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Wednesday, April 15, 1998
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Lab physicist to receive prestigious award for nuclear physics research
Laboratory physicist Joel Moss of Subatomic Physics (P-25) will be honored with nuclear physics' most prestigious award for his research on the basic building blocks of matter.
Moss will receive the 1998 Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics on Monday at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society in Columbus, Ohio.
"I'm delighted that this work, the result of the efforts of many people at Los Alamos, is getting a high degree of recognition in the international physics community," Moss said.
Moss will be honored at the APS banquet, present an invited paper on his work and receive $5,000 for his achievement. The purpose of the Bonner prize is to recognize and encourage outstanding experimental research in nuclear physics.
Moss, who has worked at the Laboratory since 1979, was nominated for the prize by Andrea Palounek and Jen-Chieh Peng, both of P-25.
"Joel Moss originated and helped convince the physics community of the importance of performing experiments that have advanced our knowledge about the fundamental effects of antimatter on the structure of nuclei," Palounek said.
Moss will summarize his research at a public colloquium, "Nuclei, Nucleons, Quarks, and Mesons," scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday at the J. Robert Oppenheimer Study Center, second floor.
Over the past 12 years, Moss has been a leader in a series of experiments at Fermilab whose goal is to answer whether the quarks -- thought to be the smallest bits of matter -- that make up protons and neutrons exhibit different behavior in the nuclei of atoms, compared to that in free neutrons and protons.
By hurling protons at targets at speeds close to that of light at Fermilab's accelerator, Moss and his collaborators used spectrometers and other original tools to study the debris of subatomic particles produced by targets made of different materials.
The results of Moss' Fermilab experiments have helped clarify theories that posit a new type of nucleonic matter, the quark-gluon plasma. Gluons are the mediators for the forces that bind quarks into larger packages.
"Two questions have motivated experiments in nuclear physics using particle beams at high-energy accelerators: What do quarks and gluons have to do with nuclei? And, what do mesons, another class of particles found in nature, have to do with quarks and gluons?" Moss said.
Although the first question remains unanswered, Moss said that "largely as a result of our most recent experiment at Fermilab, the answer to the second question is becoming clear for the first time."
The award citation reads: "For his pioneering experiments using dimuon production in proton-nucleus interactions which demonstrate that there is no antiquark enhancement in nuclei, and which delineate the characteristics of charmonium and open charm production in nuclear systems."
A fellow of the American Physics Society, Moss has served as group leader for Medium Energy Physics; program director for Nuclear and Particle Physics; and both deputy leader and acting leader of the Physics (P) Division. He holds a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a professor of physics at Texas A&M University before joining the Laboratory staff.
--Jim Danneskiold
QP issues progress report on tactical goals
The Quality and Planning (QP) Program Office has issued a progress report on how the Laboratory is faring with its tactical goals. These tactical goals were adopted in 1996; the first report, "The Laboratory's Tactical Goals: a Progress Report," was issued in April 1997. This topic also was covered in the April 1997 edition of "Reflections." The latest progress report is available online at http://www.lanl.gov/subject/planning/TG_Web/. Or call 7-9770.
'Take Our Children to Work' to be held this summer
The Laboratory will hold its annual "Take Our Children to Work" event this summer, not next week. National "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" is April 23 and allows daughters to learn more about their mother's and father's jobs. The Lab a few years ago modified its event to also include sons.
This year, the Lab will hold a "Take Our Children to Work Day" event in late June or early July, said Sharon Dogruel of Training and Development (HR-6) and this year's project coordinator. For more information, call 5-8652.
Lab to broadcast childcare teleconference Thursday
A national teleconference about after-school child care will be broadcast at 1:30 p.m. Thursday on LABNET Channel 9. The teleconference also will be shown in the Physics Building Auditorium. Interested members of the public are welcome to attend.
The teleconference, produced by the Department of Education, a number of national educational organizations and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, is scheduled to include Vice President Al Gore and Education Secretary Richard Riley, among other national leaders, to discuss ways to create quality after-school programs.
The teleconference will focus on model programs and local efforts for enriching after-school activities.
The teleconference organizers encourage local gatherings to discuss the issues raised in the teleconference and fax ideas to the national forum.
Local broadcast of the teleconference is sponsored by the Laboratory and the Los Alamos County Child-Care Task Force.
Former Lab director to receive New Mexico Distinguished Public Service award
Former Laboratory Director Sig Hecker has been chosen to receive a New Mexico Distinguished Public Service award for 1998.
Pete Lyons, who headed the Lab's former Industrial Partnership (IPO) Office, also was selected to receive a distinguished service award. Lyons is on a change of station from the Lab working in the office of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., in Washington, D.C.
Hecker and Lyons received the award in the federal agencies and national laboratories category.
Last year, the Lab's Government Relations (GRO) Office Director Karl Braithwaite garnered this same award.
Gov. Gary Johnson announced the 16 winners for 1998 at a news conference Tuesday at the Governor's Office in Santa Fe. This is the 29th year the New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Awards Council has recognized New Mexicans for service to the state.
