Today at Berkeley Lab: March 6 2008

Thursday, March 6, 2008

More on these and future activities is available on the

Today

Noon
Environmental Energy Technologies
A Neo-Rumsfeldian Framework for the Thermodynamics of Organic Particulate Matter Formation in the Atmosphere: Successes and Challenges
James Pankow
Bldg. 90-3122

1:30 p.m.
Materials Sciences
Towards a First Principles Description of Ice Nucleation and Salt Dissolution
Angelos Michaelides
Bldg. 66 Auditorium

4 p.m.
Physics Department
B Semileptonic Decays in the BaBar Experiment
David Lopes Pegna
Bldg. 50A-5132

Tomorrow

8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
CITRIS
UC Berkeley Energy Symposium: Leadership at the Nexus of Science, Policy, & Business
MLK Student Union, campus

10 a.m.
EHS 10
Introduction to EH&S at Berkeley Lab
Bldg. 70A-3377

Noon
Yoga Club
Class with Naomi Hartwig
Bldg. 70-191

Noon
Dance Club
Practice Session
Bldg. 51 Lobby

1 p.m.
Scientific Computing
C^³ Exploration of Chemical Spaces: Towards Rational Design of Molecules and Materials
Maciej Haranczyk
Bldg. 50A-5132

2 p.m.
Nano Institute
Dynamics of Organization at the Nanometer Scale
Phil Geissler
180 Tan Hall

4 p.m.
Chemistry Department
Electron Transfer Reactions in Mesoscopic Systems
Michael Graetzel
120 Latimer Hall

March 3-7 Menu

Breakfast
6:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Lunch
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Coffee Bar
Mon. - Fri: 6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Weekends: 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Climate Computers
Create Energy Efficiency





Simon

The banks of the Columbia River in Oregon used to provide cheap hydroelectricity for aluminum smelters. Now the resource is being used by "data smelters." Computing is an energy-intensive industry, and the world's biggest companies are contemplating re-engineering to curb their demand. Horst Simon, Berkeley Lab’s associate director for Computing Sciences, is working on the “climate computer,” which would use arrays of less powerful, and power-hungry, processors. Simon and his colleagues think they can build a system that consumes a hundredth of the power of an existing data center without too much loss of computational oomph. Full story.

JGI Characterizes
Plant-Fungi Symbiosis





Laccaria bicolor

Plants gained their ancestral toehold on dry land with considerable help from their fungal friends. Now, millennia later, that partnership is being exploited as a strategy to bolster biomass production for next generation biofuels. The genetic mechanism of this kind of symbiosis, which contributes to the delicate ecological balance in healthy forests, also provides insights into plant health that may enable more efficient carbon sequestration and enhanced phytoremediation — using plants to clean up environmental contaminants. These prospects stem from the genome analysis of the symbiotic fungus Laccaria bicolor, generated by the Joint Genome Institute and collaborators. Full story.

DOE Offical Visits Lab to Hear Facility Upgrade
Proposal, and Safety and Security Approaches





Jones, left, and Lab Chief Operating Officer David McGraw

Marc Jones, associate director of the Office of Science’s Office of Safety, Security, and Infrastructure, is spending two days at Berkeley Lab to discuss proposals with Lab leadership on seismic upgrades and modernization of buildings, as well as approaches to site access and security, and the prevention of ergonomic injuries.

The Office of Science is sponsoring an Infrastructure Modernization Initiative that, if funded, would seismically strengthen and modernize many of the Lab's older structures. Ths program would be the largest improvement to general infrastructure ever experienced at Berkeley Lab. As a critical DOE policy maker in safety and security, Jones was briefed about the Lab's ergonomic early intervention program, traffic safety efforts, and approaches to site access and cybersecurity.

Representatives from Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, UC Office of the President, and the DOE Berkeley Site Office participated in the discussions with Jones.

Physical Bioscientist
Gets NSF Award





Lee

Seung-Wuk Lee, with Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division and an assistant professor at UC Berkeley, has received a 2008 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award. CAREER awards are given to young researchers in science and engineering who have also translated their work into significant education activities. With his award, Lee will focus on a key question in the bone biomineralization process in our body, exploring how proteins recognize bone crystal surfaces and regulate bone mineralization.

Microscopy Award
For NCEM’s Watanabe





Watanabe, left, receiving his award

Masashi Watanabe, with Berkeley Lab's National Center for Electron Microscopy, has won the Kazato Prize for "Developments of Materials Characterization and Quantitative Analysis Methods in Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy" from the Kazato Research Foundation, Japan. This prize is awarded to researchers under the age of 45 for scientific excellence in the field of electron microscopy. Watanabe will give an award lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Japan Microscopy Society in Kyoto in May.




Gibson

Retired Electrician Gibson Passes Away

Jonathon Gibson, a lead electrician with Berkeley Lab’s Facilities Division, passed away on Feb. 25 following complications from acute leukemia. Gibson started working at the Lab in 1987 and retired in 2001. A memorial is scheduled for April 26 at 2 p.m. in a park on Wilton Drive in Oakland. Donations in Gibson’s name can be made to Trout Unlimited or the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Go here to read a San Francisco Chronicle obituary on Gibson.

WEATHER

Partly cloudy.
High: 58° (14° C)

Extended Forecast

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Non-emergency Incident Reporting: Call x6999

SECON level 3

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