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The Globus Project and Microsoft have expanded their partnership to extend the capabilities of the Globus Toolkit, a software suite that forms the emerging foundation for Grid computing.
The Globus Project is centered at Argonne's Mathematics and Computer Science Division (MCS), the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute, and the University of Chicago's Distributed Systems Laboratory. The project focuses on applying Grid concepts to scientific and engineering computing, seen in both the research and business communities as the next step in the evolution of the Internet. Grid computing lets users share and harness resources within and across organizations.
Microsoft will provide both funding and in-kind support totaling $1 million for developing a version of the Globus Toolkit for Windows XP, as well as for Globus Toolkit support of the company's .NET initiative.
The toolkit has already transformed the way science is conducted, with deployments at hundreds of sites across the world for physics, climatology, seismology and other research. The release of Version 2.0 (GT2) in November 2001 spurred commercial interest in the open-architecture, open-source software, with a dozen companies -- including Microsoft -- at that time expressing their commitment to GT2 as a standard for distributed collaboration and resource sharing.
"We certainly welcome these corporate resources," said Ian Foster, MCS associate division director and professor of computer science at the University of Chicago. "The Globus Project is staunchly committed to open-architecture software, and it is significant that Microsoft has agreed for results of this research to be made freely available, contributing to the public knowledge base of Grid computing. The potential benefit to users is enormous." Foster and his colleague Steven Tuecke (MCS) lead Globus Project activities at Argonne and have led efforts to engage industry in Globus Toolkit development and application.
The Globus Toolkit includes tools and libraries for solving problems in security, communication, information infrastructure, fault detection, resource management, portability and data management. With Microsoft funding, the Globus Project will port client-side libraries to Windows XP to produce a high-quality Windows distribution of the software.
Users will enjoy a one-click installation as well as integration with Windows XP's password management facilities providing single sign-on for Globus-based Grids.
For more information, visit the Globus Project web site.
By Harvey Drucker
Associate Laboratory Director,
Energy & Environmental Science
and Technology
Sept. 11, 2001 affected us all. A lot of people woke up to find that America, this "last, best hope," this fragile place, needed help. And they gave that help. Lines to donate blood blocks long, immense contributions of money, and individual effort showed the extent of their caring. At Argonne, our staff found they could also make contributions using their skill, knowledge and energy to defend and strengthen our people against this terror.
Certainly, as Dr. Grunder has written, national security has always been part of our mission, but now it is a central theme
Our challenge has been focusing our involvement.
We found we have many technologies that contribute. We codified them and established a structure that will make them available to the organizations and agencies responsible for homeland security and defense.
Key to our effort has been establishing an organization, the intent of which is to share information about our science and technology across the laboratory -- division to division, between Argonne-East and Argonne-West -- so people become aware of all the capabilities the lab has that might be relevant. We believe this communication will lead to the intertwining of knowledge and hardware that results in new ideas; and to more effective, cheaper, easier-to-use tools and systems to define threats and manage the consequences -- potential and real -- of terrorism.
This organization -- the Argonne National Security Oversight Committee -- consists of division directors and senior scientists. Within the committee we've made three groupings of laboratory capabilities for national security.
There is nuclear, which is the responsibility of Steve Aumeier (NT).
The chem-bio grouping is subdivided into three sections, headed by Marion Thurnauer (CHM), Maryka Bhattacharyya (BIO) and Vic Maroni (CMT). Chem-bio is broken down because the lab has a large number of capabilities in this area, ranging from detectors to decontamination. These capabilities have attracted interest from a large number of organizations, so it makes sense to have more contact people available to work with them.
Finally, there is Systems Level Studies, headed by Jim Peerenboom (DIS). This analysis deals with infrastructure assurance, and potential impacts, primarily in the area of energy infrastructure.
Looking outside Argonne, we've had good interaction with Los Alamos, NISAC (the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center, which will probably be a lead organization in infrastructure assurance), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). We expect to be working as well with the National Institutes of Health, the military, and the Homeland Security Office under Governor Ridge as its structure takes form and it assigns missions.
Argonne's real strengths are our diversity; the range of work, from basic to applied, that might be used in all aspects of the nation's plan to defend itself; the services we can provide in emergencies within our own region and communities; and, last but most important, a staff that, I believe, truly cares about the contribution it makes to the world around it.
