April 20, 2001 Search the Currents Archive
 

First Automated Floats for Monitoring Ocean Carbon
Launched in North Pacific

Berkeley Lab on Backroads with Doug McConnell


First Automated Floats for Monitoring Ocean Carbon Launched in North Pacific

By Paul Preuss

The nation's first oceanic "robotic carbon observers" - two specially instrumented SOLO floats designed to descend to kilometer depths and collect information on the role of plankton and other living things in the ocean's carbon cycle - were launched in the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 10, from the Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star in the northern Pacific Ocean. Both floats are transmitting regularly despite temporary interruptions by storms at sea.

Todd Wood of Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division carried the SOLOs (Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangian Observers) to the Polar Star by helicopter from Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. At 3 a.m. Tuesday, Wood deployed the floats at Ocean Station PAPA, 1,000 miles west of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, with the help of US Coast Guard personnel.



US Coast Guard's icebreaker Polar Star launched two SOLOs off Vancouver Island on Tuesday. The floats will probe the ocean depths and send data via satellite link.

By Wednesday morning, April 11, they had resurfaced and had begun returning data by satellite link. Contact was interrupted by high waves during North Pacific storms Thursday and Friday but no data was lost, and by Saturday transmissions from both floats were being received regularly.

"This concept experiment will pave the way for a fully instrumented SOLO-carbon observer, able to measure all components of carbon in seawater," says Jim Bishop, director of the Ocean Biogeochemical Processes Group in ESD.

Bishop spearheaded the concept of robotic profiling carbon sensors and leads the collaboration that built and instrumented the floats and is collecting their data.

SOLO floats were invented by Russ Davis of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., to measure temperature, salinity and mid-depth currents. The two floats launched last week incorporate new sensors to measure carbon biomass.

From the surface, the SOLOs descend a thousand meters (a quarter of the way to the sea floor) and resurface at dawn and dusk each day. Each time they surface the floats communicate their collected data, along with their positions, by two-way telemetry link to ORBCOMM satellites. The new telementry allows scientists on land to control the up and down motion of the floats anywhere in the remote ocean.

"We chose to deploy the floats at Ocean Station PAPA," Bishop explains, "because our group has worked there extensively and because our colleagues at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in British Columbia regularly visit PAPA by ship. This way we can make sure we get consistent answers, in a place we understand."

The SOLO floats are designed to follow oceanic carbon cycles on a daily basis, "flying in the ocean as balloons fly in the air, for seasons at a time, tracking the daily rhythm of the plankton" - no matter how bad the weather gets. Last week's high storm waves interrupted clear communication between the floats and the satellites at week's end, for example, but the floats simply went about their business, storing the data until communications were reestablished.

In addition to the Instrument Design Group at Scripps, partners in the SOLO-carbon venture include WET Labs, Inc., of Philomath, Oregon, a private instrument firm. Support for the collaboration is provided by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, the Department of Energy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Global Programs. There are plans to launch two more SOLO-carbon observers in the North Atlantic later this year.

For an animated movie of a SOLO float, visit http://www.whoi.edu/PO/fltgrp/solo.avi. More about robotic monitoring of ocean carbon can be found at http://flameglo.lbl.gov/NOPP.html.

Berkeley Lab on Backroads with
Doug McConnell

By Paul Preuss

Last month the producers of "Bay Area Backroads," KRON-TV's popular weekend travel show, stumbled upon a little-known byway named Cyclotron Road. Producer Michael Ros-enthal and videographer Brian Cardello ended up spending several days filming Ber-keley Lab locations as part of an upcoming show devoted to East Bay science.

Ben Feinberg smoothed their way at the Advanced Light Source, where Rosenthal interviewed ALS director Daniel Chemla, Chuck Fad-ley of Materials Sciences, and Carolyn Larabell of Life Sciences. Michael Siminovitch and Erik Page showed the crew the Environmental Energy Technologies Division's Lighting Lab, and Peggy McMahan and Augusto Macchiavelli of the Nuclear Science Division were the hosts at the 88-Inch Cyclotron.

Two days later, Deputy Director Pier Oddone gave an overview of Lab activities during an interview in the Bldg. 50 lobby's historical display. Later still, "Bay Area Backroads" host Doug McConnell - who had managed to be in Fiji during most of the filming (some backroad!) - returned to do introductory "stand-ups."

The Berkeley Lab section will constitute a third of the show's content, and producer Rosenthal faces a familiar dilemma: "I've got four hours of great stuff, and now I've got to cut it to seven minutes," he said. "My head is still spinning from the science."

Even if 3 hours and 53 minutes of Emmy-quality video end on the cutting room floor, the segment will give a taste of the Lab's diversity to audiences around the Bay Area. Viewers will also be invited to sign up for Lab tours.

The episode is currently scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday, April 29. Check http://www.bayareabackroads.com/ for advance notice and for transcripts and pertinent links after the broadcast.

EUV Lithography for Next Generation
Computer Chips

By Ron Kolb

In what was hailed as the next major advance in the evolution of integrated circuits, a consortium of industry and government laboratories, including Berkeley Lab, on April 11 announced completion of the first full-scale prototype machine which demonstrates all critical capabilities for making computer chips using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. This breakthrough will lead to microprocessors that are ten times faster than today's most powerful chips and create memory chips with similar increases in storage capacity.

Akin to photography, lithography is used to print circuits onto microchips. EUV lithography was developed because the current chip-printing technology is expected to reach its physical limits in the next few years.

The milestone event at Sandia-California National Laboratory in Livermore featured dignitaries from all three participating Department of Energy labs - Sandia, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley - and from industry funding partners that included Intel, Motorola, Advanced Micro Devices, Micron Technology, Infineon Technologies and IBM.

Current lithography technology is expected to allow manufacturers to eventually print circuits as small as 0.1 micron in width, or 1/1,000th the width of a human hair. EUV lithography technology is being developed to allow semiconductor manufacturers to print circuit lines well below 0.1 micron - down to at least 0.03 microns (30 nanometers), extending the current pace of semiconductor innovation at least through the end of this decade.

