A New Assignment

I've got two stories online today at the SLAC website, and I really like both of them (as does the head of communications here, which of course makes me happy :o).* The first is about MadGraph/MadEvent, which is a computer software program that creates randomized "practice" events for scientists to analyze and learn from. I spotted it in a pre-print (a summary of a recently released scientific paper) and asked to do a story on it. My editor isn't very thrilled with computer software and programming, but trusted me, and I think it turned out fairly well anyways.

The second story, is about the CosmicVariance blog site that two of SLAC's employees contribute to. I spoke about my experience speaking with them a couple of days ago.

Today I was assigned a new task that will give me experience in an area I haven't really dealt with before. In an earlier post, I spoke about a group meeting with a group called McCallum-Turner who is an outside consulting firm examining the administrative side of SLAC operations. It is part of the communication office's job to tell the lab what's going on and how they can offer feedback and comments.

Or, more specifically, it is now my job to let the lab know this.

The company has identified 11 areas of administration that they are targeting in their examination. Each area has a point of contact from SLAC, and it is my job to take information from them and disseminate it to 11 short articles about each of the areas.

For example, one area is Leadership, but what does this really mean? Is it anyone who is a department head? Is it the director of the lab only? What procedures, forms, etc. fall within this category, and which are of the most interest to McCallum-Turner?

The writing and analyzing part shouldn't be so bad, but it could be a pain to track down 11 different people to interview on a subject they may already be growing weary of. Any bets as to how many make my life more difficult than it needs to be?

*I wonder what the proper form is when ending a set of parenthesis with a smiley face? Do you put two end parenthesis side by side? e.g. :o))? That just doesn't seem right...