Interaction Point December 2000, Vol
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Events and Happenings in the SLAC Community Interaction Point December 2000, Vol. 11 ,No. 12 SSRL Users Showcase Success THE 27TH ANNUAL SSRL Users' Meeting last month highlighted recent achievements and advancements in science and technology generated by research done at the Synchrotron Lab. Pat Dehmer, Director of the DOE ct Office of Basic Energy Sciences, commented on "the bO good BES budget news" and the favorable review by the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) panel on the linac coherent light source (LCLS) conceptual design. 0 After SLAC Director Jonathan Dorfan welcomed 0 participants, SSRL Associate Director Keith Hodgson P!S gave an overview of achievements and activities for the past year. Jo St6hr's presentation on the first five LCLS experiments was greeted with excitement, in anticipation of the potential of that machine. The second session was devoted to X-Ray I he rarrelW. Lytle Awara was presentea to Roger rrtnce (ExxonMobil) at the Users' Meeting dinner. Prince was Materials Science with talks on x-ray imaging selected for being an "outstanding industrial scientist techniques and state-of-the-art photoemission studies. making important technical and scientific discoveries Katharina Baur (SSRL) discussed the research studies using synchrotron radiation and being remarkably underway to analyze trace contamination on the surface effective at fostering collaborations between industrial of practical silicon wafers using the technique of Total and academic users and SSRL staff " Graham George Reflection X-Ray Fluorescence (TXRF). Several (SSRL) made the presentation and went down an amusing semiconductor companies are involved in this research laundry list of Prince's experimental sample interests from sulfur in fuels to bee pollen. Herman Winick (pictured with his wife Renee) received the prestigious United States effort aimed at bringing full wafers for multipoint Department of Energy analysis at detection limits better than 1E8 atoms/cm. Distinguished Associate Patrick Cramer (Stanford U.) gave the first talk in Award. The honor was jointly the Biological Science session, presenting details on presented to Winick by Pat breakthroughs in solving the structure and unraveling Dehmer and Bill Oosterhuis the function of RNA polymerase II. Peter Kuhn (SSRL) during the Users 'Meeting. The discussed macromolecular crystallography at SSRL in citation commends Winickfor the post genome sequencing era and Ninian Blackburn "exemplary service to the (Oregon Graduate Inst.) ended the session with a talk Department of Energy and the on XAS studies of metallochaperones. world community in promoting The next session was devoted to talks on SPEAR this technology across by SSRL staff: Cecile Limborg presented information disciplinary and geographical on SPEAR2, Tom Elioff spoke about SPEAR3, Tom boundaries over a period of Rabedeau updated information on beam line many years. " The award had developments, then Rabedeau and Stohr spoke about been a well-kept secret and new beam lines. Winick was visibly surprised The Environmental Science session started off and touched. with Anders Nilsson, SSRL's most recent faculty (Continued on Page 2) Director's Corner by Jonathan Dorfan photons in excess of 40 GeV. Such a source would be unique-nowhere else in the world does such a facility SLAC enables and supports the exist. Three experiments were proposed for this new research of a diverse, facility and EPAC recommended that SLAC approve international community of all three, which I have done. Each of these experiments scientists in high-energy will involve a 2-3 month run in ESA. The most likely physics, accelerator physics, schedule would be to run one each in the years 2003, structural molecular biology, 2004 and 2005. Thus the ESA program, which would solid-state physics, material-, have ended in 2002 with the running of E158, will _1_ -______ environmental- ana cnemicai-sciences. scientists enjoy extended vitality. propose experiments or facilities at our site and the The fourth proposal involved a follow-on of the Laboratory decides whether to bring the proposals already successful E-157 program, using a plasma to to scientific fruition using a process of peer review. accelerate an electron beam in the Final Focus Test Scientific peers of the proponents review proposals Beam area. The proponents propose improving the and make recommendations to the Laboratory measurement apparatus while at the same time regarding the scientific merit of the proposals. extending the program to allow the measurement of Experimental proposals in high-energy physics acceleration of a positron beam. EPAC recommended are reviewed by the Experimental Program Advisory approval of the experiment. More discussion of these Committee (EPAC), composed of twelve scientists approved experiments will be featured in an upcoming and chaired by Hugh Montgomery of Fermilab. Interaction Point article. Proposals to SSRL are