievement Awards recognize teams that have demonstrated significant results in completing projects within cost and schedule. Fermilab received two of the three given for Office of Science projects this year: one for the Muon g-2 Project and one for the Utilities Upgrade Project, both of which are key to the laboratory’s research programs.

A Fermilab group has found a way to simulate, using a quantum computer, a class of particles that had resisted typical computing methods. Their novel approach opens doors to an area previously closed off to quantum simulation in areas beyond particle physics, thanks to cross-disciplinary inspiration.

On April 17, Fermilab hosted its 12th STEM Career Expo. Roughly 1,000 high school students, parents and educators attended the event, where they had the opportunity to meet more than 150 STEM professionals from nearly 40 companies, professional associations and research centers.

In electrospinning, a positive charge is applied to liquidized material to create thin strands that eventually harden into a solid, fibrous material. Photo: Reidar Hahn

Fermilab scientists are preparing for future, high-power particle beams with a technological advance inspired by spinning sugar. It’s a new type of target — the material that beams collide with to produce other particles, such as neutrinos. The target is designed to be able to withstand the heat from high-intensity beams, expanding the potential of experiments that use them. Researching this new patent-pending technology already has led to a TechConnect Innovation Award and might have applications in the medical field.

On Feb. 26, a team on Fermilab’s MINERvA neutrino experiment gathered around a computer screen to officially conclude its data acquisition. Even with the data collection over, the work marches on. MINERvA now turns its attention to analyzing the data it has collected over the past nine years of its run.