Since the program's inception in 1969, 268 citizens from around the state have received New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Awards for their public service contributions.
The council consists of 200 citizens from around the state who select the recipients, according to a news release from the Governor's Office.
Hecker, Lyons and other individuals selected will be recognized at a banquet May 15 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Albuquerque.
"I am deeply honored by this recognition. It's been a privilege to serve my adopted home state of New Mexico," Hecker said Tuesday. "It is a particularly special honor to have been nominated for this award by New Mexico Tech President Dan Lopez."
Hecker directed the Laboratory for nearly 12 years, first coming to Los Alamos as a graduate summer student and later as a postdoctoral appointee in the mid 1960s. He is a Senior Fellow of the Laboratory and has a joint appointment with the Material Science Technology (MST) Division and Nuclear Materials Technology (NMT) Division offices. He is now primarily engaged in plutonium research and in working with the Russians on nuclear materials security and management.
Hecker has bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in metallurgy from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. He has served on numerous boards, commissions and advisory groups, both locally and nationally.
Lyons has been on change of station since last year. He headed the former IPO, now called the Civilian and Industrial Technologies (CIT) Program Office, from 1993 until he began his new assignment with Domenici.
Lyons joined Los Alamos in 1969 and has held a number of positions in research and management, including group leader for fast transient plasma diagnostics, program director for nuclear defense research and deputy associate director for defense research and applications.
Lyons has published more than 100 papers and holds three patents. He also served as chairman of the North American Treaty Organization's (NATO) Nuclear Efforts Task Group. Lyons earned a bachelor's degree in math and physics from the University of Arizona and a doctorate in nuclear physics from California Institute of Technology.
Lyons also served 16 years on the Los Alamos School Board and six years on the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos Advisory Board.
At the banquet, Gov. Johnson will present the recipients with a plaque and silver lapel pin.
--Steve Sandoval
Museum to hold 'Train-the-Trainer' kite making workshop
Bradbury Science Museum is conducting a workshop Thursday leading up to the annual Los Alamos Kite Festival next month at Overlook Park in White Rock.
Museum Director John Rhoades will lead a "Train-the-Trainer" workshop from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday in the Technology Lab at the museum, said Pat Berger of the museum, part of the Community Involvement and Outreach (CIO) Office. At this workshop, volunteers will learn how to make kites and assist children at later kite-making workshops, she explained.
The workshop includes information on kite making and kite physics, said Berger. Pre-registration is encouraged but not required.
A number of kite-making workshops sponsored by the Los Alamos Arts Council are scheduled in Los Alamos and neighboring communities from April 25 through May 14. The Los Alamos Arts Council is a Lab-sanctioned activity.
Those workshops are as follows:
Adults who want to volunteer for the kite-making workshops should call Marcia Zalbowitz of Education Outreach (STB/EO) at 5-9336, or Linda Ash at 662-5171, and indicate which workshop they plan to attend. They also should plan to attend Thursday's Train-the-Trainer workshop at the museum. Pre-registration for the workshops is encouraged, but drop-ins are welcome, Berger said.
The original kite template children will use in the kite-making workshops was designed by Tom Beery of Experiment and Diagnostic Design (DX-5). Beery's template pattern was prepared for the kite-making workshops by Robert Naranjo of the museum. Beery also has designed a rokkaku kite for artists. Both kites are made from Tyvek®, a nonwoven material.
In addition to the workshops, the Arts Council is sponsoring a talk by Randy Shannon of Flagstaff, Ariz., at 5:30 p.m. May 15 in the Pajarito Room in Fuller Lodge downtown. Shannon, a noted kite artist, will talk about kites and give demonstrations. He also will receive the first Ben Franklin Achievement Award signifying accomplishments as a kite artist, said Zalbowitz.
An exhibit, "Flights of Fancy," also opens in the Los Alamos Art Center at Fuller Lodge from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, May 15.
And the day of the Kite Festival, the museum is co-sponsoring a Kite Hospital at Overlook Park, Berger said. Festival participants will be able to take damaged kites there for repairs, she said.
For more information, call Berger at 5-0896, Zalbowitz at 5-9336 or write to marciaz@lanl.gov by electronic mail.
The Los Alamos County YMCA, the County Parks and Recreation Department, local school parent-teacher organizations, Pojoaque High School, Pojoaque Boys and Girls Club, Jemez Springs Schools, Española Arts Council, Los Alamos Senior Center, Los Alamos Schools and the Santa Fe Children Museum all are participating in the kite festival.
--Steve Sandoval
Lab director fields questions after radio interview
PHOTO: Laboratory Director John Browne fields questions from the listening audience at radio station KRSN Tuesday morning, after being interviewed by station general manager Mark Bentley. During the interview, the director discussed the not-for-profit Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, which is focusing its efforts on education, economic development and social-service initiatives in Northern New Mexico. He also talked about the Lab's strong economic impact on the region and discussed the importance of the Lab's mission of reducing the global nuclear threat, which includes the Lab being able to certify the nation's nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. Photo by Liz Padilla
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