Students from Maine West High School work on their winning Rube Goldberg machine which had to take at least 20 steps to select, mark and cast an election ballot.

Abraham praises FutureTruck contributions

By Evelyn Brown

Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham praised Argonne's "outstanding contribution" in organizing and directing vehicle engineering competitions for 15 years during a recent "whistle stop" tour in which seven competing university teams traveled to Washington, D.C.

Argonne's Center for Transportation Research runs FutureTruck, a university competition to create energy efficient sport utility vehicles (SUVs). FutureTruck is the latest in a series of advanced vehicle technology competitions sponsored by Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and major automotive manufacturers and suppliers organized and operated by Argonne. This year's challenge is to reengineer Ford Explorers to achieve lower emissions and at least 25 percent higher fuel economy, without sacrificing the performance, utility and safety that consumers want.

"Developing the advanced technologies that reduce our country's dependence on imported oil is critical to the future prosperity of our country," Secretary Abraham said. 

"I would like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in organizing and directing FutureTruck and vehicle contests on behalf of DOE over the last 15 years," Secretary Abraham said.

DOE and Ford Motor Company jointly sponsor FutureTruck 2004, which challenges 15 teams of university engineering students to build cleaner, more efficient sport utility vehicles. All 15 teams developed hybrid electric vehicles; two teams adapted an internal combustion engine to run on hydrogen for their trucks.

Seven of the 15 FutureTruck schools participated in the "whistle stop" event: Ohio State University; Penn State University; University of Maryland; University of Tennessee; University of Wisconsin-Madison; Virginia Tech; and West Virginia University.

Students displayed their SUVs in front of DOE's Forrestal headquarters. Also during the Capitol Hill portion of the tour, legislators had a chance to look under the hood and take rides in the Ford Explorers.

"Our outstanding collaboration with Ford has shown what industry and government can do when working together to develop energy efficient technologies for future vehicles," Secretary Abraham said.

On hand for the event was Al Kammerer, executive director of North American product development for Ford Motor Co. "FutureTruck 2004 is about partnering with government, academia and industry to explore advanced, energy-efficient vehicle technologies and alternative fuels that maintain utility," he said.

FutureTruck 2004 is the final year of the five-year competition; General Motors sponsored years one and two and Ford the final three years. This year's competition runs June 9-17 at Ford's Michigan Proving Ground. Approximately $64,000 and more than a dozen awards will be presented at the June 16 FutureTruck awards ceremony.

"Argonne has been instrumental in recruiting the sponsors, establishing the technical requirements, and developing the testing methodologies and instrumentation used in evaluating the vehicles," said Bob Larsen, director of the laboratory's Center for Transportation Research. "Through these competitions, we are exploring the fuel efficiency potential of a wide range of vehicle technologies and components and improving our knowledge of what technologies are commercially viable and acceptable to consumers."

The 15 SUVs will first undergo a comprehensive safety evaluation followed by dynamic testing and static design events. The vehicles will be judged in more than a dozen events that evaluate their acceleration, trailer towing, off-road handling, on-road fuel economy, exhaust emissions, consumer acceptability and engineering design. Teams will give oral technical presentations.  More than 100 universities expressed interest in the competition; 15 were selected through a proposal process.

Health Fair points to need for cholesterol tests

The recent health fair at Argonne-East yielded some high-pressure surprises, said physician David Ronin, Wellness Program Director.

Most employees who took part in the health fair had previously been diagnosed with high blood pressure, Ronin said, but more than half the participants did not have good control of their blood pressure. The health fair screening also helped identify 11 individuals at risk for diabetes (See chart).

"It is well known that cholesterol plaques start to build up in the arteries of the heart in teenage years," Ronin said. "That is why we would like to see employees who do not have high blood pressure participate more in future events."

Thirty minutes of daily exercise at a target heart rate and a healthy diet can help shed pounds and bring blood pressure and serum glucose down, Ronin said, and can help prevent strokes, heart attacks and diabetes.

Pfizer Corporation sponsored the Health Fair, and HealthCalc Network provided statistical results.

