October 21, 2004

Awards and Good Times at the 2004 NSLS Barbeque

On September 24, 2004 a crowd of National Synchrotron Light Source staff members joined the recipients of the 2004 Spotlight and Service awards to celebrate the winners’ careers and accomplishments, and to enjoy food, drinks, and the early autumn weather. NSLS Chairman Steve Dierker led the ceremony.

NSLS Chairman Steve Dierker

Service Awards

This year, the following staff members were honored with 25 years of service: Steve Bennett, Rich Biscardi, Conrad Foerster, Tony Lenhard, Bill Newburgh, Gary Ninztel, Stefan Palo, Sal Pjerov, Susila Ramamoorthy, Bob Scheuerer, and Jiunn-ming Wang.

Receiving the 20-year service awards were Bob Best, Pete Ratzke, Ray Raynis, and John Skaritka, and Qing-yi Dong received the 10-year award.

Spotlight Awards

The Spotlight awards, which commend deserving NSLS staff members for exceptional performance during the year, were presented to Laura Miller, recommended by Steve Dierker; Bob Best and Tony Santiago, both recommended by John Gallagher; and two groups (each group shared one award). The first group, nominated by Steve Hulbert, was Dennis Carlson, Michael Caruso, Shu Cheung, Rick Greene, Tony Lenhard, and Gary Nintzel. The second, nominated by Ed Haas, was Walter deBoer, Mike Radulescu, and Bob Scheuerer.

From left: Nathan Towne, Conrad Foerster, Ed McKenna, and Gerry Van Derlaske.

Bob Best: Bob received his award for building, testing, and debugging the laser interlock/controllers system at beamline X17B3. This required extensive planning and coordination between the other electricians at the NSLS. If not for Bob’s hard work, one of two costly alternatives to controlling the inner cavity shutter at the beamline would have been explored, resulting in long delays to the program at X17B3.

Tony Santiago: Tony was honored for modifying the Source Development Laboratory’s (SDL) laser interlock system, a task that required extensive electrical work and rearrangment. With direction from Scott Buda and John Gallagher, he worked through breaks, lunches, and put in overtime to complete the project, and managed to do so without impacting the operations of the SDL.

Laura Miller: Presented as a surprise, Laura received this award for organizing and planning many of the details of the NSLS-II Workshop. Her hard work, involving extended hours and even weekends, helped to make the workshop incredibly successful. In turn, this success was vital to helping ensure that NSLS-II becomes a reality.

From left: Rich Freudenberg, Rick Greene, and Chi-Chang Kao

From left: Rodger Hubbard, Bob Best, Don Davis, Jim Newburgh, and Bob Scheuerer

Dennis Carlson, Michael Caruso, Shu Cheung, Rick Greene, Tony Lenhard, and Gary Nintzel: This group was recognized for their exceptional service to the NSLS during the May 2004 shutdown. During this time, three major beamline upgrades were performed in addition to the increased beamline maintenance during that period. At X21, the largest of the upgrades, where two nested wiggler beamlines had to be fabricated and installed, the group performed much of this work during the shutdown, and faced several problems that popped up during the process. At the same time, they worked on the upgrades at X13A and X1A1, which both required unexpected work.

Clockwise, from left: Michael Appel, Jim Rose, Timor Shaftan, Alexei Blednykh, Li-Hua Yu, and Randy Smith

Walter deBoer, Mike Radulescu, and Bob Scheuerer: Just before the NSLS May shutdown, a vacuum leak was found in the x-ray ring that worsened until x-ray operations were significantly affected. Walter, Mike, and Bob successful dealt with the problem and the intricate details surrounding it without impacting the x-ray schedule. Walter repeatedly came in after hours and on short notice to temporarily fix the leak. His repairs allowed operations to continue until he could properly fix the problem. From start to finish, Walter performed above and beyond the call of duty.

The leak forced the spring shutdown schedule to be changed, demanded that new work plans be reviewed and approved rapidly, required new hardware to be ordered, and necessitated the location, check, and approval of new fixtures. These details required coordinating many parties across varying time frames. Bob proved instrumental in making it happen.

Mike was the chief technician who performed the repair; he worked flawlessly and quickly, and put in long hours to complete it. His excellent, efficient work helped result in the quick-fix of a complex repair job – finished ahead of schedule with no significant errors.

ARTICLE BY: Laura Mgrdichian