Lillestøl receives award for excellent communication
The Research Council of Norway has honoured Egil Lillestøl from the University of Bergen with its Award for Excellence in Communication for 2007. Lillestøl received the award on 26 September at the Oslo Concert Hall as part of the Research Council's annual Evening of Excellence.
Lillestøl, an experimental particle physicist particularly well known at CERN, has made a great effort over many years in communicating physics to the general public through lectures, television programmes, newspaper articles and by hosting research schools and camps for young people. He is the current director of CERN's high-energy physics schools in Europe and Latin America (see "Trest Castle provides school for young high-energy physicists"). Norway is seeing among its young people a resurgent interest in the natural sciences, and the prize jury attributes some of the credit for this to Lillestøl, who has been an innovator in communicating the fundamental concepts of physics and natural science in his home country.
Persis Drell takes the helm at SLAC
Persis Drell has stepped in as acting director of SLAC while the search for Jonathan Dorfan's successor continues. The president of Stanford University, John Hennessy, appointed her to the position, which took effect from 10 September. The international search for a director at SLAC is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Dorfan announced in March his intention to step down this autumn as SLAC's director after eight years (CERN Courier May 2007 p35). He has relocated to the university's main campus and become an assistant to the president. In this role, he will focus on the relationship between Stanford University and SLAC, including the renewal of the SLAC site's lease to the US Department of Energy (DoE) and Stanford's contract to continue overseeing SLAC on behalf of the DoE.
The university's operating contract with the DoE for SLAC was due to expire on 30 September, but the DoE has indicated that it will grant Stanford a two-year extension. The lease agreement between Stanford and the DoE for the SLAC site is not due to expire until 2012.
Website tells of US role in LHC project
The US Department of Energy's Office of Science has launched a new website to tell the story of the role of the US in the LHC project. The aim is to provide a one-stop site for anyone seeking information about the US and the LHC. Updated daily, it features news and information about the LHC, along with high-resolution images, scientists' blogs, resources for students and educators, and contact information for the media. The US has a leading role in the design and construction of both the LHC accelerator and the experiments, with over 1300 scientists from more than 90 US institutions participating in the project.
• To see the new site, visit www.uslhc.us.