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| ARGONNE HOME PAGE | ARGONNE INTRANET | NEWS HOME PAGE | BACK ISSUES |
by Amy M. Kile
Chicago area junior high school students experienced engineering first-hand Feb. 20 when they shadowed Argonne engineers and toured Argonne-East on Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED).
About 30 students from 18 junior high schools participated in this year’s event. Mostly eighth-graders, students were paired with an engineer mentor. After a continental breakfast and key-note speech introducing them to the field of engineering, they shadowed their mentors throughout the day.
Kaylee Jamison, an eighth grader from Thompson Middle School, St. Charles, was assigned to follow Kirsten Laurin-Kovitz (NE), a project engineer, for the day.
“I wanted to participate in Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day because I thought it would be neat to see the robots and learn more about engineering,” Jamison said. “I’d like to see if I would want to start a career in it one day.”
Laurin-Kovitz uses her engineering background to provide technical risk assessments of proposed nuclear exports and transfers. She works with technical experts in other countries to help develop ways to prevent nuclear technologies from being diverted to weapons programs.
“I think it’s cool what Kirsten does. Knowing what nuclear programs other countries have and what we have, too,” Jamison said.
Along with other students, Jamison participated in a tour of the robotics laboratory in Building 316. Students wore 3-D glasses attached to a camera and used a joystick to control the Dual Arm Work Platform, a virtual robot.
“I didn’t even know that something like this existed,” said Heather McClain, 13, from Cass Junior High School in Darien.
All students toured the Argonne Tandem-Linac Accelerator System, as IGED organizer Debby Quock (PHY) explained how ions are created, accelerated and crashed into targets to study nuclear structure and dynamics.
IGED is sponsored by National Engineers Week, an annual celebration to increase public understanding and appreciation of engineering.
Ali Erdemir (ET) has been named a fellow of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE).
To receive this honor, society members must practice in the science or engineering profession of tribology — the study of friction, wear and lubrication — for 20 years, maintain membership in the society for at least 10 years and be nominated by the STLE Fellows Committee. Fellows demonstrate outstanding personal achievement in the field of tribology or lubrication engineering.
Erdemir developed a carbon coating that showed the lowest coefficient of friction, less than .001, when tested in a dry nitrogen atmosphere. This makes the carbon coating 40 times slicker than Teflon, which has a coefficient of about .04. (For more information, see “On the Web,” Page 2).
In addition to his work on this breakthrough material, Erdemir has provided his services to STLE for more than 10 years. He served as chairman of STLE’s Solid Lubrication Technical Committee and its annual meeting in 2001. He was also the associate editor for STLE’s official journal, Tribology Transactions, for four years.
“It feels great to be noticed and recognized by my peers in the field,” Erdemir said about his elevation to fellow. “I feel that our work at Argonne is valued highly, and this brings more visibility and recognition to our laboratory.”
Founded in 1944 to advance the science and technology of lubrication, STLE helps advance research, development and application of the science of tribology.
by Amy M. Kile
Ratindra Das (PFS-FEC), an architect and project manager, has been awarded the Margery Soroka Memorial Award at the American Watercolor Society’s (AWS) 136th annual exhibit in New York.
Das won the award for his painting “Janitxio,” which depicts a small island and a fishing village on Lake Pascuaro in Mexico that attracts tourists.
“Just being selected in the show is a big thing,” said Das. “For a painter to win an award from the AWS is like a tennis player winning Wimbledon.”
Das has been painting since the 1980s when he was captivated by two watercolors painted by his former boss. The architectural firm where he worked had an informal employee exhibit, and Das asked his boss for advice on beginning painting.
“He also introduced me to the fall beauty of Door County, Wisconsin, which is where I first started painting, when the colors were at their peak,” said Das.
Currently, Das divides his vacation time between painting and teaching painting.
“I am not a habitual painter,” said Das. “As a result I don’t have any fixed time to paint or fixed goal for production. But when the juices are flowing I can work for 12 to 16 hours at a time.”
