Public Affairs

Introduction/Background

Date of last assessment:  October 2000 

The Communication and Public Affairs functional areas received an overall good rating in the performance measure areas currently agreed upon between SLAC and DOE-OAK in the FY 2000 Annual Appraisal.  We had no 'marginal' areas in our last Assessment.

 Departmental Overview 

Laboratory Mission

The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is dedicated to experimental and theoretical research in elementary particle physics and in those fields that make use of its synchrotron radiation facilities, including biology, chemistry, geology, material science and electrical engineering.  This includes the development of new techniques in particle acceleration and detection, and of synchrotron radiation sources and associated instrumentation.  The laboratory is operated as a national user facility for the Department of Energy by Stanford University.

 

Organizational Missions

The Communication and Public Affairs groups continue to implement their primary goal to be open to the community by strengthening relationships with the DOE, laboratory and Stanford University communities.  These service-oriented professionals are constructive participants actively working with the media, the local community, and the general public through a wide range of activities.  Staff members were effective in contributing to a large number of laboratory events, conferences, and community activities this past year.  The services provided to laboratory staff members, visitors and the general public have been impacted by the severe limitation of dedicated staff time and laboratory resources.

Identification of Self-Assessment Report Staff

Names, titles, affiliations of participants

Helen Quinn, Assistant to the Director for Education/Public Affairs

Eleanor Mitchell, Assistant to the Director for Administration

Nina Stolar, Public Affairs Manager

Performance Objective # 1: In keeping with the expectations of the Office of Science initiatives to improve the management of its laboratories and programs, SLAC will maintain the Lab's position as being open to the community and as being constructive participants with stakeholders and neighbors in the community. 

DOE Field Office and Headquarters Relations 

We have worked closely with the Site Office, the Field Office, and Headquarters to keep them informed of relevant activities and have responded promptly to all requests.  The laboratory hosted visits by the DOE High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) and the DOE National Ombudsman.  SLAC participated in weekly conference calls with the Oakland Field Office, supported DOE-Oakland public activities by participating in DOE Day in Oakland, participated in the AAAAS Annual Meeting and Exposition held in San Francisco, and contributed to an exhibit on the DOE national laboratories. 

This year, SLAC has received the following awards:

1. DOE year 2000 award for program and project management of the B Factory project completion on-time and on-budget.
2. Two DOE Oakland Pollution Prevention Awards (2001) for waste minimization and pollution prevention and reduction/elimination of hazardous waste generation. 
3. Prevention Certificates of Appreciation for environmental restoration, decommissioning and decontamination and return on investment in recycling.

Media 

Press inquiries were diverse.  SLAC was featured prominently in many international news outlets for both B Factory scientific results and progress on the Next Linear Collider.  These outlets included the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, CERN Courier, Science News, Physics Today, The Economist, Associated Press, Reuters, Physics Web Newsletter, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Kioto News Service, Daily Camera, Christian Science Monitor, BBC News, Physics News Update, Scientific American, Physics Web, Washington Post and Nature. 

Additional inquiries include the Discovery Channel series interest in the EGS software and its development process; The Green Room producer interviewed Dr. W.K.H. Panofsky and Dr. Martin Perl (aired in May and June on radio and on the web).  There have been numerous requests from publishers and authors for information and visual media.  These include educational textbooks and other publications internationally. 

SLAC publishes the Beam Line, a quarterly periodical of particle physics and related items.  Issues are featured on the SLAC Welcome page of the web in addition to a regular internal and external distribution with over 3,400 subscribers including funding agencies, state agencies and science teachers.  Communication professionals contribute science news updates to the DOE Pulse, the electronic newsletter published by the DOE Office of Science Laboratories Communications Council. 

Education Programs 

The annual two-week Summer Institute on Particle Physics offered continuing education for over 100 graduate students and postdoctoral research scientists.  This school attracts the international participation of both experimentalists and theorists for lectures, discussion sessions and laboratory tours. 

SLAC continued participation in the long-established DOE Energy Research Undergraduate Laboratory Fellowships program (ERULF).  This 8-week summer program brought 25 science and engineering undergraduates from under-represented groups to SLAC for research activities.  Several engineering graduate students worked at SLAC during the summer, supported by the Graduate Engineering for Minorities (GEM) program run through the Affirmative Action Office. 

The Education Coordinator continues to maintain e-mail correspondence with a list of over 100 high school physics and science teachers, providing them with updates on physics and other resources.  SLAC is a partner in Bay Area Schools for Excellence in Education (BASEE).  This is an eight school district collaboration for the improvement of elementary school science education.  SLAC supported the UCSC Science Teachers Workshop.  The laboratory has an on-going program for providing donations of surplus equipment to public schools and non-profit groups. 

