Location

Fermilab is located on 6,800 acres of former farm land some 35 miles west of Chicago. Robert R. Wilson Hall is the sixteen-story "hi-rise" building located near the Pine Street entrance to the site and is the place where all sessions will be held. A map of the site, and other general information about the site can be found on the Fermilab visitors web page.

Weather

July in the Batavia area is generally warm and humid, with a non-zero chance of rain showers. Average high temperature for Batavia during this time is 78°F/26°C and average low is 58°F/14°C, although recent summers have been slightly warmer than average. Weather conditions at Fermilab can be found here. The extended forecast for the area can be found here. However, all meeting rooms are air conditioned so it is advisable to carry a light jacket or sweater.

Housing Accommodations

Those students who requested accommodations will be housed at the Comfort Inn in Geneva, Illinois. It is only a few miles from the Fermilab site and daily shuttle buses will be provided. The hotel provides a continental breakfast free of charge and there is one restaurant right next door to the hotel. Because of limited space at the hotel, accommodations may vary between students. All space will be assigned based on arrival and departure dates, requested roommates, and the most efficient use of the space available. The majority of students, however, will be housed in rooms with two queen-sized beds.

Although each hotel room is equipped with a telephone from which you can place outside calls, using these phones is very expensive. We suggest using a cell phone or calling card instead of the hotel phones. Phone cards are not readily available at Fermilab, so please be sure to purchase one before arriving at the School.

School Schedule

Early registration for the School will take place on Sunday evening, July 1, from 7:00 until 9:00 PM at the Comfort Inn. Students will also have an opportunity to register at the Secretariat in Wilson Hall beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning, July 2.

The first day of sessions will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning, July 2. Sessions on the last day, Friday, July 13, are scheduled to end at 2:45 p.m. In general, on school days sessions will begin at 9:00 a.m. and run until 8:00 p.m.

The School program includes lectures, discussion sessions, and tours of various Fermilab facilities. Wednesday July 4 and Sunday July 8 will be free days with excursions planned. On July 4, complimentary bus transportation to and from a site in downtown Chicago will be provided from the School hotel and from the Users Center in the Fermilab Village. Students will be required to sign up for this transportation in advance of the trip.

On July 8, complimentary bus transportation to and from Geneva, Illinois will be provided from the School hotel and from the Users Center in the Fermilab Village. Students will be required to sign up for this transportation in advance of the trip.

Shuttle Bus Service

Shuttle bus service will be provided each morning before sessions begin and then again after sessions end for the day. There will be no mid-day shuttle back to the hotel. A detailed shuttle bus schedule is given in the daily program. Please note that there is no public transportation from the hotel to Fermilab, so if you miss the shuttle buses you will have to make arrangements for a private taxi. Here are the names of two local taxi companies for your reference:

Aurora American Taxi
(630) 892-2300

Fox Cab
St. Charles (630) 587-8822
Geneva (630) 262-8822

Meals

On "school nights" when no social events are scheduled, a modest choice of dinner will be provided to all registrants without charge. A vegetarian option will be provided at each dinner. Lunch will be available on school days in the Fermilab Café (cafeteria) at individual student expense.

The Wilson Hall Café at Fermilab is open for breakfast and lunch, Monday through Saturday. Aside from the specially arranged dinners mentioned above, there is no dinner service available in the Wilson Hall Café. The hours of operation during the week and on Saturday are as follows:

There is a restaurant located next to the Comfort Inn. The Country House does have outdoor seating and a bar and serves a variety of foods; i.e., hamburgers, sandwiches, salads, steaks, chops, pasta, and fish.

Secretariat

The Secretariat will be located outside the One West Conference Room on the Atrium level of Wilson Hall. The Secretariat will be open:

Guest Computing

There are six windows desktops at the E-Mail center on the ground floor on the north side. Account name and passwords are attached to the desktops.

Computer Security

Anyone conducting work at the Laboratory or using the Laboratory's computing resources (including the network) must register his or her hardware address.

Visitor computers brought onsite which apply for a temporary DHCP address will be scanned and must demonstrate the same level of computer security required for all lab machines. Please turn OFF any peer to peer software you have - for music downloads etc. If this software is on you will get blocked and won't be able to access the internet. The easiest way to ensure a machine is secure is to run an operating system with up-to-date patches and current virus signatures. For machines found to have critical vulnerabilities, there will be a physical network connection near the helpdesk (in the E-Mail Center, ground floor of Wilson Hall) that visitors can connect to and download patches from their vendor or university. This connection will not have internal access to the Fermilab network but will have access to the internet.

Note that only those critical vulnerabilities identified on the following web page will cause a system to be denied a temporary address:

http://security.fnal.gov/CriticalVuln/index.html

Machines with non-critical vulnerabilities (anything not on the above list) will be granted a temporary address and you will receive email notification with instructions describing how to remediate the remaining vulnerabilities.

DHCP Registration and Wireless Access

See the separate DHCP and wireless access page.

Parking

All parking on the Fermilab site is free. If you do have a car, parking on site can be frustrating. While we have many parking spaces surrounding Wilson Hall, many along the building are restricted and one must have a parking permit in order to park in those spots.

We also have spaces that are marked as one hour or fifteen minute drop-off, as well as handicapped spaces. These spaces are well marked.

No-Smoking Policy at Fermilab

Please note that smoking is not permitted inside any building at Fermilab.

On-Site Transportation

Fermilab operates a free taxi service on-site between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30p.m., Monday through Friday. There is no weekend service. To call the taxi, dial 4225 (HACK) on any Laboratory phone. Please remember that the taxi stops at other locations to pick up and drop off passengers, so allow additional time when using this service.

Recreational Areas

If you can find some free time, Fermilab does have a variety of areas for recreation. There are three outdoor tennis courts, two sand volleyball courts, a softball diamond, a basketball court, a soccer field, an outdoor swimming pool, and a gymnasium. All of these facilities are located in the Fermilab Village (east side of Fermilab site). More information about the use of these facilities is given in the social program page.

Users Center

The Users Center is located at 10 Che Che Pinqua in the Village. It is a recreational facility containing a large-screen TV room, a music room with a grand piano, a game room with ping-pong tables and pool tables, and a lounge with a full bar. The Users Center is open Monday through Friday from 5:00 p.m. to midnight.