Research Update Newsletter
From UChicago Argonne, LLC
March 5, 2007
This Month in Research Update:
- Office of the Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories (OVPRANL) News
- DOE grades are in for the University
- Fermi and Argonne team up on International Linear Collider global design effort
- Joint Theory Institute announces proposal awards
- Research Highlights
- Joint research projects between Argonne and the University aim to lay foundation for new medical treatments, diagnostics
- Events
- Experts provide perspectives on the nation’s stockpile program
- University March event highlights
- Research in the News
- University of Chicago President Zimmer names new Vice President for Communications
- South Pole Telescope to help astrophysicists learn what universe is made of, how it evolves
- Area nano company awaits ‘holy grail’
- Coldest lab in Chicago to simulate hot physics of early universe
- Parallel computing will allow Flash Center to complete 2.5 million hours of computer processing by next January
- Carbon dioxide may have acted as Earth’s ‘thermostat’ since earliest times
- Graham School announces Master's Degree in Threat and Response Management
OVPRANL News
DOE grades are in for the University
The University of Chicago received high marks for its management and operation of Argonne National Laboratory in each of eight categories on its fiscal year 2006 report card from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Though the DOE has always issued report cards for performance in the past, this year’s appraisal process is unique in that it provides a common structure and scoring system across all 10 Office of Science laboratories. It has moved the assessment methodology to focus on the value-added provided by the contractor and the systems they put in place to manage and operate the laboratories. The new process went into effect for FY 2006, which ended last Sept. 30.
Argonne received grades of A for mission accomplishment, business systems, and for security and emergency management, and grades of A-minus for construction and operation of research facilities; science and technology project development and program management; and contractor leadership and stewardship. In the remaining categories, Argonne received a B-plus for facilities maintenance and infrastructure, and a B in environmental safety and health.
“The DOE’s assessment reflects the tremendous focus we’ve placed on improvement over the past year,’ said Robert Rosner, Argonne Laboratory Director. “We recognize, however, that there is still a lot of work to do. Our goal is to deliver performance beyond expectations in all the major assessment categories and we think that’s attainable.”
Next year, the University will be graded not only for its management of Argonne via UChicago Argonne, LLC, but also for its management of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a contract recently awarded to Fermi Research Alliance, LLC, a partnership between the University of Chicago and Universities Research Association (URA).
“Overall, we are very pleased with the DOE’s assessment of our performance in managing and operating Argonne and we look forward to applying the knowledge, experience and lessons learned to our new role in co-managing Fermilab,” said Robert J. Zimmer, President of the University of Chicago and Chairman of UChicago Argonne, LLC. “Both laboratories are fortunate to possess strong leadership, highly committed boards members, in addition to a myriad of collaborative opportunities. These advantages will enable us to achieve extraordinary science and technological advances in the years to come in accordance with the goals set forth by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.”
For more information about the Department of Energy Office of Science appraisal process please click here.
Argonne scientists contribute to the International Linear Collider global design effort
Scientists in Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), Nuclear Physics(PHY), and High Energy Physics (HEP) Divisions have teamed up with colleagues from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to work on the International Linear Collider (ILC) global design effort, a world-wide effort to develop a new tool for physicists to explore energy regimes beyond the reach of today’s accelerators. The proposed electron-positron collider will complement the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a proton-proton collider at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. Together, the colliders can unlock some of the deepest mysteries in the universe. With LHC discoveries pointing the way, the ILC, a true precision machine, will identify the new physics that underlies the missing pieces.
Overseeing and coordinating ILC activities is a world-wide organization called the Global Design Effort (GDE). Within the GDE, the Americas Regional Team (ART) coordinates ILC research and development activities for the U.S. national laboratories and universities. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of High Energy Physics has budgeted $42 million in 2007 for ILC R&D activities. Argonne is receiving $1.7 million? third among the national laboratories after Fermilab and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
The ILC consists of two linear accelerators that face each other. Superconducting accelerator cavities operating at temperatures near absolute zero give the particles increasing energy until they collide at the centre of the machine. Stretching approximately 35 kilometres in length, bunches of electrons and positrons interact 14,000 times every second at extremely high energies—500 billion-electron-volts (GeV). Each spectacular collision creates an array of new particles that could answer some of the most fundamental questions of all time. The current baseline design allows for an upgrade to a 50-kilometre, 1 trillion-electron-volt (TeV) machine during the second stage of the project.
