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Energy Technology Division Director Roger Poeppel and Senior Mechanical Engineer Ken Kasza (ET) were honored at the 2002 University of Chicago Awards Program for their ongoing work to develop the medical use of ice slurry as a means to increase the chance of survival from a sudden cardiac arrest.
"In the United States alone," said Poeppel, "sudden cardiac arrest strikes about 1,000 people a day, and the survival rate is at best two to four percent. If we can improve survival rate by just one percent we will save the lives of 10 people every single day."
In 1999, Poeppel and Kasza worked closely with collaborators Terry Vanden Hoek and Lance Becker from the University of Chicago Hospitals to develop the Emergency Resuscitation Center. The center brings together engineers, physicians, biologists and chemists at the university and Argonne to meet the challenge of developing techniques to improve a heart-attack victim's odds.
One result is a slurry, comprising highly fluid, microscopic ice particles that can be injected to cool the body if the heart cannot be started after a cardiac arrest. The cooling may slow the dying process, giving emergency responders more time to restore the victim's blood flow and respiration.
"This research is in a very early phase," Poeppel said. "We can only hope it will be successful."
The research has received a lot of positive response from the science community. Funding has come from many places, including the Emergency Medicine Foundation. The research also received the highest score of all the proposals submitted to the National Institutes of Health for a Bioengineering Research Partnership Grant.
-- Katie Williams
If commuters could get "frequent driver miles," between 1992 and 1997, Jane Andrew (IPD), Joe Harmon (ET), Phil Kier (DIS) and Marita Moniger (IPD) could have earned a free trip to the moon.
That is, if these Oak Park-area residents had driven separately and not carpooled to work each day for those five years, the group would have amassed over 240,000 miles, or roughly the distance from the Earth to the moon. By carpooling, they only racked up 60,000 miles, according to Andrew's estimate -- which is a mere 2½ times around the Earth.
Michael Wang, a vehicle and fuel systems analyst from the Energy Systems Division, calculated that by saving 180,000 miles, the group saved a total of 7,500 gallons of gasoline and reduced greenhouse emissions like carbon dioxide by over 190,000 pounds.
Kier, who retired at the end of May, was in a carpool for much of his 40 years at Argonne. He said environmental concerns certainly were factors that encouraged him to carpool, but it was also the sense of community that he gained with his colleagues and neighbors.
"It was a wonderful experience," Kier said. "It really was a part of the experience of being an Argonne employee. The people I carpooled with, I became friends with."
The Oak Park group is not alone in carpooling. Kier said that many other Argonne employees carpool, and some of the groups have been driving together even longer than his for many years.
To join a carpool with other Argonne employees, visit the online "Carpool Connection." See "On the Web," page 2.
-- Katie Williams
"Survival Skills for Successful Women Scientists and Engineers" is a new monthly workshop series designed to assist women scientists and engineers in developing skills for career advancement.
"Women traditionally lack access to informal mentoring and networking needed to learn the rules of the game for career advancement" said Dongqi Li, an MSD physicist and organizer of the workshop. "These workshops fill in the gap and provide advice and training in navigating through the waters of today's research world to succeed."
Developed by Argonne's Women in Science and Technology (WIST) program in cooperation with Human Resources and the Division of Educational Programs, the workshop will cover such issues as leadership, effective communication, raising research funding, overcoming hidden barriers, and balancing work and family. Presenters will be a mix of training professionals and successful women scientists and engineers including some Argonne staff members.
Organizers for the event are Li; Kirsten Laurin-Kovitz (TD); Eve Gohure (HR) diversity program manager, and Linda Washington (DEP), a bioscientist.
A "kick-off" event will be held Monday, July 22, from 2-4 p.m. in Argonne-East's Building 401, Conference Room A1100. Deputy Laboratory Director Beverly Hartline will be the workshop's first presenter. Hartline will share insights and lead a discussion of "Advancing Professionally to Achieve Your Ambitions."
Participants will have the opportunity to suggest topics for future workshops. All interested employees are encouraged to attend this first workshop; registration will be required for subsequent workshops.
Information on times, registration, and costs will be available at the kick-off event, or contact Li at dongqi@anl.gov or Laurin-Kovitz at kirsten@anl.gov. More information on WIST is online.
Zachary Miksis liked the fact that "you not only see cool things, you learn cool things about how things work." Shareef Amer learned that "science really can be fun!" Until her visit, Eileen Brister "didn't know that we needed X-rays so much." Alesia Prakapenka had such a good time that when next year rolls around, "I'll be there for sure!"
Children of APS staff and resident users wrote about their experiences at the Advanced Photon Source for the first "APS Take Your Child to Work Day Essay Contest." Zachary's mother, Christine, is with ASD; Shareef's mother, Yeldez, is with AOD; Eileen's father, Keith, is a resident user with BioCARS; and Alesia's father, Vitali, is a resident user with GSECARS.
