Insider - May 2020

The Newsletter for Ames Laboratory Employees

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Mask illustrationAccording to the CDC, face coverings are effective at reducing the spread of coronavirus by capturing potentially infected droplets from persons who may have the virus but are not showing symptoms. The purpose of the face covering is to protect your coworkers.

Effective May 22, the wearing of face coverings is mandatory in the following locations or situations while at Ames Laboratory:

  • Any public or communal space (hallways and stairwells, restrooms, vending or receiving areas)
  • Shared offices when another person is present
  • Open office spaces, including cubicles, break areas, and copy/supply areas
  • When conducting a task where physical distance of six feet cannot be maintained

Face coverings will not be required in the following locations or situations:

  • Individual offices with four enclosed walls. However, visitors and the office occupant must wear face coverings if physical distance cannot be maintained.
  • Conference rooms where physical distancing may be maintained during the meeting. However, face covering use is required when moving to, from, and around the conference room.
  • A physical or mental condition that is exacerbated by wearing a face covering. Discuss options with your supervisor, and Occupational Medicine if needed.

Face coverings will be provided to employees by the Laboratory, or you may wear a homemade or non-Laboratory-provided covering as long as it meets CDC guidelines. Face coverings are available at Stores, ESH, or may be delivered to Laboratory offices if requested. Please contact ESH at 4-2153 or safety@ameslab.gov for questions or to request delivery.

Face coverings are one of many tools to prevent virus spread. Other tactics include frequent hand washing, proper sanitation, maintaining physical distancing of at least six feet, and self-monitoring your health daily before coming on site. By following these practices, we hope to keep everyone safe, healthy, and productive. 


Susan Elsner wins Director's Excellence Award

Susan ElsnerSusan Elsner, business manager for the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Director's Operations Excellence Award. The award is given annually to honor Ames Laboratory operations and administrative employees who impact Ames Laboratory through our core values of excellence, people, innovation, collaboration, agility, safety, and inspiration.

Elsner was nominated for the award by Stephanie Gunderson who called Elsner "the ‘glue’ that holds the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering together.  Business Manager of DMSE is no small feat and the division functions and succeeds due to her incredible ability to motivate and engage others, inspire innovation, and facilitate collaborative accomplishments."

"Over the last year or two, DMSE has seen a major shift in funding resources and types which has caused many new obstacles and challenges for Susan, her team, and the overall business processes for the division as they seek to support the research," Gunderson continued. "What was once a steady and reliable core of funding for the Division has grown and changed into a more dynamic and complex funding stream. Further, new DOE requirements and relationships have been thrust upon the science and administration. Susan has been a key leader within the Division to manage these changes with agility and effectiveness through collaboration."

Gunderson cited two examples that demonstrate Elsner’s talent in collaboration.

  • The Sensitive Instrument Facility instruments require expensive maintenance agreements and at the onset Susan initiated meetings with the Division Director, admins, and the Procurement and Finance departments to find the most cost-effective approach and funding mechanism. 
  • The Division is growing in Strategic Partnership Projects (sponsored agreements) as a form of research and funding. This type of work requires more intense administration, reporting, and communication. Susan has driven meetings, policy, and timelines with PIs, DOE headquarters program managers, the Lab IPP department, and Finance in order to best communicate to researchers and meet DOE regulations and requirements surrounding this type of work. 

The award includes $250, the recipient’s name on the Director’s Excellence plaque, and recognition during the Annual State of the Lab Address in May 2020. Previous Excellence Award winners are John Lawson, Shawn Nelson and Sarah Morris-Benavides.


Disinfectant Options for High-Contact Surfaces

The Ames Laboratory community has a reputation for looking out for each other. One of the ways we do this as we return to on-site operations is to create healthy habits that prevent the spread of illness. We’ve heard it for months—wash your hands, cover your cough, and stay home if you’re sick.

GreenworksThese healthy habits work very well and are still among the most effective tools we have for keeping our community healthy. Soap and water are very effective at destroying coronavirus, and a general-purpose cleaner like GreenWorks should be used for all routine housekeeping in offices, shops, breakrooms, and lab spaces. In addition, the Lab is fielding some new tools in the fight against COVID-19.

