Particle Post November 2009
"Keep a green tree alive in your heart and a songbird may come to sing there."~ Chinese Proverb
A Note From Our Chairman
Unfortunately during this past month, one of our colleagues from F&O was injured at 1005H after being startled by the noise from a release of nitrogen gas from the scrubbing system. This resulted in a serious injury to his legs as he ran to get away from the noise. He has been hospitalized to repair his injury. We wish him a speedy recovery. The extent of his injury has resulted in a DOE Type B investigation. We will keep you informed.
This accident is one of several that have recently occurred at BNL. My reading of some of the causes that resulted in several injuries are; poor or non-existent work planning, poor coordination between organizations who are the recipients of the work and those who do the work, poor housekeeping and poor oversight of the work.
The FY2010 budget outlook is not as golden as it was in 2009. We expect to run for 20 weeks. By the time this Post is published, we should have received our budget numbers. I expect that we will have to be frugal with our purchases.
The first NSRL run of FY2010 will end on November 20. Unfortunately, as you probably have previously heard, our dear colleague and friend, Betsy Sutherland, passed away this past month. This is a tremendous personal loss to us, and the NSRL research program. On behalf of everyone from C-AD, I send our deepest condolences to John Sutherland.
The RHIC run, gold x gold, will start up with the cooldown to operating temperature starting on December 1. It will take just a couple of days before we start beam injection into RHIC.
Please remember to think safety. Our goal is to have no more injuries in FY2010. This requires all of us to act accordingly.
On a personal note, I would like to thank everyone for their congratulations on the birth of my second grandson, Owen Reade Leif, to my daughter Jessica and her husband Joshua. His older brother, Alexander, is delighted to have a sibling who can play with him. He will have to wait a little while before that happens.
Administration
The October budget guidance from the Nuclear Physics Program Office provided RHIC Operating funds equivalent to that provided in FY 2009. Thus, along with $11.7M in carry forward, the RHIC Operating Budget is $128.7M. Capital and AIP funding totals $4.5M.
Various budget scenarios confirm that the flat budget will support 20 cryo weeks, although to operate for 20 weeks we will need to initiate several all too familiar cost saving measures. Once again, you are asked to limit purchases to only what is necessary to support the experimental schedule, EBIS, NSRL and AIP efforts already in process. Procurements in support of new initiatives should be deferred until our FY 2010 budget is known.
Control of overtime expense will be an important issue in the current year. During FY 2009, overtime on RHIC Operations was more than $1.4M. With the recently announced change in the exempt status of technicians in grades T-4, T-5 and T-6, the overtime eligible population at C-AD will increase by nearly 50%. Thus, to avoid commensurate increases in overtime expense, supervisors must exercise their authority to control overtime hours worked to the extent possible.
Safety Stats
REMINDER: TLD exchange is done the FIRST FRIDAY of the Month.
EXCHANGE DATE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009
Pete Cirniglario
Arrivals
Matthew Illardo joined the department on November 2. He is working with Frank Karl in the Survey Group.
Shawn Perez joined the department on October 19. He is working with Peter Ingrassia in the Machine Operations Group.
Tasha Summers joined the department on November 2. She is working with Peter Ingrassia in the Machine Operations Group.
Rocco Tuccio joined the department on October 27. He is working with Peter Ingrassia in the Machine Operations Group.
WELCOME!
We wish all of you born
in November
a happy
and healthy year ahead.
Birthday people
ONLY click on cake
C-AD Service Awards October
| 25 years | Joseph Scaduto |
| 20 years | Michael Morello |
Congratulations!
Get To Know Your Co-Worker
Ed Lessard, Associate Chair for
ESSHQ, arrived at BNL in 1977 from the University of Lowell with a Masters
Degree in Radiological Sciences and Protection and joined the former Safety and
Environmental Protection Division (SEPD). Previously, Ed had had been a student
at BNL in the summer of 1973; it was such a good experience he decided to return
to work here. Ed started at BNL as supervisor of the training program he
attended 4 years earlier. Thereafter he became principle investigator for the
Marshall Islands Radiological Safety Project. The Marshall Islands is where Ed
met his wife who was on the Medical Team for one of the missions. Additionally,
Ed was principle investigator for several NRC projects. All these projects
related directly to his specialty, which is internal dosimetry. In 1987, BNL
decided the SEPD should focus on improving safety at BNL. The people Ed worked
with transferred to other Departments, and Ed found him self at Derek’s doorstep
working on safety issues directly related to the AGS.
