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Hi-tech companies are increasingly turning to Argonne's research facilities to keep their products on top of the market. And the local community is reaping the benefits.
Despite widespread economic uncertainty, the past year saw increasing numbers of industrial scientists using such Argonne facilities as the Advanced Photon Source (APS) for research. Argonne's presence helps companies attract some of the country's best scientific talent to the local area, and Argonne facilities allow these firms to develop products faster and cheaper.
"Working with Argonne allows us to develop drugs in months instead of years," said Celerino Abad-Zapatero, a pharmaceuticals researcher at nearby Abbott Laboratories. "We can pass our time savings on as cost savings to the consumer."
Abbott Laboratories uses the APS to obtain high-quality images of proteins that are potential drug sources. These images give top crystallographers like Abad-Zapatero insights into these proteins' physical properties. Without such insights, it would take far longer to develop drugs like Kaletra, now one of the top-selling treatments for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"In the case of Kaletra, we discovered it 10 times faster using the APS than it would have taken us on our own," Abad-Zapatero said. "Translated into research dollars, that's a lot of money."
How much is a lot? Private companies like Abbott Labs are reluctant to release specific cost figures on sales or research, but developing a new drug can cost up to several million dollars a day. If a company can take advantage of the APS on short notice, it can make a substantial time difference.
"If we hear that no one is using the APS beam for a few hours, all we have to do is put our samples in a truck and drive them over," Abad-Zapatero said. "That alone can save days. But it would be tough to do that if our samples had to travel halfway across the country."
Abbott Labs was in the area before Argonne was built, but Argonne's presence has enabled many such long-established companies to attract and keep a higher caliber of employee than they would be able to otherwise.
Jim Kaduk, a researcher at British Petroleum's Naperville office, has used Argonne's Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS) for 15 years, and the APS since it became operational.
"I consider the IPNS to be a model national-lab user facility," said Kaduk. "And any researcher with a choice would jump at the chance to live and work near the APS. When you can make measurements one million times better at Argonne than you can at your own lab, it makes the local area attractive to highly paid researchers."
As a year of a chemical engineer's time can cost around $300,000, having a team of them living and working nearby can make a substantial contribution to the local economy.
Other highly paid specialists work for companies that would not even exist without Argonne's presence. Darien's Eichrom Technologies was founded a decade ago to market products originally developed in Argonne's Chemistry Division.
"We were originally based in Evanston, but we moved to Darien in 1991 to be closer to Argonne," said Eichrom's Michael Fern. "Being nearby has helped us to expand faster."
Eichrom markets equipment used to test samples for radioactive contamination. The products help ensure safe work environments for workers at U.S. and overseas facilities. Fern says business is booming.
"In 1990, we had three employees," said Fern. "Now we have 20. Our sales are growing by 10 to 15 percent per year, and we are competing successfully with big firms like 3M."
Eichrom's success has in turn spun off the Eprogen company, another 20-employee firm whose products assist in analyzing proteins for drug development. Both companies contract locally for their packaging and special manufacturing needs.
Corporate use of Argonne's facilities has grown over the past five years, with a record 210 people using the APS in 2001, up from 160 in 2000. Murray Gibson, APS director, would like the relationship between Argonne and local industry to continue to grow closer.
"As stewards of the APS, we want our facility to be available to as many users as possible, at as low a cost as possible," Gibson said. "Our facilities were bought with taxpayer dollars, so we want our facilities to be useful to the taxpayer."
Gibson believes continued industrial research at Argonne will do just that.
"We do science that pertains to people's daily lives," Gibson said. "Argonne is a great place to do research that has resulted in better drugs for your health, more efficient disk drives for your computer, and higher performance airplanes for travel. We hope more companies will take advantage of our facilities -- it's better economically for them, for us, and for the local community."
-- Chad Boutin
Computer scientist Padma Raghavan has joined Argonne's Mathematics and Computer Science Division (MCS) as the Maria Goeppert Mayer Distinguished Scholar. Raghavan is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Pennsylvania State University.
Raghavan has consistently contributed results that have advanced the state of the art in computer science. For example, she formulated a scalable method for solving equations from linear algebra that was more efficient than traditional solution techniques. Scalable methods break a problem in small but highly interdependent tasks. The challenge is to coordinate these tasks so that they achieve good performance even as the size of the problem or the size of the computer increases. Raghavan then implemented the method in a software package that is used by industry, national laboratories and universities.
