Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1998
Lab director testifies on Foreign Visitor Program
Laboratory Director John Browne testified Tuesday before the House Subcommittee on Military Procurement, Committee on National Security, regarding the Lab's Foreign Visitor Program. A transcript of that testimony is available online on the Director's Page.
Future@lanl.gov established to help find answers to worker problems, concerns or suggestions
The Oct. 5 Daily Newsbulletin announcement told readers where they could access the questions and subsequent responses to questions posed to the director in his meetings with those in the technician and office support/general support series.
Here is some background on the venue to use. Last week at one of Director John Browne's meetings with technicians, members of the audience were encouraged to write to future@lanl.gov with questions and concerns that time did not allow Browne to address. Future@lanl.gov is an online venue that is now part of the Ombuds Office. The purpose of this communication tool is to find answers to worker problems, concerns or suggestions, and to share that information with the workforce. All submissions to this e-mail address are kept in the strictest confidence, though employees should be aware that e-mail communications are subject to security scrutiny.
The submissions, cleaned of any personal identification, are routed to the person in the Laboratory most likely to have the response. The Ombudsman does not answer the questions unless the topics discussed are in his field of expertise. The response is returned to the administrators of future@lanl.gov, both of whom have committed to and signed the Ombuds Office confidentiality contract. The administrators forward the response to the person making the inquiry. The responder's identity is known. So that all employees can read both the questions and answers, these are posted on the Director's page at http://www.lanl.gov/external/news/director/, as noted in the Oct. 5 Daily Newsbulletin.
Panel discusses Hispanics and science and engineering
New Mexico has a long history of science and technology that stretches back hundreds if not thousands, of years. And Hispanics have played a major role in this technological evolution.
One of the first Hispanic scientists at Los Alamos was Luis Alvarez, who worked on the Manhattan Project, according to Donald Sandoval of Nuclear and Hydrodynamic Applications (X-NH).
Leonard Romero of Health Physics Measurements (ESH-4) said farmers and settlers who grew up in New Mexico in centuries past demonstrated their technological excellence in how they designed and built "molinas," or mills, and how they terraced their land to cultivate crops.
"Technology . . . is really the engine that changes the quality of our lives," said Jacob Perea of the Dynamic Experimentation (DX) Division Office.
Sandoval, Romero and Perea were three of the Lab employees who spoke about Hispanics and science and engineering at a panel discussion Monday at the Manuel Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center Auditorium at Technical Area 53.
The panel discussion was part of the Laboratory's observance of national Hispanic Heritage Month. "400 Years of Technology in New Mexico: A Cuarto Centenario Commemorative," is the theme for the Lab's celebration of national Hispanic Heritage Month, which continues through Oct. 15.
Hispanic Heritage Month activities continue today with a talk about herbal medicinals by Eliseo Torres, vice president of Student Affairs at the University of New Mexico, at noon in the Physics Building Auditorium at TA-3.
"There's a lot of Hispanics involved in nuclear weapons that go un-named," Donald Sandoval continued. "Hispanics are going to be involved in the Lab for a long time, including myself . . . Hispanics will play an important role in maintaining the Lab."
Richard Castro of Materials Technology: Metallurgy (MST-6) said the Hispanic Heritage Month theme of 400 years of technology reminds us that technology "impacts our lives, changes our lives."
"Sometimes we forget what it took to get us to this point," said Castro. "Technology is an enduring cycle. We have a problem, we solve it. Then another problem comes along."
Castro called the state a "fantastic contributor to all forms of technology, not just nuclear weapons. New Mexico really is a melting pot, especially Los Alamos.
"Quite a few people came to this town to work on a project that was important to the nation," he said.
Panel member Carlos Garcia of Integrated Science and Technology (EM-IS&T) echoed Castro, saying New Mexico's technological roots go back forever. "There's a lot of history of science and technology," he said.
Garcia raised chuckles in the audience when he said that the famous rocket scientist Robert Goddard came to Roswell after "he got chased out of Massachusetts."
"He made to much racket," said Garcia. "Where'd he come? To beautiful New Mexico," said Garcia.