Since 1988, Ed has had the privilege to watch AGS grow into the complex it is today. His first projects were to help develop authorization documents for AGS and Linac, and later the Booster. Following that, Ed worked on “re-commissioning” the AGS for safe high-intensity fixed-target operations, and then on adding g-2 and NSRL beam lines to the complex. Although he was not part of the RHIC construction project, Ed was involved with commissioning RHIC in 1999, and in RHIC operations since that time. From 2003 to 2007, Ed also helped commission SNS at ORNL for operations. Some of his work involves managing toward excellence, which means implementing systems that result in zero injuries and zero occurrences. To do that, Ed helps maintain management systems for conduct of operations, environmental protection and occupational safety. Ed also volunteers some of his time to work on lab-level safety committees.
Ed and his wife spend most of their free time restoring a
Mediterranean style home on Long Island’s north shore. Their home was completed
in 1910 by the President of Pacific Borax Company and is fondly referred to as
the money pit. They collect antique pottery and Ed putters in the yard and
builds gardens and stone walls. Ed has even learned to operate a small John
Deere lawn tractor for the bigger jobs. Their son John is currently a full-time
graduate student at John Jay College. Ed's wife of 30 years, Barbara Boccia
M.D., is a Family Physician in private practice in Stony Brook.
Fun Time
How many dots do you think you can hit in 30 seconds? Play this interesting JavaScript game and find out!
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Did You Know
Group Photo taken on October 15th
Roger Bonati submitted the following pictures of his children:.jpg)
Grandpa Luccio with his granddaughter Maddy:
Ernest Courant, is proud to announce the birth of his first great grandchild to his grandson Ernest Courant and his wife, who gave birth to daughter Talia on October 13 in Portland, OR.
I-Hung Chiang's son was recently married:
Kyle Chiang and Mary O'Reilly were married on October 24, 2009 in Lafayette Indiana. It was a small wedding with family and close friends. A reception is planned for a later date.
Kyle is the
youngest son of I-Hung and Yuh-Wey Chiang. Kyle graduated from The Scripps
Research Institute with a
PhD in biochemistry. He is currently working as a scientist at “aTyr Pharma” in
San Diego. Mary is the youngest daughter of Jean and Michael O'Reilly. She
graduated from MIT with a PhD in biological chemistry. She is now a postdoctoral
fellow at The Scripps Research Institute.
Here
are pictures of the Bride and Groom plus a family picture with elder son, Jay, and his fiancée Cindy Hwang.
Hovi Kponou, Preinjector Systems Group retired on October 30 after 27 years of service. Here are a few photos from his retirement party:
Betsy
Sutherland, an eminent senior biochemist, died on October 7th of brain cancer.
She was 65. Betsy, who came to BNL in 1977, was best known for her
groundbreaking research in how ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation can hurt
human cells and how cells repair the damage. For the past 15 years, Betsy
has headed the biology department's user support team for the NASA Space
Radiation Laboratory (NSRL). This is the only source in the country of
high energy, heavy charged particles used to assess the effects of space
radiation. A funeral was held at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville,
SC. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the York Place Children's
Home, 234 Kings Mountain St., York, SC 29745.
Pavel Rehak, Instrumentation Division passed away on November 4 following his recent illness. A memorial service and internment of the ashes will be held in about one month, the details will be announced later.
Freddy Severino Honored with Luminary Award
Freddy Severino The Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference has chosen Freddy Severino, an engineer in the Collider-Accelerator Department (C-AD), as one of 29 Luminary honorees. The honorees are Hispanic engineers and scientists from corporate, government and military sectors who are recognized for their contributions to the Hispanic technical community as leaders and role models. Severino will be given a plaque in recognition of his technical achievements at BNL on October 9 at the organization’s annual conference in Long Beach, California. “I am honored to receive this award,” Severino said. “I’m fortunate to work with a great team of people at the Collider-Accelerator Department, and within the Radiofrequency Group, in particular. Our achievements are the result of a lot of hard work and strong collaboration among many talented individuals.” As part of C-AD’s Radiofrequency (RF) Group, Severino is responsible for the design and operation of RF systems for all the accelerators in the C-AD complex. These include both operational machines, such as the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collier (RHIC), and cutting-edge R&D accelerators, such as the Energy Recovery Linac. Accelerator RF systems are used to control beam energy, maintain and manipulate the “bunching” of particles, stabilize particle motion, and control critical parameters, such as the distribution or spread in energies among particles. “Basically, RF cavities provide ‘kicks’ to charged particles as they circulate in the accelerator ring,” Severino said. “These kicks can increase or decrease a particle’s energy, and by careful application and control, we can manipulate the motion of the particles to achieve the required performance. For example, we can kick all the particles simultaneously each time they travel around the ring, accelerating them to the energy desired by experimenters.” Among Severino’s many achievements, of major significance were his contributions to the RHIC stochastic cooling project, in which he designed hardware and software crucial to the system. The stochastic cooling system, which is being expanded for the upcoming tenth RHIC run, is critical to increasing “integrated luminosity,” which is the number of useful collisions provided for experiments during the run. The system was recently cited as one of the Lab’s great R&D success stories. (See stories from 11/9/07 and 6/26/09.) Severino is the coauthor of three peer-reviewed papers on the stochastic cooling system, and he is also named in several other scientific papers for his contributions in accelerator operations. Severino has won three Spotlight awards for work on various technical projects. Currently, his primary focus is on the design and development of an embedded control architecture forming the heart of a new low-level RF control system at C-AD. His work on this system won an award for best poster presentation at the 2007 International Conference on Accelerator and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems. Born in the Dominican Republic, Severino came to the U.S. in 1992. He joined BNL in 1996 as a senior technician, and his roles and responsibilities were steadily increased until he was named to his current position as project engineer in 2008. He earned a B.S. from the State University of Farmingdale in 1998, and an M.S. from Hofstra University in 2006. He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery. |
Laura Taddonio submitted the following:
Subject: FW: Shelf Life for Food
This is a VERY GOOD website. How long can you keep specific foods.........
