March 24, 2000
Chemical Society Designates Lab As Historical Landmark Gen. Habiger Addresses DOE Security Issues

• Femtosecond Pulses at ALS
• DOE Diversity Stand-Down on April 5
• Washington Report
• Lab Physicists Honored with APS Fellowships
• Head of the UC President's Council Praises Labs
• Drell Awarded UC Presidential Medal
• Berkeley Lab Currents
• Bertozzi's New Way to Engineer Cells
• Berkeley Lab Chromosome Maps Crucial to Swift Completion of Fruit Fly Genome
• Earth Month
• New Recruitment Manager at HR Hopes to Broaden Pool of Applicants, Increase Workforce Diversity
• Bulletin Board
• Groundbreaking for Straw Bale Building at Marina Festival
• Calendar of Events
• EH&S Classes - April 2000
• Office of Science Research Programs Portfolios
• Flea Market
• Flea Market Policy

Chemical Society Designates Lab As Historical Landmark

By Lynn Yarris

Left to right: Al Ghiorso, Lab Director Charles Shank, Alex Mihailovsky, chair of the California chapter of the ACS, and ACS President Daryle Busch, who presented Shank with the plaque. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt

On Saturday, March 11, the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, designated the discovery of 14 new transcurium elements at Berkeley Lab as a "National Historic Chemical Landmark." The designation is part of ACS' effort to "recognize our scientific and technical heritage and encourage the preservation of historically important achievements and artifacts in chemistry, chemical engineering, and the chemical process industries."

At a ceremony in the Bldg. 50 auditorium, ACS president Daryle Busch presented Lab Director Charles Shank with an inscribed plaque. "Today we honor one of the great institutions in the history of chemistry and the milestone discoveries of new elements here," Busch said.

Darleane Hoffman of the Nuclear Science Division, a co-discoverer of several elements and this year's recipient of the Priestly Medal, the ACS' highest honor, served as master of ceremonies. Also on hand to discuss their contributions to this 50-year legacy of discovery were Albert Ghiorso, who has participated in more new element discoveries than anyone else in history; Ken Gregorich, one of the co-discoverers of elements 118, 116, 114, and 110; and Carol Alonso, one of the co-discoverers of seaborgium, element 106, named for Glenn Seaborg, the Nobel laureate and discoverer of 10 atomic elements. Seaborg died last year at the age of 86, but his memory was very much a part of the ceremonies.

Said Busch, "The discovery of these elements advanced the frontiers of science, (and) also illustrates the impact on science both of a great man and a great team. The great man is, of course, Glenn Seaborg. It is fitting that Glenn Seaborg was the first living person honored by having an element named after him."

Gen. Habiger Addresses DOE Security Issues

By Ron Kolb

The U.S. Department of Energy's "security czar" brought his message of rebuilding the public trust to Berkeley Lab, emphasizing the importance of protecting the assets of what he called this "world-class organization."

At the same time, retired Air Force General Eugene E. Habiger told an auditorium filled with more than 200 employees on March 9 that the DOE's new security policies are not designed to impede science and scientists' ability to communicate.

"One size does not necessarily fit all," Habiger reassured the audience, some of whom had expressed concern about overly constraining security rules. "Scientists need to talk to each other uninhibited. I needed to learn that. If we restrict your science, tell me about it. We're sensitive to your ability to communicate."

Habiger also told the audience that Berkeley Lab would not be subject to so-called "firewalls" that protect classified data in computers, or to badging requirements that would identify foreign nationals. The Laboratory does no classified research. ("Where's your secret stuff," he joked. "I couldn't find any.")

Nonetheless, the chief for security cautioned, it is important for this and all other labortories in the DOE network to raise their awareness of issues involving sensitive information and facilities, and to protect the facility that he referred to as a "national asset."

"You are part of the team, part of DOE," he said at the all-hands meeting in the Bldg. 50 auditorium. "The Secretary (Bill Richardson) wants to change the culture across the entire department. You are a world-class organization, with world-class facilities and world-class science. So the security of your facility, and what goes on here in terms of protecting you and your facilities, is part of the business of security."

Habiger said he was hired last June as DOE's Director of Security and Emergency Operations, responsible for implementing Richardson's security reform plan.

Gen. Habiger (middle row, right) visited the NERSC computer center during his tour of the Lab. To his right is Director Charles Shank. Bill McCurdy, head of Computing Sciences, and Deputy Director Pier Oddone are in the foreground.

"Last spring, the DOE and the country received a wake-up call about security," he said, referring to the alleged spying incident at Los Alamos and subsequent investigations. "We came this close to losing that special trust of Congress and the general public. We have to rebuild that special trust. You are as much a part of that process as anyone."

Describing his efforts to date, Habiger said his first priority was to fix the most immediate problems, primarily at the high-security areas of the defense laboratories. He next wrote and implemented policies to address the most critical needs. Now he and his staff are "in the field," visiting all laboratories and assessing security status. The pressing areas, he noted, are in cybersecurity and "the ability to adequately guard our nuclear materials against threats," in particular from terrorists.

