Topic: The Trials and Tribulations of a Small Accelerator Physicist (How to survive column leaks, explosions, and graduating students.)

Speaker: Dr. William A. Hollerman (University of Louisiana)

Date & Time: Tuesday, January 11, 2000, 1:00 P.M.

Place: Room 140 VMC

From the time the 1.7 MV 5SDH-2 Pelletron accelerator was originally installed at the Acadiana Research Laboratory (ARL) in 1991, the machine had never experienced a catastrophic hardware failure or vacuum problem. In fact, the accelerator was opened for the very first time in February 1999 for general maintenance. Starting in July 1999, the ARL Pelletron was opened three additional times to correct a series of serious vacuum problems and failures, which forced a cancellation of most of the scheduled experimental program. This presentation will discuss the trials and tribulations of my efforts to keep the Pelletron running at top efficiency. Emphasis will be placed on the use of undergraduate students to assist in these efforts.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Dr. William A. Hollerman is a graduate of Alabama A&M University. Currently He is an Assistant Professor of Physics Acadiana Research Laboratory, University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana