Lab, Campus Join in Bid
For DOE Energy Centers

As published in the April 9 issue of Today at Berkeley Lab, DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences has announced the initiation of Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) to accelerate the rate of scientific breakthroughs needed to create advanced energy technologies. Over the next month, pre-proposals from Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley will be weighed together in a joint review process to optimize this opportunity. Lab Deputy Director Paul Alivisatos strongly encourages all interested groups to submit pre-proposals by May 15. Go here to view DOE guidelines, pre-proposal funding instructions, and the Federal Funding Opportunity announcement. Go here to view BES workshop reports, and here to view the Grants.gov announcement on the Center.

Environment Website
Features Chu Profile

Chu receiving his Nobel Prize

The online publication Environmental Research Web currently features a profile of Berkeley Lab Director Steve Chu. The article traces his career, from his student days at the University of Rochester and doctorate at UC Berkeley to his work at Bell Labs, where he developed his Nobel-Prize-winning research on cooling atoms with lasers. The story also covers his current work helming Berkeley Lab and initiatives to develop alternative energy. Full story.

Swiss Collider Creates Excitement and Fear

Michelangelo Mangano, a respected particle physicist who helped discover the top quark in 1995, now spends most days trying to convince people that his new machine won't destroy the world. What the critics are in such a lather about is the $8-billion Large Hadron Collider, a massive assemblage of iron, steel and superconducting wire 300 feet underground in a 17-mile-long circular tunnel on the Franco-Swiss border. The collider will send particles crashing into each other at just a wink shy of the speed of light, generating energies more powerful than the sun. Critics think the collider could also spawn a black hole that will swallow Earth. Full story.

Website Dedicated to 937
Move Has Been Launched

The 937 website includes a video on safe moving

Lab staff seeking information about the upcoming Building 937 move are encouraged to visit a new website with a schedule, FAQ, videos, and helpful links. Employees with questions and comments can also e-mail [email protected]. E-mail will be answered by Facilities Division staff. These resources are intended to help employees navigate the largest Lab move in a decade. Between this July and January 2009, approximately 390 Lab employees will move to new workspaces to accommodate the 179 staff who are moving from Building 937, located in downtown Berkeley, to the main site. Be sure to check out the site’s amusing yet informative video on moving safely.

Auto-Response Technology
Gets ‘Innovation’ Award

The Peak Load Management Alliance has selected the development team of the Automated Demand Response (AutoDR) project as the winner of the 2007 “Innovative Application of Commercial & Industrial Technology Award.” Berkeley Lab team members include Mary Ann Piette, Francis Rubinstein, Sila Kiliccote, and Rish Ghatikar of the Demand Response Research Center, and employees of Pacific Gas & Electric. Automated DR is a technology that automatically reduces power use in buildings in response to a price or electricity grid condition signal on the Internet. Find out more about the AutoDR Project here.

New President, Budget
Info in ‘Our University’

Yudof

The latest edition of Our University, a periodic online publication for University of California employees, includes stories on new president Mark Yudof, an earthquake warning system, and working at the Lick Observatory, in addition to other articles. Go here to view the newsletter.