News at work

As I write this in mid-December there is no snow here – probably a trend – but people around me are singing “Let it Snow” and dreaming of a white Christmas. Snow is wonderful stuff, considering that it is “just” frozen water, but when you examine snowflakes you see beautiful crystalline forms usually with six-fold symmetry, and each one looks different.

To better align efforts in the ongoing LBNF/DUNE project, several organizational changes have recently been put in place. Read on to learn about changes in LBNF/DUNE project leadership.

Science Storytellers brings together two groups of innately curious individuals: scientists and children. In the Science Storytellers program, kids act as science journalists interviewing real-life scientists. Afterward, they share what they learned. Research shows that transmitting scientific knowledge to the public is important, but actually shifting someone’s opinions requires engaging with them in a two-way dialogue and treating them as a whole, complicated person with knowledge, experiences and influences of their own.

Representatives from UK Research and Innovation and the U.S. Department of Energy signed an agreement that outlines £65 million worth of contributions that UK research institutions and scientists will make to the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and related projects hosted by Fermilab.

The USCMS collaboration has received approval from the Department of Energy to move forward with final planning for upgrades to the giant CMS particle detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The upgrades will enable it to take clearer, more precise images of particle events emerging from the upcoming High-Luminosity LHC, whose collision rate will get a 10-fold boost compared to the collider’s design value when it comes online in 2027.

As technology improves, scientists discover new ways to search for theorized dark matter particles called axions. Four decades after they were first theorized, axions are enjoying a moment in the sun, and may even be on the verge of detection, poised to solve two major problems in physics at once.

The first undergraduate on the Event Horizon Telescope to receive junior collaborator status thrives in the unknown. In his nearly two years with the team, he has developed computer libraries for data analysis and modeling, made movies of black holes and assisted with weather prediction.

This January marks the 10th anniversary of FRA Earned Value Management System certification. Obtaining EVMS certification a decade ago was a significant event because DOE had at that time established that projects that cost $50 million or more are required to use a certified system. The certification has enabled a broad suite of projects that have shaped the current landscape at Fermilab.

The Finance Section held an all-hands meeting on Monday, Jan.13. Here are the top five takeaways from the meeting.

Continuing the yearly induction of a new artist-in-residence each year, Fermilab is welcoming a pair of artists and the lab’s first guest composer to the lab in 2020.

To both understand the universe and improve equity, inclusion and diversity in physics, Brian Beckford looks to one word: respect.

In September, the Fermilab Users Executive Committee welcomed new members, who will serve in the 2019-21 term. All members of the Fermilab community are invited to meet with the brand new crew at a UEC meet-and-greet social event, co-hosted by the UEC and the Fermilab Student and Postdoc Association, on Friday, Jan. 17.