“The underlying basic science for the ILC is of great interest to us here at Argonne,” said Harry Weerts, Director of the HEP Division and co-laboratory leader for the ILC effort. “Together with Fermilab, we would like to bring a world class facility like the ILC to Illinois.”
The basis for Argonne’s involvement in the ILC is the expertise of its scientists in accelerator physics and the knowledge gained in designing and building APS and ATLAS, particularly with regard to storage rings and control systems for the APS, and superconducting resonators for the ATLAS. Argonne’s FY07 contributions cover four main areas involving three different Argonne divisions.
The first area of contribution involves the basic damping ring design. The present design of the ILC requires a damping ring for each of the two linacs (positron and electron). Damping ring accelerator physics is very much like light source accelerator physics. In fact, the energy and circumference of the ILC damping rings is very close to the energy and circumference of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) storage ring. APS physicists Kwang-Je Kim, Louis Emery and Aimen Xiao have been involved in the basic damping ring design and continue to work on design optimization, beam dynamics and beam instability issues.
The second contribution area? and a major challenge for the ILC? is the quality of the superconducting radiofrequency (RF) cavities that form the heart of the linear accelerator (linac). Achieving the maximum accelerating gradient is critical to the construction of the ILC and it has been demonstrated that to accomplish these gradients requires a sophisticated, multi-step treatment of the interior surface of the niobium superconducting cavities. Argonne scientists in the Physics Division have a long history of developing and using these techniques, initially applied to the Argonne Tandem-Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) superconducting cavities.
Accelerator physicist Mike Kelly and his group have developed an electro-polishing facility specifically for the ILC cavity design. This facility has just undergone a major design review, and it is anticipated that the first polishing will take place later this spring. This is an R&D facility with the goal of optimizing the process so that it can be turned over to industry. The ILC will require nearly 15,000 cavity assemblies, so it is imperative that this process is efficient with a very high success rate. This is an area of close collaboration with Fermilab. After polishing, the cavities will go to Fermilab for testing, insertion into the cryogenic structures that allow them to be cooled, and then further testing.
The third area of Argonne contribution to the ILC is in positron production. The positrons used to collide with the electrons must first be made by electrons accelerated in the electron linac of the ILC. The ILC is planning to use a novel scheme in which the electrons pass through many meters of undulators (similar to the devices that produce the x-ray radiation in a light source like the APS) and produce an intense beam of gamma-rays that interact with a thin target to produce positrons. These positrons then need to be magnetically collected and accelerated. Argonne physicists, directed by HEP Division physicist Wei Gai, are leading the effort to simulate this process, and to contribute to the design of the system components.
The final area of Argonne participation is in the area known as Global Systems? particularly accelerator controls. Based primarily on the recent experience of building the APS controls system, Argonne has a strong group of engineers familiar with planning and designing controls systems. John Carwardine, Associate Division Director, Electronics and Electronics Systems of the Accelerator Systems Division, has been asked to manage and plan all of the activities associated with Global Systems within the Americas Region. This includes controls, instrumentation & feedback, installation, alignment, low level RF, and commissioning/operations.
A near term project will be an ILC test area to be constructed at Fermilab. This will consist of an electron source and a string of cold ILC cavities. Argonne is presently working with Fermilab in defining the controls for this accelerator.
In addition to the accelerator, new detectors systems will be required that can analyze the collisions of the electrons and positrons, and identify the new physics that will be revealed by the ILC. Because of the required precision, new techniques are being developed for precisely identifying and measuring the energy of the produced particles in these collisions. A worldwide detector R&D effort is underway to accomplish this and Argonne HEP division physicists Steve Magill, Jose Repond and Lei Xia are leading this research. They are developing a new technique to precisely measure the energy of the remnants of quarks (jets) in these detectors. The algorithm is called the Particle Flow Algorithm and replaces conventional calorimetric measurements with a combination of momentum and energy measurements of each particle in the jet, resulting in a more precise measurement of the jet energy. The use of the algorithm requires new types of hadronic calorimeters and the first prototype of a digital hadron calorimeter is being developed in the HEP division, with contributions from several universities.
