Fermilab’s Family Open House is a chance for the whole family to spend an afternoon learning about science in a hands-on way and have fun doing it. This year’s event, running from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10, will feature the Great Neutrino Hunt, live physics demonstrations, a memorial to Leon Lederman, and several activities for kids and their parents to enjoy.
Fermilab’s quantum program includes a number of leading-edge research initiatives that build on the lab’s unique capabilities as the U.S. center for high-energy physics and a leader in quantum physics research. On the tour, researchers discussed quantum technologies for communication, high-energy physics experiments, algorithms and theory, and superconducting qubits hosted in superconducting radio-frequency cavities.
Facio uses woven textiles to recreate the structure of the cosmos from astrophysical data. A textiles conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago, he sees parallels between an artist’s and a scientist’s work. Facio will be the fifth artist in the residency program, which Fermilab started in 2014.
The Humboldt Foundation invites awardees to undertake prolonged periods of research in collaboration with scientists in Germany and to promote scientific cooperation between research institutions in both Germany and their home country. During his upcoming visit, Eichten intends to continue to study the systematics of systems involving heavy quarks.
Fermilab’s Inclusivity Journal Club seeks answers to difficult social questions in science. A typical meeting includes physicists and postdoctoral researchers as well as non-science staff; students are also welcome to attend. Members read and discuss reports and peer-reviewed papers that address issues such as sexual harassment, implicit bias and best practices for expanding inclusivity.
Fermilab scientist Pushpa Bhat was recently elected to the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific society, as a representative for the Section on Physics. Her three-year term begins on Feb. 18. The AAAS Council establishes general policies for the association and reviews all of its programs.
For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that low-energy neutrinos can be thoroughly identified with a liquid-argon particle detector. The results, obtained with the ArgoNeuT experiment, are promising for experiments that use liquid argon to catch neutrinos, including the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.
After scanning in depth about a quarter of the southern skies for six years and cataloguing hundreds of millions of distant galaxies, the Dark Energy Survey will finish taking data on Jan. 9. DES scientists recorded data from more than 300 million distant galaxies. More than 400 scientists from over 25 institutions around the world have been involved in the project, hosted by Fermilab. The collaboration has already produced about 200 academic papers, with more to come.
Fermilab has finalized an agreement with construction firm Kiewit-Alberici Joint Venture to start pre-excavation work for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, which will house the enormous particle detectors for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. The South Dakota portion of the facility will be built a mile beneath the surface at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota.
Beard most recently served as senior director of corporate communications at Burson-Marsteller in Chicago, a leading global public relations firm, where he led the development and execution of communication and external affairs programs for Fortune 500 clients.