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Happy New Year 2022

Hi, Everyone,

Happy New Year 2022!

With our ongoing pandemic and use of virtual learning environments such as Zoom and Google, our learning experiences are evolving at a rapid rate.

I see that many users have recently signed-up for this site. All I know about you is your email. If any of you are coming from MSIA, please let me know. If you are hear for another reason, let me know about that, too.

Have a wonderful year in 2022!

Best Regards,

Joel Montgomery

Fermilab-Adventure-Continues

The Fermilab Adventure Continues–plan ahead for the FREE tour of Fermilab offered from 10:00-11:30AM on Wednesdays.  I went on today’s tour (02/20/2019). The next tour available is next Wednesday, 02/27/2019.

Fermilab Public Tour—2019-02-20–10:00AM-11:30AM
It’s a little after 9:00 AM and I am in the cafeteria in Wilson Hall with my second cup of coffee for the morning. We had a mix of snow, freezing rain, and rain this morning. The were plowing my driveway by 8:30, so I decided to get to Fermilab early. (I’m glad I did, I found parking relatively close by Wilson Hall—in the area for the Auditorium. At least 4 Subaru Outbacks and one Subaru Accent in the parking lot on my way in. A popular car for Fermilab.)
There is an art gallery on the second floor that’s not part of the public tour, so I’ll go up there in a few minutes. Coffee—16 oz for $2.00 including tax—not the least expensive cafeteria, probably comparable to a hospital’s cafeteria.
Most of the people I see are dressed the way I am, sweaters and open-necked shirts. The temperature in this atrium is comfortable—about 74 degrees.
Lots of cars here by 8:45 AM—Means (probably) early starting hours here at Fermilab.
I’ve wanted to come on a public tour since coming to the 50th Anniversary Open House on September 23, 2017. This is the first time I’ve come to one. (I took the morning off from teaching and need to be a JB Nelson Elementary (just down Pine St) by Noon.)
There are about a dozen people in the atrium this morning.
I did create the “Fermilab Adventure” video on Sunday with a tour of Fermilab’s Internet Footprint. They have lots of education offerings and, in addition to their FNAL.gov website, are very active on Facebook (multiple pages), Instagram (lots of pictures), Twitter (two active accounts), and YouTube (almost 200,000 subscribers and more than 752 videos).
Before the tour I visited the Fermilab art gallery and viewed the exhibits on Enrico Fermi and the creation of Fermilab. They also have two videos to watch while waiting for the tour to begin and a full cafeteria available.
We started promptly at 10:00AM.  (By the way, they advise arriving early because of parking issues and I fully agree. Getting to Wilson hall by 9:30AM is a very good idea.) Two staff members of Fermilab accompanied three of us on the 90-minute tour. Our docent (on Fermilab staff for 7 years) and another staff member who has been with Fermilab for 17 years.  It was great to have perspectives and insights from both of these people. (I’ll add their names to this post when I get them.)
We started at a mock-up of Fermilab itself, then looked out the windows to see the building on the mock-up. Fermilab occupies 10 miles of space and much of it is a nature preserve. The tour is worth experiencing rather than having me write it up. In the tour, the docent talks about Fermilab’s past, present, and future and gives us glimpses into the research going on 24/7 at the facility.
Important to know, Fermilab is dedicated to sharing information. There is no connection with military applications and scientists share their information with other scientists around the world. Some business-related projects and some patents are relatively confidential–for business reasons rather than for security reasons. The public has access to most of what Fermilab has to offer and Fermilab goes out of its way to invite the public to visit–including an Arts and Lecture series and lots of science education.

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