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Four Argonne employees were honored with 2002 University of Chicago Outstanding Service Awards at a ceremony at Argonne-East Thursday, June 13.
The award is the highest honor the university gives to Argonne employees in support positions. Winners receive an engraved plaque and a check for $3,000. The award was established in 1983 by the university's Board of Governors and recognizes those who have furthered the goals and missions of the laboratory through exceptional contributions.
Award winners are:
David A. Haugen, coordinator for
environmental safety and health in Energy and Environmental Science and Technology. During his 26
years with Argonne, he has consistently provided significant services to the entire laboratory.
Haugen assumed important roles in the development of a new Argonne Training Management System, the
DOE Chemicals Inventory Pilot Study, a streamlined National Environmental Policy Act review process
subsequently adopted for laboratory-wide use, a new Argonne guide for conducting Environment Safety
& Health/Quality Assurance assessments, and Argonne's Safety Management System documentation.
He served as transition coordinator for the decentralization of the laboratory's ES&H functions, capably resolving every issue that emerged, and was primary author of the revised ES&H Manual -- an extensive rewrite accomplished in record time.
William McDowell, controls/computer
support group leader in ASD, has been an electronics engineer at Argonne for 38 years. He spent
more than 20 years in the Electronics Division before becoming part of the team -- in 1986 -- that
designed, built and now operates the Advanced Photon Source. He designed and developed instruments
and controls for a number of Argonne's reactors, including Janus, ZPR6, ZPR9, TREAT and ZPPR. He
developed a unique plutonium detection system that improved measurement times from an hour to five
minutes. He established the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control Systems collaboration at
the APS, subsequently developing it as a standard control system and saving DOE millions of
dollars. And he led the effort to provide cyber security at the APS by installing the first
enterprise firewall to protect it, creating the network security viewed as prototype protection.
Francis Strehl, director of the
Medical Department, has been an Argonne employee for more than 42 years. His leadership has helped
Argonne sustain its reputation as a model employer and a place where the medical well-being of its
employees is of paramount importance. Through his efforts, the medical services and facilities
available at Argonne have met and exceeded the very high standards of DOE and other certification
groups. Because of his medical knowledge and expertise in ES&H, Argonne and DOE policies,
Strehl has successfully maintained the delicate equilibrium between being an employee advocate and
a representative of Argonne management. He is well respected and admired by his many colleagues,
and his reputation and exemplary leadership abilities have enabled him to recruit physicians of the
highest caliber and education.
Paul E. Vanderwall, manager of the
Maintenance and Crafts in PFS, began his career at Argonne 27 years ago as an entry-level laborer.
He steadily advanced to positions of increasing responsibility. Earlier in his career, prior to his
promotion to manager, laboratory management was seriously considering outsourcing custodial
services. As custodial manager, he turned the department around, reducing the number of grievances
by 95 percent and the number of non-occupational disability absences by 30 percent, and resulting
in substantial cost savings. Vanderwall is considered to be one of the laboratory's best managers
in recognizing and implementing Integrated Safety Management's line responsibility for safety. In
his current position, he has embraced a program of facilities maintenance that is expected to show
cost savings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars without loss of effectiveness.
The children of two Argonne employees were awarded scholarships to the University of Chicago at a ceremony at Argonne-East Thursday, June 13.
This year's scholarship winners were Faiyaaz Kalimullah, son of Kalimullah (RAE), and Katarina Ruscic, daughter of Branko (CHM) and Lillian (CMT) Ruscic.
The scholarships cover the student's first-year undergraduate tuition and are renewable for the following three years as long as the recipient remains a full-time student in good standing. Recipients must be children of Argonne employees, highly qualified academically and have been accepted for admission to the College of the University of Chicago.
The inaugural Argonne Young Scientist Day, to be held Oct. 24, will give graduate students at Argonne-East a chance to inform their peers about their research and spend some time together.
"The focus is for grad students on site to get to know each other," said Jason Shergur (PHY), a graduate student and co-coordinator of the event. "We want to establish some kind of niche, some kind of community."