Processors built using EUV technology are expected to reach speeds of up to 10 gigahertz (GHz) in 2007. By comparison, the fastest Pentium 4 processor today is 1.5 GHz.

Although the successful prototype machine, called the Engineering Test Stand, was built in Livermore, the contributors from Berkeley Lab were critical to its success. Utilizing three beamlines at the Advanced Light Source, the Lab's Center for X-ray Optics under David Attwood provided the essential measurements that enabled the historic printing of the first tiny lithographic circuits in January.

"We have a saying in optics," Attwood said. "If you can measure it, you can make it. New technology at new wavelengths requires expertise in optics, and our specialty (soft x-rays) perfectly fit the needs of the system." Gen. John Gordon, Administrator for the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, said at the ceremony, "The ALS produces light used to make measurements that are not possible anywhere else."

To give an idea of size, scientists had to study features that were in some cases 20 to 40 atoms across. The interferometry developed at the ALS - the most accurate wavefront measuring device in the world, Attwood says - allowed them to increase the accuracy of the EUV wavelength to about 0.4 angstroms, measuring deviations a little less than the radius of a hydrogen atom. The multilayered molybdenum-silicon coating, the enabling technology for the lithography process, comes in at around 67 angstroms per layer - half a wavelength. Finding one defect on a printing mask, which the ALS can also do, is equivalent to searching for a golf ball in an area the size of Rhode Island.

The goal is to etch ever-smaller features on silicon wafers. It is done in vacuum using laser-generated plasma to produce light that cannot be seen with the human eye, and using highly sophisticated mirrors that serve as lenses to project computer chip patterns onto silicon wafers. EUV technology is "the leading horse in the race" for next-generation lithography technology in the industry, according to Intel CEO Craig Barrett.

The three laboratories and industry partners - more than 200 people - have been working closely on this technology since a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) was signed in 1997. They intensively followed up on relevant research whose earliest publication was 1989. The labs formed a Virtual National Laboratory, which has since been a model for similar collaborations. The industry group created a limited liability company to manage the investments.



Beamline 12.0 at the Advanced Light Source is where "the world's best optics meet the world's best interferometer." Leading the team, which is currently studying the next generation of optics for EUV lithography printing of computer chips, includes (from left) Ken Goldberg, Jeff Bokor, and Patrick Naulleau.

Berkeley Lab's metrology effort involved three teams. The first, on beamline 6.3.2., focused on those critical layered coatings and their reflectivity. This group was led by Jim Underwood, one of the pioneers of the coating process, plus Eric Gullikson and Stan Mrowka. "The Berkeley and Livermore teams worked three shifts a day, six days a week, night and day for four years," Attwood said of the group's commitment.

The interferometry team at beamline 12.0 included the late Hector Medecki, Jeff Bokor, Ken Goldberg, Patrick Naulleau, and former student Edita Tejnil, now with Intel. They are now working on the second generation of optics from Tinsley Labs of Richmond as they study improved optics for commercial applications. "The world's best optics meets the world's best interferometer," Attwood says.

Beamline 11.3, dedicated to finding defects in the mask patterns, is staffed by Moonsuk Yi of Korea, Tsuneyuki Haga from Japan, and Bokor, a UC Berkeley professor.

As the CRADA with the computer companies completes its fifth year, the three laboratories will improve and refine the test stand machine, a 10-by-10-foot box which sits in a clean room at Sandia. Eventually, the pre-commercial work will be turned over to manufacturers, and if all goes according to plan, by around 2007 we will see super-small, super-fast computers with capabilities for universal language translation, unprecedented medical and biological analysis, nascent artificial intelligence, and voice commands.

Through it all, Attwood said, Berkeley Lab will remain active as the reference standard for EUV metrologies.

Change is on the Way as DOE Rolls
Out New Budget for FY 2001

By Lynn Yarris

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has released DOE's Fiscal Year 2002 budget request to Congress, calling it an "important first step and prudent transition, setting a course toward comprehensive change and reform as the department looks to the future."

DOE's request for $19.2 billion, which is about $500 million less than the department received in FY 2001, reflects a commitment by the Bush Administration to moderate discretionary spending while continuing to meet critical challenges in national security, energy, science and environmental quality, the Secretary said.

"Instead of following the status quo, the budget we have submitted is principled and sends a clear signal that change is on the way," said Abraham. "This budget sets a sensible course by clearly fulfilling commitments and establishing key priorities, but at the same time signals our intention to rethink a host of programs while we craft the Bush Administration's policy."

While much of the media attention and congressional responses to the rollout focused on proposed cuts for energy research and development (see Washington Report, left), DOE's Office of Science actually would receive a slight increase. The numbers rolled out by the Secretary call for nearly $3.16 billion, which represents a $4.4 million increase (0.1 percent) over what was appropriated in FY01. This includes increases in safety and security and program direction at the Office of Science national laboratories and facilities, and in high energy and basic energy sciences research. Funding for biological and environmental research would be cut.

"The department will maintain its commitment to critical scientific research," said the Secretary. "Unfolding the mysteries of science is one of our core missions. We can all take pride in it. The president has told us that science is critical to American competitiveness around the world. We have responded by funding the Office of Science slightly above the 2001 level."

The Bush administration plans to spend $50.5 million on safety and security at Office of Science laboratories and facilities, $14 million more than such activities received in FY01. It would spend $144.4 million on program direction, an increase of $17.5 million from this year, including additional funds for the management of DOE's R&D portfolios.

Construction money for the Spallation Neutron Source, a neutron-scattering facility under construction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in which Berkeley Lab is a major collaborator, would be increased from $258.9 million to $276.3 million. Also included is $4 million for the engineering and design associated with nanoscale science research centers, such as the Molecular Foundry being proposed for Berkeley Lab.

