Laboratory Director Robert Rosner (far right) presented Argonne Combined Appeal checks to four local agencies on April 19. Pictured from left to right, are Eileen Braun of the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, Tracy Wannemacher of the Little Friends of Naperville, Nevin Hedlund of the Center for Speech and Language Disorders and Roger Schmith of the Woodridge Community Pantry. Photo by George Joch.

May 9, 2005 -- Some of this week's stories:

ACA makes additional donations to agencies

The Argonne Combined Appeal (ACA) Steering Committee contributed one-time donations of $750 each to four local agencies. These gifts honor those laboratory employees who donate at least one day's pay to ACA.

"I am impressed by the sense of community at the laboratory," said Robert Rosner, laboratory director, as he presented checks to the agencies on April 19. "Argonne employees always show a great willingness to help."

The Angelman Syndrome Foundation, Center for Speech and Language Disorders, Little Friends of Naperville and the Woodridge Community Pantry were nominated by Argonne employees.

The Angelman Syndrome (AS) Foundation mission is to advance the awareness and treatment of the syndrome through education, research grants and support to the individuals and their families with AS. Angelman Syndrome is a genetic disorder that causesspeech, movement or balance problems and difficult-to-treat seizures.

The Center for Speech and Language Disorders strives to help children with communication disorders reach their full potential through evaluations, therapy and support services. The ACA donation will go toward the "Help-A-Child" fund which provides financial assistance to children whose families cannot afford services.

Little Friends, Inc. of Naperville works to help children and adults with special challenges to learn, work and participate in the community. The ACA donation will purchase new therapeutic equipment for the Parent-Infant Program. The program is an early-intervention program for children born prematurely or who have experienced birth trauma, those with behavioral disturbances, genetic disorders, speech and language delays or undiagnosed developmental delays.

Woodridge Community Pantry is an all-volunteer organization that provides food and personal care items for Woodridge residents. The ACA donation is helping fund a new initiative at the pantry. The pantry will supply breakfast to school children who qualify for free lunches and breakfast in District 68, which includes Woodridge and parts of Lisle and Downers Grove, until the schools begin providing the service.

"Since the 2001 campaign, these one-time contributions have been made to local agencies in the name of Argonne employees who have contributed one day's pay or more to the ACA annual campaign," said 2005 ACA Co-Chair Kathy Whitney (HR).

"It is a privilege for us to be able to help these local organizations," said ACA Co-Chair Katie Carrado (CHM).

Members of the ACA Steering Committee as well as the Argonne employees who nominated the agencies attended the presentation.

2005 Fuel Cell/Solar Car competition results

Teams of young engineers from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades put their skills to the test at the 15 th annual model car competition April 30, sponsored by Argonne, the U.S. Department of Energy, CNH America LLC - Burr Ridge Operations, and the Society of Automotive Engineers. The model car competition is part of the 2005 Chicago Middle School Science Bowl, which also included an academic competition. For the third year in a row, Roosevelt Middle School will represent the Chicago region at the National Middle School Science Bowl in Golden, Colorado in June as they had the best combined score from the fuel cell car competition and academic competition.

'Town hall' meeting set for May 12

Chief Operations Officer Adam Cohen will host a Town Hall meeting Thursday, May 12, to give employees an opportunity to discuss the laboratory's recent cost-cutting measures and other topics of interest in an informal, question-and-answer format.

The one-hour meeting will be begin at 11 a.m. in Building 402, Room A5000. All employees whose schedules permit are invited to attend.

Meetings are held regularly; dates, times and locations will be announced in Argonne News and Argonne Today .

Transcripts of previous Town Hall meetings are online.

Rosner to meet with employees

A series of "coffee meetings" with Argonne Director Robert Rosner will give employees a chance to talk with the laboratory's chief executive in an informal atmosphere.

The one-hour meetings, scheduled by division, are open to all employees who wish to attend and whose schedules permit.

The first meeting, with the Office of Program Management, was held April 20. Upcoming meetings include:

Energy Systems — Monday, May 16, at 9 a.m. in the Building 362 Auditorium.

Chemical Engineering — Thursday, May 26, at 1:30 p.m. in the Building 205 Y-Wing Auditorium.

Chemistry — Monday, June 6, at 8:30 a.m. in the Building 200 Auditorium.

Energy Technology — Friday, June 10, at 8:30 a.m., Building 212, Room A157.

Site-wide communicators — Date to be determined.

Lab communicators earn international recognition

By David A. Barry

Argonne's technical communicators, who help scientists communicate the relevance of their work to the outside world, were again recognized for excellence at the 2004-05 International Competition of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). The competition is for posters, photographs, promotional materials, magazines, Web sites and other materials that communicate technical information.

