Argonne's Center for Nanoscale Materials was officially dedicated Sept. 18 with a ribbon cutting. From left to right are 13th District U.S. Representative Judy Biggert; Argonne Director Robert Rosner; Patricia Dehmer, director, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy; CNM Director Eric Isaacs; Kristi Lafleur, chief of staff, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and Thomas F. Rosenbaum, vice president for research and for Argonne, The University of Chicago. Photo by George Joch.

Oct. 2 , 2006 -- Some of this week's stories:

Argonne dedicates new Center for Nanoscale Materials

Argonne moved to the forefront of the materials science revolution with the opening of its Center for Nanoscale Materials Sept. 18.

Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, about 70,000 times smaller than the width of an average human hair.

“Argonne's new Center for Nanoscale Materials is one of five DOE facilities that our Office of Science is building to provide the nation's research community with state-of-the-art resources,” Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said. “The fundamental research conducted at the center is expected to accelerate the revolution that has already begun in nanotechnology and lead to a better understanding of the behavior of nanomaterials.”

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said, “Nanotechnology is the most significant technological frontier being explored today. Materials and devices at the nanoscale level hold vast promise to help us cure the sick, protect our environment and make us more secure. But that is only the beginning. By investing in cutting-edge research projects like this one at Argonne with the Department of Energy, we're proving why Illinois continues to be a national leader in scientific innovation that is changing our world and creating better jobs for more people.”

Dignitaries attending the ceremony included 13th District U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert; State Rep. Patti Bellock; State Rep. Jim Meyer; Mike Kelleher, director of outreach for economic development, the office of U.S. Senator Barack Obama; Patricia Dehmer, director, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy, and Thomas F. Rosenbaum, vice president for research and for Argonne, The University of Chicago.

At the nanoscale, the physical, chemical and biological properties of materials differ in fundamental and valuable ways from the properties of individual atoms and molecules or bulk matter. “It's hard to imagine a technology that won't be impacted by nanoscience, including biotechnology, computation, materials development and energy technology,” said CNM Director Eric Isaacs. “The list is endless.”

The Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne will integrate nanoscale research with Argonne's existing capabilities in synchrotron X-ray studies, neutron-based materials research and electron microscopy with new capabilities in nanosynthesis, nanofabrication, nanomaterials characterization, and theory and simulation. The center is one of five being built at national laboratories across the country as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Nanoscale Science Research Center program under the Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Nanoparticles are dominated by surfaces and interfaces with other materials, therefore it's important to understand how they relate to a material's atomic structure and surface chemistry. This is where a number of disciplines come into play, including materials physics, surface chemistry and organic chemistry. For example, it has been recently demonstrated that the color of the emission from a semiconductor nanoparticle can be controlled not only by size, but by binding a single or a few organic molecules to the surface.

Researchers hope this facility will lead to the creation of new materials that transcend the performance-limiting present-day materials and processes. These materials, incorporated into new devices and applications — such as ultra strong permanent magnet nanocomposites, magnetic electronics and sensors, solar energy conversion and storage systems, and molecular conductors — offer specific functionality for diverse energy-related applications.

Work at the CNM will also look at integrating novel materials, specifically bio-organic and inorganic materials. This research will lead to the creation of entirely new classes of materials with tailored functionalities coupled with individual components.

The center will also have the multidisciplinary ability to mix and combine materials with patterning. “We want to go beyond making materials and create novel devices,” Isaacs said.

The center's mission also includes the development of state-of-the-art tools, which includes a joint project with the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne to develop the world's best X-ray microscope to study these novel materials.

“If you're making little things,” Isaacs notes, “you need a tool to look at them. The resolving power of this instrument will be 1,000 times better than an optical microscope,” said Isaacs. “Since X-rays can penetrate materials non-destructively, researchers will be able to determine the three-dimensional structure of nanoparticles embedded in host materials or under growth conditions. Using this tool to characterize extremely small structures will help build, atom by atom, new materials with desired properties.”

Another part of the facility — unique to the Midwest and crucial to the development of nanomaterials — is an 11,000-square-foot clean room with state-of-the-art nanofabrication capabilities. “When you're trying to make small materials, the smallest speck of dust is huge and can easily spoil the material,” said Isaacs.

The center is now in the early phase of accepting users. Over the next year and a half it will fill with people and tools until it is fully operational in October 2008. The center was built as a joint partnership between the Department of Energy and the State of Illinois. The State of Illinois provided $36 million for the 85,000-square-foot building. The Department of Energy is providing $36 million to develop and build the facility's advanced instrumentation and will provide the necessary funds for its operation as a user facility.

“We expect the CNM to attract hundreds of researchers to Argonne each year,” said Isaacs. “What they accomplish here will forever change how we view materials and how we put them to work to improve our world.”

