The third annual Los Alamos National Laboratory and Northern New Mexico Night at Isotopes Ballpark will be held on Sunday, August 28 at 6 p.m. That evening also happens to be fan appreciation night! Festivities include more than 5,000 giveaways and an appearance by Bird-Zerk, a visiting mascot.

Northern New Mexico residents will be able to purchase discounted tickets online through TicketMaster until game day or at the Otowi Building cafeteria (at the Laboratory) from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., on Aug. 9 ($5 reserved-level tickets will be sold at this location).

It looks to be a fun event so, please join us!

With classes nearly in session, the timing couldn't better! New Mexico shoppers will get a break on state and local taxes on August 5-7. The tax break is a result of the state's first "Back to School" gross receipts tax holiday.

Nontaxable items include: school supplies such as pens and paper, clothing and footwear, computers and assorted computer equipment. A complete list of nontaxable items and further details can be found on the State's website.

Susan Herrera, left, executive director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, signed a document formalizing an agreement creating a new master's degree program in the teaching of math and science, as Karin Wiburg of New Mexico State University looks on. Wiburg is NMSU's associate dean for research.

The signing ceremony Monday in Espaņola also was attended by representatives of the Laboratory and the University of California. The degree program is designed exclusively for teachers in the Northern New Mexico Math and Science Academy.

Presented by Greenwood Consulting Group, the purpose of the SBIR/STTR workshop is to help small companies make a successful transition from Phase 1 projects to Phase 2 projects, where there is more time and money to conduct extensive research and take the project an important step closer to commercialization.

The workshop begins with a brief discussion of the major differences between Phase 1 and Phase 2. It progresses to a discussion of how Phase 2 proposals and projects vary dramatically among the various SBIR/STTR agencies.

Attendees who are interested in some individual assistance with their SBIR/STTR projects are encouraged to sign up for one-on-one meetings with the workshop presenters on August 31st. For more information or to sign up for a one-on-one appointment, contact Shandra Clow, LANL Tech Transfer Division, at clow@lanl.gov.

Los Alamos County was recently named the Best Place to Live, according to an American City Business Journals survey. Los Alamos was ranked the best for quality of life in non-metropolitan counties across the country.

The study was based on quality of life issues ranging from the stability of a county's population to the median household income in the county.

New Mexico Information Technology & Software Association (NMITSA) is proud to announce the first annual New Mexico IT Excellence Awards, to be held October 14th at the Albuquerque Sheraton Old Town. The leaders of New Mexico's information technology community will join for a gala evening to recognize and celebrate excellence and technical achievement in the New Mexico IT industry.

IT Excellence Awards Call for Entries: The New Mexico IT Excellence Awards competition is open to all companies, agencies, or individuals operating in New Mexico that have created an information technology solution over the past year, or supported the industry. A total of ten recognition awards will be presented. The awards are divided into two categories: IT Solution Awards and IT Achievement Awards.