Director of Health
Institute Visits Lab

Roger Falcone (above left), director of the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley Lab and professor of physics at UC Berkeley, guides National Institutes of Health director Elias Zerhouni on a tour of the ALS during a recent visit. Zerhouni was here to learn more about NIH-funded research on campus and at the Lab.The Lab received approximately $42 million in NIH grants last year.

Talk on Technologies
For Poor Communities

Darfur cookstove

Ashok Gadgil, with Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division, will present a lecture on "Water & Fire: Technologies for Poor Communities in Developing Countries" on Friday at 6 p.m. in the Bechtel Engineering Center's Sibley Auditorium. During his talk, Gadgil will describe two technologies he developed to help improve the lives of others: a low-cost water purification system and efficient cookstoves for use by Darfurian refugees. The event is sponsored by the campus's Energy and Resources Group.

Dispose of Chemicals
Properly or Risk Fines

Berkeley Lab was fined $28,000 last month by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control for hazardous waste violations that resulted from inspections between 2003 and 2005. Specifically, the Lab was fined for transporting hazardous materials to the 903 Warehouse, which is not authorized to accept hazardous waste. Employees are reminded that chemicals should be disposed of properly and at designated sites. The Lab was also fined for holding hazardous waste in a Satellite Accumulation Area for more than one year, which is a California Health and Safety Code violation. It is Lab policy to accumulate wastes for no more than 9 months. Waste requisitions should be submitted at least two weeks prior to the nine-month date. This policy helps us stay in compliance with the one-year regulatory limit. Training classes, posters, and other tools are available to all Lab employees who generate and manage hazardous waste here.

Tech-Transfer, Patent
Departments Merge

The Lab's Technology Transfer and Patent Departments have merged.  The new Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Management Department is now a streamlined, one-stop shop for managing all of the Lab's intellectual property and licensing matters, and a central resource on industry relations. Go here for more information on Technology Transfer, or contact the department directly (x6467). Send details on new inventions or technology here.

Industry-Academic
Grants Available

A one-year pilot project will allow UC Discovery Grants to jointly fund with companies UC research teams undertaking high-impact projects in energy and environment, health and wellness, and rapid application of nanotechnology. Successful proposals will be multidisciplinary and converge technologies in novel research approaches to problems requiring societal scale solutions. The deadline for proposals is May 17. Go here for more information.

New Heyday Under
Way in Silicon Valley

This opinion piece by Tapan Munroe appeared in Friday's Contra Costa Times

Silicon Valley has regained its pre-eminence as the world's leading center for creativity and innovation in business and technology. This iconic region's competitive edge has to do with the basic efficiency measure in economics — productivity. Silicon Valley's high productivity stems from innovation. The region's capacity to continuously generate new ideas, new products, new ways of managing businesses and attracting the best workers are the fundamental sources of its productivity. Silicon Valley has access to world-class research universities such as UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and Stanford University and think tanks such as Berkeley Lab, Livermore Lab, and the Xerox Research Center. Full article.