The single biggest science program at DOE, high-energy physics, would receive $721.1 million in FY 2002, about $9 million more than its current appropriation. This increase would enable Fermilab to operate for 39 weeks next year, compared to 22 weeks this year - an effort to step up the search for the Higgs Boson, another collaboration involving Berkeley Lab researchers.

Fusion energy sciences would receive $238.5 million under the proposal, nearly $10 million less than their appropriation this year. But that cut is to be offset this year by a proposed reprogramming request, which would divert funds from the high-energy physics, advanced science computing and program direction accounts to fusion energy.

Funding for biological and environmental research would fall by $39.5 million to $443 million, largely because of the completion of 24 congressionally-directed projects. Most of those projects involved medical applications and measurement. The budget for research into environmental processes, which include support for the U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program, would be $129.5 million, which is about the same as its current funding level.

Science was one of four business lines followed by DOE in outlining its funding priorities for the FY 2002 budget. The other three lines were national security, with an increase of $180 million (2.6 percent) above FY01 spending, to $7.2 billion; energy resources, which would see a $196 million (7.9 percent) cut to $2.3 billion; and environmental quality, which would be cut by $246 million (3.6 percent) below FY 2001 funding, to $6.5 billion.

"Reviewing the scope of this budget makes our national responsibilities crystal clear," said Abraham. "We take those responsibilities seriously. That is why we have made the changes we have made. Little could have been gained, and much lost, had we elected to follow the previous administration's priorities. A more sensible course was obvious to us - submit a budget, which clearly fulfills commitments and establishes key priorities, but which at the same time just as clearly signals our intention to rethink a host of programs."

Details on how the administration's proposed budget would affect Berkeley Lab will be the subject of a Laboratory-wide address by Director Charles Shank in the Bldg. 50 auditorium on April 24. In the meantime, detailed budget information, including proposals for Berkeley Lab, can be viewed at http://www.cfo.doe.gov/budget/02budget/index.htm.

Washington Report

DOE Budget Proposals Draw Some Protests in the Senate

The Bush administration's proposed cuts in spending for DOE's energy R&D programs in FY 2002 were not unanimously well received in the Senate.

"This proposal is the opposite one would expect from an administration that has used the word 'crisis' to describe our current energy situation," Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said last week. "This is an anti-energy policy budget."

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham defended proposed cuts for funding renewable, nuclear and fossil energy, as well as energy efficiency.

"Continuing and expanding programs that have been in place as we drifted to the brink of an energy crisis does not appear to be a wiser course of action," he said in a press briefing. "What's more, we need a better measure of success."

Secretary Abraham noted that future budgets would be shaped by an upcoming report from a White House energy task force led by Vice President Cheney.

IG Finds No Racial 'Profiling'

DOE's Inspector General has found no support for concerns about "profiling" of federal or contractor employees in the DOE security process. In a report requested by former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and released last week, the inspector general reviewed whether the department discriminates against employees based on their national origin during its security clearance renewal process and in its responses to security violations.

The April 3 report which has been posted on the IG's website focused on treatment of employees at DOE headquarters and Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Sandia national labs. It examined four specific cases involving possible unfair treatment, but did not examine the case of Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-American nuclear weapons scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who was accused of mishandling classified information The IG report concluded that the cases it investigated "did not support concerns regarding unfair treatment based on national origin."

The report is available at http://www.ig.doe.gov.

IG Says DOE Not Adequately Shielded from Cyber Threats and Viruses

In another report, DOE's Inspector General said that DOE's virus protection strategies "are not consistent with best practices and varied widely on a site-by-site basis in the levels of coverage and effectiveness."

For example, most national laboratories do not use a strategy that protects all desktops, laptops, servers and Internet gateways or firewalls. In many cases, virus software has not been kept up to date. The IG report also said DOE is unable to gather enough information to manage its network intrusion threat. Despite setting up a system to report cyber-security incidents, less than 50 percent of sites with reporting responsibility do so consistently, according to the IG.

In recommending steps to address the threat of damage from malicious software, viruses, Trojans horses, worms and other cyber-security attacks, the IG said that policy changes alone probably will not work, unless local program officials play a significant role in developing them.

The report is available at http://www.ig.doe.gov.

Workshop to Honor Cornelius Tobias

A workshop in honor of the late Cornelius A. Tobias, a pioneer in radiation biology who was known as the "Father of Hadron Therapy," will be held on June 8-9 at Berkeley Lab. The theme of the event will be "Low-Dose Particle Biology and Emerging Hadron Therapy."

Local organizers for the event are Eleanor A. Blakely, (X6595, [email protected]) and William T. Chu (X7735, [email protected]).

Tobias died of cancer in May of last year. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he joined the Lab in 1939, where he built a distinguished 45-year teaching and research career. In addition to his position with the Laboratory, he was also a professor of medical physics at UC Berkeley. Among the many honors he received during his career was the 1963 E. O. Lawrence Award.

For more information on Cornelius Tobias, see the May 19, 2000 issue of Currents (available online at http://www.lbl.gov/Publications/index.html).

More information about the workshop will be published as it becomes available.

Supercomputer Simulation Expert Joins Lab

By Paul Preuss



Rob Ryne of AFRD.

Robert D. "Rob" Ryne, renowned for his work on supercomputer simulations of the high intensity beams in particle accelerators, joined Berkeley Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) this week. Ryne will form and lead a new accelerator modeling and advanced computing group to develop theoretical methods and simulation codes for modeling the next generation of powerful accelerators.

"To succeed, we need to be at the confluence of two fields, accelerator physics and very large scale computation - and there could hardly be a better place than Lawrence Berkeley National Lab," says Ryne. "Accelerators have been part of the fabric of the Lab since its beginnings. As for computation, NERSC is the DOE Office of Science's flagship computing facility."

William Barletta, AFRD's director, notes that "end-to-end simulation of performance will be crucial to the next generation of accelerator-based science," and that the presence of NERSC makes Berkeley Lab "a natural intellectual center for developing such modeling tools. I am extremely pleased to have Rob join us to lead our efforts in this area."