The team of Renée Nault, Paul Boisvert and Sana Sandler, all of the Technical Services Division (TSD), received the highest award of Distinguished Technical Communication for the colorful ensemble of promotional materials they designed for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Argonne's Pilot Vehicle Recycling Facility.

The team of Evelyn Brown and David Baurac (both C&PA) garnered four awards at the STC international competition for the Frontiers and logos publications. The audience for those publications includes site visitors, policymakers and media representatives, both local and national.

For the annual report, Frontiers: 2004 Research Highlights , Baurac and Brown received an Award of Excellence, with an Award of Merit for the report's design. Judi Damm (TSD) contributed to the Frontiers design, which also won "Best of Show" at the regional competition hosted by the STC's Chicago chapter.

The Web version of Frontiers and the magazine logos received an Award of Merit at the international level.

Entries receiving Distinguished Technical Communication awards are "superior in all areas," according to the Chicago STC chapter's Web site. Awards of Excellence go to entries that exhibit "high quality in all areas," and Awards of Merit go to entries that exhibit "high quality in most areas."

The Society of Technical Communication has a membership of 18,000, but its competitions are open to anyone. The international competition is held each year after the regional chapters hold their own competitions, with entries receiving a distinguished or excellence award at the regional level advancing to the international competition.

At this year's Chicago regional competition, Argonne entries from C&PA, EAD, CIS and TSD received 15 awards altogether.

Ask the Directorate

Q. Has the University of Chicago or Argonne considered offering CNet IDs to laboratory employees? This CNet ID is needed to access various online resources that the university offers — in particular, university library resources. This would be extremely beneficial, as the university currently has numerous online journal subscriptions that, unfortunately, Argonne does not offer. Argonne employees are currently able to drive to the university, show their Argonne badge, and have full run of the University of Chicago Library or provide a cost code to the Argonne libraries for an interlibrary loan.

In my opinion, the next step should be to allow Argonne employees to retrieve this information from our workstations. Surely a time-saving, hazard-reducing, and I believe cost-effective, benefit.

If a CNet ID is not allowable, then perhaps upgrading Argonne's access to the university's libraries would be sufficient.

A. Electronic access to scientific journals is clearly revolutionizing the way researchers share information. It has opened up many possibilities to make it easier for scientists to access information, but at the same time has brought higher costs and greater access restrictions than was the case with print journals.

While both Argonne and the University of Chicago libraries license electronic journals and databases, the terms and conditions of these licenses vary by publisher. Argonne, for example, has more than 90 different agreements with scientific publishers for online access to their information products. Some agreements are for one year, others for multiple years. Each agreement specifies who within an organization can have online access to electronic information sources, like journals. In general, the more people who have access to an online resource, the higher the license fees.

The University of Chicago's license agreements with publishers allow access to online information products from any computer within the university's libraries and via the University of Chicago network domain. Argonne R&D staff with joint appointments have password access to the university's telecommunications network, which gives them the same digital-library privileges as university staff and students.

Most Argonne employees are not classified as university employees, and hence are not included in the university's current license agreements with publishers. As a result, the university could not today give all Argonne employees access to its library resources without notifying and renegotiating with each publisher with whom the university library has a license agreement for on-line access.

Argonne's Technical Services Division (TSD) is currently working with the University of Chicago's library management to see if it is possible to jointly negotiate e-journal license agreements with individual publishers as they come up for renewal in such a way that both organizations can benefit from increased access, reduced cost or — better yet — both. While the outcome is impossible to predict, both the university and Argonne library managers are committed to exploring every possibility to provide improved access to online information products.

Toastmasters win 2 nd place in division

Bonnie Dixon (MCS) won second place in the Table Topics Speech contest at the South Division contest April 9. Jill Morgenthaler (CNM) won second place in the International Speech contest at the South Division contest. Both women won first place in their contest divisions in the South Area contest on March 18.

The Argonne Toastmasters meet the second and fourth Wednesday of every month from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 201, Room 190. For information, contact Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410.

'May Flower Run' planned for May 24

The Argonne Running Club will hold a May Flower run and walk Tuesday, May 24, starting from the Building 205 lobby at noon.

There will be a three-mile running course and a two-mile walking course. Employees of all skill levels are welcome to participate. Refreshments will be served after the event. Prizes will be awarded to the participants who have the best themed appearance. Participants can enter a drawing for a gift certificate to Dick Ponds Athletics.

More information about the Argonne Running Club is online.

Raising drug-free kids topic of phone seminar

"Raising drug-free kids" is the subject of a one-hour telephone seminar by CIGNA Behavioral Health Employee Assistance Program.

The talk will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 11. Employees can pre-register online or two hours prior to the event by calling (888) 253-4037 and entering passcode number 136893.