“We want to play a part in the ILC project for a multitude of reasons,” said Rod Gerig, Director of the Argonne Accelerator Institute, Deputy Associate Laboratory Director, Argonne Scientific User Facilities, and co-laboratory leader for the ILC effort. “There’s a lot of good accelerator research being done on the ILC that has many applications beyond the ILC. Our participation not only gives us the opportunity to share what we know, but also supports our fundamental interest in exploring new frontiers beyond the reach of today’s accelerators.”
Joint Theory Institute announces proposal awards
The Joint Theory Institute (JTI), a multi-disciplinary research institution that embraces problems in theory of condensed matter, chemistry, high energy physics, nuclear physics and interdisciplinary topics jointly at Argonne and the University of Chicago, recently announced funding awards for proposals submitted from members of both communities in the broad area of theory that strengthen collaborations between staff at both Argonne at the University.
“We were very happy at the diversity of the proposals received,” said Gene Mazenko, co-director of the JTI and Professor, Department of Physics, James Franck Institute, and the College, University of Chicago. “We were looking for quality and found it.”
Below lists the titles and authors of funded proposals:
- Strong Dynamics and Dynamical Chiral Symmetry Breaking: Craig Roberts (ANL), Donald Sinclair (ANL), Cosmas Zachos (ANL), Jeff Harvey (UofC), David Kutasov(UofC), Carlos Wagner (ANL/UofC)
- Computational modeling of language evolution in a historically based dynamic socioecological context: Jason Riggle (UofC), John Christiansen (ANL)
- Mathematics for Systems Biology: Natalia Maltsev (ANL), J. Silverstein (UofC)
- Combining solution scattering data with protein folding simulations: Karl Freed (UofC), Lee Makowski (ANL), Tobin R Sosnick (UofC)
- Extra mixing in asymptotic giant branch stars and consequences for pre-solar grains: Kenneth Nollett, Michael Savina (ANL), Andrew Davis (UofC), James Truran (ANL&UofC)
- High-harmonic generation from molecules: Robin Santra (ANL), David Mazziotti (UofC)
- Nanoconfined Chemistry and Spectroscopy: Stephen Gray (ANL) Larry Harding (ANL) and Stuart Rice (UC)
- Calculations of Fundamental Processes at Hadron Colliders involving Joint Students, Postdocs, and Visitors: E. Berger (ANL), Jonathan Rosner (UC)
- Mastering Dynamics on the Energy Landscape: Julius Jellinek (ANL) Stephen Berry (UofC)
- Lateral segregation of copolymers in biomimetic membranes: Karl Freed (UofC) and Peter Zapol (ANL)
- SHULGI: A Geosimulation Tool For Modeling Human Movement and Interactions: Scott Branting (UC) Mark Altaweel (ANL)
“The winning proposals had a very clearly demonstrated collaborative program between the two institutions which was one of the hallmarks of our call for proposals,” said Al Wagner, JTI co-director and Division Director of the ANL Chemistry Division. Other key factors in the selection process included interactivity and innovation.
Mazenko and Wagner had issued the call for proposals last October. The proposals were peer reviewed and recommendations were made by the JTI advisory board to program funders, Bob Rosner, Argonne Laboratory Director, and Don Levy, Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories at the University of Chicago. Funding levels varied substantially with the largest awards at about one hundred thousand of dollars. 11 out of 21 proposals submitted were funded. The timeframe for most of the proposals was for one year’s effort. Funding was requested for a range of activities from hiring post-docs, visitors, or world experts, to hosting joint workshops to discuss the issues and strategies for accomplishing objectives.
“The overall goal of this effort, as is typically the goal of any discretionary program, is to provide seed money to develop projects that have a chance of getting external funding on their own and becoming substantial projects in their own right,” said Mazenko. “We received more than 20 proposals this year, but we actually believe that there’s a lot more proposals out there. We intend to have subsequent calls in future and hope, as the word gets out, that more and more theorists at both institutions will find ways to collaborate with each other that will lead to seed proposals that we might have the opportunity to evaluate and, if they’re good, fund them.”
Research Highlights
Joint research projects between Argonne and the University aim to lay foundation for new medical treatments, diagnostics
Better treatment for infections, breast and prostate cancer, and certain brain injuries, as well as improved detection developing tumors, are the focus of new joint research by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago.
The projects are funded through the Seed Fund Program of the Research Advisory Committee of the University's Division of Biological Sciences.
