New York Air to Have
Its Genes Sequenced
By Celeste Bievere

Rubin

The scientist who raced against the publicly funded project to decode the human genome will soon be sequencing the genomes of all the microbes floating in New York City air. The "air genome project" was announced by Craig Venter of the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland on Monday. He says it could lead to the discovery of previously unknown organisms and aid biosecurity. "The air has been minimally explored," says Berkeley Lab's Eddy Rubin, director of the Joint Genome Institute. "This will provide a way to see what is blowing around and to see if we could use it to secure the air." Full story.

Material Promises
Denser DVDs

By using electron beams to read, write and erase memory bits on a storage media, researchers with Berkeley Lab and Hewlett-Packard hope to cram more than 10 times the amount of information into the same amount of physical space. Jacek Jasinski and Zuzanna Liliental-Weber of the Materials Sciences Division were part of the collaboration that found a way to create diodes in layers of indium selenium and gallium selenium on a silicon chip then use bursts from an electron beam to read, write or delete information. With much smaller wavelengths than lightwaves, electron beams can work with much smaller bits. Full story.

Cool Surfaces in Future
Of Residential Roofing

Energy-efficient roofing materials are becoming more popular, but most commercially available products are geared toward the low-slope sector. However, research and development are taking place to produce "cool" residential roofing materials. In 2002, the California Energy Commission asked Berkeley Lab and Oak Ridge National Lab to collaborate with a consortium of 16 manufacturing partners and develop "cool" non-white roofing products that could revolutionize the residential roofing industry. Full story.

Gray

Joe Gray, associate lab director of Biosciences, was one of 11 named as Kansas State University 2005 Alumni Fellows. He received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the school in 1972. The honor recognizes alumni who have "distinguished themselves in their careers." Fellows are chosen by each college (Gray was enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences) and are invited to return to campus as guests and mentors. A complete list of fellows is available here.

Travel Office Moves
To PowerBar Site

In addition to the Human Resources Office, the Lab's Travel Office and Conference Services will move from Building 937 to the second floor of the PowerBar Building, located at Center St. and Shattuck Ave., adjacent to the downtown Berkeley BART station. Their phone extension, x4500, will remain the same, but their mail stop will be MS9390200. Due to this move, there may be some delay in responding to e-mail and voice mail messages. Employees are asked to be patient during this transition.

DOE Chief of Staff Joe
McMonigle Resigns

McMonigle

Department of Energy Chief of Staff Joseph McMonigle, who has been a top official at the Energy Department since the very first day of the Bush Administration, announced his resignation effective March 5. McMonigle has served as DOE Chief of Staff since December 2002 and was previously Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Secretary. In addition to his Chief of Staff duties, McMonigle also was Vice Chairman of the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) Board of Governors as well as Chairman of the DOE-China Energy Cooperation Working Group. Full story.