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

Management corner

Employees must follow clearance procedures

By Christopher Reynolds, Manager, Security Programs

Argonne employees who deal with potentially classified information must follow U.S. Department of Energy requirements to protect information important to national security.

DOE Manual 475.1.1A, "Identifying Classified Information," establishes and discusses the requirements for protecting information. DOE requires a classification review of any publication or presentation in a subject area that may be classified. This classification review must be performed before a work is published or a presentation is made. This is not a new requirement, and authors currently certify whether or not a work might contain potentially classified information during the required Argonne document clearance process.

Presentations, whether they are slide shows, viewgraphs, prepared text or informal talks, all require a classification review if the work may contain classified information. This requirement applies whether the publication or presentation is given at the laboratory to Argonne employees or is made outside the lab to scientific colleagues, sponsors or to the public.

If the presentation does not involve a slide show or prepared text, Argonne employees should contact the laboratory's classification officer to discuss areas within the presentation that may be classified and any related topics to avoid because of their potential classification.

This requirement also applies to Argonne employees who do not have a security clearance. Such an individual may unknowingly come across a research topic that DOE considers vital to national security.

Each division has procedures for ensuring publications and presentations are released only after receiving the clearances required by the Argonne Policy Manual and the Publications Manual. Contact a division derivative classifier or the Argonne classification officer at ext. 2-7890, for more information about the classification review process.

ET's Chung honored

Retiree Hee Chung (ET) was honored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with a certificate of appreciation for his work as a contractor. Before his retirement in March, Chung worked with the NRC throughout his 31-year career at Argonne and became a renowned expert in zirconium metallurgy.

Chung is perhaps best known for his early work with Thomas Kassner (ET) in studying the embrittlement of zirconium alloy — a material used to coat nuclear fuel rods — in the extreme conditions of loss-of-coolant accidents. Chung also studied the degradation of stainless steels used in reactor vessels and piping.

Future physics topic of Theory Institute

Theory Institute 2005, "Workshop on the Physics of Supersymmetry, Extra Dimensions and Higgs Bosons," will be held in Building 362, Conference Room F108, Monday, May 9, through Friday, May 13.

The workshop will bring together interested physicists to discuss outstanding theoretical questions and their phenomenological consequences for experiments at the Fermilab Tevatron, the CERN Large Hadron Collider and the future International Linear Collider.

Employees are welcome to attend all or part of the workshop. Additional information and a list of talks is available online .

Sign-up getsunder way for basketball

Sign-up has begun for the "Three on Three" basketball tournament season at Argonne.

The tournament is open to Argonne and U.S. Department of Energy employees of any skill level. Games are played at lunchtime at the outdoor basketball court in the 600 area. The tournament begins Monday, June 13.

Partial teams and individuals are welcome. Registration deadline is Friday, June 3.

For more information, rules and scheduling, contact Leon Reed (HEP) at ext. 2-4478.

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.

Lee Liming (MCS) will discuss "The Interim Development Meeting: Making It Work" (HR393) — Wednesday, May 11, noon - 1 p.m., Building 212, Conference Room A157.

"Myers-Briggs: Style and Strengths in the Workplace" (HR258) — Wednesday, May 18, 1 - 5 p.m., Building 201, Conference Room 190. Employees will learn about their individual style and strengths in the workplace through the most widely used instrument of its type in organizations, the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. Register by Monday, May 9.

"Assertive Communication Skills" (HR371) — Wednesday, June 15, 12:30 - 4:30 p.m., Building 212, Conference Room A157. Employees will learn to say what they mean in a constructive, clear and concise way. Register by Monday, May16.

Questions about Social Security can be answered

A Social Security representative will be available to meet with employees in Argonne's Human Resources office in Building 201 Wednesday, May 18, from 8 a.m. to noon.

The representative will be able to help with earnings posting problems and answer general questions about the Social Security program. He can also take applications for lost or stolen Social Security cards, replacement Social Security cards or corrected cards due to name changes.

To schedule a meeting, call ext. 2-2989.

In Memoriam

Isaac Burne , a retired body and fender man with 35 years of service in PFS, died March 19. His wife, Sandra Jamison, survives him.

Harmon N. Cornelius , a retired technician with 23 years of service in CT, died March 2. His son, Gary, survives him.

Pearl Duffy , a retired classified document custodian with 34 years of service in TD, died March 20. Her son, Terry, survives her.

Henry Hoffnung , a retired electrical engineer with 32 years of service in PFS, died Feb. 24. His wife, Estelle, survives him.

Edward Kimont , a retired engineering specialist with 27 years of service in RAS, died Feb. 13. His wife, Olga, survives him.

Lowell T. Lloyd , a retired assistant division director with 37 years of service in MSD, died March 25. His children, Elizabeth Rechtin, John, James, and William, survive him.