This is a very useful website; keep this in your "Favorites"
CLICK ON LINK BELOW
http://www.stilltasty.com/
The Food Pantry needs our help……………………………..
If everyone can bring in at least one non-perishable food item,
this would help the local food pantries in our area. There are so many families
who are in need of food and depend on their local food pantry to have at least
one meal a day. With the food supply so low, the volunteer’s who help out at
our local food pantries can’t help those in need. So please…………………bring
whatever you can to replenish the food supply for those in need.
Thank you.
BERA UPDATE: www.bnl.gov/bera
*Enroll now for FITNESS CLASSES! ZUMBA & Aqua Aerobics require advance registration http://www.bnl.gov/bera/recreation/fitness.asp
*TRIPS & EVENTS
NY City “do as you please” on 12/13 - 2 busses! $15
RANGERS on 11/12 & 2/10 & KNICKS on 1/24 & 3/23!
ON SALE 11/13/09 BERA Holiday Party on 12/11 at the waterfront Miller Beach Surf Club $50PP 7-11pm limited to 100!
INFORMATION http://www.bnl.gov/bera/recreation/events.asp or CALL THE BERA Store at ext. 3347 for more information
*Discount tickets to the Staller Center’s Seiskaya Ballet production of the Nutcracker for the 2pm performance on 12/12 will be on sale at the BERA Store (no bus provided) $29 adult or child. Limited to 20 discount tickets.
*Open Enrollment for healthcare & more is happening in Human Resources Oct 28-Nov 10.
http://intranet.bnl.gov/memo/mm.asp?IssueId=157&StoryId=4
*Please donate food or a new toy for the holidays! Drop off at the BERA Store or at Bldg 400! THANK YOU!!
ALUMNI NEWS: AGS/RHIC/C-AD RETIRED CROWD - We'd enjoy hearing from you and what you have been up to. Please send your notes to
pmanning@bnl.govYou can catch up on all of Eric Forsyth's travels by clicking on his sailing yacht below.
November 2009
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1 Daylight Savings Time Ends |
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3 Election Day Physics Colloquium "Liquid and Glass Structures and their Influence on Phase Transitions" Kenneth Kelton, Washington, U. St. Louis, 3:30pm, Bldg. 510 Large Seminar |
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5 C-AD AP Seminar "Status of NICA Project" Prof. Igor Meshkov & Prof. Grigory Trubnikov, JINR, 4pm, Bldg. 911 LCR
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| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 Veterans Day Lab Holiday |
12 APEX Workshop, CFN Seminar Room |
13 APEX Workshop CFN Seminar Rm |
14 'A Band Called Sam', 8pm Berkner |
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24 Physics Colloquium "Humongous Detectors Underground?" Milind Diwand & Craig Thorn, BNL, 3:30pm, Bldg. 510 Large Seminar |
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26 Lab Holiday
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27 Lab Holiday |
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December 2009
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| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
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1 Physics Colloquium "Dark Matter Scattering and the Flyby Anomalies" Stephen Adler, Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 3:30pm, Bldg. 510 Large Seminar |
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Physics Colloquium "The Global Heliosphere Revealed: First Results from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer Mission" Nathan Schwadron, Boston, U., 3:30pm, Bldg. 510 Large Seminar |
9 Attacca String Quartet in Recital, Noon, Berkner Hall |
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17 C-AD Annual Holiday Breakfast 9am Lobby |
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21 Winter Begins
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24 ½ Lab Holiday Christmas Eve |
25 Lab Holiday
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26 Boxing Day |
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31 New Year's Eve
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We Remember
USS New York - A ship forged from the steel of the World Trade Center.
