Large Public Health, Economic Impact of Mold

A pair of studies to be published in the journal Indoor Air have quantified the considerable public health risks and economic consequences in the United States from building dampness and mold. One paper by William Fisk, Quanhong Lei-Gomez and Mark Mendell, with Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division, concludes that building dampness and mold raised the risk of a variety of respiratory and asthma-related health outcomes by 30 to 50 percent. Full story.

ALS Colleagues Say Krebs
Was Popular, Dedicated

Co-workers of the late Gary Krebs, leader of the Advanced Light Source's User Services group, share their thoughts on his life and career in an obituary that appears on the ALS website. He passed away suddenly on Tuesday on travel to a conference at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Go here to read the full article.

Support for Grieving Staff
Available at CARE Services

With the recent deaths of the Advanced Light Source's Gary Krebs, and former staffer Cynthia Tilden, the Lab's Benefits Office would like to remind employees of the support available through the campus's CARE Services. The organization provides free confidential assessment and referrals for those dealing with grief and loss. Go here for more details.

Share Your Thoughts
On Staff Newspaper

Employees are invited to share their comments and suggestions on The View, Berkeley Lab's monthly staff newspaper. A brief online survey is available here, or fill out and mail the survey card included in the May 18 edition. Those who do not regularly read The View or are not familiar with the publication are also encouraged to take the survey. The feedback will help editors improve the content and delivery of the newspaper.

Changing the World,
One Gallon at a Time
By Colin Stewart

Consumers with incomes of $1 to $2 a day aren't an appealing market for most businesses. "They're struggling to put food on the table - if they have a table," says Ashok Gadgil, with Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. But a company called WaterHealth International, of which Gadgil is a vice president, believes it can make money by selling clean water to customers in some of the world's poorest communities. Gadgil, an Indian immigrant, invented a low-cost, ultraviolet water purification system, which was licensed to WaterHealth. Full story.

Nanophotonics Topic
Of Computing Talk

Yoo

Ben Yoo of UC Davis will discuss “Energy Efficient Large-Scale Computing with Nanophotonic Interconnects” at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Building 50A-5132. This talk will address a clean-slate approach to realizing next generation computing and data centers by exploiting co-designed nanophotonics and nanoelectronics. By introducing massively parallel optically interconnected multi-processors, and by exploiting innovative hardware and software solutions, Yoo is seeking orders-of-magnitude improvement in performance-per-watt in the next generation computing and data centers.

Discount Staff Tickets
For Cal Shakes Plays

Berkeley Lab's Outdoors Club is sponsoring a discount ticket promotion for the California Shakespeare Theater's Richard III, May 30 to June 24. To get the discount , call the box office at 548-9666 and mention code “LBL." The discount is not available online.  Cal Shakes is a highly acclaimed company that stages four major works each summer in the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda.  For more information, go here.