SLAC sponsored Take Our Daughters to Work Day for approximately 60 girls and initiated Take Our Boys to SLAC for approximately 100 boys, ranging from 8-15 years of age.  Participants attended tours, hands on workshops and open houses in various parts of the facility for each event. 

The Virtual Visitor Center website complements and extends the physical Visitor Center, disseminating information to the general public, particularly students and teachers.  Recent additions include on-line technology tools with access to real time data for exhibits in the Visitor Center.  The Online Cosmic Ray Detector Data Collection Center is an interactive site for viewing and working with this detector.  Further initiatives include development of on-line use of the Electron-Gamma Shower (EGS) program.  This will allow virtual visitors with access to the web to run simulations that include explanations of the physical processes that particles undergo in a physics detector experiment, with technical details for classroom use. 

Anyone with an interest in the science we study at SLAC and the tools we use in that study is invited to explore this web site to augment laboratory tours and visits.  The Virtual Visitor Center pages received 439,195 page view.  Combined with other segments of the SLAC web site we received over 23,600,000 hits in the past year by users outside of SLAC.

Community Relations 

SLAC continues to be an active participant in the local community maintaining harmonious relations by responding promptly and appropriately to neighbors concerns. SLAC has maintained its representation on the Board of Directors of the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce.  Staff members gave a minimum of 20 off-site presentations to professional and community groups, high schools and universities using visual media provided by the Public Affairs Office and the SLAC website.  In addition the laboratory lends out a tabletop exhibit to parents for their children's schools and libraries. 

SLAC received the 2000 Environmental Quality Award from the City of Menlo Park presented in recognition of the laboratory's success in reducing air pollution.  Members of the Environmental Commission presented the award, which recognized SLAC for "exceptional resource conservation."  With the use of an alternative degreaser not previously used in California, the amount of chlorinated solvent air emissions from machining processes dropped from a level of 2,000 pounds in 1999 to near zero in the year 2000. 

Community meetings at the laboratory are an important opportunity to demonstrate the lab's openness by providing access and information.  Offering SLAC facilities to the community at no charge continues to be a critical aspect of being a good neighbor.  Seventeen community groups (including the IEEE, the Association of Women in Science, Math Science Network, the Noyce Foundation and other professional groups and hobby clubs) used SLAC facilities for their meetings, bringing over 750 people to the laboratory. 

Due to heightened security requirements this year, it was not appropriate to open the Main Gate during the Sand Hill Road Soap Box Derby, a large-scale community event in September.

Tour Program 

The SLAC Tour Program accommodated approximately 6,000 visitors with no impact on laboratory operations.  There were 200 formal laboratory tours, including almost 70 educational groups (K-8, High School and College/University).  Additionally, SLAC employees and scientific users often host tours, facilitated by a staff-hosted visit web page provided by Public Affairs to assure staff-initiated and supported activities are conducted safely and successfully.  The SLAC Visitor Center (opened in 1996) augments laboratory visits.  The physical Visitor Center contains exhibits with actual accelerator and detector components and displays about SLAC's scientific research, history and physical environment. 

Educational, professional and government visits from throughout the world included England, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia and Vietnam.  Other tours included visitors participating in DOE reviews as well as other laboratory committees, meetings and conferences.  The number and range of international visits are indicators of SLAC's reputation as a world famous laboratory.  A sample of accolades received by the Tour Guides and Visitor Center book comments by visitors throughout the year follows. 

Thank you for the time and trouble you take to schedule the tour for me and my students [each year].  Their common comment about the accelerator was, “It was really cool” and they enjoyed the presentation.  It is always a pleasure to visit with you.

Teacher, Logon Senior High School (Logan, Utah)

 

On the graduate student who served as our guide did an excellent job in introducing our group to high energy physics, highlighting the achievements of SLAC and outlining current research activities.  The members of our group found the tour to be most interesting and informative.

President, Syntex Syva Alumni Association (Los Altos, CA)

We had a truly amazing guide and he explained things in a way that was interesting and informative, even to a layperson.  He clearly has a lot of enthusiasm for his subject, and we were grateful to have him take time to lead our tour.

Andrea Cervenka and Shai Friedland (Palo Alto, CA)

 

Thank you for the SLAC tour.  I think it was by far the best seminar I’ve ever been to.  I thought the part about matter and anti-matter was really interesting.

Matthew, Student  (Local School)

I enjoyed the tour very much.  It was fun when we got to go down to the pit.  After the seminar, I learned many things such as:  photons, anti-matter and other things.  When I grow up I want to work at SLAC.

Albert Wong, Student (Technology Bridge 2000)

 

Thank you for teaching me about atoms, quarks, electrons, positrons and SLAC.