One of her objectives at MCS will be to provide new insights into scalable "hybrid solvers" that can be incorporated into MCS software to make a powerful package for the scientific community.
Another research aim is to use Chiba City, the Linux cluster in the MCS Division, to test algorithm scalability on large clusters and to determine the scalability levels of existing systems software over Chiba City's high-performance network interconnect. Raghavan will also apply innovative computer science results to real-world problems in engineering and the physical sciences.
Each year, Argonne grants the Maria Goeppert Mayer Distinguished Scholar Award to an outstanding woman scientist or engineer. The award, named for the Argonne physicist who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1963, enables the scholar to conduct innovative research using Argonne's resources.
Raghavan's innovative research has earned her numerous awards, including four University of Tennessee Science Alliance Awards for Excellence in Research and a four-year NSF Career Award for Research.
Arts at Argonne will present "Quiet On The Set! -- Movies about Movies," a group of silent films with live musical accompaniment, Friday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Argonne-East's Advanced Photon Source Conference Center Auditorium, Building 402.
The program features a selection of films from the 1920s on the subject of the movies themselves: who made them, how they were made, and what it was like to watch them. The short films offer sly impersonations of the major stars of the day by American humorist Will Rogers, a tongue-in-cheek look at the perils and pitfalls of Hollywood stuntmen and a family's trying night at the movies, punctuated by one of silent film's many sound-based gags. The featured film is "The Extra Girl," starring comedienne Mabel Normand.
Live piano accompaniment for the films will be provided by Chicago musician David Drazin, official silent-film accompanist for the Gene Siskel Film Center.
Admission is $5. Order tickets by phone at ext. 2-3751; VISA and MasterCard accepted. Remaining tickets will be sold in the lobby of the Building 213 Cafeteria starting Monday, Feb. 11, from noon to 1 p.m. The Auditorium Box Office will be open on the day of the performance at 7 p.m.
Chamber music
Tickets also go on sale in the Building 213 Cafeteria Feb. 11 for the Peabody Trio, with narrator Walter Van Dyk, which will perform at Argonne-East Sunday, Feb. 17, at 3 p.m. in the Advanced Photon Source Conference Center Auditorium. Tickets are $20. The Auditorium Box Office will be open on the day of the performance at 2:30 p.m.
Site access
All on-site special events open to the public require pre-registration of visitors and guests. A photo I.D., such as a driver's license or passport, is required for site access. Pre-registered patrons will be issued individual gate passes as they arrive at Northgate. Argonne and DOE employees do not need to pre-register, but will need their badges to gain access to the site. All vehicles entering the site are subject to search.
To pre-register, call ext. 2-3751, send a fax to ext. 2-6720, or e-mail smorss@anl.gov. Name and citizenship are required for every attendee. Visitors who are not U.S. citizens will need to provide their citizenship and date of birth.
Detailed information on security procedures can be found on the Arts at Argonne Web site.
Nuclear workers affected by radiation, beryllium or silica on the job, and their survivors, can get help applying for benefits under a new federal workers' compensation program. A traveling resource center will be available for appointments and walk-in visits in Joliet Feb. 11-12 and Willowbrook Feb. 13-14.
The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act provides $150,000 lump-sum compensation to workers who became ill as a result of radiation, beryllium or silica exposure on the job. A recent amendment to the law makes adult children eligible for compensation if there is no surviving spouse.
Workers or survivors who need help with their claim forms can schedule appointments at the traveling resource center by calling, toll-free, 1 (866) 363-6993. The center also accepts walk-in visits.
The center will be at the Ramada Inn
Conference Room, 1520 Commerce Lane, Joliet, Ill., from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, and
Tuesday, Feb. 12.
The center will be at the Willowbrook
Holiday Inn, West Ballroom, 7800 Kingery Rd. (I-55 at Rt. 83) Willowbrook, Ill., Wednesday Feb. 13
and Thursday, Feb. 14.
A project to expand the wetland area between Advanced Photon Source and Watertower Road at Argonne-East is slated to begin this month. Heavy equipment will be operating in the area during the two to three weeks the work is expected to last.
The project aims to compensate for several acres of wetland that were drained during construction of the APS.