During his visit to Berkeley, Habiger also toured laboratories at the Donner, Gilman and Hildebrand halls on campus, received security briefings on emergency services and computing sciences, and visited the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, the Energy Sciences Network, and the Advanced Light Source.

"I'm impressed with what I've seen -- both the people and the quality of work," he told the auditorium audience later in the day.

A video tape of General Habiger's all-hands presentation is available for loan at the main library in Bldg. 50.

Femtosecond Pulses at ALS

By Lynn Yarris

Strobe-like flashes of synchrotron light lasting less than 300 femtoseconds (300 millionths of a billionth of a second) have been produced for the first time ever from the primary beam of a synchrotron light source. Berkeley Lab researchers working at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) extracted these sub-picosecond pulses directly from the electron beam in the synchrotron's storage ring. Although the spectral range of the pulses extended from infrared to x-ray wavelengths, the same technique is expected to soon yield 100 femtosecond pulse-lengths of x-rays.

"Since our approach creates a femtosecond time structure on the electron beam, standard radiating devices, such as a bend magnet, a wiggler, or an undulator, can be designed to emit femtosecond x-ray pulses with desired properties such as bandwidth, tunability, and brightness," says Robert Schoenlein, a physicist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division and senior author of a paper reporting this work in the March 24 issue of the journal Science. The technique will also allow femtosecond x-rays to be produced without disrupting other experiments at the ALS.

With further refinement, this breakthrough at the ALS will essentially give scientists a stop-action x-ray camera that can capture the motion of atoms during physical, chemical, and biological reactions on a time-scale that is almost incomprehensibly short. Roughly speaking, a femtosecond is to one second what one second is to 30 million years. At room temperature, atomic motion takes place, in most cases, on a time scale of approximately 100 femtoseconds.

The scheme for generating femtosecond pulses directly from a synchrotron was originally conceived by Alexander Zholents and Max Zolotorev at the Center for Beam Physics (CBP), who are coauthors of the Science paper. Other coauthors are Berkeley Lab director and femtosecond spectroscopy pioneer Charles Shank, Swapon Chattopadhyay of the CBP, Thornton Glover and Philip Heimann of the ALS, and H .H W. Chong, a graduate student at UC Berkeley.

Schoenlein and his colleagues produced their femtosecond pulses by sending a burst of light from a femtosecond optical laser through a wiggler insertion device in the storage ring at the same time as the electron beam passed through it. Wigglers (and undulators) vibrate the motion of speeding electrons, causing them to lose energy in the form of emitted light. Under the right conditions, the simultaneous presence of a pulse of laser light will modulate the energy loss of some of these oscillating electrons.

Left to right are Max Zolotorev, Phil Heimann, Robert Schoenlein, Alexander Zholents, and Ernie Glover, part of the team that produced the femtosecond pulses. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt

In this experiment, the energy modulation enabled an ultrashort slice of electrons to be spatially separated from the rest of the beam. When the displaced electron slice was then sent through a bend magnet, it generated its own light. Theoretically, this light should appear at approximately the same femtosecond pulse-length as the laser light that created it. However, time-of-flight effects due to the distance between the wiggler in which the laser/electron interaction occurred and the bend magnet resulted in pulses of about 300 femtoseconds.

Says Schoenlein, "The location of our bend-magnet in this experiment was less than optimum. By locating the bend magnet immediately following the wiggler, we should be able to obtain an x-ray pulse of about 100 femtoseconds."

Schoenlein also says that the use of an undulator rather than a bend magnet to extract light from the electron slice will greatly improve the flux and brightness of a directed femtosecond x-ray beam. Unlike a bend magnet, which produces sweeping beams of light like that from a beacon, undulator light is more like the beam from a laser, highly coherent and tunable to a specific wavelength.

A dedicated bend magnet beamline and experimental station for femtosecond x-ray spectroscopy studies is now under construction at the ALS and should be operational by this summer. Plans are being developed for an undulator beamline providing femtosecond x-ray pulses of even higher brightness and flux.

DOE Diversity Stand-Down on April 5

The Department of Energy will hold a complex-wide "stand-down on diversity issues" for all of its federal and contractor employees on Wednesday, April 5. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson will participate in the program via satellite from Washington. The program will also include a local component for Berkeley Lab employees.

The two-hour stand-down, an outgrowth of the recent report of the DOE Task Force Against Racial Profiling, will be offered at 10 a.m. in both Bldg. 50 and Bldg. 66 auditoriums. All Lab employees are required to attend this session or subsequent showings on videotape.

The Task Force, established in response to employee concerns associated with the alleged Chinese espionage case at Los Alamos, offered several recommendations in its report to Richardson in January. One of them was that the Department conduct a DOE-wide diversity "stand-down." The Task Force views this as an opportunity to enhance understanding, respect and unity within the DOE and its facilities.