Ames Lab is stocking the following three solutions for disinfecting hard, high-contact surfaces in shared work areas. Each one has advantages and disadvantages; all can be sprayed on and allowed to air-dry; none require special personal protective equipment. (But, if any of these are splashed directly in the eye, flush immediately with water and seek medical attention.) Use the disinfectant that fits your particular situation. Contact the COVID team at covid@ameslab.gov for more information.

Product Name (ingredients)

Main Advantage

 

Special Concerns

Want more info?

IPI Alcohol Antiseptic

(80% alcohol spray)

Fast-acting

(one-minute contact time)

alcohol

Flammable. Avoid open flames, sparks, ignition sources.

CDC

iPhone

Samsung

3M Neutral Quat No. 23

(ammonia-based spray)

Long shelf life

3m Quat

10 minute contact time required. Don’t mix with bleach.

TechSpecs

SafetyData

Bleach Solution

(1000 ppm sodium hypochlorite)

Inexpensive,

One-minute contact time

bleach

Mix 4 teaspoons per quart of water (20mL/L), Must be mixed fresh daily. Don’t mix with 3M Quat cleaner.

CDC


Clue to unconventional superconductivity found

Illustration of superconductivityPhysicists at Ames Laboratory have successfully performed measurements of an iron-based superconductor in an important but difficult-to-reach regime where critical quantum fluctuations dominate the physics. Using a new sensing technique, they accurately mapped quantum phase transition—a phenomenon that is theorized to be closely coupled to superconductivity—deep inside the superconducting state.

The innovative experimental setup, called a nitrogen vacancy (NV) magnetoscope, is highly sensitive, practically non-invasive, and more precise than those previously used to explore similar physics in superconducting materials.

“This is a truly fascinating result in the science of superconductors-- getting a clear picture of how quantum phase transition coexists with superconductivity. It appears that the superconducting phase protects quantum critical behavior from the effects of disorder. This is quite remarkable!” said Ruslan Prozorov, an Ames Laboratory physicist. “As we continue to study other materials with this new capability, it will help answer important theoretical questions about the origin of unconventional superconductivity.”

READ MORE


Lograsso named CMI Director

Thomas LograssoDr. Thomas Lograsso has been named director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI) at Ames Laboratory. He currently serves as the interim director, and his appointment to the permanent position will be effective immediately.

Dr. Lograsso has been with Ames Laboratory since 1988, and with the Critical Materials Institute since its inception in 2013.

At Ames Laboratory, Dr. Lograsso has served as Deputy Director since 2014. He has also served as Interim Director in 2013-2014 and as Division Director for Materials Sciences and Engineering (2008-2013). He maintains an active research project that develops synthesis protocols for new materials, including quasicrystals, ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, and those that may contain volatile reactive or toxic components, especially in single crystalline form. Often his pioneering synthesis efforts result in the first single crystals of these novel materials to be grown and studied for intrinsic behavior.

While serving as Interim Director of Ames Laboratory, Dr. Lograsso also led CMI’s crosscutting research efforts, enabling science, sustaining the environment and analyzing the supply chain and economics of rare earth elements and critical materials. Since 2014, he has led CMI’s research efforts in developing substitutes for rare earths and other critical materials.

Dr. Lograsso holds two patents and is the author of more than 440 peer-reviewed articles. He is co-inventor of a rare-earth free substitute for the magnetostrictive alloy Terfenol-D (containing the critical elements Terbium and Dysprosium) used in high precision machining operations for small engine components and as an ultrasonic driver in petroleum exploration. This iron-based substitute is currently being evaluated for commercialization in energy harvesting applications.

Dr. Lograsso received his education in metallurgical engineering at Michigan Technological University, earning his Ph.D. in 1986. He did postdoctoral training working on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute team, developing the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) that flew on the Space Shuttle in the late 1990s.

“Tom’s materials science accomplishments, as well as his able leadership at transitional points in the laboratory’s history, made him the obvious choice to lead the Critical Materials Institute,” said Ames Laboratory Director Adam Schwartz, “CMI plays a vital role in the Nation’s energy security, and we have great trust in his ability to steer the Department of Energy’s Innovation Hub through its next chapters.” 

