Lab's Guesthouse
Gets Downtown Support
By Richard Brenneman

A Berkeley Lab plan to build a 25,000-square-foot, 60-bedroom, four-story guesthouse at the lab poses no significant negative environmental impacts, Lab officials contend. Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks says he’s inclined to agree, especially when the relatively small lodging facility is compared with the lab’s plans for major construction projects outlined in their draft Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) covering the years through 2025. And the president of the Downtown Berkeley Association, which has argued consistently for the university to develop a more symbiotic relationship with downtown businesses—including restaurants and hotels— says the organization has no objections to the plan. Full story.

Use Blue or Orange
Bus for Quick Service

For a majority of the Lab's bus passengers, using either the blue or orange shuttle will get them to their destination in about the same time, as opposed to waiting for a specific bus. For example, someone traveling to Building 2 who misses the 9:30 a.m. blue bus at the downtown BART station can take the 9:38 a.m. orange bus and arrive in about 23 minutes. Waiting for another blue bus would take about 26 minutes. Go here to view bus routes and schedules. Comments and suggestions can be sent to Tammy Brown.

Staff Discount Tickets
For Amusement Parks

Representatives from the Lab's Employee Activities Association will be stationed in the cafeteria lobby tomorrow, from noon to 1 p.m., selling discount tickets for Universal Studios Hollywood, Waterworld, and Discovery Kingdom (formerly Marine World). Checks only will be accepted. For more information, contact the EAA coordinator.

Lab Life Sciences Students
Win Campus Poster Honors

Several UC Berkeley students working in the Lab's Life Sciences Division received outstanding awards at the campus' Molecular and Cell Biology Spring Honors Research Poster Session in April. They include Jason Jung (mentored by Aaron Boudreau), Kathy Zhang and Imran Khan (both mentored by Steven Yannone), Matue Hakimi (mentored by Kelly Trego), David Adler (mentored by Francis Rodier), and Lisa Tseng (Paola Timiras Lab).

Ultra-Cold Gas Makes
Great Magnetometer
By Robert Sanders

Stamper-Kurn

Capturing the coldest atoms in the universe within the confines of a laser beam, UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab physicists have made a device that can map magnetic fields more precisely than ever before. "This is not a bulk sensor for magnetic fields, but a precision magnetometer that can measure the magnetic field over small length scales, on the order of microns - a thousand times smaller than a millimeter - with a field sensitivity which is comparable to or better than modern scanning-SQUID microscopes," said Lab materials scientist Dan Stamper-Kurn. Full story.

Lab Invention Wins
'Emerging ' Award

Chen

A Berkeley Lab nanocrystal inorganic solar cell technology invented by Associate Lab Director and materials scientist Paul Alivisatos and two non-Lab colleagues has won a 2007 TechConnect Emerging Technology Award. Lab life scientist Fanqing Chen was also selected to present his invention, “Predictive Methodology and Tools for Nanotoxicology,” to the TechConnect/CleanTech Summit taking place this week in Santa Clara.  The Lab's Technology Transfer Department will have a booth in the exhibit hall tomorrow showcasing Lab inventions for industry and investment leaders. Go here for more information on these technologies and the summit's agenda.

Public Information
And External Relations

Several Berkeley Lab policies bear upon interactions with the news media: (1) public information documents prepared for general audiences; (2) a specified clearance procedure for press releases; (3) Laboratory staff who are independently approached by reporters; and (4) employees who are asked to reflect the results of their Laboratory work in the media. To assist with the interview process and help Lab employees to be most effective in their experiences, the Communications Department provides classes on successful interactions with the press. The complete Lab policy on public information and external relations can be found here.