In 1999, Das’s work was selected for the annual AWS New York exhibit and judged to be among the show’s top 10, making him a signature member of the society and allowing him to add the AWS initials to his name.
Das is a signature member of six other watercolor societies and has received more than 60 awards in national shows, but nothing means more to him than winning an award from AWS.
Das said he was ecstatic about winning this award, especially since he was unable to attend the reception for a past award dinner. This time he says he will make sure he is there.
Das’s work has also been featured in the Argonne director’s annual holiday greeting card, several books and magazines and in collections in the Elmhurst Art Museum, the Miller Art Museum and the Sacramento Art Center. Recently the Office of the Director acquired one of his paintings.
The award is named for a longtime member of AWS and is one of about 15 awards given out by the society at its yearly exhibition in New York. After about 100 paintings out of more than 2,000 are selected by seven jurors to be in the annual exhibit, another panel of jurors decides which pieces deserve awards, based on artistic merit.
Das will attend a special dinner May 2 at the Salmagundi Club in New York to receive his award.
Tickets go on sale for Colorado String Quartet
Human Resources will host a discussion of planning financial goals and how to help ensure financial protection on Tuesday, March 11, at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Argonne-East’s Building 203 Auditorium.
Presenter Mary Ann Golin, a certified financial planner and Merrill Lynch vice president, will present two one-hour presentations to help employees assess their financial goals.
The performance, featuring Luba Dubinsky on piano, will begin at 8 p.m. in the APS Conference Center Auditorium. Tickets are $20 and will be sold in Argonne-East's Building 213 Cafeteria at lunchtime the week of March 10. The Auditorium Box Office will open at 7:30 p.m. the day of the performance.
The program includes music by Beethoven, Schumann and Shostakovich. Details can be found on the Arts at Argonne Web site; see “On the Web,” below.
The audience is invited to join the musicians at a reception following the performance.
Human Resources Benefits section will conduct I-Pass registration in Argonne-East’s Building 213 Cafeteria lobby Tuesday, March 25, and Wednesday, March 26, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
I-Pass allows drivers to pay highway tolls automatically with a transponder mounted inside their vehicles; the amount is deducted from an account set up with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
Applications are available in advance; see “On the Web” below. Transponders will be ready for immediate use. Credit card or check payments will be accepted (no cash).
For more information, call Fran Perri (HR) at 2-2989.
Registration is now open for summer camp offered by Argonne’s Child Development Center.
Children of Argonne, U.S. Department of Energy and University of Chicago employees and Argonne contractors are eligible for enrollment. They must have completed kindergarten and be between 6 and 11 years old.
The program begins Monday, June 2, and runs through Friday, Aug. 8. Hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Three camp counselors will supervise a maximum of 30 children. Daily activities are planned and field trips will take place once a week.
Tuition is $163 per week per child, with a $40 per-child non-refundable registration fee. Tuition costs include lunch, two snacks and all-day field trips. Campers visit the Argonne pool most days. Pool passes are $2 per day or $50 for an individual pass.
A copy of each child’s school physical report is needed for registration.
For more information, call Center Director Rose Coppola-Conroy or Assistant Director Gayle Burgher at ext. 2-9601.
Lab’s graphic arts products take top awards
Stephen V. Milton, project director for the Argonne component of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society.
The fellowship program recognizes society members who have made advances or significant contributions to the application of physics to science and technology through original research and publication.
He was selected for his contributions to the development of third- and fourth-generation synchrotron light sources. His work includes the first demonstration of saturation of the self-amplified spontaneous emissions, free-electron laser process at visible and ultraviolet wavelengths.
Dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication, STC is the largest organization of its kind. Among its 25,000 members worldwide are writers and editors, Web designers and developers, documentation specialists, illustrators, instructional designers, and translators.
In the technical art competition, STC judges honored “Scintillator Pad,” a photograph by George Joch (IPD), as best of show; OPA had commissioned the photo as part of an Argonne Information Center exhibit featuring the laboratory’s Physical, Biological, and Computing Sciences research. Daniel Sarro and Michele Nelson (IPD), together with Beverly Marzec (IPNS), shared a distinguished award — after best of show, the highest-award in any individual category — for their work on the IPNS Progress Report (20th anniversary edition).
