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HSF students hear tips on getting foot in the door Undergraduate and graduate students ready to enter the workforce should take advantage of networks they establish to help land that job they've been looking for. Meeting Lab employees, who like them, attended college on a Hispanic Scholarship Fund scholarship could help open some doors at Los Alamos, students were told on Friday. Four Laboratory employees talked to nearly two dozen New Mexico undergraduate students and doctoral candidates from colleges around New Mexico and West Texas during the first Hispanic Scholarship Fund career exploration day in the Otowi Building side rooms. The Education Program Office (STB-EPO) and the Diversity Office (DVO) sponsored the daylong event, which included presentations about the Laboratory's student programs, including mentoring and internship opportunities, "hot jobs" for which the Lab is looking for future employees, and a talk by Terry Hawkins, Nonproliferation and International Security (NIS) Division director about "gee whiz science research and development in NIS." Students capped the day with breakout discussions and a windshield tour of the Laboratory. The Lab employee panelists encouraged the students to seek out job opportunities through networking and being persistent. Melinda Gutierrez of Program Integration (S-2) said she landed a job at Los Alamos after constantly telephoning a staff member to inquire about a job opening. She got the job. "That made the difference," said Gutierrez. The person who hired Gutierrez said one of the reasons she got the job was her persistence. "I knew you were interested; you were a go-getter," she said. Added Erika Maria Sanchez of Defense (BUS-2), "Now you've met people that are actually working here . . . send us your résumé. Let us help you. "I was fortunate because I started [at Los Alamos] as a high school coop student. I was able to reach out to people who could help me here," Sanchez continued. "Use whoever you can to help you out." Said Aaron Velasco of Geophysics (EES-3): "It is the network of people that will determine your career here." He also told students not to be afraid to ask questions and to hone their communications skills, both written and verbal. And Velasco encouraged students to attend conferences and meetings. "Make your face known so people know you're coming down the pike," he said. Panel members also talked about the various educational opportunities the Lab offers its workforce. Sanchez told students that most Lab managers are flexible in allowing students to attend classes while working around work schedules. "There are incredible educational opportunities here," said Gutierrez. The San Francisco-based Hispanic Scholarship Fund was created in 1975 to advance and promote college opportunities for Hispanic Americans across the United States and Puerto Rico. The organization provides scholarships to students; some 240 undergraduates majoring in science are attending New Mexico colleges this year through Hispanic Scholarship Fund scholarships. --Steve Sandoval TSA has new name Decision Applications (D) Division is the new name of the Laboratory organization formerly known as the Technology and Safety Assessment (TSA) Division. The name change was effective Dec. 13, 2000. Decision Applications Division director Darrell Morgeson said of the name change: "For a division as diverse as ours, it is difficult to capture the intrinsic nature of our work with a single name. I believe Decision Applications best captures the essence of the division as a whole. "Our work areas are very diverse. We provide decision support or decision information for projects in all three directorates," he continued. "In addition, our nuclear reactor expertise and large-scale simulations of human-dominated systems (e.g. TRANSIMS) are lead technology areas for the Laboratory." There are about 250 employees in D Division and its annual budget is about $55 million. New group office names in D Division are as follows: "Our continuing goal is to synthesize critical information, objectively and critically, through the integration of human expertise and intuition, computational methods, and mathematical and analytical techniques," said Morgeson, adding that military applications, advanced nuclear technology and national infrastructure assurance are key areas have been targeted for future D Division emphasis. --Nancy Ambrosiano Science Days is on Feb. 13 Laboratory personnel are encouraged to attend the first Science Day Feb. 13 in the Jemez and Cochiti rooms of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Study Center. Science Day includes presentations by Lab researchers, poster sessions and tours of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center and the National Magnetic Field Laboratory. Two vans will provide transportation for employees throughout the day. Vans will depart from the Technical Area 55 access center and LANSCE at TA-53 every half hour beginning at 8:30 a.m. Vans will return from the Study Center every half hour from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. No reservations are required. For more information, go to the Science Day Web site or see the Jan. 30 Daily Newsbulletin. Personal Best available online The February edition of Personal Best, the health and wellness newsletter is now available online. In the February issue, learn the power of music therapy to improve mood and ease pain, test your knowledge of common over-the-counter drugs, discover how to make work days "well" days and find out the difference between heart attacks in men and women. This issue also features information on tooth care for babies, the ear infection dilemma, five ways to focus on fiber and new guidelines for migraine relief. There's also a healthy recipe for black-eyed peas and pasta soup. Personal Best is provided for Lab personnel by the Positive
Health Directions program, part of Occupational Medicine (ESH-2)
and Compensation and Benefits (HR-1). The hardcopy Body Bulletin,
Safety Check and the online Personal Best are published by Scott
Publishing in Edmonds, Wash. They replace the Wellstreet Journal
formerly published by ESH-2, and the Positive Health Directions
hardcopy newsletter. Snow Scenes Photo: The recent string of snowstorms passing through New Mexico have left Ashley Pond downtown wrapped in a blanket of white. The Jemez Mountains are in the background shown looking west. Inset photo, Ashley Pond's resident ducks gather near the edge of the pond. A smaller circular area around the fountain of the pond hasn't frozen. Photos by LeRoy N. Sanchez
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