The first hour of the program will be telecast from DOE headquarters and will feature several Department speakers, including Deputy Secretary T.J. Glauthier, Ombudsman Jeremy Wu, and Bill Lewis of the Office of Employee Concerns. The event will conclude with an address by Richardson, followed by a question-and-answer session. Berkeley Lab Director Charles Shank will conduct the Laboratory portion of the program.

More details will be provided prior to the stand-down. For those who cannot attend or be accommodated in the auditorium sessions, alternative viewing arrangements will be made.

Washington Report

DOE Expands Partnerships with State Energy Organizations

A cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) between Berkeley Lab and the California Energy Commission on renewable energy studies was the basis for a new model agreement announced by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson for partnerships between the DOE and state energy organizations.

"We can leverage our research, development and demonstration investments to ensure that clean energy technologies are developed and adopted nationwide," said Richardson. "This research can help make energy-efficient concepts a reality."

In addition to the California Energy Commission, Richardson named as likely partners with the national labs the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutes. DOE and state cooperative research is expected in a wide range of areas, including improved transportation technologies, advanced generation systems, and improved end-use efficiency.

Richardson also announced that the DOE will provide $6 million for states to pursue energy-efficiency CRADAs with the national labs. This money was included in the FY 2000 Interior Appropriations bill. For more information visit the website at http://www.eren.doe.gov/stateagreements. The solicitation for the new CRADA funds can be found at http://www.eren.gov/golden/solicitations.html.

DOE Satellite In Orbit

"Department of Energy science and engineering expertise supports a wide range of civil, environmental, and national security work," said Secretary Bill Richardson. "The launch of today's satellite will make important contributions to our ability to make accurate measurements of the Earth's surface, which will benefit a wide variety of applications in environmental science, land usage, and national security."

The MTI satellite was developed by researchers at Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories and built by a government and industry team. It is expected to have a broad range of national defense and civilian applications ranging from treaty monitoring to waste heat pollution in lakes and rivers, vegetation health, and volcanic activity.--Lynn Yarris

Lab Physicists Honored with APS Fellowships

Six Berkeley Lab scientists are among the 208 physicists selected this year as fellows of the American Physical Society. The prestigious fellowships are extended to only one half of one percent of the APS membership. The fellowship awards will be presented in late April at the APS spring meeting.

The Lab recipients, (with their cited contributions) are, left to right: Claude M. Lyneis of Nuclear Science (development of ion source technology - especially ECR sources); Donald E. Groom of Physics (study of cosmic rays, hadronic cascades, radiation at the SSC, CCD's for astronomical imaging); Jørgen Randrup of Nuclear Science (dynamics of nuclear systems over a wide range of energies); Alex Zettl of Materials Sciences and UC Berkeley (electronic materials in reduced dimensions); Michael Edward Levi of Physics (techniques for high-precision beam energy determination at the SLC, design of electronics for colliding-beam detectors); and Eric B. Norman of Nuclear Science (experimental studies of the influence of astronomical environments on nuclear decay rates). Congratulations to all. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt

Head of the UC President's Council Praises Labs

"There is much to be proud of, but much to do," Bill Friend told a meeting of the UC Regents last week in his first report on the performance of the national laboratories. Friend has recently replaced Sidney Drell as chairman of the UC President's Council on the National Laboratories, a 20-member advisory board formed in 1991.

"Bottom line, the labs continue to perform research that, overall, is of very high quality and that the council rates from `excellent' to our highest accolade of `outstanding,'" said Friend, a retired executive vice president of the Bechtel Group, Inc. and a director of Bechtel National, Inc., the company's government contracting arm.

Among the programs Friend highlighted was the Joint Genome Institute, a collaboration between Berkeley Lab, Livermore and Los Alamos national labs. "The JGI met and even exceeded its very ambitious sequencing goals during the past year," he said. "The JGI appears to have made itself a real player in the sequencing community, and this is a truly commendable achievement."

Friend also addressed concerns about security and project management at the labs, and outlined changes the Council has made to help the labs, including the appointment of additional experts to advise the Council and the formation of a new Laboratory Security and Project Management Panel. He also emphasized the need to strike a balance between effective security and open scientific exchange.

"The labs will only maintain technical strength and vitality through a diverse workforce, and we must foster their ability to achieve this outcome."

Drell Awarded UC Presidential Medal

Sidney D. Drell, professor emeritus at Stanford University and the founding chairman of the UC President's Council on the National Laboratories, has received the University of California's Presidential Medal for his contributions to the university, the three UC-managed DOE laboratories, and the cause of science in the public interest.

In presenting the medal, UC President Richard C. Atkinson said of Drell, "His unique expertise as both a high-energy physicist and an arms control specialist has been of enormous value in assisting the laboratories in their commitment to superior science and technology and to the successful development of the Science Based Stockpile Stewardship Program in support of the nation's efforts to reduce the global nuclear danger."

The Presidential Medal is awarded in recognition of extraordinary contributions to UC or the community of learning. Past recipients include UC President Emeritus Clark Kerr, former California Governor George Deukmejian and President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León.