Drawing on the resources of AFRD, NERSC, and other Lab divisions, Ryne is assembling a multidisciplinary team of physicists, mathematicians, and computer scientists to address the design of future high intensity accelerators supported by the Office of Science. The group will reach out to other experts in the field, such as Ryne's longtime collaborator Kwok Ko at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

As one example of accelerator design addressed by large scale simulations, Ryne mentions the phenomenon known as beam "halo" formation. A halo is a low density cloud of charged particles surrounding the intense central beam that, if it contacts the beam pipe, may cause an unacceptable loss of particles.

"For several proposed accelerator projects this is a key issue," Ryne says, "because radioactivity induced by particle loss can interfere with efficient maintenance and availability of the accelerator for doing science. It can also degrade some accelerator components."

In addition to providing a means to explore the physics of intense beams, adequate modeling has far-reaching practical results. "Because the kinds of simulations we are doing weren't possible back when the Superconducting Super Collider was being designed, lack of confidence in the design led to a one centimeter increase in the aperture of the beam pipe. The result was an extra billion dollars in projected cost." Ryne doesn't raise the question, but it's hard not to wonder if a billion-dollar cheaper SSC might have survived congressional cuts.

"On the other hand, large scale simulation was applied to the Next Linear Collider by our colleagues at SLAC," he says, "which enabled the design of a more efficient accelerating structure, resulting in a cost reduction of a hundred million dollars from previous estimates."

Ryne, who has been at Los Alamos since 1991, is no stranger to the Bay Area. A native Californian, he got his BS in physics from UC Berkeley and, after earning his Ph.D. from Maryland in 1987, was with the beam research program at Livermore Lab for four years.

An active member of the U.S. accelerator physics community, Ryne has collaborated with researchers at major facilities here and abroad. His professional activities have included teaching at the U.S. Particle Accelerator School, of which he is a member of the program committee, as well as organizing computational accelerator physics conferences and membership on numerous review committees. He is currently chairman of the NERSC user group's executive committee.

An enthusiastic rock climber since the age of 10, Ryne says one thing he'll miss about Los Alamos are the basalt cliffs of White Rock Canyon, close enough to his office on the mesa "that you could leave work at five, get in a couple hours of top-roping, and be home for dinner at eight." At Berkeley Lab, nearby Indian Rock Park will take up some of the climbing slack, "and Yosemite's spectacular ascents are only a few hours away."

HR Corner

Hanging Tough in a Difficult Market

Fidelity Retirement Strategy Tips

The market drops 400 points in one day. The newscasters call it "the biggest point drop in history." How will it affect your retirement portfolio?

One of the worst times to sell an investment may be after a market drop. News like this only fuels fear and anxiety - it does nothing to advance your investment portfolio. As of early March, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had returned a negative 5 percent for the year. The NASDAQ Composite Index, reflecting the dramatic downturn in technology stocks, suffered the sharpest declines - down a stomach-churning 62 percent from its record high a year ago.

So what do you do when the market tumbles?

All the investment techniques you learned - asset allocation, diversification, dollar-cost-averaging - made perfect sense while the markets were soaring. Do they still hold true when markets are falling? More than ever. In fact, now that some of the high-flying stocks of the nineties have declined, maintaining a diversified portfolio that focuses on long-term goals is probably one of the best things you could do.

The key to weathering market volatility is good, solid preparation. If you embrace basic investment principles and strategies, you are less likely to make big mistakes. In fact, some of the strategies you've employed all along can be even more effective during market declines.

Well-prepared investors realize that market declines are normal. And while some novice investors have not experienced a market downturn until recently, most of us are aware of some notorious drops. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has had 37 drops of 10 percent or more since 1946, and NASDAQ suffered 36 such drops since it began trading in 1971.

Realistic investors do not expect markets to always go up, but they do understand that historically stocks have significantly outperformed other types of investments and have outpaced inflation.

Reevaluate your investment strategy.

You might find market downturns a good time to ask yourself a few questions. Am I comfortable with the level of risk I have taken or are the market swings more than I can handle? Did my portfolio become overweighted in any one area, causing more significant volatility than I am comfortable with? If market activity keeps you from sleeping at night, you may want to review your investment objectives. But if your long-term objectives are still intact, hanging tight might be the best course of action.

Think about buying low

Declining markets often pose an opportunity many investors don't consider: purchasing more shares at lower prices. Let's say you bought shares of a mutual fund last year when prices were high. If you purchased additional shares when the price was dropping, you could be purchasing those shares at a much lower price. And, if you continued to purchase shares on a regular basis, you could help lower the average cost of your purchases. Although the markets may look grim at a given time, many investment professionals believe that stocks are "on sale" during significant market declines, and look upon them as good times to buy.

Don't forget to diversify

Market downturns effectively illustrate the fact that diversification is one of the most important investment strategies. Nobody can predict when the markets will turn. That's why it's important to spread your assets among various investment classes. And the most important thing to remember is to make sure that your investment strategy is in keeping with your goals. By exposing yourself to different segments of the market you can help lessen the risk should one particular market segment or asset class show weakness. But keep in mind that diversification does not ensure a profit or act as a guarantee against loss.

Benefits Summary Now Online

A new self-service web application, Your Benefits Summary, is now available online to Lab employees. Developed by the UC Office of the President, the tool is modeled after the annual Personal Benefits Statement, which has been mailed to employees in the past.

The Summary displays current health and welfare plan enrollments, projected UC Retirement Plan (UCRP) income, Defined Contribution (DC) income, and 403(b) income. Employees eligible for the Capital Accumulation Provision in 1992-94 will also be able to see the projected income for that account.

The Summary can be accessed through the UC Bencom website at http://www.ucop.edu/bencom. Select the "Your Benefits Summary" icon in the right-hand column. You will need your Social Security number and four digit PIN to access it.