The Wellness Program's next event is a prostate screening Wednesday, June 16, in the Medical Department in Building 201. For more information, contact the Medical Department at ext. 2-2807.

APS Users honor young investigator

Alexis S. Templeton, postdoctoral research associate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, will receive the first Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) Users Organization.

Templeton will receive this award, which consists of a plaque and $1,000, Thursday, May 6, at the closing session of the 2004 APS User Meeting. She will also present a short talk about her research.

Templeton's work as a graduate student at Stanford University and at the Scripps Institution centers on the influence of microorganisms in the speciation (change in chemical form) of heavy metals in environmental systems, and the role of bacteria in the weathering of basaltic glasses in deep ocean environments.

To simultaneously investigate chemical reactions at biofilm-mineral interfaces, Templeton has relied heavily on a diverse array of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. For her graduate work, she used microbeam X-ray fluorescence, conventional and grazing angle X-ray absorption spectroscopy and long-period X-ray standing wave (XSW) synchrotron-based techniques. The resulting three-dimensional characterization of trace element distribution and speciation at a complex interface was a major advance in the approach to investigating such systems.

Her current work involves a multi-disciplinary investigation focused on identifying key microorganisms in ocean floor environments that survive oxidizing iron and manganese in basaltic glasses. She has developed a protocol combining X-ray reflectivity, total reflection X-ray fluorescence, grazing-angle X-ray absorption near edge structure, and X-ray diffraction measurements. This work is likely to have a major impact on scientists' understanding of fundamental biological processes in the deep ocean.

In her brief professional career, Alexis Templeton has written or co-written 16 peer-reviewed publications and received a number of prestigious awards.

The APS Users Organization has established the APSUO Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award in conjunction with the Advanced Photon Source. The award's namesake, Rosalind Franklin, performed X-ray crystallography studies of DNA in the 1950s. Those studies were a critical contribution to the solution of the molecule's structure. The new award will recognize an important technical or scientific accomplishment by a young investigator that depended on, or is beneficial to, the APS. The award is open to senior graduate students and those whose Ph.D. was awarded no more than two years prior to nomination. Complete nomination instructions are online.

Medical department seeks
emergency contact info

The Medical Department encourages all persons working at both Argonne sites -- including users, students, and others -- to update their personal emergency contact information. A confidential Medical Department database is used to maintain the name, address and phone number of the primary and a secondary contact to notify immediately in the event of a serious illness or injury.

All site occupants, including students and facility users, are strongly encouraged to update their emergency contact information online through the Human Resources Web site or by completing the Emergency Contact Information Form (MD-33) available through the Argonne Information Management system Forms Locator. Contact information may also be updated through division offices.

For more information, call the Medical Department at ext. 2-2800.

HR planning college fair

Representatives from 16 area colleges will answer questions about course offerings, degree requirements and class schedules at Argonne-East Tuesday, May 11.

The event will be held in the Building 213 Cafeteria from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. The college fair is open to all employees.

Human Resources' Performance Development office will provide information about Argonne's Educational Assistance Program and the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP). CLEP is a program through which college credits can be granted for learning derived from life experiences.

For more information about the college fair, call Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410.

Ask the directorate

Q. Central Shops is a very good machine shop with all kinds of capabilities to service the laboratory. The convenience of using a machine shop on site can be extremely valuable. The problem is their prices are high, sometimes twice as much for machined parts as outside shops. Is there some way Central Shops' pricing can become more competitive?

A. During FY 2003, an oversight committee of Argonne managers reviewed Central Shops' services and operations. As part of their extensive effort, they surveyed customers, who generally conveyed similar feedback to that in your letter.

Central Shops has initiatives underway to improve economic performance and competitive rate structures:

Activity-based costing and a computerized shop management system to accurately cost operations, schedule and manage equipment and personnel resources, and provide timely and accurate feedback to customers.

A long-term equipment upgrade plan to enhance technological capabilities and competitiveness by using state-of-the-art computer-aided manufacturing and computer numerical control machines.

An initiative to actively work with Argonne's customer base to help with fabrication requirements and expedite work either in-house or through outsourcing.

These initiatives aim to reduce the costs of doing business and recapture some of the manufacturing activity in-house. Increased use of services would spread fixed costs over a larger base, helping reduce the service rate.

