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Argonne had a small but important role in the development of the "Genesis" spacecraft, designed to collect material from the sun and return it to the earth.
Genesis was launched Aug. 8. The spacecraft will travel about 1.5 million kilometers toward the sun, where it will hover at a point between Earth and the sun where the gravity of both bodies is balanced. The tiny spacecraft will expose several round collector panels made of extremely pure silicon and other materials. These collectors will spend 2½ years facing the solar wind -- a million-mile-per-hour rush of ions blasted from the sun's outer layers into space. Some of those ions will embed themselves in the array of coaster-sized disks; the total amount collected will weigh as much as a few grains of salt. At the end of the mission, the disks will return to a sealed container inside the spacecraft and parachute back to earth for analysis.
A pure, unadulterated sample of solar wind will provide astrophysicists with clues to the origin of the sun -- and the planets that orbit it. The "pure" part is where Argonne's expertise was required.
"The Genesis team needed to verify that the supplier's disks met the project requirements -- they had to be absolutely pure and clean. Once the samples come back from space, you want to be assured that what you detect really came from the sun," said Materials Scientist Wallis Calaway Jr. (MSD).
"Argonne has developed some very special instruments, types of mass spectrometers, that are very good at measuring very low concentrations of elements in materials," Calaway said. "When the mission was first proposed, and they started looking around for someone to do trace analysis, they contacted Argonne."
Argonne scientists helped write the initial proposal and provided technical advice. Over a three-year period, they also analyzed collector disks identical to the ones that would be flown.
Most of the collector disks were silicon wafers like those used in semiconductor manufacturing. Others were made of germanium, aluminum, and thin films of diamond and gold on sapphire.
The different materials cater to different analytical techniques.
"Some detection techniques are more sensitive to various elements than others," Calaway said. "You want your analytical technique to be blind to the collector material and detect only solar wind elements."
In addition, some elements may diffuse through silicon, for example, making them harder to detect. Such elements may not diffuse though another material, like sapphire.
Calaway, Igor Veryovkin (MSD) and Mike Pellin (MSD) used Argonne's "SARISA" (Surface Analysis by Resonant Ionization of Sputtered Atoms) instrument to check the collector disks.
SARISA, developed and built at Argonne, uses lasers to ionize material desorbed by sputtering from the surface of a specimen and analyzes it with a mass spectrometer. The purity standards required by the Genesis project pushed even this device to its limits.
Analysis of the solar wind samples in late 2004 will require even better detection methods. The three scientists are writing a proposal for a super-SARISA with that project in mind.
"On Sept. 8, 2004, the Genesis spacecraft is going to bring back some very special samples, which will be doled out to people based on their abilities," Calaway said. "We hope to be ready."
-- Dave Jacqué
Technology transfer will be the topic when Los Alamos National Laboratory's Thomas J. Meyer speaks at a director's special colloquium Wednesday, Aug. 29.
Meyer is Los Alamos' associate laboratory director for Strategic and Supporting Research. His talk, "Sharing the Knowledge: Technology Transfer at a National Laboratory" will begin at 3 p.m. in Argonne-East's Building 362 Auditorium.
All employees whose schedules permit are invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.
Meyer's active interest in technology transfer dates back several years. He created such a program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he was a professor and administrator for more than 30 years. His interest and involvement in tech transfer remain strong at Los Alamos, where challenges to technology transfer include changing policies on intellectual property, conflict of interest, outside consulting and speeding up the patent process.
Meyer has nearly 500 publications and three patents. He was ranked sixth in the Institute for Scientific Information's list of the 50 most cited chemists, 1984-1991, and eleventh in the list of the 50 Most Cited Chemists, 1981-June 1997.
The Strategic and Supporting Research Directorate, which Meyer has headed since 2000, helps strengthen the quality and scope of Los Alamos' national-security research, while providing scientific leadership and creating new programs. It fosters and champions excellence in basic research, while partnering within the laboratory and with universities, businesses, other national laboratories and international organizations. The directorate includes eight scientific divisions with about 3,000 employees.
Michael E. Bartos has been named Argonne's chief financial officer. Bartos has been acting chief financial officer since the retirement of Jim O'Kelley Jan. 19.
Since joining Argonne in 1975, Bartos has held positions of increasing responsibility in financial management. In 1990, he was named assistant chief financial officer, with major emphasis in budget management.
Previously, he was an accountant with Union Oil Company, Palatine, Ill.
Bartos has been the financial lead on DOE Office of Science reviews of other DOE national laboratories' operations and infrastructure. He received a DOE Teamwork Award for his work as a member of the Financial Management Systems Improvement Council (FMSIC). This council comprises DOE contractor, Operations Office, and Headquarters employees dealing with the many financial management issues confronting DOE and its contractors. He has also been a member of the Budget Stakeholders Group, formed along similar lines as the FMSIC for dealing with specific budget issues.
