Team Gets NASA
Grant for Mars Study
By Barb Berggoetz

Indiana University scientists will lead a team of researchers using a $5 million NASA grant to study ways to explore the surface of Mars. Other scientists on the IU-led team will come from Princeton University, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, University of Toronto, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Berkeley Lab, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Lunar Planetary Institute of the Universities Space Research Association. In the IU-led project, professors and students will explore deep mines in South Africa and the Antarctic Circle. The information the IU-led team hopes to find is crucial for developing ways to detect life that can be tested on Earth and deployed on future Mars missions. Full story.

Former Employee Goldstein Dies at 54

Michael Goldstein, who worked as a human resources specialist at Berkeley Lab for eleven years before leaving in 1999, died in a bicycling accident in Larkspur on July 4. He was 54. In addition to his human resources role, Goldstein helped to organize the Berkeley Lab Runaround, and served as judge for the annual t-shirt design contest for the event. An avid cyclist, who was known to ride up to 200 miles a week, Goldstein generously shared his biking passion with others. He was active with a group called "Trips for Kids," where he helped to lead mountain bike trips for inner city children. Goldstein is survived by his wife Linda and daughter Sarah. A memorial service was held Monday, July 7. Donations in his memory can be sent to Trips for Kids in San Rafael, or Hospice of Marin.