Please join me in welcoming Kurt Steinhaus to the LANL Community Programs Office!

Kurt was raised right here in northern New Mexico and brings some very impressive credentials to his new position as our Office Director (see the article below). Many of you may already have worked with Kurt and know how strong an advocate he's been for education in New Mexico. We're looking forward to getting him out and around the region to meet you and to continue to partner with you to ensure the Laboratory remains your good corporate neighbor.

Steinhaus holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Oregon, a master's degree in music from Eastern New Mexico University, and a doctorate in education leadership and organizational learning from the University of New Mexico.

Students will build their own robots from kits with guidance from volunteers. They will learn basic soldering skills as they attach components to a printed circuit board and can even keep the robots they build!

The program provides a combination of money, mentoring, marketing, and technology tools that women entrepreneurs need to help grow their businesses from "micro to millions."

The event will take place in Albuquerque and provides an opportunity to network with other New Mexico women business owners. Prices for the event range from $55 for early bird registration to $75 for on-site registration.

The Tech Center is going to be the school district's new home for its technology department and will feature a computer lab with 10 Gig bandwidth. The computers at the Tech Center were donated by IBM as part of their Community Development Plan in conjunction with their contract with LANL.

The center will give students access to high-speed computing and will also function as a location for the Northern Education Technology Services (NETS) program. NETS allows teachers and students to take courses for college credit.

The youth named their initiative JUNTOS, Spanish for "together" and an acronym for Joining & Understanding Now, Teens Overcome Separation. To date, more than 70 students from Espanola Valley High School and Los Alamos High School have participated in JUNTOS activities and meetings. Recent attendees include students from McCurdy and Pojoaque High Schools.

The program started almost one year ago when several adult leaders shared an idea to promote a joint youth leadership program linking the Espanola Valley and Los Alamos. These adults agreed to support youth-led activities, including meetings at the high schools, a workshop on racism, a team-building workshop, and an upcoming youth summit to be held at Northern New Mexico College's El Rito campus on May 28- 29.

For more information contact Lori Heimdahl Gibson at lorihg@swcp.com or 505-662-3159.

The judges will be asked to read student proposals submitted for the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge and listen to the school teams present their projects. The commitment will be to review up to six proposals between April 11 and April 21, go to the Study Center at 7:45 a.m. on April 21, evaluate half-hour presentations, and caucus with other judges to determine the winners of the competition.

It is anticipated that approximately 40 Challenge teams and 40 GUTS (Growing Up Thinking Scientifically) members will be present.