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The U.S. Department of Energy has rated Argonne "outstanding" in science and technology, leadership, infrastructure and general operations, and "excellent" in environment, safety and health for fiscal year 2001.
These ratings agree with those Argonne and the University of Chicago proposed in the laboratory's self-assessment.
The annual assessment determines the fee the University of Chicago receives for managing Argonne. The high rating resulted in a $2.76 million fee for the university, just shy of the maximum $2.83 million set by the terms of the "prime contract" between the university and DOE.
Outstanding is the highest rating on the five-place scale, followed by excellent, good, marginal and unsatisfactory. The highest rating is used when an area "significantly exceeds the standard of performance, achieves noteworthy results or accomplishes very difficult tasks in a timely manner." The "excellent" rating is awarded when an area "exceeds the standard of performance" and "although there may be room for improvement in some elements, better performance in all other elements more than offset this."
In fiscal year 2000, the laboratory's ratings were "outstanding" in science and technology and infrastructure, "excellent" in general operations and environment, safety and health, and "good" in leadership.
The DOE report notes the "leadership" rating improved significantly during the assessment period due to the "clear and convincing leadership" of newly appointed Argonne Director Hermann Grunder and Deputy Director Beverly Hartline. Among other improvements, the report also singled out initiatives to promote joint research between Argonne and University of Chicago researchers.
Marked results from improvements in Safeguards and Security and Cyber-Security helped boost the general operations rating, according to the report.
"People throughout the laboratory contributed to the overall performance," said Hartline. "It's a tribute to their high standards, hard work and dedication to continuous improvement."
Marion Thurnauer, director of the Chemistry Division, has received the Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal from the American Chemical Society in recognition of her research on the application of electron paramagnetic resonance to study energy conversion in plants.
Thurnauer's research focuses on the earliest stages of photosynthesis, the process that converts sunlight into chemical energy for the growth, maintenance and reproduction of plants.
Thurnauer is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has served on committees of the National Research Council and the National Academy of Sciences. She is a past recipient of the University of Chicago Award for Distinguished Performance.
She is an initiator of the annual "Science Careers in Search of Women" conference and the Argonne's Women in Science and Technology program.
Chemistry Division Director Marion Thurnauer will present her acknowledgment speech to the American Chemical Society for the 2002 Frances P. Gavin - John M. Ollin Medal at the June 7 First Friday Forum meeting.
Her speech, "My Mother, Her Sister and Me: 75 years of Science and Social Changes," will begin at noon in Building 200, Room J183.
The First Friday Forum is an informal gathering of Argonne women usually held on the first Friday of each month. The group explores career and gender issues related to women.
The forum's monthly meetings are open to all Argonne and U.S. Department of Energy employees.
Computer scientist Steve Tuecke (MCS) has been chosen as one of the world's 100 top young innovators by Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation.
The TR100, chosen by Technology Review, comprises 100 individuals under the age of 35 whose innovative work in business and technology has a profound impact on today's world. Nominees are recognized for their contributions in transforming the nature of technology in industries such as biotechnology, computing, energy, medicine, manufacturing, nanotechnology, telecom- munications and transportation.
Tuecke is a software architect in the Distributed Systems Laboratory (DSL) of Argonne's Mathematics and Computer Science Division. His work centers on development of Grid technologies. A Grid is a persistent distributed computing, collaboration and data-handling infrastructure that connects geographically and organizationally dispersed resources, including large-scale computers, archival storage systems, scientific and engineering instruments and human collaborators.
Tuecke leads the specification and design of technologies to satisfy the needs of this Grid agenda and evaluates commercial and research software and hardware for applicability to DSL and the Globus Project. The Globus project -- a collaboration among Argonne, the University of Southern California and the University of Chicago -- focuses on applying Grid concepts to scientific and engineering computing.
Tuecke also leads standardization efforts of Globus Project technologies and forges collaborations with strategic partners in research and industry, such as with IBM on the Open Grid Services Architecture.
Tuecke was honored May 23 during a conference and awards ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Technology Review is the world's oldest technology magazine. It covers emerging technologies on the verge of commercialization.
by Adam Cohen,
Director of ESH and Quality Assurance Oversight
Two ceiling mounted fluorescent lights fell to the floor in an Environmental Research Division laboratory in Argonne-East's Building 203 late last year.