An internationally recognized physicist, Drell has called the three laboratories "jewels in the scientific crown of this country" and has been a strong advocate of their continued management by UC. Drell left the UC advisory council last year following his retirement as deputy director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

Drell has advised policy makers on national security and defense issues since 1960. He is currently a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and other high-level government advisory panels.--Monica Friedlander

Berkeley Lab Currents

EDITOR: Monica Friedlander, (510) 495-2248, [email protected]

STAFF WRITERS: Paul Preuss, 486-6249; Lynn Yarris, 486-5375

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Jon Bashor, X5849; Allan Chen, X4210, Jeffery Kahn, X4019

FLEA MARKET / CALENDAR: 486-5771
[email protected] / [email protected]

Public Information Department, Berkeley Lab, MS 65A
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Tel: 510/486-5771 Fax: 510/486-6641

Berkeley Lab is managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Bertozzi's New Way to Engineer Cells

By Paul Preuss

Staudinger Ligation in Last Week's Science

No, the "Staudinger ligation" is not the latest Robert Ludlum thriller; it's a new chemical reaction in a growing arsenal of cell engineering techniques developed by Carolyn Bertozzi, who won the MacArthur Foundation's "genius award" last year, largely for her pioneering work in modifying the surfaces of living cells.

Bertozzi, a member of the Materials Sciences and Physical Biosciences Divisions and an associate professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley, describes the Staudinger ligation in last week's [March 17] issue of Science magazine, in an article co-authored with her student Eliana Saxon.

Bertozzi and her colleagues had previously engineered human cells to display markers on the natural sugars that crowd cell surfaces, providing new ways of labeling cells as targets for cancer therapy, for adhering cells to nonbiological materials such as medical implants, for forming new receptors for viral-mediated gene transfer, and for other functions.

Unlike the earlier markers, however, which can encounter interference from natural metabolites inside the cell, markers produced by the Staudinger ligation do not react with any other biological molecules outside or inside the cell. Thus they hold promise for engineering the cell's interior as well as its surface.

"In all cellular engineering, the nature of the chemistry is key," Bertozzi says. "We need reactions that are stable in a watery environment at body temperature, that are highly selective, and that won't interfere with normal cell processes or with each other."

Casting about for a reaction that was suitably selective and harmless to cells, Bertozzi remembered "one of my favorite reactions from undergraduate chemistry class, the Staudinger reaction -- it's stunningly selective."

Named for the German synthetic-organic chemist Hermann Staudinger, who won the Nobel Prize in 1953 for his pioneering work in polymer chemistry, the Staudinger reaction occurs between an azide (a compound with three nitrogen atoms), and a phosphine (a molecule containing a phosphorus atom).

At first glance, the reaction seemed ideal for cell engineering: neither phosphines nor azides react with biological molecules, but they react rapidly and with high efficiency with each other, in water and at room temperature. Unfortunately, the resulting compounds fall apart in water almost as easily as they form.

Bertozzi and Saxon set out to create a similar reaction, but one that was stable. "Staudinger would have loved the challenge!" she says -- one they met successfully after painstaking experiments on the lab bench and with living cell lines.

Because the Staudinger ligation, named by Bertozzi after the classic reaction that inspired it, is potentially useful for labeling components of the cell interior (for example, amino acids from which proteins are assembled) previously unobservable interactions in the cell may become accessible.

"This gives us a new avenue for engineering cell chemistry," Bertozzi says. "The cell is now less of a black box."

Berkeley Lab Chromosome Maps Crucial to Swift Completion of Fruit Fly Genome

By Paul Preuss

In 90 years of study, the diminutive fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has yielded many of the most fundamental discoveries in genetics -- beginning with proof in 1916 that the genes are located on the chromosomes.

Only during the last year has the fly's whole genome been sequenced, however, and its 13,601 individual genes enumerated. Unique physical maps made at Berkeley Lab were key to the rapid completion of this historic achievement, which is reported in today's issue of Science (March 24).

In 1998, J. Craig Venter of Celera Genomics in Rockville, Maryland, suggested to Gerald Rubin, professor of genetics at UC Berkeley and head of the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (BDGP), that the two organizations collaborate to complete the fruit fly genome.

Celera's purpose was to demonstrate that a strategy known as whole-genome shotgun sequencing could be used with organisms having many thousands of genes encoded in millions of DNA base pairs; Celera hopes to apply the shotgunning technique to the much larger human genome.

Twenty percent of the fly's 215-million-base genome had already been sequenced in detail by BDGP and others, and parts of it had been mapped. Much of this work was performed in Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division, where Susan Celniker is co-director with Rubin of the BDGP sequencing group, and Roger Hoskins is in charge of physical mapping.

"No one knew whether whole-genome shotgun sequencing would work for the fly," says Hoskins, "but we knew that if it did, it would be faster and more efficient than traditional methods."

The physical maps produced by Hoskins, Celniker and their colleagues, including Richard Galle and Reed George, would prove crucial to arranging, confirming the accuracy, and filling the gaps in the sequencing data produced at Celera by whole-genome shotgunning.