Revolutionary changes in approaches and technologies are highlighting the need for multidisciplinary efforts in biomedical science. Consequently, funding agencies are focusing a greater proportion of their research investments on team science that employs novel tactics, technologies and collaborations. In light of these changes, the Research Advisory Committee's goal is to increase the University's competitiveness for these types of interdisciplinary funding opportunities.
One way the committee is doing this is through the seed fund program, which provides pilot funding to interdisciplinary teams of researchers from the university's division of Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences and Argonne. Projects funded through this program are expected to form the basis of subsequent proposals submitted to external funding agencies. Full story.
return to topEvents
Experts provide perspectives on the nation’s stockpile program
From the handling of the World Trade Center attack in 2001 and Hurricane Rita in 2005 to recent outbreaks of e-coli and mumps, our nation’s ability to respond to emergency situations is a topic of significant national concern and focus. In an effort to encourage more dialogue and understanding of the issues associated with emergency preparedness, The Great Lakes Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (GLRCE) hosted a seminar last month at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center entitled, “Is the Homeland Prepared? The Strategic National Stockpile” as part of its Health and Security Policy Briefing Series.
Representatives from the federal government, public health agencies and academia gave presentations and participated in a round table discussion on federal public health emergency preparedness measures; how they are planned and implemented; and how local responders receive education, training and access to the stockpile.
In his address, “Public Health Responds to Emergencies: The Strategic National Stockpile,” featured speaker Richard Besser, M.D., Director, Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), informed attendees that the nation’s stockpile currently consisted of $2.2 billion antibiotics, medical supplies, antidotes, antitoxins, antivirals, vaccines and other pharmaceuticals. Federal partnerships for purchasing, security and response coordination as well as commercial partnerships for storage, maintenance and rapid transport of supplies were also in place.
Besser shared several preparedness strategies implemented by his office to protect people in all communities from infectious, occupational, environmental, and terrorist threats. The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) emergency response concept is to provide rapid delivery of a broad spectrum of support for an ill-defined threat in the early hours of an event, provide large shipments of specific material when a threat is known, and to provide technical assistance to receive and distribute SNS material during an event.
Through prevention, detection and reporting, the CDC hopes to prevent certain threats from occurring in the first place. In the event a threat to public health occurs, investigation and control procedures are in place so that causes, risk factors, appropriate interventions, countermeasures and health guidance to those affected can be more quickly administered. Lastly, through recovery and improvement measures, the office aims decrease the time needed to restore health services and environmental safety to pre-event levels, improve the long-term follow-up provided to those affected by threats to the public’s health, and decrease the time needed to implement recommendations from after-action reports following threats to the public’s health.
This seminar was the first in a two-part series. The second part will take place on May 1st with details to follow.
About GLRCE
The Great Lakes Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense & Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (GLRCE) is a consortium of academic and research institutions in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin that include Argonne and the University of Chicago. The organization, administered by the University of Chicago, is committed to funding development of new vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to counteract diseases caused by bio-threat agents via the combined research excellence of inter-disciplinary scientists in the Great Lakes region.
The main foci of its research are top priority CDC Category A agents – Bacillus anthracis, Francisella turalensis, Yersinia pestis, Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins, Variola major, and Ebola or Marburg Virus (hemorrhagic fever viruses). However, important work on CDC Category B agents, i.e. Brucella melitensis, Toxoplasma gondii, or Salmonella spp., has also been considered for limited funding.
To achieve its goals, the GLRCE promotes collaboration and state of the art technologies, as well as interactions with the pharmaceutical industry to allow rapid translation of basic research findings to commercial products. Current emphasis in the Great Lakes RCE includes new vaccines to prevent plague and botulism, and new drug therapies for anthrax, hemorrhagic fever viruses and pox viruses. Basic research into the effectiveness of new vaccines and adjuvants as well as diagnostic tools for the category A agents are also high priority research goals.
For more information about the GLRCE, click here.
University March event highlights
- A Day with the Korean Monster: South Korean Director Bong Joon-ho in person, 2 pm screening: Memories of Murder; 5 pm screening: The Host; 7:15pm: A Conversation with Bong Joon-ho (Reception to follow), Saturday, March 3, 2007, 5811 S. Ellis Ave. Cobb Hall, Room 307, (773) 702-8596, http://filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu/.