He received his undergraduate degree in accounting from Southern Illinois University and his MBA from the University of Chicago.
Argonne Director Emeritus Alan Schriesheim has received an honorary doctor of science degree from Pennsylvania State University.
Penn State honored Argonne's longest-serving director for his accomplishments as a researcher and administrator. Schriesheim earned his Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry at Penn State in 1954.
A research chemist and top executive at Exxon Research and Engineering Co., Schriesheim earned 22 patents and received the American Chemical Society's George A. Olah Award in Petroleum Chemistry. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
In 1983, Schriesheim became the first industry executive to head a national laboratory. Under his leadership, Argonne launched a series of initiatives to diversify and broaden the laboratory's research scope and build its relationship with other government, academic and industrial organizations. He retired in 1996.
Schriesheim was named to the Lincoln Academy of Illinois in 1996. The state's highest award honors Illinois' most distinguished citizens.
Founded in 1855, Penn State enrolls more than 80,000 students. The main campus is located in central Pennsylvania.
Leading international researchers will map out new approaches to developing biological databases for computational modeling of biological systems at an upcoming workshop at Argonne-East.
The workshop will be held Sept. 10-11 in Building 202, Room B169, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The event will be hosted by Argonne's Biosciences and Mathematics and Computer Science divisions.
For more information, call Gina Locasto (BIO) at ext. 2-3819. Online registration is available at the Biosciences Web site (click “Resources,” then “Conference Registration”).
The Argonne Child Development Center is now accepting infants for part-time enrollment.
Infant children six weeks to 15 months old can be enrolled for two or three days a week. Tuition is $120 for two days, $180 for three. Four or five days of care would cost the current weekly rate of $202.
Beginning in September, the center will accept infants at six weeks of age, rather than the current 12 weeks.
Display boards with additional information will be set up in the Building 213 Cafeteria and other locations at Argonne-East.
Fund-raiser
The Child Development Center Parent Association will sell candy bars in the Building 213 Cafeteria Thursday, Aug. 16, Tuesday, Aug. 21, and Wednesday, Aug. 29.
The fund-raiser will help pay for activities and celebrations at the center.
The "observers" who were keeping watch at Argonne-East's gates are members of the Millwrights & Machinery Erectors, Local No. 1693, who are involved in a dispute with Fabcast Engineering, Ltd., one of the contractors working at the laboratory.
The observers were making sure that Fabcast employees, subcontractors and vendors were not using the main entrances. A gate has been reserved for Fabcast at Cass Ave. and Bluff Road, where picketing is taking place. Though the observers have withdrawn, the dispute continues and they may return.
The Argonne-East pool will close for the season Thursday, Aug. 23.
Due to a column labeling error, the Retirement Plan Fund Performance printout dated 6/30/01 was reissued with a revised date of 7/30/01.
Fund returns were not affected by the error.
Information and promotional materials about "MetLife" group automobile and homeowners insurance will be available Wednesday, Aug. 22 in Argonne-East's Building 213 Cafeteria from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"MetLife" insurance is a voluntary benefit introduced at the laboratory one year ago for regular employees and retirees.
Participants enrolled in the program can insure their cars, homes and other personal property at group rates.
MetLife's licensed Insurance Consultants can be contacted for insurance comparisons, quotes and enrollment at 1-800-438-6388.
Electronics and Computing Technologies will offer several computer software classes through September.
Detailed class descriptions, schedules and enrollment forms are available online. For more information about enrollment procedures, contact Diane Cavazos (ECT) at ext. 2-7153 or dkcavazos @anl.gov.
Unless otherwise noted, classes will be held in Argonne-East's Building 221, Room A142, and are limited to 10 participants. Proficiency with the Windows operating system is necessary.
Beginning Unix (ECT564) -- This class comprises two three-hour
sessions. First session: Tuesday, Aug. 21, 9 a.m. - noon.
Second session: Thursday, Aug. 23, 9 a.m. - noon.
Cost: $265.
vi Editor in Unix (ECT567) -- Prerequisite: A general knowledge of
Unix, especially Unix file management commands.
Friday, Aug. 24, 9 a.m. - noon. Cost: $180.
Advanced Word 2000 (ECT378) -- Prerequisites: Introduction and
Intermediate Word. Monday, Sept. 10, 8:30 a.m. _ 4:30 p.m.
Cost: $215.
Advanced Excel 2000 (ECT379) --
Prerequisites: Introduction and Intermediate Excel 2000.
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Cost: $215.
Advanced Access 2000 (ECT380) --
Prerequisite: Intermediate Access 2000. Wednesday, Sept. 12,
8:30 a.m. _ 4:30 p.m. Class size limited to eight. Cost: $215.
Front Page 2000 (ECT383) -- This class is two full days. Thursday,
Sept. 13, and Friday, Sept. 14, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Class
size limited to eight. Cost: $430.