The effort is being coordinated with the Division of Educational Programs. Harold Myron, DEP director, said, "We certainly encourage the graduate students to develop this program and look forward to working closely with the group."
Graduate students interested in giving an oral presentation on their particular field of research are invited to submit a one-page abstract by Wednesday, July 31. Presentations should be targeted at mid- to low-level undergraduate students. Chosen presenters will be notified by Aug. 31.
Graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to submit a poster for the poster session at the event. All posters will be accepted.
The committee includes Jason Shergur (PHY), Warinthorn Songkasiri (CMT), Jason Clark (PHY), Ravi Madduri (MCS), Rodney Guico (APS), Chris Deemer (ET) and Teng Lek Khoo (PHY).
Graduate students interested in presenting should send an abstract with name, division, school, phone number and e-mail address to shergur@phy.anl.gov.
-- Katie Williams
Argonne is set to rock this weekend
The third Rock in Argonne Festival (RIAfest) is scheduled for Saturday, June 29, from noon-9 p.m. at Argonne Park.
Music will begin at noon and end at 7 p.m. Eight bands are scheduled to play: Travel-Sized, Monsters, Rhythmfish, Za-band, Big Eddy Springs Blues Band, Lenin's Back, Multivitamins and Volta Do Mar.
Argonne employees are encouraged to bring their friends and relatives. No special security procedures are needed to enter the park because it is located outside laboratory grounds.
RIAfest is organized by music enthusiasts from ATLAS accelerator operations. They will provide gas grills for those who want to barbecue. Beer will be available for purchase from Marriott.
For more information, visit or contact Eric Lindert and Alex Deriy (both PHY) at ext. 2-4115 or eric.lindert@physics.org and alexderiy@yahoo.com.
by Adam Cohen, Director, ESH/QA Oversight
As the temperature has gradually risen in the past month, so has the number of people walking and running along Argonne-East's roadways. It's a situation requiring care from everyone.
Warm weather seems to induce "concrete foot syndrome." According to Argonne traffic safety statistics, the number of moving violations increased from nine in March to 31 in April. Although the urge to rush home to the barbecue grill after a hard day's work may be strong, it's important for drivers to obey all the traffic laws in light of all the recreational activity taking place on site.
The speed limit on site is 30 miles per hour unless posted otherwise. All the rules that the state police enforce are also enforced at Argonne. Although tickets for moving violations and parking infractions issued on site are not reported to the state, they are reported -- to division directors and senior management.
Canada geese and other wildlife are out in full force now. Keep in mind that hitting a deer can cause a great deal of damage to a car, and even injure the driver. Keep an eye on the treeline along the road, especially at twilight when deer are more active.
But all the responsibility isn't on those behind the wheel. Walkers and joggers should wear light-colored clothing and use crosswalks. Bicyclists must follow all the rules of the road.
Following the rules and using common sense will keep the site a safe place to run, walk, jog, bike, rollerblade and otherwise enjoy fine weather.
FROM THE DESK OF
DR WILLIAMS ONI
Dear Sir,
I am MR Williams Oni, Bank Manager of
Orient Bank of Nigeria,
Lagos Branch. I have urgent and very confidential business proposition
for you.
The "Nigerian letter fraud" is back with a vengeance, and many Argonne employees have received the e-mail variation of the 20-year-old scam in recent weeks.
In the online version of the con, e-mail messages allegedly from dignitaries representing an official of the Government of Nigeria request use of the recipient's bank account to deposit millions of dollars.
The "dignitaries" explain that the funds have been misappropriated by the Nigerian government and need to be deposited in a United States account. Recipients are promised a percentage of the cash for providing their bank account numbers and other personal information.
Scammers then make electronic withdrawals to clean out a victim's savings. They often also ask for upfront cash to pay for licenses, taxes, transfer fees or other nonexistent costs.