More than 40 children came to the APS, where they were welcomed by Associate Laboratory Director Murray Gibson, toured the Experiment Hall, saw science demonstrations by volunteers from the APS and resident user community and spent time with parents in their workday habitat.
All of the day's school-age participants were then invited to send entries to the essay contest, with a promise of prizes for the best entries. Nine children, from third to eighth grade, responded.
After due deliberation, a semi-distinguished panel of judges awarded first place to Erik Wang, whose father Yanbin is with the GSECARS research group.
In his entry, Erik wrote, "If APS shows us the many wonders of science, hopefully many students will grow up interested in the different fields of science and help mankind." Erik won a new video game of his choice, donated by Michel Lehmuller (XFD).
Kevin Lill, who tied for second prize, now knows that his father, Bob (AOD), and "the rest of the people who work [at the APS] ... are helping our world because they're creating new medicines for cancer and other diseases."
Tony Shen, the other second-prize winner, ventured the opinion that "Among scientific facilities ... APS is one of the most respected ... APS can do a lot in educating grade school students." Tony's father, Guoyin Shen, is a resident user with UNI-CAT. Kevin and Tony won gift certificates for Barnes & Noble.
Everyone who sent in an essay received two copies -- (one for each writer and one for his or her school) -- of the APS book, "Nobel Prizes for X-ray Science" and a special plaque.
Next year's Take Your Child to Work Day at the APS promises to be even bigger and better, including a new essay contest and programs for kids that will keep Alesia coming back "for sure!"
Argonne employees submitted hundreds of slogan suggestions June 10-21, and it will take some time for the best ones to be selected.
Editorial Specialist Jessie McHenry (OPA), who collected the submissions, said 164 employees sent a total of nearly 600 slogans by fax or e-mail. Some submitted 10 or 12 slogan suggestions at once.
"One person had so many ideas, one e-mail wasn't enough," McHenry said, "so he had to send a second message with more."
Argonne's directorate is sorting through the entries and will announce the winning slogan in a future edition of Argonne News.
Those who submit the best five suggestions will have lunch with Argonne Director Hermann Grunder and receive a ceramic Argonne coffee mug. The slogan may be used, as appropriate, in Argonne publications, presentations and Web sites.
Q: A poster on display in 201 showing plans for the RIA indicates it will extend to site property that the northwest corner of Outer Circle Road currently passes through. Will the road be closed, or rerouted?
A: RIA is still in the early design stage. Plans include rerouting Meridian Road to follow a more graceful and direct route into Outer Circle Road. The rerouting of Outer Circle around the back of RIA has not been decided.
"Ask the Directorate" lets employees ask senior Argonne management direct questions about the laboratory's operations, policy, strategy, mission, budget and goals. Employees should continue to refer job- or workplace-specific questions to their immediate supervisors.
Employees may submit questions to askthedirectorate@anl.gov or fax them to 2-5274. Only questions that include the name of the questioner and contact information, such as e-mail address, office extension or fax number, will be answered.
An appropriate member of the Argonne Directorate will answer each question, and the answer will be sent directly to the employee. In addition, Argonne News will periodically print selected responses, and all answers will be posted on the Web. Questioners will remain anonymous in the Argonne News and on the Web.
Safety evangelist Charlie Morecraft will return to Argonne-East Tuesday, July 16, for a series of talks in the Advanced Photon Source Auditorium (Building 402).
His talks, "Safety, Everyone's Responsibility," and "Remember Charlie?" emphasize the need for following safety procedures and taking responsibility for personal safety.
Morecraft was severely burned in an industrial accident and suffered years of agonizing pain and rehabilitation. Since then, he has worked to motivate workers and management to turn a possible adversarial relationship into a unified team effort to establish a safe work environment.
His talks discuss the high cost of an accident to one's self and family and emphasize the significance of positive attitude and personal responsibility.
Morecraft's presentations will be held from 8:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., noon to 1:15 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. All Argonne, DOE and contractor employees whose schedules permit are invited to attend.
Registration is not required but will be available through the Training Management System or by signing in at Building 402.
The talks are sponsored by the Office of the Chief Operations Officer and Plant Facilities and Services Division.
The Federal Express drop box outside Argonne-East's Building 201 has been damaged three times in recent months by employees who overfill the box or try to stuff oversized packages into it.
Fed Ex employees can't retrieve all packages from a damaged drop box, which keeps many packages from getting to their destinations on time. Fed Ex may choose to remove the drop box from the Argonne site if they have to keep replacing their equipment. To keep this from happening:
Drop boxes must only be used for FedEx
envelopes ("letters" or "paks") and small or medium FedEx boxes that contain printed matter to
domestic destinations.