Retirement projections are only available for employees who are vested in UCRP (have already earned five years of UCRP service credit) and for those who will have five years of service credit by age 60. Other employees may use the Retirement Plan Benefits Estimator at http://www.ucop.edu/bencom/rs/ucrpcalc/estimator.html. For more information contact the Benefits Office at X6403.

Lab Celebrates Earth Month with Eco Fair

Save the Earth, the pets, recyclable trash - and energy. That was the theme of the fun-filled Eco Fair on April 11 outside the Lab cafeteria. Representatives from various eco-related enterprises promoted their products and causes, as did the Humane Society and the Lighting Group at the Lab, among others. Visitors also walked away with goodies such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, plants, and even bike tune-ups.



Tammy Campbell: A Champion for the Community

By Monica Friedlander

Lab Employee Honored for Community Efforts



Tammy Campbell of the Technical and Electronic Information Department was one of eight women honored by her county for her exceptional dedication to her community.

If Tammy Campbell could market her secret for cramming a month's worth of activity into each day, she would never need to work for a living again. But it's almost frightening to contemplate what she'd accomplish then.

"If I were to retire right now, I would be busier than working two jobs," she says. "There's so much to be done in the community and we need to take responsibility for it." In addition to her job here at the Photolab, Campbell also helps her husband run his business, is involved in every aspect of her children's school life, and is continually active in her city and community life. How does she do it all? "I play as hard as I work," she says.

Becoming a civic activist was never part of Campbell's game plan. But the mother of two does not fit the paradigm of either of the career woman/supermom, nor that of a political activist. She is driven by an inherent sense of personal responsibility - and she thrives on it.

And because of her efforts over the past 15 years, her community can pride itself with better schools, additional playgrounds, and safer and more livable neighborhoods.

This spring Campbell was finally recognized formally for the endless hours of attending meetings, sitting on boards and committees, making and distributing flyers, licking stamps, making phone calls, and most importantly, keeping her ear to the ground to make sure nothing goes astray.

On March 10 she was one of eight women honored by the Contra Costa College for their vision and courage during a celebration of Women's History Month. The women were selected by their mayors or city council members.

"It's really nice to be recognized, because these are the kinds of jobs that you do thanklessly," Campbell says. "You don't expect anything. You just do them because they're the right thing to do."

Such as rallying the Pinole community to pass a measure that reinstated the city's utility users tax, allowing the town to hire more police officers and firemen, build a new fire station, and build a soccer field and a mini-skateboard park for children; or saving her son's school from being closed down.

For Campbell it all started when she married her husband Chris, then a crime prevention chairman for the city of Richmond. Her first effort to launch a neighborhood watch started her on the long road of community activism.

Later, when her son Travis entered public schools, Campbell began to attend school board meetings. That's where she first heard of a plan to close down the Mira Vista Elementary School in Richmond and sell surplus land behind it to a housing developer.

"My girlfriend and I made flyers and said, 'Do you know this is happening to your school?" Everybody went absolutely bananas and the neighborhood got involved." The school stayed and the developers scrapped their plans.

Success feeds on itself, and Campbell's activism snowballed. The more meetings she attended, the more she became aware of what else needed to be done.

When BART planned to change its route, which would have taken down homes and left the Richmond station isolated, Campbell says, she fought BART until Richmond changed its city plan. She won again.

When an overpass was built that decimated the local plant life, she saw that new trees were planted.

When CalTrans tried to close down a freeway ramp, she fought to keep it open.

But more than anything, Campbell is driven by an uncompromising sense of parental responsibility.

She is treasurer of the Pinole-Hercules Little League, serves on the council for her elementary school, Team Mom for all her children's sports teams, is chairperson for the school's science fair, and plans to join the PTA next year.

"I didn't have children to not be there," she says. "I want to be a part of the Little League. I want to be there and watch these kids grow up. I have to make it a priority."

Then, some ten years ago, Campbell brought her enterprising spirit to Berkeley Lab, where she helped found the popular Science Exploration Camp - and then dedicated time over the next eight years to see the project succeed.

"Because Berkeley starts the school year so early, a lot of camps closed a week or two prior to when all our kids had to go back to school," she explains. "Why not have some kind of camp where you can bring kids to work and see them at lunchtime - and maybe even expose them to science!"

Campbell admits that all this activism is beginning to take its toll, and only wishes others would share her burden and enthusiasm.

"I wouldn't have to do so much if everybody else took one hour out of their month to do something in the community. People tend to come home and close the door and not deal with it."

Campbell appeals to everyone to do their part - however large or small - by participating in the life of their community. Making this pitch to other parents is especially easy, she says.

I tell them, "Why did you have these kids if you weren't going to spend the time with them? And spending time with them means spending time in their environment, spending time in their schools, their sports program, their music program," she says.

This spirit of collective responsibility is something she taught her own children from the time they were old enough to tag along to city council meetings, or join the family the morning of the Bay to Breakers to barbecue food for volunteers.

"They're learning that you're required to give something back for what people have given you," she says.

As for the rest of us, Campbell has very similar advice. "Didn't you ever have that special teacher? Didn't you ever have that coach or neighbor or friend who did something nice for you? Now it's your turn to do just one nice thing a month for someone else."

UC Berkeley Opens its Gates to the World Tomorrow

ALS also plans tours, talk

UC Berkeley's annual open house extravaganza, Cal Day, will be held this Saturday, April 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Although the event is organized primarily for prospective students, visitors of all ages can partake in hundreds of activities.

Special treats will include tours of campus facilities (including classrooms and laboratories), lectures by world-class faculty members, music, drama and art programs, athletic events, children's activities, and free entrance to many of the campus's renowned museums, including the Lawrence Hall of Science and the Berkeley Art Museum.

Berkeley Lab will participate in the day's celebration as well, introducing students to our facilities and exposing them to science at the Laboratory.

The Advanced Light Source will be running shuttle buses down to the Hearst Mining Circle to bring the general public up for two tours at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. David Attwood of the Materials Sciences Division will give an introduction to the ALS while scientists and graduate students will lead the one-hour tours at the beamlines. For more information, contact Liz Moxon at X5760.

