California Dreamin
https://news.stanford.edu/report/2023/07/17/john-sarrao-named-director-slac-national-accelerator-laboratory/
Following a broad, international search, John Sarrao, deputy director for science, technology & engineering at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), has been named SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s sixth director, Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne announced today.
At first this does not seem all that significant but John Sarrao has been rumored for many years to be a future LANL director most assumed after Mason that it would be John. I think he even had offers to head up some other DOE labs but turned them down to stay at LANL. Of course there are a number of rumors for why he is leaving (1) Sarrao sees that LANL will be a pit facility and he does not really want to manage that kind of operation, and he would rather be in charge of science organization. (2) He was told that future lab directors are going to be industry types that can manage a large manufacturing plants not science based people so he has no chance
(3) Maybe he sees the writing on the wall and the pit mission could fail and he would not want to be the director if that happens. SLAC is fairly safe job in terms of measuring success since there are always some kind of breakthroughs or good science that gets done in these kinds of facilities. LANL on the other hand has a lot of risk in that things can go wrong in terms of safety, security or failing to get stuff done. It also possible that this issimply a job he wanted and the opportunity came up. SLAC has about 1600 people and LANL will soon have about 16000 people so a LANL directorship is likely a higher paying and more powerful position. My guess is that the LANL mission is going more toward manufacturing and that future lab directors are going be people with these kinds of backgrounds but who knows.
8 comments:
The dumbest letter to editor award goes to Jody Benson
https://losalamosreporter.com/2023/07/17/jobs-for-northern-new-mexico/
But here’s a question for you: Keeping the hazardous operations of building 30-80 pits per year here in Los Alamos doesn’t make sense. Because we need to build an entire new bomb factory, why not build the plutonium pit-production facility (jobs jobs jobs) in another location in Northern New Mexico with more land? What about keeping the science here at LANL and moving the new pit factory to, say, east of Las Vegas where the cost of business and decades of drought have driven ranchers into selling their land? The Moon Dance Ranch off US 84 looks like it’s for sale. You could start there. Oh. Wait a second. Wait. Did I say “Reasonable”? Spending $634 billion in 2020-dollars over the next 10 years for weapons whose purpose is to destroy some enemy who, in the next few years might have become, as did the Japanese and Germans, partners?
Should I reply or should I just think of this is like someone juggling bowling balls, while riding a unicycle, playing Rick Ashley songs on a kazoo, wearing only burlap mask over their head, with "Free Brittany" shirt on, and just ignore it?
Is it me or are the letters to editor in Los Alamos getting weirder and weirder.
I met Sarrao over 20 years ago, when I was a Group Leader at LANL. He was bright, obviously talented, and headed somewhere great. He wanted some advice on the way to approach a new project he was chosen to lead. I did what I could to help. Good for him for his achievements.
6:06 That project turned into a total loss. Sarrao is a nice guy and pretty smart. Despite your mentoring he’s no leader - natural or otherwise. He’ll be better at SLAC than at GS where he was mediocre at best.
Re 11:04. It would be ill-advised to build a plutonium pit production facility in the middle of nowhere with no technical expertise to guide it as a means to save money. TA-55 isn’t $20,000 per square foot because of the high cost of land. Besides if your model workforce is high-school-educated paper pushers, PANTEX already exists.
7/20/2023 2:17 AM
Just some of many, many...many reasons.
My favorite part is
"Spending $634 billion in 2020-dollars over the next 10 years for weapons whose purpose is to destroy some enemy who, in the next few years might have become, as did the Japanese and Germans, partners?"
That takes some real lack of history to make such a nonsensical claim.
I am sure John can afford house in the bay area but for many young staff at SLAC, LLNL and now LANL that is just a dream.
For many millennials and Gen Z's they will never be able to buy a home no matter how much they save, so they embrace nihilism and buy Taylor Swift tickets.
In fact I think John should use that as a new recruiting approach at SLAC, if you take the job you get free Taylor Swift tickets.
For many millennials and Gen Z's they will never be able to buy a home no matter how much they save, so they embrace nihilism and buy Taylor Swift tickets.
7/24/2023 8:57 AM
Which is why they'll never afford..etc., etc., etc. Hard work, achievement, and a drive for success is not part of their mindset.
Which is why they'll never afford..etc., etc., etc. Hard work, achievement, and a drive for success is not part of their mindset.
7/25/2023 6:59 PM
Kinda of mean but I can shake it off, I shake it off.
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