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 Every autumn the Laboratory
kicks off its annual giving campaign to support the work of education and
non-profit organizations in northern New Mexico, nationally, and even globally.
Thanks to the generous contributions of Laboratory employees and a
dollar-for-dollar match from Los Alamos National Security (LANS), we believe
we're in reach of our goal this year to raise $2 million dollars. Those funds
will benefit several thousand people through our partnerships with United Way
and the many other service organizations that fill a large variety of
social-service and health-related needs.
The Lab supports our
employees in giving. We recognize that giving comes in many forms such as time,
talent, hard work, and money. And that brings to mind three innovative LANS
initiatives. First, LANS partnered with the LANL Foundation to contribute
$500,000 to help establish the Senator Pete Domenici Endowed Scholarship Fund
honoring the Senator for his immense contributions to LANL and northern New
Mexico communities. Second, the recent "A Million Reasons to Give" volunteer
event recognized our employee and retiree volunteers who serve in our
communities. Based upon over 83,000 logged volunteer service hours, more than
$53,000 in awards were donated to local nonprofits on their behalf. And third,
LANS just announced a community grants program to support LANL's most important
asset--our employees, working on community endeavors. Grants will range from
$1,000 to $25,000 and will be awarded this October.
Please see the articles in
this month's Connections for information about other exciting investments in
northern New Mexico.
Kurt A.
Steinhaus
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| Connections survey
coming |
In an effort to improve
this publication, we will soon send out a brief electronic survey to get your
input on how we can improve Connections. We're looking for your feedback
on what you like to read, which articles you enjoy, as well as the sorts of
stories you would like to see in future issues. The survey is brief, but
important, so we would really appreciate it if you take a couple of minutes to
fill it out. We will report the results once they are compiled, so stay
tuned.
For more information,
please contact the Community
Programs Office at 665-4400.
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| New education web pages
online |
The Community Programs
Office (CPO) recently published new Education
Programs & Partnerships web pages to make it easier for educators and
others to find valuable resources. The pages allow visitors to glance at a list
of all the Lab's education initiatives, view the Lab's institutional agreements
partners, link to the State of New Mexico's math and science site, as well as
access the Lab's Community Service Time policy. A list of CPO contacts allows
users to get assistance if they can't find what they need directly from the
pages.
For more information,
please contact the Community Programs Office at 665-4400.
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| Recognizing volunteers, and
more |
In a milestone event last
month, the Laboratory kicked off its employee giving campaign, held a volunteer
fair, recognized employees and retirees for their volunteering, and announced a
new community grant process. More than 500 people attended the event, and more
than 60 nonprofits had an opportunity to showcase their work and volunteer
opportunities to Lab employees and retirees. Those who logged their hours with
VolunteerMatch
had an opportunity for recognition, and those who logged 100 hours or more last
year were able to direct additional funding toward one or more organizations
where they spent their time. There is also a new community grant process so
nonprofits that benefit from Lab and retiree volunteerism can apply to receive
grants of between $1,000 to $25,000. For more information on the community grant
procedures, click here.
For more information,
please contact the Community Programs Office at 665-4400.
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| Employee Giving Campaign
begins |
Last year's campaign raised
a record-breaking total of $1.7 million and helped numerous organizations in New
Mexico and elsewhere.
For more information,
please contact Debbi Wersonick at 667-7870.
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| Lab partners with Air Force
Academy |
As part of the Lab's
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) outreach, Lab employees joined
with members of the U.S. Air Force to work with high-school students at Walatowa
High Charter School at Jemez Pueblo. During the workshop students had an
opportunity to build bridges, with one model sustaining a weight of 80 pounds.
In other activities, students worked with optical sensors, created water
filters, used computer programs to manipulate virtual objects, and watched a
chemistry "magic" show. The workshop is intended to increase awareness and
interest in science and its associated careers as well as learn about how
science is applicable to Air Force opportunities.
For more information,
contact LANL's Tribal Relations Team at 667-3194 or
888-691-6057.
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| School supplies find a
home |
Almost 1,500 school supply
items were delivered to schools throughout northern New Mexico to students who
will now have a brighter start to their school year through the generous
contributions of the Lab's employees.
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| Lab students going
green |
Winners of the 2008 Student
Sustainability Challenge were announced last month with LANL students Jeannette
Figg of Computer, Computational, & Statistical Sciences and Crystal Ray of
Ecology and Air Quality winning the top prizes. The competition is designed to
engage Lab students in helping LANL improve its environmental performance.
Figg's winning "Greenest Idea" was to paint all the Lab's building's roofs white
to reflect light and heat and thereby reduce costs and the environmental impacts
of air conditioning. Ray's "Green Media" animated submission includes the words
"Go Green", "Environment", "Safety", and "Security" with sky, mountains, and
trees moving in the background and is expected to be incorporated in several
Laboratory Environmental Protections Web sites.
For more information,
contact the Risk Reduction Office at 667-4348.
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| Lab teams for solar energy
project |
The Lab's Technology
Transfer Division, as part of the Northern New Mexico Connect Link partnership,
is helping Kit Carson Electric Cooperative build its technical and business case
for seamless solar energy distributions to Taos and El Rito. The project
represents an opportunity for LANL, along with Sandia National Laboratories and
other private sector businesses, to foster economic development through
enterprise networking while generating green power for New Mexico. It is hoped
that the work will become a model for other electric co-ops. The project team is
already helping Springer Electric Co-op located near Springer in Colfax
County.
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| Science on Wheels about to
hit the road |
The LANL Science on Wheels
van education program is getting ready for its annual launch, and information
packets were sent to schools in early August. The Science on Wheels program will
run from mid-September through April for the 2008/9 school year. The van travels
to schools in northern New Mexico located within a 90-minute drive from Los
Alamos, including Santa Fe, Pojoaque, Espa�ola, Taos, Chama, Las Vegas, Cochiti,
and Jemez. Science on Wheels' hands-on science programs include topics such as
"Bones," "Circuit Connections," "Get Energized," "Galaxy to Go," and a new one
this year--"Forensics."
For more Information about
Science on Wheels or other Bradbury Science Museum programs or for school
registration information, please visit the Museum's web
site or call 505- 606-1492. All of the programs are free of
charge.
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| KUDOS!
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- Kudos to all the Laboratory, contractor and retiree volunteers who
graciously volunteer their time to local organizations.
- Kudos to the University
of New Mexico, that had a number of its programs ranked among the top 10 as
part of Hispanic Business Inc. magazine review of top graduate schools for
Hispanics. <>
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| Community Calendar
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Sept. 4-7:
Fiestas de Santa Fe, Santa Fe
Sept. 5- 21: NM State Fair,
Albuquerque
Sept. 10: Science Cafe:
"Investigation 101", Santa Fe
Sept.
20: Espanola Valley Spirit Day, Espanola
Sept.
23: Gross Receipts Tax Seminar, Espanola
Oct. 4: Nambe Pueblo
Feast Day, Nambe
Oct. 18-22: NM Environmental Health
Conference, Albuquerque
Oct. 22-23: Northern NM
Business Expo, Pojoaque
Oct. 31: Bradbury Museum's High Tech
Halloween, Los Alamos
Nov. 8-9: NM
Mineral Symposium, Socorro
Nov. 12: Tesuque
Pueblo Feast Day, Tesuque
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