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Next Ashley Fellow Announced
By Davide Castelvecchi
Arturo Alarcon (AD) won the Alonzo W.
Ashley Career Development Fellowship, which will enable him to go back
to school this fall to pursue his career goals.
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| Arturo Alarcon will take time off to
pursue his career goals. (Photo courtesy of SLAC) |
For the past three years Alarcon has been
an operator at the Main Control Center (MCC), helping deliver the
linac’s beam for the PEP-II rings and other uses. “The machine is very
complex and has lots of subsystems,” he said. Finessing the beam’s
quality poses constant challenges. “It’s problem-solving heaven.”
Alarcon will now get a year off to take
programming classes at Foothill College, leading to an Associate Degree
in software development, and will train in MCC to step up to a level-3
operator. With the additional training, he will be able to take on added
responsibilities with the MCC.
Alarcon will also help compile a Klystron
User Guide, a reference for current and future MCC operators. In the
spring he hopes to collaborate on a software project in the Technical
Division during his fellowship leave.
About the Fellowship
The Ashley Fellowship was established in
1999 in honor of Alonzo W. Ashley, who promoted diversity and encouraged
career development during his 30 years at SLAC. The fellowship is
awarded to employees who have demonstrated contributions to diversity at
SLAC or in the community. Applicants submit a detailed proposal of how
they plan to spend their time off in a way that will develop their
career while contributing to the SLAC mission.
The fellowship gives up to a year of
part-time or full-time release from one’s duties, and provides the
employee’s department with funding for hiring a temporary replacement.
Past Recipients
William Colocho (AD), Nick Arias (NLC) and
Pauline Wethington (COM) were past Ashley fellows, and Lesley Wolf (TIS)
is the current recipient. During her fellowship, which will be up next
month, Wolf pursued several projects in library management and outreach
to school teachers.
“It takes a lot of openness to take a good
employee and let them take a year off their work. It’s quite a
privilege,” Wolf says. “But in the end, I think the Ashley Fellowship
makes better employees.”
For information on the Ashley Fellowship,
see:
http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/hr/er/fellowship/2004/ashley.html
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