reviewed by the SSRL Proposal EPAC also considered a letter of intent that the Review Panel (PRP), a committee of ten scientists Laboratory build, in IR12 of PEP, a small, low-energy chaired by Russell Chianelli from the University of electron storage ring to collide with the PEP-II positron Texas-El Paso. A sub-panel within the PRP, the SSRL ring. EPAC members were convinced that such a Structural Molecular Biology Advisory Panel ring could be built without affecting the operation of (SMBAP), is separately convened annually to fulfill the main PEP-II program. EPAC encouraged the the peer review requirements of the National proponents to examine the physics motivations in a Institutes of Health funded program. more detailed manner. Accordingly, SLAC will host This past month EPAC met to consider four a workshop in early Spring 2001 to stimulate further proposals and one letter of intent. Three of the development of this idea. proposals concerned an expansion of the fixed target At SSRL, the next PRP meeting to consider program in End Station A (ESA). The proponents proposals for beam time is scheduled for mid-January, proposed that we create a new secondary beam at 2001 and, if history is any indicator, the light source SLAC, a source of intense, high-energy, polarized will once again be oversubscribed. In conclusion, our photons. These would be produced when the primary HEP and light source programs look very positive. 50 GeV polarized electron beam impinges on a very We can all take pride in SLAC's role at the forefront of thin diamond target, thereby producing polarized basic research. SSRL Users Showcase Success (Continued) appointment, discussing Chemical Bonding at Surfaces. update on the committee's activities this past year, Pat Allen from Livermore followed with a presentation most notably, the very successful effort by the user on how synchrotron-based actinide XAS studies have community in communicating to their political been applied to the Yucca Mountain cleanup effort. representatives the importance of the science being Other sessions were devoted to talks by young scientists funded by the DOE. and to highlights of the workshops organized to explore The Users' Meeting was organized by co-chairs opportunities in new technologies and beam line Paul Foster (UCSF/Exelixis) and Jan Lining (SSRL). instrumentation. More information can be found at http://www- Bruce Clemens, Chair of the SSRL Users' ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/conferences/ssrl27/. Organization Executive Committee, gave a status The Interaction Point© 2000, is published by Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Editor-in-chief, P.A. Moore; Production Editor, Vickee Flynn. Deadline for articles is the first of every month. Items are published on a space-available basis and are subject to edit. Submissions may be sent electronically to [email protected] or by SLAC ID mail to TIP, MS 20. Phone (650) 926-4208. 2 Research Office Building Construction THE RESEARCH OFFICE BUILDING [R(DB, and no greenery of the main quad area at SLAC. puns, please] groundbreaking is schedu led to take While the ROB was sited with considerable place in early 2001 and folks at SLAC hzave already attention to existing trees, nonetheless, two memorial started to see some changes in prepsoration for trees, Hugh Steckol's Magnolia and Gerry Fischer's construction. The A&E parking lot will be rEeconfigured Coast Live Oak, will have to be moved. in December to provide 17 new spaces. Sonne trees will One tree relocation method is to dig a deep, wide be relocated to clear the space for the new building. ditch around the entire tree and then remove the root Karen Stidd, the Stanford Campus A:rborist, and ball with a giant clamshell shovel. The root ball is Robert Murphy, the Campus Grounds Supervisor,' covered with burlap to protect the roots and the tree is performed an evaluation of trees Xvithin the placed on a flat bed truck and moved to the new construction zone. Those that have a good F)otentialfor location, which has been prepared with the original survival will be relocated; those that are unlikely to soil and carefully leveled. The trees are then watered survive relocation (either due to their size or condition) by hand for the first two years to minimize shock. will be replaced at a two for one or better rmatio. If any Construction is never tidy, but according to Roz of the relocated trees should happen to fa il, they will Pennacchi, the ROB project team is researching all the be replaced with new trees as soon as possilble since the available options for protecting the trees and ROB project team is committed to pre{serving the minimizing the impact of the new building. The Light at the End of Our Tunnel for Sid Drell, on the occasion of being awarded the Enrico Fermi Award I am watching a film about California and its wonders. A scientist explores a deep pit in the center of a Giant Sequoia Redwood. He turns off his headlamp halfway down and sees the sunlightfar above As a focused view of where he will return.