Drosophila's entire genome has been sequenced using mapping techniques developed here which scientists hope may also be applied to the sequencing of the human genome.

A physical map consists of actual lengths of DNA, thousands of clones of discrete stretches of DNA representing the fly's entire genome. The Berkeley Lab group used clones called "bacterial artificial chromosomes" (BACs), stable copies of discrete stretches of the genome many hundreds of thousands of bases long.

Each BAC is marked with at least one unique "sequence-tagged site" (STS) -- ideally by two or more -- which allow sets of clones to be lined up with one another and eventually "tiled" along the entire length of each chromosome. The result is called an STS content map.

At Berkeley Lab, the BDGP group made BAC-based STS content maps of the gene-expressing material on the two large chromosomes containing 80 percent of the fly's genome. These were integrated with maps using different techniques to confirm their accuracy. Especially useful in the effort were the hundreds of sequence-tagged sites deliberately chosen to lie near the ends of the BAC clones.

In today's Science, the authors of the principal article on the fruit fly genome write that "The BAC end-sequences and STS content map provided the most informative long-range sequence-based information at the lowest cost."

For more on the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project, visit the web at http://www.fruitfly.org/.

New Recruitment Manager at HR Hopes to Broaden Pool of Applicants, Increase Workforce Diversity

By Ron Kolb

Mary Gallahue

Mary Gallahue can be forgiven if her office down in Bldg. 937 still has boxes unopened, books unshelved, and pictures not hung. It's been a whirlwind five weeks for Berkeley Lab's new Manager of Recruitment, and she's on a fast track.

Soon will come the addition of one or two entry-level recruiters and one senior recruiter to her staff. And then, she hopes, will begin what she envisions as a continuous stream of highly qualified, desirable candidates for positions at the Laboratory.

"I'm looking at this as a river," says the 15-year veteran of human resources management. "If you can't get the resumes flowing, then it doesn't meet my objective. Each rock will stop us, so we have to get the water rushing. And the nutrients for this lab are the people."

Gallahue heads the first organizational commitment to central recruitment in the Laboratory's history. Not that Berkeley Lab has been faring all that badly, according to her supervisor, Human Resources Department Head Mike O'Neil. The Lab's considerable international reputation can attest to that.

"In the past, we've been fortunate to be able to attract some of the brightest stars in their fields," O'Neil said. "But it has become more competitive even for the specialized research jobs. And we haven't been as successful as we need to be in recruiting and selecting minorities and women."

It is in that diversity, he noted, that the vibrancy and creativity of a workforce develops. Gallahue agrees. "Within this diversity comes all the ideas," she said, "and my job is to develop the pools of candidates that will ensure that those ideas will grow here."

Gallahue has already met with many of the Laboratory leaders in divisions and departments and is hard at work on a media plan that will achieve the optimum in "sourcing" -- personnel-speak for finding the right candidates with the correct skills. That means using traditional advertising, plus Internet tools, specialized newsletters and magazines, job and career fairs, and personal contacts with agencies and groups.

The new recruiting manager says if she just overstocks the river with resumes, the Laboratory will have a better chance of getting those people "who will make the lab the best that it can be." She will work closely with her office neighbors in the Work Force Diversity Office, and she has already met with the Laboratory's Diversity Committee. She encourages Lab employees interested in recruitment to apply for the new positions.

Certain Laboratory job classifications are underutilized regarding women and/or people of color, and thus require unique recruitment plans to reach these audiences. For example, compared to the Bay Area workforce pool as a whole, the Laboratory employs relatively fewer people from African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic descent, and fewer women than would be expected in jobs such as mechanical technicians, electronics technicians, and office services.

Gallahue's office will bring the advantage of a focused effort to all recruiting, general and targeted, in contrast with the traditional model of department and division-based responsibilities. "We can unify some things and save some costs," Gallahue said. "Sourcing is not inexpensive. We can concentrate all the effort and not waste manpower."

One challenge, she has already learned in her short tenure, is externally differentiating this Laboratory from its sister affiliates. "Berkeley Lab has a wonderful reputation with researchers," she said. "But the broader community seems confused. We need to show people that we have a different mission from Livermore Lab or from Cal. So we'll try to change the public's perception of the cultural aspect of the Lab and convey an identity of our own."

With college degrees in music and special education, Gallahue came to the human resources world via the teaching profession -- first in the classroom, working with emotionally disturbed children, then through curriculum development and administration. She applied her teaching skills to technical training programs, then moved to recruiting, particularly as a consultant for data processing and health care companies.

Now Gallahue is a key player in the Laboratory's invigorated Recruitment Unit. "This unit needs to develop for the Lab the overall recruiting standards and practices that we can all use," she said. "But this is a practical office. We'll put up the structure and processes, but people should also be seeing some action, too. We're not here for decoration."