The remaining 3.2 acres will be expanded to a maximum of 10.
"We need the heavy equipment to unearth the drain tiles, which were used to remove groundwater," said Mark Kamiya (ESH), who is coordinating the project. "It's not a heavily traveled area, but people should be careful."
The project's precise starting date depends on the weather, but is scheduled to be completed by the time the spring rains arrive. For more information, contact Kamiya at ext. 2-2704.
Caring for the elderly will be the topic of a presentation by author Joy Loverde Wednesday, March 6, at Argonne-East.
Loverde is the author of "The Complete Eldercare Planner." Her presentation will address balancing work and life responsibilities with the challenges of family caregiving.
Loverde will hold her presentation from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. To register, and for location information, contact Fran Perri at ext. 2-2989 or fperri@anl.gov.
Many of the U.S. flags flying since Sept. 11 are long overdue for replacement. ECT's George Muszynski has volunteered to take worn, tattered or frayed U.S. flags to the American Legion for proper disposal.
Bring the flags to Building 372 -- the building at the base of the ZGS ramp.
A major snowstorm struck southeast Idaho Jan. 21, closing Argonne-West by mid-morning.
Blowing and drifting snow closed U.S. Highway 20, so the buses taking Argonne-West employees were re-routed through Blackfoot. Halfway through the detour route, the buses were turned back due to low visibility and an accident blocking the roadway. After a two-hour bus ride, employees were sent home for the day at about 9 a.m.
The buses were running the next day, but had to take an even longer route to get to the laboratory.
"Effective Business Writing for Today," a new workshop to be held at Argonne-East Friday, March 15, will help employees learn how to write letters, memos and e-mail messages that get to the point and move projects along efficiently.
The workshop will focus on planning, developing and organizing information to meet the reader's needs and the writer's objectives. The class (HR259) will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Building 201, Room 190.
Registration deadline is Friday, Feb. 15. To enroll, contact a Training Management System representative. Call Betty Iwan at ext. 2-3410 for more information or visit the HR Web site.
The Division of Educational Programs will conduct an eight-week summer program in which local college-bound students participate in laboratory research under the direction of Argonne scientists.
Students must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, be U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens, graduate from high school in May or June 2002, and be enrolled to attend college in fall 2002.
Participants will receive a stipend of $350 per week during the program, which will run from June 10-Aug. 2. The deadline for receiving completed applications in DEP is 5 p.m., Friday, March 29. Application materials have been sent to high school science departments throughout the area. Applications may also be obtained from Lisa Reed at ext. 2-3366 or e-mail lreed@dep. anl.gov.
The Argonne Guest House will celebrate Mardi Gras with special menus Feb. 11-12.
The restaurant will offer such New Orleans dishes as fresh oysters on the half shell, crab cakes, jambalaya and blackened swordfish. A full menu will be posted on the Guest House Web site.
Guest House dinner hours are 5-8 p.m.
Argonne-East employees can meet with a Social Security representative Wednesday, March 20, from 8 a.m. to noon in the Human Resources office in Building 201.
The representative can:
Enroll employees in Social Security.
Take applications for new Social
Security cards, whether they are replacements, original cards for newborns or changes due to
marriage.
Help with earnings posting problems.
Answer general questions about Social
Security.
To schedule a meeting, call Fran Perri (HR) at ext. 2-2989.
The laboratory's retirement vendors will visit Argonne-East during March to meet with employees and answer questions about their retirement plans and retirement plan assets.
To schedule an appointment with these representatives, call the number listed. Appointments last a half-hour, except for Prudential, which offers half-day sessions.
Fidelity -- Tuesday, March 5, and
Tuesday, March 19. Call (800) 642-7131.
TIAA-CREF -- Thursday, March 14, and
Friday, March 15. Call (800) 842-2005.
Prudential -- Wednesday, March 6, and
Wednesday, March 20. Call (847) 619-3519.
A representative from MetLife will be available at Argonne-East Tuesday, Feb. 12, and Tuesday, Feb. 26, to meet with individual employees and provide insurance comparisons and quotes for the "METPAY" group automobile and homeowners insurance program.
To schedule an appointment, call Craig Riddick at (630) 810-0346, ext. 143. Employees should fax their auto policy renewal statements to (630) 810-1628 before their appointments.