Wim Leemans, a Berkeley Lab physicist, has won the Department of Energy’s E. O. Lawrence Award for 2009. Leemans, cited for his breakthrough work with laser plasma accelerators, is one of six winners named this year by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Lab Director Paul Alivisatos, himself a 2006 Lawrence Award winner, noted Leemans’s work on laser plasma accelerators as vitally important not only for the long-term future of accelerators but for medical and other important applications as well. "Wim's leadership and scientific prowess typify the work that is done at Berkeley Lab and made possible by the DOE Office of Science National Laboratory complex. We’re proud to have Wim as a member of our community, and proud that his accomplishments have been recognized through the E. O. Lawrence Awards." More>
Research: Where Do California’s Greenhouse Gases Come From?Last March, Berkeley Lab scientist Marc Fischer boarded a small airplane loaded with air monitoring equipment and crisscrossed the skies above Sacramento and the Bay Area. Instruments aboard the aircraft measured a cocktail of greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, methane from livestock and landfills, nitrous oxide from agriculture, and industrially produced gases such as refrigerants. The airborne survey is intended to improve inventories of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn will help scientists verify the emission reductions mandated by AB-32, the ambitious legislation passed by California in 2006 to slash the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. More>
Special Event: UC Hosts Forum on Post-Employment Benefits Today Employees are invited to attend an onsite forum on post- employment benefits today from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Building 50 Auditorium. The forum will include a presentation on the fiscal challenges facing the University of California and how retirement and medical benefits may be affected. Representatives from UC and the Lab will be on hand. Time will be allotted for attendees to ask questions. The forum will be webcast (link will be live shortly before 1 p.m.) and viewers can submit their questions via e-mail during the event.
[Renewable Energy World] If an international agreement on cutting emissions to fight climate change emerges, now in the works at the Copenhagen climate change summit, it will have much to do with the deal between the U.S. and China. What the U.S. offers and accepts in that deal will have much to do with how it sees China’s intentions to reduce and report its emissions. Nobody understands what China is doing to curb its emissions better than the scientists at Berkeley Lab, who have been working in China and with China on energy efficiency since 2005. More>
Also in the news, Berkeley Lab physicist Richard Muller wrote a commentary on China and climate change that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
The Korean BBQ catering truck that has been onsite during the cafeteria’s closure will not be at the Lab tomorrow. Employees will need to bring their own food or travel offsite.
Community Outreach: Lab Sponsors Holiday Food DriveThe Alameda County Community Food Bank and Berkeley Lab are hosting an onsite holiday food drive to help support and supply those in need of food. Staff who want to contribute can bring nutritious, non-perishable foods (no glass packaging) to work and deposit them in barrels in the cafeteria lobby, the 3rd floor of Building 90, the 3rd floor lobby of the Molecular Foundry (Bldg. 67), and the Joint Bioenergy Institute. Financial donations are also accepted online. As of yesterday, the Lab donated nearly $400 via the website. The drive ends Jan. 4.
Employee Activities: Discount Tickets for Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are bringing their 2010 Magical Memories World Tour to Oracle Arena in Oakland on Saturday, Jan. 16, for performances at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Now in their 84th consecutive season of touring the world, the Globetrotters showcase a captivating assortment of trick shots, high-flying dunks and ball-handling wizardry. Lab employees can save $10 per ticket off the regular price. Purchase online using BERKLAB as the promotion code. Deadline is Jan. 12.
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