Cal Day will also feature a number of all-day special events, such as the Tenth Annual Celebration of Children's Literature, to be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m in Tolman Hall. Presented by the Graduate School of Education, this popular event features fifteen leading children's authors and illustrators who will read from their books, participate in panel discussions and sign books. Children's activities will be held throughout the day, including poetry and workshops, storytellers, and music. All events are free. For more see http://www-gse.berkeley.edu/admin/childlit/.

The International House will host another all-day event - the International Spring Festival 2001, its annual celebration of world cultures. The event, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., will include performances, exhibits, children's activities, crafts, and foods from around the world. The I-House is located at 2299 Piedmont Avenue.

Public transportation is the best way to get to Cal Day. AC Transit bus lines are adjacent to UC Berkeley, and a free Cal Day Cable Car with on-board student guides and stops all around campus will run from the Berkeley BART station. Shuttles also run to the Lawrence Hall of Science, the Space Sciences Lab, and the Botanical Garden from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information about Cal Day look up the UC Berkeley website at http://www.berkeley.edu/calday or call 642-2294 or 642-5215.

Bulletin Board

Blues Band Strikes Relaxing Note at Lunchtime



The Music Club's Blues Band entertained a lunchtime crowd on Friday, March 30, on the deck outside the cafeteria. Photo by Robert Couto

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

Gabe Ruiz Scholarship Announcement

Spend your lunchtime on Friday, May 4, at a special Cinco de Mayo Celebration on the cafeteria lawn from 12 to 1 p.m.

In addition to music and other entertainment, Deputy Director of Operations Sally Benson will make a special announcement regarding the Gabriel Ruiz Hispanic Scholarship - a fund being set up in memory of Gabe Ruiz, a Lab employee who passed away less than a year ago. A fundraiser tribute is being organized by the Latino and Native American Association (LANA).

Advanced NT Security

"Advanced Windows NT Security," a one-day course focusing on advanced features of Windows NT that affect computer security, will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 1 in Bldg. 937. The course is designed for IT professionals already familiar with Windows NT and Windows NT security - system administrators, system programmers, developers, advanced users, and information security specialists.

A follow-up to the one-day Windows NT course taught on March 5, the course offers a more rigorously technical and detailed analysis of the vulnerabilities of Windows NT, still the most widely used commercial server platform today, according to instructor Eugene Schultz of the Lab's Computer Protection Program.

The course covers the undocumented features of the Windows NT operating system that affect security and security control techniques. Topics will include networking mechanisms and protocols to identify security flaws, weaknesses in Windows NT authentication, and ways to secure and optimally configure the registry.

Proficiency in Windows NT and networking (including networking protocols) is a pre-requisite for the course. Attendees are encouraged to bring Windows NT laptops (not required).

There is no charge for the class, but advance enrollment is required. To enroll, send e-mail to [email protected].

Spring Dance Social

"Dance the Night Away" on Saturday, May 19 with the LBNL Dance Club at Berkeley Lab's Spring 2001 Dance Social. The event will be held from 6 to 11:30 p.m. at the UC Berkeley International House. Tickets are now on sale for $35 and must be purchased in advance.

The evening will feature music, dance instruction, a buffet dinner and cash bar, door prizes, and, of course, a night of dancing and socializing with Berkeley Lab staff, spouses and friends.

To purchase tickets contact Joy Kono (B71-0270); Sharon Fujimura (B6-2203); Roby Chapman-Berninzoni (B90K-0129); Marilyn Parra (B74-0225); Diana Attia (B937-0504); and Neli Lopez (B50-4037J).

Softball Planning

An organizational meeting for LBNL softball manager will be held at noon on Tuesday, April 24 in the lower cafeteria. Anyone with an existing team or who plans to form one is invited to attend. League play is scheduled to begin on May 23 and continue every week through the end of August. For more information or to join an existing team, contact Steve Blair at X5927.

A's Game Tickets

Tickets are on sale for the A's vs White Sox game on Saturday, May 19. They may be purchased on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the cafeteria lobby from 12 to 1 p.m. The price is $10 per ticket and a Lab ID will be required at time of purchase. For more information call Lisa Cordova at X5521.

Diskette Recycling

Old floppies piling up? Consider recycling. Berkeley Lab has started a new program to recycle computer diskettes of all types, including 5-1/4 inch floppies, 3-1/2 inch disks, CDs, old software and more. Most buildings have at least one white ballot-shaped box for this purpose, and those with multiple floors will have at least one on each floor.

When collection boxes are full, send them to the 903 Reuse Center. The diskettes will be taken to a recycling center in Richmond for reuse.

If you would like to have a large number of diskettes picked up for recycling, contact Shelley Worsham at X6123.

For more information on recycling, look up Berkeley Lab's Waste Minimization website at http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/wastemin.

T. Rex Still on Trial at Hall of Science

Due to popular demand, the T. Rex exhibit at the Lawrence Hall of Science is being extended through Sunday, June 3. "Where was T. rex at the time of the crime?" is the question being explored by visitors to this interactive exhibit, T. Rex on Trial, featuring giant, lifelike robotic dinosaurs, a collection of rare fossils and casts, complete skeletons, plus a wide range of activities, special events, and presentations for visitors of all ages.

T. Rex on Trial was created by the Museum of the Rockies and Kokoro Dinosaurs, Ltd., and is co-sponsored by the UC Museum of Paleontology. For more information look up the LHS website at http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/.

Karats Jewelers Returns to Lab

On Wednesday, April 25, Karats jewelers will return to Berkeley Lab and offer employees jewelry at a reduced price. The items will be on display in the cafeteria lobby from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Diskette Recycling

Old floppies piling up? Consider recycling. Berkeley Lab has started a new program to recycle computer diskettes of all types, including 5-1/4 inch floppies, 3-1/2 inch disks, CDs, old software and more. Most buildings have at least one white ballot-shaped box for this purpose, and those with multiple floors will have at least one on each floor.