The Critical Materials Institute is a Department of Energy Innovation Hub led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and supported by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, which supports early-stage research to advance innovation in U.S. manufacturing and promote American economic growth and energy security. CMI seeks ways to eliminate and reduce reliance on foreign sources of rare-earth metals and other materials in support of President Trump’s Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals.


2020 State of the Lab held virtually

Ames Lab 73rd Anniversary logoBecause the lab continued on limited operations throughout the month of May, the 2020 State of the Lab address was an historic one: held virtually for the first time ever. About 200 lab employees gathered online to hear Director Adam Schwartz’s overview of the Laboratory’s research and operations status. Schwartz discussed the impact of the coronavirus, and outlined the current state of recovery plans. His address also discussed the laboratory’s future research aims in terms of global challenges and opportunities. 

Because of the pandemic, the annual picnic was not held this year, and will be rescheduled for another time. However, here's an Ames Lab trivia quiz to test your knowledge about the Lab.

 

Little Ankeny/Ames Project named historic site

Little Ankeny, site of the Ames ProjectLittle Ankeny, site of the Ames Project and part of the larger Manhattan Project, has been selected by the Board of Trustees of ASM International to receive the 2020 ASM Historical Landmark Award. The Ames Project was nominated for the historic designation by former Ames Laboratory and Critical Materials Institute Director Alex King.

The citation from ASM International reads: 

“The world’s first producer of reactor-fissionable pure uranium metal, enabling self-sustaining nuclear-fission chain-reactions and all of the technologies that they make possible.” 

The ASM Historical Landmark Designation was established in 1969, to identify permanently the many sites and events that have played a prominent part in the discovery, development and growth of materials. 

A cast bronze plaque, which will include the citation, will be presented at the official Historical Landmark dedication ceremony at a future date to be determined. The award will be announced on the ASM website and in an upcoming issue of ASM News.


Looking Back 25 Years: Insider highlights Veishea, sports

 

Cover of May 1995 InsiderThe May 1995 issue of Insider highlighted the Lab's Veishea display "Tracking Down Science" with photos on the front and back covers (be sure to check out young Willie Martin and Kevin Dennis).

The issue also highlighted sporting activities pursued by Lab employees with results of the Early Bird Golf Tournament, softball team, racquetball, exercise class and a bike ride across America. There were also personal profiles of Del Bluhm (camping) and Deb Calhoun (dog breeder).

You can read the entire issue by clicking on the cover.

 

 


United Way Food Drive

United Way logoThe annual United Way Food Drive looks different this year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. But hunger is more real than ever. In a typical year, one in four children in Story County are eligible to receive free/reduced school lunches. School closures and program cancellations have made that need more acute. The food pantries in Story County are following a national trend, of increased demand.

To address the growing need, the United Way of Story County is holding their 12th annual food drive virtually. Online monetary contributions will be distributed among 13 Story County food pantries, ensuring children and families have access to food through the summer. 

$5 donation will purchase 35 pounds of product, $10 purchases 71 pounds and $25 purchases almost 180 pounds. This year’s goal is to provide Story County food pantries with enough monetary resources to purchase approximately 75,000 pounds of food and other needed products.

The Iowa State University Online United Way Food Drive will take place from May 15-May 29, 2020.

How to help:

Iowa State University normally contributes over 17,000 pounds of product to our local community during this annual drive. Monetary donations will provide local pantries the much needed flexibility to purchase food and products that are in demand at their locations. 

Opportunities to contribute: 

ISU faculty, staff, students and friends can support the effort by donating via the Story County United Way website: www.uwstory.org/emergency-fund.

  • Please select “LIVE UNITED Food Drive” from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
  • Please type “Iowa State University” as the employer name.

Donations may also be sent by check to the United Way of Story County, 316 Clark Ave., Ames, IA 50010. Please make checks payable to the United Way of Story County and write “ISU Live United Food Drive” in the memo line.

Individuals wishing to make physical donations, can see the requested items from individual Story County food pantries here.

Thanks for your continued support of the United Way of Story County and the Live United Food Drive. Great things happen when we LIVE UNITED.