TeraGrid voted GRIDtoday top research grid

The TeraGrid was honored in the inaugural GRIDtoday Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards, presented Sept. 12 at the GridWorld conference in Washington, D.C. TeraGrid received the following awards:

• Editors' Choice: Research organization demonstrating the Most Innovative Grid Implementation in Government Research

• Editors' Choice: Research Grid Initiative that has earned the reputation of overall ‘Top Research Grid'

• Readers' Choice: Research organization demonstrating the most innovative research in support of Earth Sciences-Energy applications

“TeraGrid is pleased to be recognized by GRIDtoday for our use of Grid technology to support scientific research,” said Charlie Catlett, senior fellow at the Computation Institute at The University of Chicago and Argonne and director of the TeraGrid project. “With support of the National Science Foundation Office of Cyberinfrastructure, TeraGrid gives scientists an integrated set of resources and services with which to ask global and complex scientific questions within large-scale collaborative efforts.”

The TeraGrid is a $150 million initiative involving a distributed “grid” of information technologies at eight major supercomputing centers and universities. Computational grids are being used in fields such as academic research, automotive and aerospace, bio-IT, humanities research, security and defense, financial services, government, manufacturing, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and others.

The GRIDtoday Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards are determined by a survey of thousands of GRIDtoday readers. The Readers' Choice Awards are determined by a random poll of GRIDtoday readers; The Editors' Choice award winners are determined by votes of an advisory group of recognized luminaries, contributors and editors influential in Grid and Service-Oriented IT.

The TeraGrid, sponsored by the National Science Foundation Office of Cyberinfrastructure, is a partnership of people and a comprehensive collection of resources and services that enables and accelerates discovery in U.S. science and engineering research. Through coordinated grid middleware, policy and high-performance network connections, TeraGrid integrates a distributed set of high capability computational, data management and visualization resources to make U.S. research more productive. TeraGrid's Science Gateway collaborations and education and mentoring programs interconnect and broaden scientific communities.

2006 performance appraisal application opens Oct. 9

Monday, Oct. 9, marks the beginning of the annual performance appraisal process at Argonne.

Appraisals cover the period from Oct. 1, 2005, through Sept. 30, 2006, and must be completed for all regular full and part-time employees who were active as of July 1, 2006. This year's performance appraisals are due electronically in HR on Dec. 18.

All regular full and part-time employee Argonne employees will be given data entry access to their own performance appraisals from Oct. 9 to Oct. 23. During this time employees may enter draft assessments and suggested goals directly into their own performance appraisals. Employees might also be asked to complete a statement of accomplishments as a separate document.

The supervisor has ultimate responsibility to complete the appraisal. Supervisors and second-level supervisors will continue to have access to the performance appraisals throughout the process.

Performance appraisals will again be completed through a Web application available through Inside Argonne. Instructions and resources to support you in the performance appraisal process can be found at www.inside.anl.gov/resources/performance_appraisals/

Performance Management Training

A variety of training and discussion opportunities on performance management are offered:

• “New Employee Briefing” (HR 370) introduces all employees new to Argonne since July 1, 2006, to the Argonne performance appraisal process. Tuesday, Oct. 10, from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Building 203 Auditorium

• “Performance Management Workshop” (HR 561) supports supervisors in completing the performance appraisal. Two sessions are scheduled:

- Tuesday, Oct. 3, 1-5 p.m., Building 201, Room 190

- Wednesday, Oct. 18, 1-5 p.m., Building 201. Room 190

• “The Conversation” (HR 296) provides helpful techniques for delivering an effective performance appraisal discussion. Thursday, Nov. 9, 1-3 p.m., Building 201, Room 190

Register through your Training Management System representative. Special sessions can also be presented to divisions by calling HR - Performance Development at ext. 2-3410.

Candidates sought for named postdoctoral fellowship program

Argonne offers special postdoctoral fellowships to be awarded internationally on an annual basis to outstanding doctoral scientists and engineers who are at early points in promising careers. The fellowships are named after scientific and technical luminaries who have been associated with the laboratory, its predecessors and The University of Chicago since the 1940s, including:

• George W. Beadle, biologist

• Arthur Holly Compton, high energy particle physicist

• Ugo Fano, atomic physicist

• Nicholas Metropolis, computational physicist

• Willard Frank Libby, nuclear chemist

• Glenn Seaborg, chemist

• Harold Urey, nuclear chemist

• Eugene Wigner, theoretical physicist

• Walter H. Zinn, nuclear reactor physicist

Fellowship recipients will be assigned according to his or her scientific or technical discipline. These fellowships complement the existing Enrico Fermi and Maria Goeppert Meyer fellowships at Argonne.

Candidates for the Argonne National Laboratory Named Fellowships must display superb ability in scientific or engineering research and must show definite promise of becoming outstanding leaders in the research they pursue.

Fellowships are awarded for a two-year term, with possible renewal for a third year. The 2007 fellowship carries a stipend of $72,000 per annum with an additional allocation of up to $20,000 per year for research support and travel. The fellows, who will be competitively selected by a special fellowship committee, are given the freedom of associating with Argonne scientists in a research area of common interest.