Benjamin, Student (Local School)

Thank you for the tour.  I also thank you for answering my questions about time and SLAC.  You helped my science project about how atoms help tell time, kind of.

Ariana, Student (Time Angel 2001)

 

Thank you for coordinating the February tour of SLAC for the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association.  I apologize for underestimating the number of people I thought would attend.  We attracted whole families plus a younger and more multi-cultural group than is typical of most of our events.  Both young and old, whether science or liberal arts educated, had a wonderful time, learned a lot, and were greatly impressed with the SLAC staff and facility.  You run an absolutely marvelous service.  The people who attended will be talking about what a great experience it was for a long time.  I think some of the young people in the group were inspired.

Mary Hanel, Vice President for Programs (Phi Beta Kappa)

 

I was in San Francisco last year and visited SLAC on both occasions.  I was most impressed with your tour facilities and the quality of explanations provided by your guide.  I have been following the progress of BaBar – well done and good luck!

Peter Payne (Devon, United Kingdom)

 

Thank you f or making the recent trip so successful for the students and professors of the Polytechnic School of Tunisia.  I look forward to working with you again.

Merri Ann Osborne, San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau (San Jose, CA)

 

Our guide was excellent!  He did a fantastic job, great explanations and a super personality.  He made everything interesting and understandable with excellent summary explanations of particle physics.

Local Visitors, General Public Tour

 

Thank you for your efforts to provide a tour for the Northern Chapters of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Certified Hazardous Materials Managers.  As a member of both organizations as well as a representative of SLAC, I received wonderful comments about the tour.  Everyone was impressed with the guide’s depth of knowledge and ability to field a wide range of questions – from high energy physics theory and experiment to site background and challenges.

Rich Cellamare, SLAC Staff Member

 

 

Recently, my wife and I took the SLAC tour.  As a recently hired employee of Varian Vacuum Technologies with intentions of doing business with SLAC, I wanted to gain as much knowledge as I could and thought the tour would be a good starting point.  I was very impressed with the organization and presentation of our guide.  He was able to convey the scientific purpose f SLAC as well as explain much of the basic physics that made my wife (without a scientific background) feel she could follow the discussions.  He is a terrific asset to SLAC – he was not only very knowledgeable but entertaining as well.

William Waters, Varian (Redwood City, CA)

 

Epicycles!  Awesome!  Great exhibits!  Scientific…the Big Wow!  Inspiring.  Cool place. 

Random Visitor Center Log Book Entries

 

 

The highlight of my trip.

Aurg Kyank (DC/CA)

 

So interesting it gets me accelerated.

Miller Reinhard (Germany)

 

 

Science – what an adventure of the mind!

Karl Dickens (Baltimore, MD)

 

This is very inspiring for my son whose high school does not have the facilities for the experiments he wants to conduct.

David Back (Denver, CO)

 

 

The tour of SLAC was most wonderful and meaningful.  Any amount of funding of this facility to accelerate the pace of human knowledge would be well worth it!  May it’s tribute increase!

Col. K.P.R. Unni (New Delhi, India)

Conferences, Meetings and Seminars 

The Public Affairs Office provides multimedia support for conferences, meetings and seminars including audio-visual services, video production and coordination of streaming-media to the web for scientific and public access.  We publicize activities through the web-accessible Seminars database.  Seminars entries include meetings, colloquia and seminars of interest to the broad high-energy physics community.  There were 580 entries for FY01.  This information is also disseminated in a weekly Compendium, distributed internally and by request to an outside distribution of approximately 80 individuals. 

The laboratory was instrumental in the bringing together of 6 major on-site conferences and workshops involving the international scientific community. These included scientific and technical conferences, the annual Summer Institute on Particle Physics, and annual users meetings for the synchrotron and high-energy physics scientific communities.  We held at least 10 collaboration meetings as well as 15 formal committee meetings and technical reviews. 

Of special note was an opportunity to host a painting exhibit by two Italian artists sponsored by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in conjunction with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).  This was a unique opportunity for a cultural exchange combining science with the arts and was accessible to the laboratory community and many visitors at the laboratory for public and scientific events.

Laboratory Relations 

In continuing to implement the recommendations of last year's Committee, SLAC adopted the Respectful Workplace Policy, which commits the laboratory to "providing a work environment that promotes learning, research and productivity through working relationships based on courtesy, civility and respectful communication."  Additionally the laboratory held its first annual Employee Recognition Award program with the theme "World Class People Make a World Class Laboratory."  Thirty-two award recipients were selected and honored from more than one hundred staff nominations, including the SLAC Education Coordinator, Helen Quinn. 