IPD personnel carried off two distinguished awards in the online competition – one for their division’s Web site, designed by Mary Ann Forys (IPD), and another for TransTech, an online newsletter produced by Cheryl Drugan, Renée Nault, and Betty Waterman (all IPD) for the ES Division’s Center for Transportation Research.
The quarterly publication logos won a distinguished award in the technical publications competition for OPA’s Evelyn Brown and David Baurac. IPD’s Kevin Brown, Sana Sandler and Gary Weidner also netted a distinguished award for a brochure about the International Nuclear Export Control Program they created for clients in the Nuclear Engineering Division.
Communication products named for distinguished awards are eligible for additional awards in STC’s International competition.
The Newcomer’s Assistance Office needs a part-time STA-Clerk one day a week for no more than five hours a week
The office supports the scientific community by providing assistance, information, social and personal contact to scientific staff members and their families to assist in their temporary relocation from a foreign country.
For more information, contact Carolyn Arthur (HR-DPO) at ext. 2-9023.
“Understanding the Demographic of the Evolving Workforce” a seminar on age diversity in the workplace will take place Tuesday, March 11, at 3 p.m. in the Advanced Photon Source Auditorium at Argonne-East.
All employees are welcome to attend. Contact a Training Management System representative to receive credit for attending a diversity discussion. The registration number is HR273.
Air, solid waste, wastewater and environmental protection issues will be discussed at the next Environmental Compliance Representative (ECR) meeting, Thursday, March 12, in Argonne-East’s Building 212, Room A157.
Meetings are generally held every three months to update ECRs on the latest environmental compliance developments. Presentations are made by members of the Environmental Planning and Compliance group. ECRs are the primary points of contact for Environmental Compliance Officer Geoff Pierce on division and department matters related to environmental protection.
The meeting agenda is online.
Screenings for cardiovascular disease and diabetes will be held at Argonne-East Tuesday, March 18, in Building 212, Conference Room A157.
The cost is $30; checks should be made payable to Preventures. Registration is due in the Medical Department by Monday, March 17. Employees will be advised of their appointment times.
The Medical Department will host a series of seminars on reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. The seminars are free and will be held in the Building 200 Auditorium from noon to 1 p.m.
Tuesday, April 8 — Physician David Ronin (HR) will explain screening results to those
who participated.
Wednesday, April 9 — “Exercise That Will Move You,” by Meredith Conn. Participants
should dress comfortably for the interactive presentation.
Thursday, April 10 — “Resolving Emotions, Resolving Stress,” by Michael
Attella (HR).
Friday, April 11 — “Heart-Smart Nutrition,” by Meredith Conn.
The Midwest Chapter of the Cryogenic Society of America will host an evening tour of Sciaky Inc. Thursday March 20.
Sciaky, near Midway Airport in Chicago, manufactures state-of-the-art welding systems and provides welding services using electron beam, plasma arc, tungsten arc and resistance. A tour of their facility will begin at 7:30 p.m., following a 6:30 p.m. dinner. The cost is $5 for members, $7 for non-members, and is open to all interested (dinner not included).
More information is available on the society’s Web site.
Yoga is returning to Argonne-East. Classes are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays for six consecutive weeks beginning Tuesday, March 18, and Thursday, March 20.
Instructors are certified and will focus on using yoga throughout the workday to help manage stress, increase energy and release tension. Classes are 50 minutes with a maximum of 20 participants. The cost is $27.
Class schedules are:
Tuesdays starting March 18 with instructor Diana Coates — 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and
5:15 p.m.
Thursdays starting March 20 with instructor Mary Kay Holmes — 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
Thursdays starting March 27 with instructor Ellen Duff — 5:15 p.m.
All employees and skill levels are welcome. Registration deadline is Friday, March 14. Checks should made out to the instructor of the class and sent to the Medical Department in Building 201.
For more information, contact the Medical Department at ext. 2-2800 or the Wellness Program office at ext. 2-2807.