Chu Speaks Thursday
At Commonwealth Club

Chu

Berkeley Lab Director Steve Chu, one of the Nobelists being honored in the San Francisco Exploratorium's new exhibition celebrating the first 100 years of the prize, will be featured in a conversation sponsored by the Commonwealth Club on Thursday. The program, which begins at 6:30 p.m. (reception at 6 p.m.) at the club's headquarters at 595 Market Street in San Francisco, is entitled, "The Nobel Prize, Managing Science and Solving the World Energy Crisis." Tickets are $18 and reservations are encouraged. Go here for information.

Director Touts Alternate
Energy in Op-Ed Piece

In an opinion column in yesterday's edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, Berkeley Lab Director Steve Chu says that addressing the coming energy crisis, including finding an alternative, environmentally responsible source of energy, is "the single most important problem that science and technology must solve in the coming decades." In describing the potential for developing biological systems that convert solar to chemical energy, Chu said that at Berkeley Lab "this energy challenge has captured the imagination of some of our very best scientists, and we are mounting a major, multi-disciplinary initiative to create sustainable, carbon-neutral sources of energy." Read the Op-Ed here.

Additional Information
On Military Leave Policy

An article on UC's proposed extension to its military pay policy in Friday's edition of Today at Berkeley Lab did not include a link to more information on the proposed change. Go here to read these additional details.

WOW Sponsors Safety
Carnival for Employees

Safety clown Jeff Philliber

Members of the "Workers Observing Workers," or WOW, group sponsored a carnival last Thursday for employees in the Engineering, Facilities, and Environment, Health, and Safety Divisions. The event was organized as a fun and engaging way to impart information on working safely. It featured booths, games, and demonstrations, each focusing on a different safety theme. For example, EH&S director Phyllis Pei donned a slicker and got drenched to show the importance of safety showers. A photo of Pei and other staff who participated in the carnival can be viewed here.

Rock Mechanic Award
For Earth Scientist

Tsang

The American Rock Mechanics Association has awarded Berkeley Lab earth scientist Chin-Fu Tsang its 2005 Award for Applied Rock Mechanics. The award recognizes the seminal contributions he made in his studies of "Geohydromechanical Processes in the Excavation Damaged Zone in Crystalline Rock, Rock Salt, and Indurated and Plastic Clays — In the Context of Radioactive Waste Disposal." Results of these studies were published in a major paper in the International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences early this year. Tsang received his award at the ARMA Annual Conference in Anchorage, Alaska in late June.