We appreciate your complimentary remarks regarding the convenience and capabilities of Central Shops and its employees, who hope these new initiatives will help address concerns regarding the competitive costs of work they perform.

Employees may submit questions to askthedirectorate@anl.gov or fax them to ext. 2-5274. A link to the Ask-the-Directorate Web site can be found on the Inside Argonne home page at www.inside.anl.gov/.

All welcome to take part in prayer circle

All employees are welcome to join in marking the National Day of Prayer Thursday, May 6, at a gathering in front of Building 205 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Participants will form a prayer circle in which anyone is free to offer a short prayer for the benefit of all.

For more information, contact Art Wright at aewright@anl.gov.

Forum to hear RIA discussion

Peter Ostroumov (PHY) will discuss the Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) project at the next First Friday Forum meeting, Friday, May 7, at 12:15 p.m. in Argonne-East's Building 203, Room 190A.

Ostroumov's talk, "Heavy-Ion Beam Accelerators for the U.S. RIA Project," will cover the next-generation facility for basic research with radioactive beams, the diverse physics research it will enable and applications to medicine, industry, and other applied physics research. He will also cover Argonne's innovative research and development for the accelerator.

Pop-tops still wanted for charity

The Argonne Combined Appeal is continuing to collect pop-top tabs from canned drinks to help the Ronald McDonald House in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

The facility provides a home away from home for families of seriously ill children who are receiving treatment at nearby hospitals.

"I think it's a good and useful program especially for kids or to remind adults to think of others," said James Kuiper (EA), who is collecting tabs. "It's also a heartening thing for the organization to see the mountain of tabs, each representing a moment someone thought of them."

Deposit pop-top tabs in the small boxes near vending machines and kitchen areas. For more information, contact Fran Coose (XFD) at ext. 2-4955 or Sandra Biedron (XFD) at ext. 2-1162.

Guest House won't serve dinner May 5

Argonne-East's Guest House Restaurant will not serve dinner Wednesday, May 5, due to a special event.

Retirement representatives to
visit Argonne-East

The laboratory's retirement vendors will send representatives to Argonne-East during May.

To schedule an appointment, call the number listed.

Prudential -- Wednesday, May 5, and Wednesday, May 19. Call Cheryl at (847) 619-3519.

Fidelity -- Tuesday, May 11, and Tuesday, May 25. Call the appointment desk at (800) 642-7131.

TIAA-CREF -- Tuesday, May 25, and Wednesday, May 26. Call the appointment desk at (800) 842-2005.

Rep to answer Social Security questions

A representative of the Social Security Administration's Joliet office will visit Argonne-East's Human Resources office Wednesday, May 19, from 8 a.m. to noon.

To schedule a meeting with the Social Security representative, call ext. 2-2989.

HR Classes

To enroll, contact a Training Management System representative. A class enrollment form is also available online. Call Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410 for more information.

"Russian Language" (HR164) -- Thursdays in Building 208, Room E251. This course offers beginning, intermediate and advanced instruction in reading, writing and speaking the Russian language. Beginning classes start at 9:30 a.m., intermediate classes start at 11 a.m. and advanced instruction starts at 1:30 p.m.

"Managing the Change Project" (HR350) -- Thursday, May 13, 9 - 11 a.m., Building 201, Room 190. Students will learn a process that provides the framework for change-project success. Register by Monday, May 3.

"Leadership and Motivation" (HR641) -- Wednesday, May 19, 1 - 5 p.m., Building 212, Conference Room B201. Students will learn to analyze the characteristics of leadership, apply a model to create a work environment that fosters highly motivated employees and understand the internal nature of motivation.

"Conversation Skills for English as a Second Language" (HR353) -- Tuesday and Thursday, May 18 - July 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Building 362, Room E188. This workshop will help non-native speakers improve their conversation and speaking skills.

"Leading the Change Process" (HR351) -- Thursday, May 27, 9 - 11 a.m., Building 201, Room 190. Students will learn to identify their managerial strengths in change implementation and effective methods to drive the process through their employees. Register by Monday, May 3.