Physicist Zumino Wins
Italy’s Fermi Prize

Zumino

Bruno Zumino, a guest in Berkeley Lab’s Physics Division and an Emeritus Professor of Physics on the UC Berkeley campus, has been named winner of the 2005 Enrico Fermi Prize, given annually by the Italian Physical Society. Zumino is an active member of the Theoretical Physics Group at the Lab. The 2005 prize is shared by Zumino with Dr. Sergio Ferrara and Dr. Gabriele Veneziano of CERN, for "contributions to the development of the modern theory of gravity." Zumino was cited in particular for "his contributions to the theory of supersymmetry and supergravity."

Structural Biologist Kim
Is Pitt Alumni ‘Laureate’

Kim

The University of Pittsburgh has named 13 new Legacy Laureates, Pitt alumni recognized for their outstanding personal and professional accomplishments, and Berkeley Lab’s Sung-Ho Kim of the Physical Biosciences Division is among them. The laureates will be honored Thursday at Legacy Laureate Day at Pitt. Kim was honored for “his life-saving scientific discoveries…Kim is a world authority on structural biology and structural and computational genomics and proteomics. The holder of 14 patents and co-founder of the drug discovery company Plexxikon, he has contributed to the discovery of drugs that interact with proteins to correct defects believed to cause specific diseases.” He received the Ph.D. in chemistry from Pitt. Full story.

For Some, Answer Is
Blowing in the Wind
By Nicholas Riccardi

Wiser

DENVER - Tom DeMoulin was not expecting a bargain when he began buying his electricity from wind farms in the late 1990s. But starting next month, DeMoulin's conscience-driven decision will save him money. Because of skyrocketing natural gas and coal prices, the state's 29,000 wind-energy customers for the first time will pay less than Xcel Energy's 1.3 million customers who use conventionally generated power. It is the latest example of rising energy costs making wind power increasingly attractive to consumers. "Is it possibly a tipping point? Absolutely," said Ryan Wiser, a scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Berkeley Lab. "We have a circumstance where wind-power generation looks pretty competitive." Full story.

Open Enrollment, the time of year when employees have the opportunity to make changes to their health and welfare coverage, will begin on Nov. 1 and run through Nov. 30. Changes made during this Open Enrollment period will take effect on Jan. 1, 2006. A University of California Open Enrollment pamphlet will be sent to employees’ homes at the end of October. Additionally, look for information from the Berkeley Lab Benefits Office about upcoming Open Enrollment activities, including Lab-wide employee presentations and the Vendor Fair. These will be announced in upcoming editions of Today At Berkeley Lab.

First in a series of profiles of local charities highlighted in the Berkeley Lab SHARES charitable giving campaign.

Berkeley Biotechnology Education, Inc., is a nonprofit organization that coordinates a hands-on, science-based education and job-training program for students typically underrepresented in science and technology. Established by Bayer HealthCare as part of a long-term development agreement with the City of Berkeley, BBEI has contracted with over 60 industry partners and works with two school districts. Find out more about BBEI here. Berkeley Lab employees can donate to this organization, and many more, through the SHARES campaign, now through Nov. 18. To learn more about SHARES, go here. To make online contributions, go here. Send any questions to the SHARES answer line here.