Paid Holiday Change
In Shut-Down Period

During this year's December shut-down period, Lab employees will now have to use only one vacation or leave-without-pay day instead of two.   Thursday, Dec. 30 has been designated as one of the New Year's holidays instead of Monday, Jan. 3, 2005. As a result, the only day during the shutdown period that is not a paid holiday is Wednesday, Dec. 29. Go here to view this revised holiday schedule.

Free Program Displays
Mars Rover Photos

NASA's Mars rovers are still sending spectacular images of the Red Planet back to Earth. The Computational Research Division's Chip Smith has compiled the best of them into a one-hour big-screen program for showing to interested employees, students and friends. Some views are in 3-D (Smith will provide the glasses). Besides a scheduled showing every Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Room 50B-1211, Smith will make special arrangements for groups of up to 20 people. Contact him here to schedule a showing.

Phyllis Pei Named
New EH&S Director

Pei

Laboratory Director Charles Shank yesterday introduced his appointment of Phyllis Pei as Division Director to members of the Environment, Health and Safety staff. Her selection follows a nationwide search for a successor to David McGraw, who has been Division Director for Business Services since October. Pei is currently serving as EH&S Senior Director at Applied Materials, a 12,000-employee semiconductor company in Santa Clara. She will assume her Laboratory duties on Aug. 16. Go here to read more about Pei in Shank's appointment memo.

Zach's place at Adeline and Harmon Streets in Berkeley.

Radding's 'Cool Stuff'
Facility Seeks PC's

After almost a year of construction, "Zach's Cool Stuff" - the hands-on, build-it-yourself brainchild of Engineering Division's Zach Radding, is about to open its doors. Classes for students and teachers in the Berkeley facility will require adequately equipped workshops, and Radding needs working computers to make it all happen. To donate an older PC - Pentium 2 or newer - contact Radding. The story in The View that introduced Radding's dream can be read here, and the Zach's Cool Stuff website provides updated information.

McClure, Former Lab Engineer, Passes Away

McClure

Frank McClure — who served as head of the Lab's Civil/Structural Section of Plant Engineering from 1978 to 1989 and was a senior staff scientist at the time of his retirement in 1992 — died last Friday at his home in Orinda. McClure, who was 80 years old when he passed, was considered a leading Bay Area earthquake engineer and researcher. He was a key force in the University of California Seismic Safety program. Go here to read an obituary that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle.