Fire danger: Very high
Lab isn't participating in Bring Your Daughter to Work Day
Today is National Bring Your Daughter to Work Day ... but not at the Laboratory. In recent years, the Laboratory has observed a Bring Your Children to Work Day on a date that varied from the national observance. However, no announcement has been made regarding the Lab's participation in such an event this year. Watch the Newsbulletin for more information as it becomes available.
Albuquerque Sandia Preparatory School teacher Neil McBeth, right, shares a laugh with students Joan Goldsworthy, left, Carli McGee, Heather Wood and teacher Jori Bowen, during the awards ceremony at the 10th New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge Wednesday in the Physics Auditorium. The Sandia Prep team took the prize in this year's challenge for their project, "Pattern Analysis of High Throughput Flow Cytometry Data." A team from Albuquerque Academy took second place. More information about the challenge can be found at http://www.challenge.nm.org online. Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez
Sandia Preparatory School team takes top prize in Supercomputing Challenge
A computer analysis of sorted cell data gave a computer team from Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque the top prize Wednesday in the 10th annual New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge at the Laboratory.
The goal of the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge is to increase knowledge of science and computing, expose students and teachers to computers and applied mathematics, and instill enthusiasm for science in high school students, their families and communities. Any New Mexico high school student in grades 9-12 can enter the challenge.
The New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge is unique because it offers supercomputer access to students at every level of expertise and stresses student activity over work by teachers and coaches, said David Kratzer of Customer Service (CIC-6).
The student team of Carli McGee, Heather Wood and Joan Goldsworthy each took home a $1,000 savings bond for their supercomputer program "Pattern Analysis of High Throughput Flow Cytometry Data." Their teachers, Jori Bowen and Neil McBeth, received a computer loaded with software for their classroom.
A trio of computer aces from Albuquerque's Academy High School received second place for their project, "Lucifer's Hammer." The team includes Derek Mehlhorn, Adrienne Upah and William Pearl. They each received $500 savings bonds and a computer loaded with software for teacher Jim Mim's classroom. The Academy team also received the Microsoft Best Use of Powerpoint Award.
The Amy Boulanger Memorial scholarship, good for $2,400 a year for four years at any four-year New Mexico college or university, was awarded to Tony Easton of Silver City High.
Nearly 350 students competed in the challenge and about 130 students were at Los Alamos to take part in Wednesday's awards ceremony. Fifty teams, including 11 finalist teams, heard talks from researchers at the Laboratory and toured the supercomputer facility. Students from 41 schools spent the last year researching scientific problems and writing programs to solve them on supercomputers at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.
Several participants can pursue their computing careers at New Mexico universities with scholarships awarded on Wednesday. About $36,000 in scholarships were awarded.
Honorable mention awards were
given to the Roswell Goddard High School team of Adrian Veseth-Nelson,
Dennis Wentworth, Lindy Greer, Sean Wentworth, and Robert Willhelm
for their project, "Organic Superconductors Using Rotating
Electrodes"; to the Lovington High School team of Nick and
Steve Tobkin, Dustin Graham, Beth Meyers and Jeremiah Giese for
their project titled "What Causes Spin to Reverse Itself?";
to the Las Cruces Mayfield High School team of Stephen Miller
and Aaron Soto for their project,"Tales from the CRYPTography";
and to Nina Weisse-Bernstein of Santa Fe High School for her project,"The
Verification for the Postulates, Theorems and Axioms of Boolean
Switching Algebra."
Other students who went home with awards from the 10th New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge included:
Los Alamos National Laboratory Environmental Modeling Award: Albuquerque Academy -- Tom Widland, Ryan Davies, Ryan Duryea, Alex Feuchter and Kevin Oishi. The team received medallions and a trophy for a project that simulated a pond.
Technet Teamwork Award: Las Cruces Mayfield High School -- Stephen Miller and Aaron Soto. They received a plaque.
Tribune Lighthouse Award: Farmington High School -- Lori Nguyen, Jason Reeves, Bryan Horvat, Jerrie Fairbanks and their teacher Don McDowell. They received a trophy for the best overall presentation of their project about the formation of a galaxy. The team also received the KRQE Multi-Media Award for the best graphics suitable for television.
Search and Browse Award from the Council for Higher Education Computing Services Inc.: Bosque Preparatory School -- Samuel Ashmore, Nicole Mumma and Kenny Sutherland, for their project dealing with bear migration into populated areas. This team also received the HTML Award for having the best version of a final report suitable for the Internet.
Creativity and Innovation Award from Sandia National Laboratories was awarded to Nina Weisse-Bernstein of Santa Fe High School.
Many of the final reports of teams finishing the Challenge can be viewed on the Web at http://www.challenge.nm.org.
The Supercomputing Challenge was conceived in 1990 by former Lab Director Sig Hecker and Tom Thornhill, president of New Mexico Technet Inc., a nonprofit company that in 1985 set up a computer network to link the state's national laboratories, universities, state government and some private companies. U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and John Rollwagen, then chairman and chief executive officer of Cray Research Inc., added their support.
The Supercomputing Challenge is sponsored by the Laboratory and New Mexico Technet Inc. Benefactors include CISCO Systems Inc., DP Signal, Intel Corp. Kinko's and Microsoft Corp.
Patrons include Sandia National Laboratories; University of New Mexico; New Mexico State University; New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology; Albuquerque Tribune; SGI; Council for High Education Computing Services, or CHECS Inc.; Eastern New Mexico University; New Mexico Highlands University; New Mexico Department of Education; San Juan College; Santa Fe Community College; Belew's Office Supply; Dean Gianopoulus Design; and Miller Bonded.
--Steve Sandoval
Future of Asians in America subject of
colloquium
Nelson Dong, a Minneapolis attorney, speaks to a Laboratory audience about the history and future of Asians in America Tuesday at a Director's Colloquium. Dong also is a secretary and general counsel for the "Committee of 100," a not-for-profit organization that works to better United States-China relations and the civil rights of Chinese Americans. Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez
At 14 years old, Nelson Dong's father was being groomed to become a doctor. Later, when young Nelson was growing up, eventually to attend Stanford and Yale universities, his father wanted him to go into medicine.
In Asian cultures, science and technology is revered, so Dong's father was a little disappointed when Dong said he was dropping his pursuit of medicine to become a lawyer.
Today, Dong is an attorney with the Dorsey and White Law Firm in Minneapolis. He also is a secretary and general counsel for the "Committee of 100," a not-for-profit organization that works to better United States-China relations and the civil rights of Chinese Americans.
Dong spoke on "The History and Future of Asians in America" at a Director's Colloquium Tuesday in the Physics Building Auditorium. The Director's Colloquium was sponsored by the Diversity (DV) Office and the Asian American Diversity Working Group. It also was shown on LABNET.
"I've always loved science and technology, in part because my father loved it so much," said Dong. Dong has written and lectured on intellectual property law, U.S. export control law, technology-related business transactions between the U.S. and Asian or European countries, university-based technology transfer and international strategic alliances.
Dong said the Wen Ho Lee case, in which a former Lab employee has been charged with mishandling classified information, has sent "shockwaves" in the Asian American community. "The shockwave that was sent out really had very profound implications for literally hundreds of thousands of Chinese American families around the country," said Dong.
The broader impact of the case, Dong said, is its effect to the national labs, including Los Alamos. He noted the absence of Chinese Americans among the finalists for Oppenheimer Fellowships.
Dong used viewgraphs to illustrate that fully half of all the science and technology doctoral degrees conferred from U.S. universities in recent years are going to East Asian students, while one in five doctoral degrees in science and technology are being earned by persons of Asian descent, either Asian Americans or immigrants.
He used another viewgraph that illustrated the fastest growing occupations in the United States; the three largest are in engineering and science and technology fields. It's clear, Dong noted, that American students alone can't meet the projected demand in these areas. "We cannot possibly keep up with the demand with just indigenous Americans," he said.
What does this mean for the United States and its relationship with China and other Asian countries? Dong noted that the United States is still the world's pre-eminent power, both economically and militarily. It also has the world's largest nuclear weapons program.
The People's Liberation Army, China's military, on the other hand, has slimmed down in recent decades and is still much larger than the U.S. military. Yet Dong foresees China becoming Asia's largest economy, surpassing Japan, in the next 20 to 30 years. And many countries view China as the world's largest market, including the arms industry that sees China as ripe for purchasing military equipment.
"[China is] in an acquiring mood these days ... they are trying to level the playing field," said Dong. The catch-22 is China's increased economic prosperity will allow it to continue modernizing its military, Dong said. And while the United States wants China to modernize its market economy, it is concerned about advances in China's military. The United States, he said, doesn't want another Cold War.
As China's economy continues to grow, more job opportunities will be available for Chinese Americans in industry and academia, both in the United States and across the Pacific. However, in the defense sector, there will continue to be suspicions about Chinese Americans: questions about loyalty. "It is very, very unfortunate," said Dong.
As a private citizen, Dong said he doesn't believe the government pronouncements about racial profiling not being tolerated. Chinese American scientists in this climate need to be smart and not do something that might be seen as provocative or that would further feed the seeds of suspicion.
Individuals and companies also must remain vigilant to ensure that racial profiling isn't tolerated. "Any such incidents should be isolated and addressed," said Dong.
Chinese Americans also should continue to be well-educated so that they can be well-represented and involved in the companies where they work.
And companies should increase outreach efforts to everyone, irrespective of ethnicity. "Find ways to make every single individual in your organization count," said Dong. "You have a lot of wounds to heal here because of what has occurred in the last year."
While at Los Alamos, Dong met with members of the Asian American Diversity Working Group, Laboratory Human Resources (HR) Director Helga Christopherson, DV Director Lisa Gutierrez, Lab Ombuds Bruce MacAllister and Janet Young, chief of staff to Lab Director John Browne.
--Steve Sandoval
PSST! Got something to publish?
The Nonproliferation and International Security Division's International Technology program is encouraging Laboratory researchers to consider publishing their government-funded work in a closely held but well-respected journal, the Journal of Intelligence Community Research and Development.
The journal can only be accessed from within the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in the Main Administration Building. The classified publication is published on the intelligence community's computer network, Intelink, by the Central Intelligence Agency's Deputy Director for Science and Technology.
"Anything that's government funded, of interest to the intelligence community, and classified but not restricted data, could be submitted to this journal for review," said Tony Burris, NIS-IT program manager. "This is a well-read publication within the intelligence world, with qualified reviewers including members of the JASON panel: I'd like to see more Laboratory submissions here, as this is a worthwhile publication and we have research in a number of areas that could be good matches."
To examine the journal or learn the requirements for submissions, call Jackie Salazar, 5-5312, who will arrange computer access from within the SCIF.
--Nancy Ambrosiano
IMAGE student conference slated for Friday
Laboratory employees and subcontract personnel will talk about their work and how they got in to their field of work at the IMAGE "Options After High School" student conference Friday in Pojoaque.
IMAGE is a not-for-profit national organization that advocates education, job equality and opportunity for Hispanics. IMAGE de Los Alamos is a Laboratory-sanctioned organization.
Dolores Salazar of Information and Records Management (CIC-10) and president of IMAGE de Los Alamos, said the conference in the Cities of Gold Hotel focuses on providing Northern New Mexico students who don't plan to pursue college with career options after they graduate from high school.
Students from Española Valley High, West Las Vegas, Mesa Vista, Los Alamos and St. Michael's high schools are participating in the conference.
"We all want our kids to go to college and further their education, but in reality not all of them can go to college and get that education because certain circumstances in their lives prevent them from doing so," said Salazar.
"We want students to know that there are other respected careers that pay well, but even those careers might take some preparation and require licensing or certifications," she said.
Joe Salgado, the Lab's deputy director for business administration and outreach, and Salazar will make opening comments before panel discussions begin about 9:10 a.m. Panelists include radiological technicians and industrial hygienists from the Lab, members of the protective force of Protection Technology Los Alamos, sheet metal and ironworkers, painters, carpenters, plumbers, cement masons, electricians and other laborers from Johnson Controls Northern New Mexico, and employees representing New Mexico state government, Northern New Mexico Community College, University of New Mexico, Los Alamos and the New Mexico National Guard.
Panelists will talk about why they chose to pursue their career choice, what kind of training was required, salary expectations, where students can expect to find jobs in these fields and what they need to do to preprare for careers in these areas.
For more information, contact Salazar at 7-7076 or dolores@lanl.gov by e-mail.
--Steve Sandoval
Work continues on U.S. 84-285 near Pojoaque
The contractor rebuilding a section of U.S. 84-285 near Pojoaque is shifting southbound motor vehicle traffic onto two new lanes this week, a spokesman for the state Highway and Transportation Department said.
Workers on the $8.8 million project on about 2 miles of U.S. 84-285 will reroute southbound motorists onto two new lanes to allow the contractor to begin building a new southbound frontage road and some turning lanes, explained Don Schanning of Proof Positive, an Albuquerque public relations company on contract to the state Highway and Transportation Department.
Motorists accessing U.S. 84-285 from NM 502 should be alert for detour signs and traffic barriers as they come off the ramp that connects the two roads, Schanning said.
Laboratory employees and subcontract personnel from Santa Fe and points south travel through the construction area to get to and from work.
A.S. Horner Construction Co. is the general contractor for the project to widen U.S. 84-285 through Pojoaque, rebuild the existing east frontage road and build a new west frontage road along 1.7 miles of U.S. 84-285. When completed, this portion of U.S. 84-285 also will have a new left turn lane in both directions, said Schanning.
The construction is designed to improve safety through this stretch of the highway by slowing traffic down and eliminating median crossings, Schanning said.
The posted speed limit through the construction area is 40 miles per hour. The contractor has signs and other traffic control devices in place to alert motorists to the work.
In addition, Schanning said Gutierrez Street remains closed periodically at U.S. 84-285, during off-peak hours. Motorists should use Viarrial Street or the east frontage road to access Gutierrez Street.
Schanning said A. S. Horner is working from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. No work takes place during the peak morning and afternoon traffic hours.
The project is scheduled to be completed this fall, weather permitting, said Schanning.
Some 1,900 Laboratory employees and subcontract personnel live in Santa Fe while another 500 employees live in Sandoval and Bernalillo counties. Many of these employees travel U.S. 84-285 daily to get to work.
The Lab allows managers to use flex-time scheduling, but employees should plan on delays and adjust their schedules accordingly.
Employees and subcontract personnel interested in joining a car or van pool can call 988-7433, or 1-888-866-6438, or go to the Laboratory's "Commuter's Corner" Web page at http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/pa/News/rideshare.html.
For more information, write to Schanning at dschanning@aol.com by e-mail, or send a fax to (505) 246-9417.
--Steve Sandoval
Service Friday for Ann Pendergrass
Laboratory employee Ann Pendergrass died April 24 in Los Alamos. She worked in Facility Risk Management (ESH-3) at the time of her death. Pendergrass received a bachelor's degree in biology from Rice University and in 1969, received a doctorate in vegetable crops physiology from Cornell University. Pendergrass came to work with the Lab in 1989 with the former Health Safety Environment (HSE) Division as a staff member.
A service is scheduled for Friday beginning at 5:30 p.m. in Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos.
Russian scientific leaders tour Lab's Trident laser
Dennis Paisley of Plasma Physics (P-24) shows a single crystal silicon sample to several Russian scientific leaders at the Laboratory's Trident laser. Pictured are, from left, Academician V. P. Shorin, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences; I.P. Raizer of the Institute for Mechanical Problems and the Russian Academy of Sciences, front; V.A. Issakov, scientific secretary for the Lebedev Physics Institute, rear; A.A. Ionin, head of the Gas Lasers Laboratory at the Lebedev Physics Institute; Paisley; and Academician O.N. Krokhin, director of the Lebedev Physics Institute. The visitors learned about a Trident experiment being conducted by Andrew Forsman and Damian Swift, both of P-24, that uses transient X-ray diffraction and line-VISAR to study laser-shocked single-crystal silicon, and viewed target chamber and optical diagnostics. They also toured the Superconducting Technology Center and the Bradbury Science Museum. The Russians were in Santa Fe to attend the annual High-Power Laser Ablation Conference there. Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez
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