Bulletin Board

Groundbreaking for Straw Bale Building at Marina Festival

The City of Berkeley Marina Experience Program is sponsoring the annual Berkeley Bay Festival on Saturday, April 29, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The theme is environmental education, and the program will include a ceremony celebrating the groundbreaking of the straw bale building, an innovative environmental learning center to be built at the Shorebird Park on the Berkeley Marina. Berkeley Lab and the U.S. Department of Energy have provided $25,000 in seed money for the center. The groundbreaking ceremony will start at 11:30. The structure, built largely with straw bales -- an old construction practice -- will expand Shorebird's office and learning center space and showcase the latest environmental-friendly technologies. All of the funding has been secured and the construction will begin this summer. For more information on the straw bale building or to participate in the groundbreaking, contact Shelley Worsham at X6123 Festival activities will be held at the Adventure Playground and in the Shorebird Park and Nature Center. They will include outrigger canoe races, animal educational programs, and a climbing wall set up by Cal Adventures. More information about the Berkeley Bay Festival is available at http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/parks/marina/marinaexp/bayfest1.htm. For details on the straw bale building see http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/parks/marina/marinaexp/newbldg.htm.

Conference Room Network Connections

To assist employees with laptop presentations, many Lab conference rooms are equipped with network connections, identifiable by the silver label placed above or adjacent to the network drop.

A complete list of conference room IP addresses and jack numbers is available on the LBLnet Services Group website at http://www-lblnet.lbl.gov/lblnet/confip_list.htm. No IP request submission is necessary. For technical support with network problems contact LBLnet at X4559.

Oakland A's Tickets

The Employees' Activities Association is sponsoring a family day event around the Oakland A's vs the San Francisco Giants game at the Oakland Coliseum on June 4. Tickets through the EAA are $10, payable to UC Regents, and are available at the cafeteria entrance on Tuesdays from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. For more information contact Lisa Cordova at X5521.

Nominations Accepted for Outstanding Science and Math Teacher at Open House

As part of its focus on science and math education at the May 6 Open House, Berkeley Lab will honor a few local science and math teachers who have worked with the Laboratory or have made a difference in the lives of children of Lab employees.

Education outreach programs will nominate outstanding teacher associates with whom they have worked. In addition, Lab employees can also nominate a teacher at any grade level, from kindergarten to university, to be recognized as "outstanding."

The awards will be presented the day of the Open House in a special ceremony at 12:15 p.m. outside the cafeteria.

Nominations may be sent by e-mail to Rollie Otto, head of the Center for Science and Engineering Education, at [email protected]., with a backup copy to Reid Edwards, [email protected]. Please include the teacher's name and address, school affiliation and telephone number, and a short statement on why that teacher has been so special in your child's education. Nominations must be recieved by April 14.

For more information contact Rollie Otto at X5325.

Music Club Band Performs Today!

Berkeley Lab's Employee Music Club Blues Band, lead by Wes Steele, will perform rock and roll and blues today on the deck on the cafeteria lawn from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., weather permitting. For more information contact Larry at X5406

Daughters and Sons to Work Day

THURSDAY, APRIL 27

As always, Berkeley Lab will observe the annual Daughters and Sons to Work Day, although the format for the event will differ from that of past years due to the day's proximity to the more extensive Open House celebration, to be held on Saturday, May 6.

Employees with children aged 9 to 15 are welcome to bring their children to the Laboratory for Daughters and Sons to Work Day on April 27.

Schedule

• Lunch in cafeteria plaza area
  (Parents purchase lunch)
• 1:00 - 2:30 pm: Assembly Program
  Quakes and Shakes
  Lawrence Hall of Science
  Bldg. 50 auditorium

To participate, send a fax with information regarding your children's attendance (including their participation at the lunch) to X6660. The event is being organized by the Center for Science and Engineering Education.

To give children a more extensive opportunity to experience the benefits of the various careers at the Laboratory, parents are encouraged to bring their children to the May 6 Open House and Science Festival.

Courier Services

The Facilities Department provides rush courier service with pick-up and delivery on- and off-site. Transportation can deliver up to 2,000 pounds anywhere in the Bay Area or in central or northern California. To request a pick-up, call Peggy Patterson at X5404.

Courier service, including rush service, is also available from IDS Courier, which operates 24 hours a day. For information call Linda Wright at 548-3263.

UCRP Buyback Deadline March 31

The "open window" is about to close for employees who took a leave of absence or refund of accumulations from the UC Retirement Plan (UCRP) within the last three years and are considering a service credit buyback. (The buyback refers to making payments to UCRP to reestablish service credit for an earlier period.)

The buyback option is now available for only three years after returning to UC employment. Employees who returned before July 1, 1997 must submit an application to UC HR/Benefits at the Office of the President by March 31 in order not to lose their buyback opportunity.

An information booklet with a presigned submission form can be obtained from Engret Moore of the Benefits Office at X4269, [email protected]. Additional information is available on UC's benefits website at http://www.ucop.edu/bencom/.

Currents Online

The full text and photographs of each edition of Currents are published online at http:// www.lbl.gov/Publications/Currents/ -- or look for a link to Currents on the Lab's home page under the heading "Publications." The site allows users to do searches of past articles going back to 1994.

