The official inauguration of the James Cronin School took place the morning of November 16, 2006. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by many Auger collaborators, representatives from the Mendoza and Malargue governments, and media representatives. A flag raising ceremony was followed by a number of speeches, including KICP senior member Jim Cronin, Malargue mayor Raul Rodriguez, and Mendoza governor Julio Cobos. The event received wide press coverage on television, radio, and newspapers. In the evening of the same day, the students and teachers from the school held a separate inaugural celebration that included student projects on display in the new school's classrooms, plus dance and theatrical performances by the students. The school will enjoy full time occupation when classes resume in March 2007 after the summer holidays.

The residents named the school after the Nobel prize winning physicist because of his contributions to the local community. Cronin and other members of the collaboration have donated books and money to the schools in Malargue, built a visitors' center which has attracted around 12,000 visitors, and hope to build the only planetarium outside the country's capital, Buenos Aires. There is also a full scholarship program for a student of Malargue to attend Michigan Technical University, which has been a huge success so far.

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KICP Members: James W. Cronin

First light achieved with the 10-m South Pole Telescope, February 16, 2007. Last night the 10-meter South Pole Telescope with its camera operating at millimeter wavelengths and cooled to 1/4 degree above absolute zero achieved first light. Maps of Jupiter at wavelengths at 2 mm and 3 mm were obtained by scanning the telescope across the planet. These maps showed the telescope, camera and optics are working as designed. First light with the SPT is a major milestone for the project and is a fitting conclusion to a remarkably productive summer season for the South Pole Station. We now look forward to fully characterizing the instrument and beginning cosmological observations.

The efforts of a large team are responsible for the success of the SPT. The team includes members from nine academic institutions, the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, the U.S Antarctic Program, General Dynamics/VertexRSI, and the Raytheon Polar Support Company. We are grateful for all their support.

We are extremely thankful for the excellent and professional help of the wonderful people at the NSF Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

Thank you,
the SPT team

For more information on the SPT see the SPT website.

SPT Institutions:
University of Chicago
University of California at Berkeley
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Case Western Reserve University
Caltech/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
McGill University University of Colorado at Boulder
Cardiff University

The SPT is funded by the National Science Foundation grant OPP-0130612. Partial support is also provided by the Kavli Foundation and NSF grant PHY-0551142 through the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics and its Physics Frontier Center and from the Moore Foundation.

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KICP Members: Bradford A. Benson; John E. Carlstrom; Thomas M. Crawford; Jeff McMahon; Stephan S. Meyer; Stephen Padin; Kathryn K. Schaffer
KICP Students: Ryan Keisler
Scientific projects: South Pole Telescope (SPT)

We are pleased to announce that KICP senior member Bruce Winstein was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

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KICP Members: Bruce D. Winstein

We are pleased to announce that KICP senior member James W. Cronin was elected as a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of London on 17 May 2007.

The citation associated with James Cronin's election reads: -
"Throughout a distinguished career, James Cronin's research in experimental high energy physics has been marked by novelty and elegance. His work on spark chambers led him and Fitch to the discovery of CP violation in neutral kaon decay, for which they received the 1980 Nobel Prize. Amongst other notable experiments were his work on high transverse momenta, rare neutral kaon decays and measurement of the neutral pion lifetime. More recently he has made leading contributions in cosmic ray physics, particularly in founding the large Pierre Auger Observatory now collecting data at the very highest energies. He was awarded the US National Science Medal in 1999."

The Royal Society was founded by Charles II in 1660 and is the United Kingdom's National Science Academy.

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KICP Members: James W. Cronin
Scientific projects: Pierre Auger Observatory (AUGER)

Congratulation to KICP senior member Rocky Kolb on his appointment to the Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professorship.

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KICP Members: Edward W. Kolb

The KICP invites applications for one or more NSF Funded Postdoctoral Research Fellows (at the rank of Research Associate (Instructor)) from scientists of exceptional ability and promise with a PhD. in Physics, Astrophysics or related fields between September 2004 and September 2008. There are no teaching responsibilities with this position. The appointee(s) will be expected to conduct original research in experimental, numerical or theoretical cosmology in an interdisciplinary environment. Research Associate (Instructors) are appointed to renewable one-year terms and may be considered for promotion. Research Associate (Instructors) may hold this rank for no more than four years. Our positions at this rank carry a competitive salary and benefits package. Institute Fellows have the freedom to work on any of the efforts in our Institute.

PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE NO TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES WITH THIS POSITION

Review of applications will begin on November 15, 2007 for positions that will begin in the Summer or Fall of 2008. The position will remain open until filled.