When collection boxes are full, send them to the 903 Reuse Center. The diskettes will be taken to a recycling center in Richmond for reuse.

If you would like to have a large number of diskettes picked up for recycling, contact Shelley Worsham at X6123.

For more information on recycling, look up Berkeley Lab's Waste Minimization website at http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/wastemin.

Calendar

General Interest

SAT. APRIL 21

CAL DAY, UC BERKELEY
Campus, Berkeley Lab, all day

TUES., APRIL 24

SOFTBALL PLANNING MEETING
Noon, lower cafeteria

FRI., APRIL 25

KARATS JEWELERS
7:30 a.m - 3 p.m., cafeteria lobby

THURS., APRIL 26

DAUGHTERS & SONS TO WORK
9:30 a.m - 3:00, see http://www.lbl.gov/Workplace/DSTW/2001/

TUES., MAY 1

ADVANCED WINDOWS NT SECURITY
8 a.m - 5 p.m., Bldg. 937

THURS., MAY 3

SHOEMOBILE
7:30 a.m - 3:30 p.m., cafeteria parking lot

FRI., MAY 4

CINCO DE MAYO CELEBRATION
Noon, cafeterua kawb

MON., MAY 7

TRIPMOBILE
11:30 a.m - 12:40 p.m., cafeteria parking lot

Send us your announcements

Announcements for the General Calendar and Bulletin Board page may be sent to MSFriedlander@ lbl.gov. Seminar & Lectures items may be mailed to currents_ [email protected]. You may also fax items to X6641 or mail them to Bldg. 65B. The deadline for the May 4 issue is 5 p.m. Monday, April 30.

Seminars & Lectures

MON., APRIL 23

PHYSICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
Geometric Mechanics: from Spaceships to Molecules
Speaker: Jerrold E. Marsden, California Institute of Technology
4:30 p.m., 1 LeConte Hall

TUES., APRIL 24

LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION SEMINAR
One for All and All for One: Cytoskeletal 4.1 Proteins in Search of New Cellular Functions
Speaker: Philippe Gascard, Life Sciences Division
4:00 p.m., Bldg 84, Room 318

ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES DIVISION SEMINAR
Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience: The Creeping Transformation of Normality and What It Means for Energy Consumption and the Environment
Speaker: Elizabeth Shove, Lancaster University, U.K.
Noon, Bldg. 90, Room 3148

THURS., APRIL 26

ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES DIVISION SEMINAR
Web-based Analysis Tools for Appliance Efficiency Policies in Developing Countries
Speaker: Robert Van Buskirk, Energy Efficiency Standards Group, EETD
Noon, Bldg. 90, Room 3148

PHYSICS DIVISON RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
The "Alarming" Phenomenon of Particle Creation in the Expanding Universe
Speaker: Rocky Kolb, Fermilab
4 p.m., Bldg. 50A, Room 5132

MON., APRIL 30

PHYSICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
The Dark Side of Modern Astronomy
Speaker: Charles Alcock, University of Pennsylvania
4:30 p.m., 1 LeConte Hall

TUES., MAY 1

LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION SEMINAR
Two Strands are Better Than One: ADAR Deaminase and PKR Kinase as Interferon-Regulated Mediators of Cellular Responses to Double-Stranded RNA
Speaker: Charles Samuel, UC Santa Barbara
4:00 p.m., Bldg 84, Room 318

CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SEMINAR
Exploring Soil Microbial Communities Using 16S rDNA-based Methods: Issues of Scale and Resolution
Speaker: Cheryl Kuske, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Noon, Bldg 50A, Room 5132

PHYSICS DIVISON RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
First Hints of Higgs Boson Production at LEP
Speaker: Marumi Kado, CERN
4 p.m., Bldg. 50A, Room 5132

WED., MAY 2

NUCLEAR SCIENCE DIVISION COLLOQUIUM
Chemical Studies of the Transactinides with SISAK
Speaker: Jon-Petter Omtvedt, University of Oslo
11 a.m., Bldg. 50 auditorium

THURS., MAY 3

PHYSICS DIVISON RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
Hadronic Contribution to g-2 and Alpha (mZ)
Speaker: Andreas Hoecker, LAL-Orsay
4 p.m., Bldg. 50A, Room 5132

Last Chance to Register for Thursday's Daughters and Sons to Work Day

In observance of the eighth annual Daughters and Sons to Work Day on April 26, the Center for Science and Engineering Education will host a full day of workshops and presentations. The theme for this year's event is "Women and the Future of Science."

Children's workshops are organized in packages, each of which includes two sessions. Descriptions of the workshop packages are listed on the event website at http://www.lbl.gov/Workplace/DSTW/2001/. The day will conclude with the now-traditional ice cream social.

Registration forms and program information are available at the cafeteria or online at the DSTW website.

To volunteer, contact Alyce Herrera at X7411 or [email protected].

Flea Market

Autos / Supplies

'00 TOYOTA TACOMA extended-cab pick-up, mist metallic, 16K mi, 5 spd, SR5 package, ac, cass/ cd/radio, power win & locks, cruise, sliding rear win, ext warranty, $16,500/bo, Angelic, X4079

'92 SATURN SC COUPE, 5 spd, 2 dr, ac, pwr win/locks, sunrf, CD, new speakers, great cond, runs well, sec owner, all reg maint at dealer, must see, $4,500/bo, Meredith, X7367, 583-7623

'90 CHEVROLET VAN, Chinook conversion, V-8, tilt, pwr win, sound system, 23.5 K mi, good tires, orig owner, smoke free, body in good cond, furnace w/ thermostat, 3-way refrig, 2 burner stove w/ hood/fan, 35 gal water tank, sink, Instahot, porta potty, sleeps 4, seat belts for 6, clean, roof air, $9,000, Jim, X6277, 222-1166