Calendar of Events

March 24 - April 7, 2000

General Interest

FRI., MARCH 24

TUESDAY, MARCH 28

FRI., MARCH 31

TUES., MARCH 4

WED., MARCH 5

THURS., MARCH 6

TRIPMOBILE
11:30 - 12:40, cafeteria parking lot

Items for the calendars may be e-mailed to currents_calendar@ lbl.gov, faxed to X6641, or mailed to Bldg. 65B. The deadline for the April 7 issue is 5 p.m. Monday, April 3.

Seminars & Lectures

TUES., MARCH 28

LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION
"Genome Function in the Mouse by Combining Physical Mapping/Sequencing with Phenotype-Based Mutagenesis Screens" will be presented by Maja Bucan of the University of Pennsylvania.
4:00 p.m., Bldg. 84-318
Refreshments preced seminar

THURS., MARCH 30

FRI., MARCH 31

UCB/LBNL NEW BIOLOGY PARTNERSHIP SEMINAR
"SNPping in the Human Genome: Lessons Learned" will be presented by Deborah Nickerson of the University of Washington.
2:00 p.m., Bldg. 84-318
Refreshments precede the seminar

TUES., APRIL 4

FRI., APRIL 14

FRI., APRIL 21

EH&S Classes - April 2000

*Includes EHS 392/405, followed by New Employee Orientation. Please arrive at 8:45 a.m. to sign in.

For more information or to enroll, contact Susan Aberg at [email protected] or enroll via the web at http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/ehstraining/registration/. Preregistration is required for all courses except EHS 10 (Introduction to EH&S). Times and locations are subject to change. For a full, updated schedule of EH&S training sessions see

http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/schedule/.

Office of Science Research Programs Portfolios

A detailed description of the research programs supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Science may be found on the web in the new Fiscal Year 2001 Science Portfolio at http://www.osti.gov/portfolio/Overview_html/index.html.

The entire research and development portfolio, with other chapters relevant to Office of Science programs, begins at http://www.osti.gov/portfolio/. The portfolio is structured as four "business lines," rather than by DOE programs and offices; the document describes the participation of each program in each business line and gives details of the funding levels appropriated for FY99 and FY00, and requested for FY01, in each R&D area.

A related document, the Department of Energy Strategic Plan, has been posted in draft form at http://www.cfo.doe.gov/stratmgt/plan/doesplan.htm. A memo from Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson invites all interested parties to comment on the draft online at http://crx-survey.cr. doe.gov/spsurvey/. Those who provide online comments are asked to fill out a short form "to help us characterize your responses and identify your role," although anonymous comments are also accepted.

Flea Market

Auto / Supplies

`96 TOYOTA CAMRY LE, 4 dr sedan, burg ext/gray int, cc, auto, 45K, ac, cruise, pwr steer/win/ door/lock/mirrors, am/fm/cass, dual air bags, reg maint, $14,300/ bo, Tai-Sheng Liou, X7083, 486-7083

`91 HONDA Accord, LX, 4dr, blk, at, ac, ps/pw, stereo, loaded, GTE car phone, exc cond, 145K, $6,800/bo, Mohammed, pager, 389-7694

`93 HONDA Civic EX, 2 dr, 5 spd, snrf, Alpine cd/alrm, ac, pwr win/door, cruise, 77K, exc cond, new tires, $7,400, Danielle, X4555, (650) 341-7599 aft 8 pm

`93 MERCURY Tracer, 4 dr sdn, auto, ac, tilt, pwr steer/brake, am/fm/cass, new brakes, 72K, well maint, $3,900, Jinyi, X4695, 668-1128, eves

`87 MERCURY Sable LS, 4 dr lux sedan, exc cond, 6 cyl, auto, ac, pwr wini/lock, cruise, am/fm/cass, beige, 1 owner, $3,500, Tennessee, 523-4838

`87 PLYMOUTH Grand Voyager LE mini-van, 7 psgr, 119K, V6, auto, cruise, ac, pwr steer/win/ locks/seat, tilt wheel, roof rack, am/fm/cass, orig owner, no accidents, all maint records, gd cond, $2,950, Ron, 486-4410

`69 VW BEETLE, Porsche(?) engine, auto trans in exc cond, body pan rust, 93K, $1,500/bo, X4703, 482-1777

Motorcycles

Housing Available

BERKELEY HILLS, room for rent in priv home, Euclid/Cedar, 5 blks to campus, fully furn, kitchen, laundry, deck, view of SF Bay, near transp, shuttle, shops, no smoking/pets, must be clean, prefer visiting scholar or FT working person, share w/ 2 visiting scholars, $600/mo + util, call aft March 27, Klas, 841-2749, X4829

ELMWOOD, share elegant 11 room house w/ 2 men, 1 woman, non-smoking prof, mstr bdrm w/ frplc, huge closet, piano, yellow Lab, laundry, sauna, hardwd floors, exc loc, $755/mo+dep, shared exp, Tony, 841-4480