Oversized packages, including large
FedEx boxes, and materials other than printed matter and packages being sent to international
destinations (including Canada and Mexico) must be brought to Shipping in Building 46 before 12:30
p.m. each day. These packages must be accompanied by a completed electronic shipping order
(ANL-126C) created in PARIS to ensure desired delivery schedules are met.
If a drop box is full, use another
box. There are four FedEx drop boxes at Argonne-East, located near Buildings 201, 208, 360 and 401.
A fifth box is located at Building 900.
The last pickup by FedEx from these drop boxes is at 6 p.m. on weekdays only.
For more information about Federal Express shipments, call Shipping at ext. 2-2934 or 2-2930.
A battery recycling program has been introduced to Argonne-East by PFS-WMO. Alkaline, lead, lithium, nickel, nickel cadmium, silver oxide and zinc carbon batteries are being accepted.
Once tape has been applied to the terminals, up to two pounds of batteries can be placed in a special envelope. Employees with a large volume or oversized batteries should contact the Pollution Prevention Hotline.
Batteries that are damaged, leaking or from a radiologically controlled area will not be accepted. Employees should contact their Environmental Compliance Representative (ECR) for assistance.
To obtain the special battery recycling envelope, contact a building manager or call the Pollution Prevention Hotline, ext. 2-6778.
Staff and non-staff retirement plan interest rates for the third quarter of 2002 are:
| Vendor | Rate | Contributions From: | Earned Through: |
| TIAA Traditional | 6.25% | 7/1/02 _ 9/30/02 | 2/28/03 |
| TIAA Supplemental | 5.75% | 7/1/02 _ 9/30/02 | 2/28/03 |
| Prudential Fixed Interest* | 6.00% | 7/1/02 _ 6/30/03 | 6/30/03 |
| Prudential Guaranteed | 4.50% | 7/1/02 _ 9/30/02 | 12/31/03 |
| Lincoln National (Old Account)** | 3.50% | N/A | 9/30/02 |
| Lincoln National (No Load)** | 4.90% | N/A | 9/30/02 |
(* Only available to non-staff participants)
(** No longer accepting contributions)
A representative from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) will visit Argonne-East Tuesday, July 23, to meet with individual employees for insurance comparisons and quotes for the "METPAY" group automobile and homeowners insurance program.
To schedule an appointment with MetLife's Craig Riddick, call (630) 810-0346, ext. 143.
Sodexho will be distributing surveys to Argonne-East employees through interlaboratory mail the week of July 15.
The survey, which takes about three minutes to complete, can also be obtained from the cashiers in the Building 213 Cafeteria or by calling ext. 2-5225. The completed forms can be returned to the cafeteria lobby.
A raffle will be held to encourage employees to participate in the survey. Two winners will receive a pair of tickets to a Cubs game, and one winner will receive a stay in a Chicago hotel. The winners of the baseball tickets will be drawn Wednesday, July 17, at 2 p.m, and the hotel-stay winner will be drawn Friday, July 19 at 2 p.m. Raffle forms and a box for entries are in the cafeteria lobby.
Coffee card
Sodexho's new "Gourmet Bean Frequent Buyer" cards are available from the cafeteria cashiers. Card holders who purchase nine cups of coffee get the 10th cup free.
Representatives from Argonne's retirement vendors will visit Argonne-East during August to meet one-on-one with employees to discuss retirement plans and retirement plan assets.
To schedule an appointment with these representatives, call the number listed below. Appointments are for one-half hour each, except for Prudential, which offers half-day sessions.
Fidelity -- Tuesday, Aug. 6 and 20.
Call (800) 642-7131.
TIAA-CREF -- Monday, Aug. 19, and
Tuesday Aug. 20. Call (800) 842-2005.
Prudential -- Wednesday, Aug. 7 and
21. Call (847) 619-3519.
Software 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 eight participants and cost $215.
Complete 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.
August classes include:
"Intermediate Word 2000" (ECT374) --
Thursday, Aug. 1, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
"Intermediate Excel 2000" (ECT375) --
Friday, Aug. 2, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
"Intermediate Access 2000" (ECT376) --
Monday, Aug. 5, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
"Introduction to PowerPoint 2000"
(ECT372) -- Tuesday, Aug. 6, 8:30 a.m. - noon. Cost: $140.
"Intermediate PowerPoint 2000"
(ECT373) -- Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1 - 4:30 p.m. Cost: $140.
"Advanced PowerPoint 2000" (ECT382) --
Wednesday, Aug. 7, 8:30 a.m. - noon. Cost: $140.
"Excel Organizational Tools" (ECT384)
-- Wednesday, Aug. 7, 1 - 4:30 p.m. Cost: $140.