While no one was injured, the 85-pound light fixtures could have caused serious injury, released hazardous materials or damaged research equipment. The exposed electrical conductors also created a potential electrical hazard.
An investigation determined that while no direct cause was evident, it was clear that "the hardware failure was caused by application of an excessive load on the hardware and end caps." At some point in the history of the room, intentional or inadvertent pressure was applied to the light fixtures. A worker may have braced against it or used it as a "step" while working on a nearby apparatus or placed something against it, weakening the brackets supporting the fixture.
All ceiling-mounted hardware in Building 203's C-wing has been inspected, and an effort was made to identify similar light fixtures throughout the site. No obvious indications of problems were identified in other fixtures.
Every employee in every building should take several precautions:
Overhead devices are designed for
their own weight only. Do not place pressure against overhead ducts, fixtures, conduits or
sprinkler pipes, either with a ladder or by leaning against it.
No items should be hung from
electrical conduits, sprinkler pipes or any other overhead fixtures. This includes hanging plants
from drop ceiling frames or attaching phone or cable wires alongside overhead piping, conduit or
fixtures.
Take responsibility for everyone's
safety. If you see or hear anything that suggests an unsafe condition, report it. In necessary, use
the IMPACT process to anonymously report any conditions where work actions may have introduced an
unexpected potential hazard.
The team of Plainfield High School students who won the 2002 Argonne Rube Goldberg Machine Contest has gone on to win the fourth annual Illinois state championship.
It was Plainfield's third consecutive state championship.
The nine-member team defeated five other Illinois high schools by building the wackiest machine to secure, raise and wave a national flag. The machine had to complete its task in 20 or more steps.
Second place in the state contest went to Maroa-Forsythe High School, Maroa, and students from Minooka Community High School took third place.
Plainfield received the Argonne Science Award and a $600 donation to its school's science program.
Prizes were provided by the Argonne and the University of Illinois Engineering Council, who jointly sponsor the contest, held at Chicago's Navy Pier.
Past Illinois state champions were Plainfield High School in 2000 and 2001, and Maine South High School, Park Ridge, in 1999.
Schools qualified to participate in the state championship contest by placing in the top three spots in two contests held earlier this year, one sponsored by Argonne in collaboration with Chicago Children's Museum, and the second held at the engineering open house at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Rube Goldberg machine contests are inspired by Reuben Lucius Goldberg, whose cartoons combined simple household items into complex devices to perform trivial tasks
Argonne's supervisors are "the conscience of the laboratory" and are expected to treat the people they manage with dignity and respect, said HR Director Carol Quinn as she opened a recent mandatory meeting at Argonne-East for all supervisory employees.
The meeting underscored the importance of supervisor training at the laboratory, Quinn said. Understanding Argonne policies and procedures, the legal basis of a number of these policies and laboratory management's position on workplace conduct can help supervisors create an environment that maximizes the potential of each employee.
The two-part presentation began with a look at legal issues by Matt Schiff, founding partner of the labor and employment law firm of Schiff & Hulbert, Chicago. His talk covered discrimination laws, including sexual harassment, the Americans with Disability Act, family and medical leave, and other aspects of employment law.
Darryl Howe (HR), manager of employee relations and diversity, followed with an overview of lab policies that bear on supervisory responsibility for facilitating appropriate workplace conduct.
Human Resources offers a variety of courses to help supervisors more effectively perform their job duties, Quinn said. Supervisors should contact Human Resources-Performance Development at ext. 2-8786 for more information.
Four Argonne-East image makers have been honored with international awards for their work in technical arts and publications by the International Society of Technical Communication (STC). The STC honors excellence in media communications.
George Joch's (IPD-MED) photograph "In the Well" received the "Distinguished" award, the highest honor in the competition. "I'm not just documenting. I'm telling a story with pictures," said Joch, whose background is in photojournalism.
Joch calls his work "illustrative photography" which requires detailed planning, lighting setup and working with props. For "In the Well," he climbed into an IPNS sample well as Simine Short (MSD) and Don Bohringer (IPNS) lowered the Special Environment Powder diffractometer. The photograph, currently printed on the 2002 Argonne directory cover, was taken for the IPNS 20th anniversary progress report and also printed as a poster.