NORTH BERKELEY, small priv studio, Grizzly Pk, nice view, 10 min to Lab, bus 65 to campus, sep entr, detached, $600/mo util incl, furn if requested, avail now, 559-4681

OAKLAND, furn 1 bdrm in Rockridge house, quiet, priv phone line, 2 blks to BART, avail May-June, $500/mo incl util, Julie, X2420

PLEASANT HILL, Walnut Creek/ Lafayette border, modern, nicely furn home, 3 bdrms, formal dining rm, lge fam rm, lge deck, all amen, exc loc, near trans/BART, mid-May to mid-June, 4 to 6 wks, $600/wk, nonsmoker, Natalie, (925) 934-0759, Werner, (925) 937-6433

SAN FRANCISCO, furn, 2 bdrm condo w/ parking, 2 blks frm 16th St BART, no pets, avail for 12 mos starting 9/1, $1,800/mo, Brian, X7381

Housing Wanted

VISITING GUEST SCIENTIST, wife, 2 kids (2+4), from Switzerland, seek housing from 4/1 to 6/15, pref near Lab, furn 1-2 bdrm house or apt, Daniel, X5827

VISITING PROFESSOR, wife, child, au-pair seek housing from approx 5/1 to 8/31, pref Berk near campus, 2 or 3 bdrms, furn w/ yard, Pat, X4985

Miscellaneous

BICYCLE, women's Nishiki road bike, exc cond, detachable basket, great for commuting, $150, X6744

BICYCLE RACK, $25, Jan, X6676

COMPUTER, hand-held, Sharp Zaurus 5800FX, 2MB, backlit LCD, built-in PIM applic, manuals, fax/modem, data-exchange software, $175; fax-modem for Sharp PDA, works with models ZR-3000, 5000, 5700 or 5800, incl manual, $20, Anton, X2908

COMPUTER MEMORY, 16 MB Techworks DIMM (168 pin) computer mem in factory sealed bag, mem comes w/ lifetime guaranty, can be used in Power Mac's, other comp, $25, H. Matis, X5031, 540-6718

DESK, 60x30 oak veneer, 4 drawers, $50, Regine, X5897

DOG KENNEL, lge 9x12 chain link kennel, rust proof alum, paid $500, asking $200, Pat, X4301

EXERCISE CYCLE wanted for Lab Open House display, needed from 4/1 to 5/8, David, X6096

GOLF CLUBS, pro select, perimeter weighted, cavity backed irons, + matching 1, 3, 5 metal woods, 2-yrs-old, exc cond, $200/bo, Tim, X5304

MEMORY RAM-CARD, 16MB, Kingston, KTM-TP360/16 for IBM ThinkPad, series 360 & 755 models (in 360s, base-ram would go from 4 to 20MB; in 755 from 8 to 24MB), $16, Anton, X2908

POOL TABLE, stand sz, gd cond, has everything, needs new tips on pool sticks, $375, Karen, X5750, 724-8138

SOFABED, queen sz, warm Southwest beige, spotless, looks new, moving, must sell, $85, (925) 938-8020

STATIONARY BIKE, Ursula, X4338, 215-7617

WASHER, elec dryer, white, new, used 1 mo, sep units, $450/bo, Sue, X4628

YAMAHA NS-A637 spkers freq resp 90 Hz - 20 kHz at 3.5 dB, crossover freq, 6kHz, 13.5 kHz sensitivity, 91 dB/W/M, nominal impedance, 8 ohms, 14 lbs, approx 10x16x14, user's man, $80, Tai-Sheng Liou, X7083

Vacations

SO LAKE TAHOE, spacious chalet in Tyrol area, close to Heavenly, peek of the lake from front porch, fully furn, sleeps 8+, sunny deck, pool, spa in Club House, close to casinos, shopping, Pat, Maria, 724-9450

Wanted

GOOD HOMES for 3 male baby pet rats, white w/ blk hoods, spots, healthy, friendly, exc pets, Rosemary, X2426, (925) 229-4275

ROLLAWAY BED or folding bed/cot, cheap or borrow for 4 months, Saul, X4196, 526-2007

STATION WAGON or SUV, mid-90s model, less than 50K, no accidents, will pay cash, up to $10,000, Colleen, X6048, 525-1370

STORAGE SPACE for 20' shipping container, space needed in El Sobrante, Orinda, Pinole, San Pablo area to store a 20'x10'x10' container for approx 1 yr, rural/ indust areas ok, David, X6393, 262-0320

VANPOOL from SF (Haight, Noe Valley, Castro regions) to UCB/ LBNL, 8 am/5 pm, need extra riders, David, X6013

Lost / Found

Note: For other lost and found items call X4855.

Flea Market Policy

Ads must be submitted in writing - via e-mail ([email protected]), fax (X6641), or delivered/ mailed to Bldg. 65B. They will run one week unless resubmitted, and will be repeated only as space permits.

The deadline for the April 7 issue is Thursday, March 30.