Tickets go on sale this week for the Leipzig String Quartet, which will perform at Argonne-East Saturday, March 16.
The program includes music by Mendelssohn, Schoenberg and Schubert.
The widely acclaimed quartet formed in 1988 and has recorded chamber works by many 19th and 20th century composers.
The performance will begin at 8 p.m. in the Advanced Photon Source Conference Center Auditorium, Building 402. The concert is open to the public.
Tickets are $20 and will be sold in the lobby of the Argonne-East Cafeteria, Building 213, the week of March 11 from noon to 1 p.m.
The box office auditorium will open at 7:30 p.m. the day of the performance or call (630) 252-3751 for reservations.
Prior to the concert, a special dinner will be served from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Argonne Guest House. Cost is $23.45. Reservations are requested; please call (630) 739-6000.
For more information on the concert and security procedures, including visitor registration, see the Arts at Argonne Web site.
A new Web site created by the Performance Evaluation Process Committee offers an easy way for employees to send input to the committee and provides reports on the group's activities.
The committee meets every other week and is working toward improving Argonne's employee performance evaluation process. J. Murray Gibson, associate laboratory director for the Advanced Photon Source, chairs the committee. Recommendations will be made to Argonne Director Hermann Grunder by the end of June.
A report on the status of women in physics at Argonne-East has been posted on the laboratory's Intranet.
The report, by the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics of the American Physical Society, details findings from a site visit in early January. A team from the society visited eight divisions at Argonne-East on Jan 3-4 to assess the climate for women physicists. Team members met with management and employees, both male and female.
The report to the American Physical Society details their findings from the visit and recommends changes that would improve the status of women in physics at Argonne:
Improved recruitment, promotions,
reviews, mentoring and other actions.
Increased incentives to increase the
number of women in physics.
An assessment of how the Women's
Program Initiator fits into a broader strategy for increasing the number of women scientists and
engineers, improving their work environment and enhancing opportunities for advancement.
A more proactive approach by Women in
Science and Technology (WIST).
Improved education for supervisors.
Household hazardous waste like old cleaners, poisons, expired chemicals and solvents, will be collected free of charge at this year's DuPage County Household Hazardous Waste Collection.
The collection will take place in Darien Saturday, March 16, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Rockwell Parking Lot, 8245 S. Lemont Road, about three-quarters of a mile south of 75th Street on Lemont Road.
Household waste should be kept in its original containers.
For more information, and a list of acceptable and unacceptable materials, call (630) 682-7373 or call (630) 510-2810 or visit the county's Web site.
Argonne-East employees can now store surplus chemicals in a central storage facility free of charge. The newly modified Argonne Chemical Exchange System (ACES) can also pick up surplus chemicals and deliver them elsewhere for reuse.
ACES makes the transfer of surplus chemicals quicker, cheaper and easier than the purchase of new materials.
More than 300 chemicals are currently available through ACES. Selecting and donating chemicals via ACES can easily be done online, either from the Surplus page of the Chemical Management System Web site or from the Windows-based Surplus Chemicals Bulletin Board.
For more information or assistance with ACES, call the Argonne-East Pollution Prevention Hotline at ext. 2-6678.
Former Argonne Director Walter Massey has been named to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which provides the president with independent private-sector advice on science and technology issues.
The membership of the council is a cross-section of prominent industry, academic and nonprofit institutions.
Massey, current president of Morehouse College, was Argonne's sixth director, serving from 1979-1984.
An eight-week "English As A Second Language" course will be offered at Argonne-East starting Tuesday, March 26. Every level of ability is welcome.
The course, HR534, is designed to help non-native speakers improve and fine-tune their English skills on the job. Participants will study vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, reading, comprehension and writing.
Classes will be held in Building 201, Room 238, every Tuesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. for eight weeks. The cost is $250.
To enroll, contact a Training Management System representative. Call Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410 for more information or visit the Human Resources Web site.
A representative from MetLife will be available at Argonne-East Tuesday, March 12, and Tuesday, March 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.
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) rates for the second quarter of 2002 are:
TIAA Traditional: 6.5 percent
for contributions from March 1 - June 30, earned through Feb. 28, 2003.
TIAA Supplemental: 6 percent for
contributions from March 1 - June 30, earned through Feb. 28, 2003.