- Since the late 1990s, South Korean cinema has revealed great potential as new entertainment for global audiences, garnering critical acclaim at international film festivals. Bong Joon-ho, one of the most talented and popular filmmakers leading New Korean cinema, have moved beyond film genre’s boundaries and challenged audiences’ expectations. Presenting audacious fascinating visuality, Bong amazingly combines contrasting elements of humor and horror into his films, Memories of Murder and The Host. The special screenings of Bong Joon-ho’ provocative and entertaining features will provide such a great opportunity to join the exciting moment of contemporary South Korean cinema.
- Court Theatre: Flyin’ West, Thursday, March 8 through Sunday, April 8, 2007, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. (773) 753-4472, http://www.courttheatre.org. Set in 1898, Pearl Cleage’s powerful look at the African American woman pioneer explores the lives of a small group of women as they leave the oppressive South for the West and settle together in the all-black town of Nicodemus, Kansas. Directed by Ron OJ Parson, who brought the critically-acclaimed and sold-out production of August Wilson’s Fences to Court’s stage last season.
- Smart Museum of Art: Cosmophilia: Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, Thursday, February 1 through Sunday, May 20, 2007, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave., http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu. 702-0200.
- Cosmophilia—literally "love of ornament"—examines one of the most characteristic and attractive features of Islamic art. Covering a millennium of Islamic history in regions extending from Spain to India, this comprehensive exhibition demonstrates the extraordinary range and visual virtuosity of one of the world's great artistic traditions. With works drawn from the David Collection in Copenhagen, Denmark, it offers a rare opportunity for audiences in the United States to study one of the finest collections of Islamic art in the world.
Research in the News
University of Chicago President Zimmer names new Vice President for Communications
President Robert J. Zimmer has named Julie A. Peterson Vice President for Communications at the University of Chicago. Peterson is currently Interim Vice President for Communications at the University of Michigan and one of the nation’s leading academic communications professionals. Full story.
South Pole Telescope to help astrophysicists learn what universe is made of, how it evolves
Scientists aimed the South Pole Telescope at Jupiter on the evening of Feb. 16 and successfully collected the instrument’s first test observations. Soon, far more distant quarry will fall under the SPT’s sights as a team from nine institutions tackles one of the biggest mysteries of modern cosmological research. That mystery: What is dark energy, the force that dominates the universe? Full story.
Area nano company awaits ‘holy grail’
Home Depot stores this month began carrying a line of house paint that does not require a primer or second coat. The paint uses particles one-thousandth the width of a human hair developed by Romeoville-based Nanophase Technologies Corp based on Argonne technology. Full story.
Coldest lab in Chicago to simulate hot physics of early universe: Project also to explore futuristic world of quantum computing
Cheng Chin will make a vacuum chamber in his laboratory the coldest place in Chicago in order to simulate the impossibly hot conditions that followed the big bang during the earliest moments of the universe. Full story.
Parallel computing will allow Flash Center to complete 2.5 million hours of computer processing by next January
The University’s Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes will soon begin performing the world’s most advanced simulations of exploding white dwarf stars with an allocation of 2.5 million hours of processing time on the U.S. Department of Energy’s high-performance computers. The simulations will be made possible by a DOE award called INCITE (Innovative and Novel Computation Impact on Theory and Experiment).
“Astrophysics is one of the leading areas that is pushing the development of the most powerful, capable computers in the world,” said Flash Center Director Don Lamb, Louis Block Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics and the College. Full story.
Carbon dioxide may have acted as Earth’s ‘thermostat’ since earliest times
Nicholas Dauphas, Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences, works in the environmentally controlled Origins Lab, in which he wears special clothing to prevent contamination of his research samples from stray particles suspended in the air. Full story.
Graham School announces Master's Degree in Threat and Response Management: Program educates students in emergency preparedness
The Graham School of General Studies at the University of Chicago announces the introduction of a Master of Science in Threat and Response Management, an interdisciplinary course of study in emergency preparedness. The program provides students with a comprehensive education in understanding and managing all aspects of a major public health hazard — such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and man-made threats — from preparation through response and recovery. All professionals responsible for preserving and protecting the public’s health and safety are appropriate candidates for the program, whether one works in public health, research, medicine, homeland security, or law enforcement and emergency rescue. Full story.
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