Application deadline for 2007 fellowships is Friday, Oct. 13. More information and detailed application requirements can be found online.

Helmet use now required on Argonne site

Motorcycle and bicycle riders are now required to wear helmets on site, even though helmets are not required under Illinois law. In addition, moped riders, inline skaters, even users of wheeled cross-country ski trainers, all must wear helmets while on site.

Helmets must be Department of Transportation (DOT) approved. The Protective Force will issue tickets to enforce the new rules.

The new helmet rule is part of a new site-wide traffic safety push. In addition to the new helmet policy, drivers must:

• Wear seat belts at all times. Passengers are required to buckle up, too.

• Obey speed limits at all times. Mobile radar units will be placed around the site to display the speed of approaching vehicles. The site speed limit is 30 mph unless otherwise posted. The maximum speed in a parking lot is 10 mph, and the maximum speed through all gates is 15 mph.

• Carry a valid driver's license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance.

• Drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, but pedestrians must not enter crosswalks so suddenly that oncoming vehicles cannot yield.

Line management will follow up and respond when the security force issues a citation. The response could result in individual employees, occupants, guests, visitors, students and users losing their driving privileges on the Argonne site. Employees expecting visitors are responsible for informing them about Argonne policies that apply.

Open House visitors must wear helmets too

Employees inviting family, neighbors and friends to the Oct. 7 open house should remind them that helmets will be required to enter the site by bicycle, motorcycle or other wheeled conveyance that isn't a car.

Visitors without helmets will be asked to park off-site and use shuttle buses.

Argonne Web community asked to contribute to redesign project

As part of the laboratory's Digital Laboratory Initiative (see Transition News No. 5), both the internal and external portions of Argonne's Web site will be redesigned in coming months. The goal of the “Crystal Web Project” is a unified, flexible, modern Web design that will be usable by all aspects of Argonne's production Web space — from brochure-like content to dynamic Web pages, from Web business systems to interactive discussion spaces.

The project, coordinated by CIS, will request input from Web developers, content providers and others across the laboratory.

“We hope to involve everyone who is willing to contribute to developing a world-class and professional Web presence for Argonne that reflects our scientific and technological innovations,” said Chief Information Officer Remy Evard. “We know that many people across the lab have ideas about how to improve Argonne's Web space. We want to pull the best of those ideas together to create a design that works for different Web technologies, helps people organize and find information, and looks great.”

The project's goals include:

• A new Argonne Web design for internal sites, including Inside Argonne, based on community involvement

• An Argonne style guide that defines the required and optional elements of the design along with recommended best practices

• An implementation of the Web design as a set of HTML/CSS files

• Reference implementations of the base design as a set of Dreamweaver templates, and as a set of includes that can be adapted for multiple environments

• Identifying alternate site maintenance tools for which additional templates should be developed in future projects

• A process for developing and reviewing future additions and changes to Argonne's Web standards and best practices

Over the next several months, members of the Crystal Web Project team will gather input and evaluate a new design with the assistance of members of Argonne's Web community, which includes information technology administrators, Web developers, Web designers, content creators, site updaters and others. Future phases of the project will address the public Web site and other areas of improvement.

As part of this project, employees are encouraged to submit graphic design concepts. The design guidelines are available on the Web community site at wiki.anl.gov/web-community.

Updates on the Crystal Web Project will appear in Argonne News and on Inside Argonne.

For more information, contact Dana Stasiak (CIS) at dstasiak@anl.gov.

Volunteers needed for Oct. 7 open house

Employees are needed to help greet visitors and distribute programs at Argonne's Open House Saturday, Oct. 7. Volunteers can assist for a half-day or through the entire open house. Gates will open to the public at 9 a.m. and close at 4:30 p.m.

To volunteer, call ext. 2-5515.

The open house will feature tours, displays and demonstrations on energy, environment, chemistry, physics, biology, computing, materials science, transportation and nuclear engineering. The open house is geared to visitors of all ages. For details, see the link on the Argonne Home Page.

Lock up offices, labs before open house

Doors to offices, laboratories and other areas not open to the public should be secured during the open house Saturday, Oct. 7.

Employees should make sure all doors to these areas are closed and locked before leaving on Friday.

Running Club seeks help for marathon

The Argonne Running Club is seeking volunteers for the 2006 Chicago Marathon, Sunday, Oct. 22.

Each year Argonne volunteers work at the finish line of the race, dispensing drinks, medals and congratulations. Volunteers receive a jacket and hat.

For more information, contact Corrie Patterson Kamiya at ext. 2-9246 or cgpatterson@anl.gov by Friday, Oct. 6.

Benson wins 1st prize in Toastmasters contest

Susan Benson (EVS) received first place in the Area 54 Toastmasters Humorous Speech Contest, held Sept. 16 at Argonne.

The Speech Contest covered five Toastmaster clubs encompassing more than 100 members, all competing for the coveted first-place trophy. She will move on to the division speech contest in the southern suburbs next month to compete with 25 clubs with more than 400 members.