Joch's second winning entry was "Tumor-Detecting Gamma-Ray Lens," illustrating the work of Robert Smither (XFD). It received a "Merit" international award in the competition and was named "Best of Show" in the Chicago-Regional STC competition.
Daniel F. Sarro's (IPD-MED) "Argonne's Enrico Fermi Centennial Exhibit," on permanent display in the Building 201 Lobby, received the "Distinguished" award in the international informational materials design category as well as in the Chicago competition.
"It attracted attention in part because of the use of a floating graphic mount, multi-colored stylized old photos and simulated embossing," said Sarro. The exhibit was created as part of last year's centennial celebration of Fermi's birth and was commissioned by the Office of Public Affairs.
Evelyn Brown (OPA) and David Baurac (OPA) received a "Merit" award in the international technical publications competition for their work on logos. The magazine, which highlights Argonne research, received a "Distinguished" award in the regional competition.
The 10,000 readers of logos include Argonne staff, members of Congress, Department of Energy administrators, scientists and science media.
All international winners received a plaque and their entries were displayed at the international conference in Nashville, Tenn., May 5-8.
IPD and OPA were recognized with 28 awards at the March 2001 regional awards ceremony in Chicago.
A Process Waste Assessment Workshop planned for Thursday, May 30, at Argonne-East will introduce employees to tools and techniques for reducing the amount of waste generated in the course of their work.
The workshop will also cover implementation of process waste assessments, targeting difficult and costly waste streams and documenting findings, results and lessons learned.
Informational handouts, giveaways and refreshments will be provided at the workshop, which is open to all Argonne and U.S. Department of Energy employees and contractors.
The workshop will begin at 10 a.m. in Building 212, Conference Room A157, following the Environmental Compliance Update meeting at 9 a.m. The informal workshop will be open until 12:30 p.m. Attendees can visit this open forum for any length of time; most should need less than 30 minutes.
The workshop is sponsored by the Argonne-East Pollution Prevention Advisory Committee and Plant Facilities and Service Division-Waste Management Operations/Pollution Prevention.
Representatives of Argonne's retirement vendors will visit Argonne-East in June to meet individually with employees who have questions about their retirement plans or retirement plan assets.
To arrange an appointment, call the number listed below. Appointments last a half-hour.
Fidelity: Tuesday, June 4, and
Tuesday, June 25. Call (800) 642-7131.
TIAA-CREF: Monday, June 10, and
Tuesday, June 11. Call (800) 842-2005.
Prudential: Wednesday, June 5, and
Wednesday, June 19. Call (847) 619-3519.
All classes offered by Electronics and Computing Technologies are now held in Argonne-East's Building 201, Room 167. Unless otherwise specified, class sizes are limited to 10 participants.
June classes include:
"Advanced Word 2000" (ECT378) --
Monday, June 3, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Cost: $215. Prerequisites: Introduction to and Intermediate
Word.
"Advanced Excel 2000" (ECT379) --
Tuesday, June 4, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Cost: $215. Prerequisites: Introduction to and Intermediate
Excel 2000.
"Advanced Access 2000" (ECT380) _
Wednesday, June 5, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Cost: $215. Class size limited to eight. Prerequisite:
"Intermediate Access 2000."
"Excel: Creating Macros, Tool Bars and
Graphics" (ECT386) -- Thursday, June 6, 8:30 a.m. - noon. Cost: $140. Prerequisites: Introduction
to and Intermediate Excel.
"Advanced PowerPoint 2000" (ECT382) --
Thursday, June 6, 1 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Cost: $140. Prerequisites: Introduction to and Intermediate
PowerPoint 2000.
Complete computer class descriptions, schedules and enrollment forms are available online. For information about enrollment, contact Diane Cavazos (ECT) at ext. 2-7153 or dkcavazos @anl.gov.
William Schultz, a representative of the Social Security Administration's Joliet office, will visit Argonne-East Wednesday, June 19, from 8 a.m. to noon.
Schultz will be available to:
Enroll employees in Social Security.
Take applications for new Social
Security cards, including original cards for newborns, corrected cards due to marriage or
replacement cards.
Help with earnings posting problems.
Answer general questions about the
Social Security program.
To schedule a meeting, call Fran Perri (HR) at ext. 2-2989.