Employing a web first strategy allows us to effectively utilize limited staffing and resources to disseminate consistent information both internally and externally.  The current paper and electronic newsletters continue to function as important news sources. The monthly newsletter, The Interaction Point, highlights current scientific achievements as well as milestones and personal achievements of lab staff.  The newsletter is distributed to the laboratory community as well as a mailing list including government representatives, civic leaders and retirees.  Electronic media include the Event Calendar of laboratory activities, QuickNews (published weekly) and announcements posted by staff members on the laboratory internal home page, including a section for posting social events, such as retirement parties, to better foster internal communication.  Announcements posted to the web can be posted as flyers, mailed to retirees and used for other distribution channels. 

Communication and Public Affairs professionals support the Human Resources Department's continued effort to improve new employee orientations.  Staff members are offered a tour following the orientation, which has helped facilitate the effort to introduce staff members to the scientific endeavors at the lab early in their tenure.  A number of internal events were held for employees, such as the annual award ceremonies for 10, 20 and 30/40 years of service. 

The Public Affairs Manager is an active member of the Emergency Public Information Officer (EPIO) team and continues to participate in emergency preparedness activities, as well as representing the Director's Office on the Operating Safety Committee, a lab wide committee with a broad, general scope. 

Ease in facilitating the high level of on site meeting and conference activity is important to laboratory staff.  The Public Affairs manager supported a transition to a new on-line calendar for meeting room schedules, assuring consistency in usage. Maintaining accurate and current information on the meeting room contact page facilitates laboratory staff members' efforts.

Stanford University Relations 

SLAC hosted the Stanford University Faculty Senate meeting for the first time since 1980.  The event included a business meeting, presentation by the Laboratory Director and a tour of the research facilities.  The Chen Particle Astrophysics Institute was established at SLAC with a $15 million donation to Stanford from Pehong and Adele Chen. 

University relations are strengthened by Stanford sponsored meetings at the W.K.H. Panofsky Auditorium Conference Center.  The laboratory provided facilities for several union meetings, including the annual picnic for the second consecutive year. 

Approximately 10 Stanford University groups came for formal tours of the laboratory.  These included Stanford Parents Weekend, the annual Commencement Tours of the Laboratory, Stanford graduate student orientation, as well as numerous student, staff and alumni groups.  Public Affairs staff members continue to coordinate the quarterly mobile blood drives with the Stanford Blood Center.  There has been a continued improvement in this area, resulting in continued high numbers of donors throughout the year. 

Public Affairs staff members are involved in preparations for the first Stanford University Community Day (April 2002).  Community Day is a campus wide event for the local community.  In conjunction with the annual Founders' Day Celebration, this event will feature lectures, tours and family oriented activities. 

Improvement Action Plan/Goals 

Goals for FY 2002 

Community and Laboratory Relations.  In line with the Communication Committee recommendations, the Director of the new SLAC Communications Office has been selected and his arrival is imminent.  The Communication Director will report to the Laboratory Director and will oversee community and media relations, educational outreach and public affairs activities.  The creation of this Office will realign the areas within the laboratory.  This is expected to include implementation of policies and procedures to improve internal and external communication and outreach, including strategic direction for public information vehicles that serve local, national and international audiences. 

Dissemination of Information.  Our goal is to provide information about the laboratory that reflects the current science and administrative developments of the laboratory.  A focus of this effort will be a continued process of improvement for upgrading and maintaining public information materials to assure consistent dissemination of information through different media outlets and formats. 

Tour Program. In order to respond to the increased demand for laboratory tours (both internal and external), it is necessary to increase the pool of graduate students serving as tour guides.  In conjunction with the above focus on public information vehicles, upgraded materials will also be integrated with tour guide training materials.  The Public Affairs Office staff members are working on improvements in this area.

WorldWideWeb.  In conjunction with the 10^th Anniversary of the web (December 2001), including a permanent exhibit to recognize SLAC’s role as the first US web site.  This exhibit, which will have a web component, will showcase the pioneering role of the DOE and high energy physics in this highly visible area of society.  The symposium goes beyond a celebration of the accomplishments of the past decade to take a serious look forward at the technologies and issues spawned by the Web Revolution.  This event will be open to the public, accessible to technologists and of interest to all sectors in between. 

40^th Anniversary.  The laboratory's 40^th Anniversary (Spring 2002) can serve as a theme for events throughout the year.  This milestone is an opportunity for increased public outreach and media visibility, in conjunction with our strategic direction for public information vehicles.  This anniversary is viewed as a short-term opportunity for strengthening community and laboratory relations.  Planning and implementation of this event includes pre-planning for an even larger impact in celebrating the laboratory's 50^th Anniversary in 2012.

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For Questions or comments, Please contact Ziba Mahdavi, Last Updated 10/24/00