Office of Science Graduate Fellows Research Meeting

October 5, 2010

Carla Vale

The inaugural DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Research Meeting took place at Argonne National Laboratory, from August 7-10, 2010. The purpose of the meeting was to welcome the first class of Graduate Fellows and provide them with an introduction to the science, National Laboratories and User Facilities sponsored by the Office of Science. The meetings will occur annually from now on, with the next one to be held at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Graduate Fellows program, established last year, awarded fellowships to 150 outstanding students starting their 1st, 2nd or 3rd years of a Ph.D. program, across all the areas of research that are sponsored by the Office of Science. The fellowships, available to U.S. citizens, provide students with $50,500 annually, which include a living stipend, tuition contribution and research/travel expenses. Two of the current Graduate Fellows are conducting their thesis research at RHIC: Laura Byrum, a 3rd year PhD student at Georgia State University, is a member of PHENIX working on dimuons; and Alice Ohlson, of Yale University, works on jet physics at STAR. The call for applications for the 2011 program is expected to open soon, with information available at http://scgf.orau.gov/.

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The 150 participating students on the Advanced Photon Source stairs at the 2010 DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Research Meeting, which was held at Argonne National Laboratory, August 7-10, 2010. (Photo courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory.)

Highlights of the meeting also included talks by Patricia Dehmer, Deputy Director for Programs, and the dinner presentation by the Director of the Office of Science, William Brinkman, entitled "Adventures in Science". The Fellows had the opportunity to tour several research facilities at both Argonne and Fermilab, and the meeting concluded with a panel discussion on User Facilities, with Tim Hallman, Associate Director for the Office of Nuclear Physics, as one of the panelists.

The scientific program of the meeting included several parallel talk sessions on topics ranging from genomics to high-perfomance computing, and also a poster session covering the full spectrum of Office of Science research. I was invited to present a poster covering the latest discoveries at RHIC, which attracted a lot of interest, in particular from students in non-physics fields who saw it as an opportunity to have their questions answered, either about anti-matter, the evolution of the early universe, or even star formation. Later that day, during the National Laboratories exhibits, I accompanied Ken White from the BNL Office of Educational Programs, in answering the Fellows questions about Brookhaven Facilities that might be of use to their research, and also about Brookhaven as a future prospective employer. Interacting with the Fellows throughout the meeting was a very stimulating experience, and I hope that BNL will have a chance to host one of the future editions of this meeting.

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