Public Hearing Held
On Impact Report

Berkeley Lab held a public hearing on the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for its 2006 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) on Monday evening. Terry Powell, the Lab’s Community Relations Officer, opened the hearing, and Jeff Philliber of the Lab’s Facilities Division gave a short presentation that summarized the EIR. Approximately 30 people attended the hearing, and 14 provided comments. Berkeley Lab will respond to all of the comments in writing in the final EIR. The EIR is undergoing a public review process that ends on March 23. The draft EIR, LRDP, and additional information are available here.

Veteran Staffer Fills
Research Integrity Post

A newly created position, Research and Institutional Integrity Manager, has been filled by Meredith Montgomery, a 24-year Lab administrator and manager. Chief Operations Officer David McGraw established the post to monitor the Lab’s compliance in its policies and actions with University of California Standards of Ethical Conduct. Montgomery serves as the Lab’s Research Integrity, Conflict of Interest, and Investigations Manager, working with the Directorate and Laboratory Counsel. The Lab’s whistleblower program is also under her purview. Most recently, Montgomery served as Group Leader for Investigations in Internal Audit. For more information, contact Montgomery.

Biologist is Featured
Role Model in Guide

Fuss

Berkeley Lab life scientist Jill Fuss is featured in a resource guide for educators seeking to boost interest in science for girls in elementary and high school. Fuss is among the role models profiled in the guide, called "Get Involved. Make a Difference." In the article, Fuss discusses how she got interested in science and how she uses her car — a Volkswagon Jetta that runs on vegetable oil — to teach students about environmental issues. Go here to read the article (see page 6). A View story on Fuss's car is available here.

Blueprint for New
Bioscience Institute
By Rick DelVecchio

Somerville

A brain trust of UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab scientists will staff a new Energy Biosciences Institute funded by British Petroleum. And Chris Somerville, a Stanford professor and and physical bioscientist at Berkeley Lab, is in line to lead the institute's 150-member staff, according to interviews and a previously undisclosed document that is the institute's blueprint. Somerville said Monday he was involved in writing the proposal to BP and has been considering the possibility of moving to the UC Berkeley faculty. He said nothing has been decided. Full story.

South Pole Telescope
Achieves First Light

Lee
Spieler

Scientists aimed the South Pole Telescope at Jupiter on the evening of Feb. 16 and successfully collected the instrument's first test observations. Soon, far more distant quarry will fall under the SPT's sights as a team from nine institutions — including Berkeley Lab physicists Adrian Lee and Helmuth Spieler — tackles one of the biggest mysteries of modern cosmological research. That mystery: What is dark energy, the force that dominates the universe? Full story.

Lab Postdoc Blogs
About Hubble Setback

Dawson

Berkeley Lab physics postdoc Kyle Dawson says the recent failure of the advanced camera on the Hubble Space Telescope was a tragic loss for his research group, which was applying for time on the telescope to look for distant supernovae. Their proposals were due Jan. 26 — the same day the camera suffered a short circuit. Dawson reflects on this, and on the studies that will now have to wait 18 months for repairs, in his contributed blog to KQED's Quest project. Read it here.