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Thursday, July 10, 1997
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Reconnaissance satellites focus of Hans Mark talk
NMED
inspectors visit Lab for RCRA compliance inspection
Memorial
service tomorrow for Clayton Olsen
DOE
evaluation team to gather information for quality awards program
IA
Project encourages use of Desktop Area/Current Issues Web site
HR-1
sponsors disability workshop for expectant mothers
Reconnaissance satellites focus of Hans Mark talk
Hans Mark of the University of Texas at Austin will speak on "Reconnaissance Satellites" Tuesday at 1:10 p.m. in the Physics Building Auditorium.
The talk, which is open to the public, will cover the important role reconnaissance satellites played in arms control, technical-intelligence gathering, support of operational forces, economics, disaster relief and certain environmental problems.
A former undersecretary and secretary of the Air Force, Mark served as deputy administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and director of the NASA-Ames Research Center. He currently holds the John J. McKetta centennial energy chair in engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.
A native of Germany, Mark came to the United States in 1940 with his mother and father, renowned chemist Herman Mark; he became a citizen in 1945. Mark has a doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
NMED inspectors visit Lab for RCRA compliance inspection
A team of inspectors from the New Mexico Environment Department arrived at the Laboratory Tuesday morning to conduct its annual Resource Conservation and Recovery Act inspection. The inspection is expected to last at least two weeks.
The NMED team will visit all Lab sites that manage hazardous waste. Hazardous and Solid Waste (ESH-19) recently finished its nearly yearlong RCRA compliance inspection of the Lab. Additional information about ESH-19's inspection and what NMED may do while at the Lab is available in the July 7 Newsbulletin. Those who wish to know about ESH-19's findings for their areas should call 7-6259.
Memorial service tomorrow for Clayton Olsen
A memorial service for Laboratory retiree Clayton Olsen is at 10 a.m. Friday in the United Church of Los Alamos.
Olsen, 76, died July 2, at home in Los Alamos.
A U.S. Army veteran, Olsen came to the Lab in 1955 to work in the former Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Division, where he conducted research on the physical properties of uranium and plutonium and investigated the magnetic and superconducting properties and the crystal structure of intermetallic compounds of the actinides.
He retired from the Lab in 1990.
Olsen earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Trinity College in 1942, a doctorate in physical chemistry from Ohio State University in 1955, and a master's degree in geology from University of New Mexico in 1982.
Survivors include his wife, Julia; two sons, Hugh of Santa Cruz, Calif., and David of Fremont, Calif.; a daughter, Joyce Custer of Albuquerque; sisters, Esther Viets of Windsor, Conn., and Mary Jane Johnston of Columbia, Conn.; one grandchild and two step-grandchildren; and other relatives.
DOE evaluation team to visit Lab to gather information for quality awards program
A Department of Energy evaluation team will be at the Laboratory July 14 through 17 to validate information regarding the Los Alamos application for the 1997 DOE Quality Awards Program.
The program is in its third year and is based on the Malcolm Baldrige criteria, which Los Alamos uses to perform self-assessments. Applicants are judged in seven categories: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resources development and management, process management and business results. This year, 22 DOE sites are participating and will receive site visits.
For this year's program, DOE has trained and commissioned 20 three-member site visit teams; seven Laboratory employees are serving as examiners on those teams. The team evaluating Los Alamos is headed by Paula Weir of DOE's Energy Information Administration. Other team members are Nancy Crosby of DOE's Richland Office and Rod Elmore of Allied Signal, Inc.
In addition to verifying and clarifying information contained in the Los Alamos application, which can be found at the Quality and Planning (QP) Program Office LANL Applications for DOE Quality Awards Web site, the team also may want to talk informally with Laboratory employees to gain their impressions of Laboratory operations.
On July 17, the team will provide an overview of its findings and indicate what it feels are the Laboratory's strengths and areas for improvement. The team's formal report will go to a panel of judges, who will determine actual awards. Award winners will be announced in October.
IA Project encourages employees to make use of Desktop Area/Current Issues Web site
Keeping up with the latest developments in computer technology is a daunting task, even for the Information Architecture Project,whose job it is to monitor such developments and guide the Lab through it all. Employees therefore should periodically check out the Online Discussion Forum, located at IA's Desktop Area/Current Issues Web site. The forum service allows employees to submit questions, comments or suggestions regarding the several computing platforms available at the Lab.
For example, one issue currently being discussed by IA is Office 97, a suite of multiple programs that became available for IBM computers and IBM clones on March 11 (a Macintosh version currently is not available). Such programs include Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Access.
The IA Project conducted an online survey in April to see how users liked or disliked the software and whether they felt Office 97 should become a Lab standard. The survey generated 67 responses representing 1,635 users. Links to the survey results, the reasons why the IA Project decided not to make Office 97 a standard and additional information on what employees should consider before purchasing the software are on the Desktop Area/Current Issues Web site. A complete list of known Office 97 problems also is available for review online.
For more information about Office 97 or other desktop standards, write to ia-deskteam@lanl.gov by electronic mail. For information about other IA subjects, write to ia@lanl.gov by electronic mail.
HR-1 sponsors disability workshop for expectant mothers
Compensation and Benefits (HR-1) is sponsoring a disability workshop for expectant mothers from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Otowi Building.
Annabelle Rivera of Compensation and Benefits (HR-1), and Anne Brown and Deanne Phillips of Occupational Medicine (ESH-2) will conduct the workshop for University of California Laboratory employees.
The Benefits Office will sponsor similar workshops every other month, Rivera said.
The workshop is in Room K220 on the second floor of the Otowi Building and no registration is required.
Rivera said the workshop will cover the Lab's policy on short-term disability, the federal Family Medical Leave Act, parental leave, and safety to the unborn child and expectant mother.
Rivera will talk about short-term disability. Brown will do the safety portion of the presentation, and Phillips will present the Family and Medical Leave Act and parental-leave portion of the workshop.
For more information, call the Benefits Office at 7-1806 or write to benefits@lanl.gov by electronic mail. A sign language interpreter can be present at the workshop by calling the Benefits Office three business days in advance to make arrangements.
--Steve Sandoval
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