Recent variations on the theme claim to be from a U.S. Special Forces commando who found millions in an Afghanistan cave, and another from a man who claims to have been delivering a large amount of cash to the World Trade Center the morning of the Sept. 11 massacres.
Any unsolicited e-mail employees receive on their laboratory computers should be forwarded to spam@anl.gov.
More information on e-mail scams is available from the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.
Canon Business Solutions of Schaumburg this week was awarded a five-year contract to provide the latest in digital, multifunction convenience copiers to Argonne-East and the Washington, D.C., and Denver offices.
"Canon is an industry leader in digital copying technology and has an outstanding service record supporting office machines in environments like Argonne's," said Kathy Macal, IPD Director. "This contract offers Argonne divisions the opportunity to simplify their office machine environment by consolidating printers, copiers and fax equipment at highly competitive prices, as well as offering the best in image quality and copying and printing speed."
Divisions will have six copier models to choose from, with cost based on usage levels and special machine features. Five of the models can, if desired, be configured as networked printers. Two of these models can also be configured as fax machines.
During July, Canon representatives will be working with laboratory employees to identify machine needs, with the transition from the current Lanier equipment scheduled to be completed by July 31.
Canon will demonstrate the equipment July 9-11 in the Building 401 Gallery. Canon employees will meet individually with divisions to discuss their specific, local specific needs. Details will be announced in a future issue of Argonne News.
Jackie Griffith (IPD) at ext. 2-3795, will be leading communications and planning for the copier transition.
Due to the July 4 holiday, the deadline for all news, seminars and classified ads for the Monday, July 8, issue of Argonne News must be received by 5 p.m. Friday, June 28.
Argonne-East's drinking water has very low or undetectable levels of contaminants which pose no known or expected risks to health, according to a report required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The U.S. EPA requires that water system users receive an annual Consumer Confidence Report listing detailed data on contaminants. The report contains details on the drinking water source, the level of any detected contaminants, and compliance with drinking water regulations.
Argonne-East gets its drinking water from the DuPage Water Commission, which gets Lake Michigan water from the City of Chicago' s Department of Water.
Detected Contaminants
Chicago Water Department monitoring information for 2001 is summarized in the chart above. The EPA-identified parameters are monitored and analyzed using methods specified by the agency. Results for constituents that had values above their respective detection limits can be compared to the regulatory limits.
The results shown in the chart are for those constituents that were measurable above the method detection limit. Almost all the monitored constituents were below their respective detection limits.
All other monitored contaminants were below detection limits. All monitored concentrations, whether detected or not, were less than the applicable regulation-based maximum contaminant levels, which indicates the drinking water contaminant levels show no known or expected risk to health.
Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain small amounts of some contaminants. Their presence does not necessarily pose a health risk. Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-compromised persons -- such as those undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV, AIDs, or other immune system disorders, some elderly and infants -- can be particularly at risk from infections.
For more information, call Jim Heine (PFS-US) at ext. 2-7922. Questions on the analytical data should be directed to Norbert Golchert (EQO), at ext. 2-3912.
EPA guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection from microbial contaminants as well as information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.
| Contaminant | Units | MCLG | MCL | Level Found |
| Turbidity | %<0.5 NTU | NA | TT | All of the samples met standards |
| Turbidity | NTU | NA | TT=5 | 0.34 |
| Barium | ppm | 2 | 2 | 0.03 |
| Nitrate (as Nitrogen) | ppm | 10 | 10 | 0.3 |
| Nitrate and Nitrite | ppm | 10 | 10 | 0.4 |
| Total Trihalomethanes | ppb | NA | 100 | 8.5 |
| Fluoride | ppm | NA | NA | 0.81 |
| Sulfate | ppm | NA | NA | 19.6 |
| Sodium | ppm | NA | NA | 7 |
Key: %pos/m -- percent positive samples per month. NTU -- Nephelometric Turbidity Unit. ppm -- parts per million. ppb -- parts per billion. NA -- not applicable. Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) -- The level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety. Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) -- The highest level of contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as is feasible using the best available treatment technology.