{"id":846,"date":"2020-06-25T00:47:19","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T05:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/?page_id=846"},"modified":"2020-09-05T14:31:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:31:22","slug":"service-to-the-profession","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/service\/service-to-the-profession\/","title":{"rendered":"Service to the Profession"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A quick lunch break during data-taking shifts at STAR during RHIC running.<\/p><\/div>\n

Throughout my time on the faculty at Lamar and ACU, I have served in leadership capacities within the STAR collaboration. In this section, I detail a few of these actives and reflect on how they have shaped me as a faculty member. I devote a forthcoming section to my recent term as STAR Deputy Spokesperson in order to provide more detail on this particular area of my professional service.<\/em><\/p>\n

Co-convener of the STAR Spin Physics Working Group<\/h1>\n

The physics of STAR can be divided into several topics, which are explored within a so-called “physics working group” (PWG). The PWG develops the data analysis techniques and software needed to investigate the phenomena of interest. For each PWG, the STAR management team selects two or three “conveners” to coordinate and facilitate the activities of the group throughout a three-year term. From 2014 to 2017, I served a term as one of the two conveners of the STAR Spin PWG. During the first half of my term, my partner was Dr. Anselm Vossen<\/a> (then of Indiana University, now at Duke University); and during the second half of my term, my partner was Dr. Oleg Eyser<\/a> of Brookhaven.<\/p>\n

Each week in my service as convener, I cohosted a teleconference for participants of the Spin PWG. These meetings served as venues for the development and vetting of the physics data analyses. Among other topics, we discussed data analysis progress, publication plans, and established the next steps in our physics program. My partner and I set the weekly agenda and co-chaired the meetings that typically lasted 1.5-2 hours. I further participated in weekly teleconferences with the STAR Physics Analysis Coordinator and conveners of the other working groups to discuss resource needs, progress on high-priority physics results, and preview upcoming STAR publications. Twice a year, my partners and I organized PWG parallel sessions for our face-to-face collaboration meetings at Brookhaven and various STAR institutions. We took turns delivering PWG reports to the full collaboration in the plenary sessions of these meetings. I provide an example one such presentation I gave, below.
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CollabMtg_2017SpinReport.v1<\/a><\/div><\/p>\n

Before STAR collaborators are allowed to disseminate physics results on behalf of the collaboration, e.g. in a public meeting or conference, there is a peer-review process that must be satisfied. The PWG conveners are responsible for approving results developed within the PWG for public dissemination. Furthermore, whether or not they contain new results, conveners are responsible for reviewing and approving all conference abstracts, presentations, and proceedings developed within the PWG. During my term as convener, I approved abstracts and presentations (and often proceedings) for approximately 35 different conferences, typically with multiple presentations for each conference.<\/p>\n

As a part of STAR’s internal peer-review process for publications, a “Godparent Committee” (GPC) is formed to assist the principal author in reviewing and refining the manuscript prior to submission to the journal and throughout the following external review until publication. The PWG is represented on the GPC by one of the co-conveners. During my term as convener, my partner and I alternated serving on the GPCs for the various STAR manuscripts developed in our PWG.<\/p>\n

Data-taking Shift Leader<\/h1>\n

As a major priority within the DOE Office of Science, RHIC runs every year. During RHIC running, the STAR detectors must be operated and monitored 24 hours each day for 7 days each week. Each STAR institution is given a quota of week-long shifts to be covered by members of the institution, typically 1-2 per member. Each shift consists of two detector operators, one run control operator, and a shift leader. The shift leader guides the crew, acts as a liaison with the RHIC Main Control Room, and communicates with subsystem experts as problems arise during STAR operations. The shift leader often works closely with the run control operator to ensure STAR is recording data efficiently, when collisions are delivered. The shift leader is responsible for recording entries in the shift log for the benefit of operation personnel and as a critical future reference for data analysts. The shift leader has final authority on the minute-to-minute conduct of STAR data taking activities in the STAR control room.<\/p>\n

In each of the last seven years, I have served at least one week as a STAR shift leader during RHIC running. My typical shift assignment is 7:30 AM – 4:30 PM beginning on a Tuesday and ending the following Tuesday. Over these seven years, I have navigated STAR operations through a variety of potentially serious complications, including lab-wide power dips, trips of the STAR magnet, RHIC beam aborts, failure of the data-acquisition room A\/C (believe it or not, that is a real problem!), and others. My shift crews routinely contain detector operator and shift leader trainees, who I have enjoyed mentoring.<\/p>\n

Spin 2018 Parallel Session Co-convener<\/h1>\n

In 2018, I was asked to serve as one of the parallel session conveners<\/a> for the 23rd International Spin Symposium<\/a>, hosted by the University of Ferrara (Italy). This biennial symposium series is the major international conference devoted to spin physics. I worked with two other physicists, Alessandro Bacchetta<\/a> of University of Pavia and Bakur Parsamyan<\/a> of University of Torino and CERN, to organize the session entitled, “3D Structure of the Nucleon: TMDs.” We solicited contributed talks, delivered invitations to various speakers, set the agenda for the talks, chaired sessions, and created a talk summarizing the presentations and results for our session. I volunteered to refine the presentation of the slides and delivered the talk in the closing plenary session of the conference<\/a> (posted below for your convenience).
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Spin2018_TMDSummary.v0<\/a><\/div><\/p>\n

Reflections<\/h1>\n

One of the significant ways that my professional service has shaped my work as a faculty member has been by giving me opportunities to work with people from all over the globe. STAR is comprised of over 700 collaborators from 68 institutions spread across 14 different countries. Even among the U.S.-based institutions, STAR collaborators hail from a variety of countries. Serving alongside these collaborators has been an enlightening and enjoyable experience and given me tools that have helped me form productive relationships with a variety of fellow faculty members and students at Lamar and ACU. My service as convener and shift leader has yielded opportunities to mentor young scientists from across the globe in their professional development. This experience has obviously shaped me as a mentor to Lamar and ACU students. These experiences have helped me learn that when I mentor a young scientist or student or when I serve alongside another colleague, I invest a part of myself in them. Shared service opens up avenues for enlightening conversations and reveals often surprising commonalities.<\/p>\n

Along with commonalities there are obviously differences, sometimes profound. My identity as a Christian often represents such a profound difference between my STAR and spin physics colleagues and I. Rarely is their reaction hostile, but they are often admittedly surprised to find themselves working alongside someone of faith. As I reflect, I am grateful that these situations are often in service roles. What more appropriate reflection of our Lord could we give? Of course, that realization challenges me, as I cannot honestly say that my service is always done with as much grace as I might wish. At ACU, I have the opportunity to work alongside colleagues where we do share a common commitment to Christ. I am grateful to learn from and observe colleagues who serve as examples and challenge me to grow and mature in my professional service as an extension of who I am in Christ.<\/p>\n

<<< Department Criteria for Service<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0STAR Deputy Spokesperson >>><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout my time on the faculty at Lamar and ACU, I have served in leadership capacities within the STAR collaboration. In this section, I detail a few of these actives and reflect on how they have shaped me as a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17290,"featured_media":0,"parent":87,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-846","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1216,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/846\/revisions\/1216"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}