'86 MAZDA PICK-UP B2000 w/ shell, rebuilt engine, $1,800/bo, Mike, 233-3769

Motorcycles

'82 YAMAHA 400 Special II, 15K mi, runs great, dependable, saddle bags, luggage bar & net, kick/electric start, owner/service manuals, pics at http://home.pacbell.net/sablair/cycle1.jpg & cycle2.jpg, $700, Steve, X5927, (925) 254-2402

Housing

BERKELEY HILLS, fully furn room in 4 bdrm house, 5 blks to campus, shuttle bus to Lab, share w/ 2 visiting scholars from Lab, $625/mo, avail 5/1, Laura, 841-2749

BERKELEY, 1 bdrm apt avail 5/1, backyrd, 1 car parking, Fulton & Derby, no smoking/pets, lge closets, equipped kitchen, gas stove & fridge, 1-yr lease, $900/mo incl garb & water, dep $1,300, ref checks & credit report req, current tenant selling furniture, Laurent, X2459, 540-1299, [email protected]

BERKELEY, furn room avail May to Sept, walking dist to UCB & LBNL shuttle, $510/mo, Lisa, X4800, 665-9683, stewartl@bdgp. lbl.gov

BERKELEY, partly furn house off Grizzly Peak, 2 bdrm/1 bth, 2 car garage, lge yard w/ hot tub, avail 7/1, $1,900/mo, 531-9325

BERKELEY, several furn rooms avail in comfortable 6-bdrm rooming house starting 6/1, incl house phone, active DSL line, w/d, common liv rm, deck in lge garden, $700-$850/mo + util, Anushka, 486-8153, anushka@ calalum.org

NORTH BERKELEY, walk to Lab shuttle, near Walnut Square, room in home w/ breakfast each morning, linens changed weekly, $850/mo, Helen, 527-3252

Housing Wanted

APARTMENT EXCHANGE: visiting scholar from France seeks housing near Lab 8/01-12/01 in exchange from 2 bdrm apt in Paris near Bastille w/ view of Eiffel Tower, perfect for family, liv rm, study, full kitchen, cable/Internet/TV, 1300 sq ft, full furn, Chris, (925) 423-2834

MALE POSTDOC looking for a studio or rm in a shared apt/ house, pref near Lab or shuttle, short term lease OK, easy-going, clean, quiet, non-smoker, no pet, light cooking, arriving in early May, [email protected]

VISITING PhD student from Switzerland seeks quiet 1 bdrm apt/studio, long term, non-smoker, no pets, prefer walking distance to campus, starting 5/20 or earlier, Michael, 664-2903, [email protected]

Misc Items for Sale

ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPE, 10" reflector on Dobson mount, $190, Rod, X5223, 223-4766 (7:30 - 10 pm)

ATLAS METAL LATHES, old 9" w/ 3-jaw, 4-jaw chucks, face plates, some tooling, $450; newer 6" w/ milling attachment, chucks, etc, $550, good for a small home shop, Jon, (415) 566-7263

BABY ITEMS, Evenflo car seats, changing pad, diaper genie, crib & mattress, misc toys, David, (925) 516-2358

COMPUTER DESK w/ hutch, $70/bo; bookcase, $30/bo; matching wash oak finish on both, Duo, X6878, 528-3408

COMPUTER, IBM SP, OS & apps installed, barely used, mouse, keyboard, & monitor incl, $1,100, Nick, X7520

DINING ROOM SET, solid rosewood, Chinese c. 1960, exc cond, very sturdy, 4' round w/ 2 leaves, 6 chairs w/ cushions, fold-down desk w/ drawers & 7' sidepiece w/ drawers and shelves, http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/buildings/people/Rosen/Dining.htm, $1,500/bo, Karen, X5784, 207-3234

FAX MACHINE, like new, Brother Multi-Function Center, 5 in 1 (fax, printer, copier, scanner, PC fax), $150/bo, Loretta, X5200, 530-7112

KODAK portable printer for Mac, model diconix M150 plus; incl padded case, batt charger, adapter printer cable, manual & driver disk, $80/bo, Sam, X4738

PIANO, grand, Kawai KG-2E, polished black finish, bought new in 1992, like-new cond, $9,000, Paul, X4962

SONY HI-8 CAMCORDER CCD-TRV67, like new, 2.5'' LCD screen, 360x digital & 20x optical zoom, ext warranty 3 more yrs from Best Buy, $450, Alexander, X7533, (925) 937-2318

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES round trip ticket voucher for anywhere they fly, expires 5/15/01, $200/bo, Steve, X7855, (925) 682-6008

Wanted

PIANO STOOL or bench, darker color pref, Mike, X4610, 886-5527

Vacation

KIHEI, MAUI, 1 bdrm condo, across the street from Kam 2 beach (best beach on Maui), fully equipped, view of ocean, Hale-akela, $400/wk, Fred, 981-2073 days, 523-4150 eves

PARIS, FRANCE, spacious 2 bdrm furn apt avail 9/1 - 12/1, extension beyond 12/1 neg, [email protected]

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, spacious chalet in Tyrol area, close to Heavenly, fully furn, peek of the lake from the front porch, sleeps 8+, sunny deck, pool & spa in club house, close to casinos & other attractions, $150/day, Angela, X7712, Pat/Maria, 724-9450

TAHOE KEYS at S. Lake Tahoe, 3 bdrm house, 2-1/2 bth, fenced yard, quiet, sunny, close to attractions, priv dock, great view, $175/ night, 2 night min, Bob, (925) 376-2211

Lost & Found

LOST: stainless steel coffee mug left in room 90-3148, Friday 3/30, sentimental value, Bill, X2417

Flea Market Policy

Ads are accepted only from LBNL employees, retirees, and onsite DOE personnel. Only items of your own personal property may be offered for sale.

Submissions must include name, affiliation, extension, and home phone number. Ads must be submitted in writing via e-mail ([email protected]), fax (X6641), or delivered/mailed to Bldg. 65B.

Ads run one week only unless resubmitted, and are repeated only as space permits. They may not be retracted once submitted for publication.

The deadline for the May 4 issue Thursday, April 26.