Added Octavio Vela of the Engineering Sciences and Applications (ESA) Division Office, "Technology is an evolutionary science. Technology is accelerating at an exponential rate."
An admitted Star Trek fan, Vela said science fiction is a good predictor of the future of technology.
Shirley Herrera of Business Information Systems (CIC-13) grew up in San Juan, a small community between Pecos and Las Vegas, N.M. She always liked math in school, she said. Whenever she was tested, profiles always indicated she would make a good psychologist.
But a math teacher encouraged her to continue studying math and technology. She's been at the Lab 11 years working with and managing computer information databases. Because of technological advances, said Herrera, multiple databases previously stored in various locations can now be stored simultaneously on one or two databases.
Romero of ESH-4 said as a child growing up in Truchas he wanted to be an engineer. After receiving his bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from New Mexico Highlands University, Romero joined the Lab in 1974. He recently received his master's degree in health physics.
"I believe education and technology has improved our quality of life and will continue to improve that quality," he said.
Abad Sandoval of University Programs (STB-DSTBP) called himself the dinosaur of the panel, noting that he came to Los Alamos in 1943, the 46th family on the hill. He's had a badge since he was 8 years old.
Sandoval returned to the Lab in 1961; In the 1970s he joined with another co-worker to draft a postion paper for then Laboratory Director Harold Agnew on an equal employment opportunity program for the Lab. "We were labeled as troublemakers," he said. A few years later, he was again labeled a malcontent, he said, for advocating that the Lab start an education outreach program.
Today, Abad Sandoval runs programs to attract students, Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike, to work at Los Alamos. "We've come full circle as Hispanics," he said, noting that of the 126 students who worked at the Lab this summer in University Programs-run employment programs, 63 were Hispanic. "There's really hope," said Abad Sandoval. "It makes you proud. I could leave the Lab today and be really happy."
On Oct. 14, archaeologist Brad Vierra of Ecology (ESH-20) will talk about the findings of his archaeological excavation of a campsite in the late 1980s near the Coronado Monument in Bernalillo. Vierra's talk begins at noon in the Department of Energy's Los Alamos Area Office conference room at Technical Area 43.
For more information about Hispanic Heritage Month activities at the Lab, go to http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/dvo/hdwg/hhmonth.html online.
--Steve Sandoval
Rich Castro, center motioning, of Materials Technology: Metallurgy (MST-6) makes his opening remarks during a panel discussion Monday at the Manuel Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center Auditorium at Technical Area 53. The panel discussion on Hispanics in science and engineering, was part of the Laboratory's Hispanic Heritage Month activities, which continue through mid-October. Other panelists from left to right are Octavio Vela of the Engineering Sciences and Applications (ESA) Division Office; Jacob Perea of the Dynamic Experimentation (DX-DO) Division Office; Carlos Garcia of Integrated Science and Technology (EM-IS&T); Donald Sandoval of Nuclear and Hydrodynamic Applications (X-NH); Leonard Romero of Health Physics Measurements (ESH-4); Shirley Herrera of Business Information Systems (CIC-13); and Abad Sandoval of University Programs in the Science and Technology Base Programs Office (STB-DSTBP). Photo by Fred Rick
ESH Division issues two notices
The Environment, Safety and Health (ESH) Division recently issued two notices. The purpose of the first notice is to reinforce the Laboratory's expectation that work-for-others shall be authorized and performed according to the principles and mechanisms of Integrated Safety Management. The purpose of the second notice is to emphasize the need for employees to wear their assigned external dosimeters at all times.
The work-for-others notice is online at http://iosun.la nl.gov:1800/pdfs/ops/alerts/Notice0020.pdf; the external dosimetry notice also is online at http://iosun.la nl.gov:1800/pdfs/ops/alerts/Notice0019.pdf (Adobe Acrobat required for both).
Compensation and Benefits services limited today
The Laboratory's Compensation and Benefits (HR-1) Office in the Otowi Building will be short staffed on Thursday, because benefits specialists will be attending training sessions.
The office will be open to handle emergencies and already scheduled meetings will take place. But employees may expect delays in service, said Rosella Atencio-Gerst of HR-1.
For more information, call 7-1806 or write to benefits@lanl.gov by electronic mail.
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