LOS ALAMOS WOMEN IN SCIENCE

Northern Chapter of the New Mexico Network for Women in Science and Engineering

July 2000 NEWSLETTER

(a quasi-periodical)
CONTENTS:

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done. -- Marie Curie

GENERAL LAWIS INFORMATION

PUBLISHING INFORMATION FROM THE EDITOR

First, the disclaimer: any errors are the responsibility of Laura McNamara, LAWIS Newsletter editor. Please send any comments, corrections, and/or items for inclusion to lauramc@lanl.gov, or call 665-9685.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Newsletter is issued electronically during the first week of every month. If you're interested in previous issues, many are available on the LAWIS home page ( http://home.lanl.gov/lawis/NewsLetters). Announcements or news items must be on my (virtual) desk by the last Monday of every month to make the next issue. Please contact me if you prefer hardcopy format and I'll be sure to send one out. Lastly, check out the community service opportunities at the end of the Newsletter. The fire is over, but there's still plenty of work to do!

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STEERING COMMITTEE MEETINGS 2000

The next meeting of the LAWIS Steering Committee will be Thursday, July 13th , 2000 at 7:00 a.m. That's right - this Thursday. See the President's Soupçon below for a list of discussion topics, and by all means join us! It's early, but if we can do it, so can you.
The rest of the LAWIS meetings have been scheduled for 7 AM as follows:

Lastly, if you'd like to talk to one of the Steering Committee members, all our contact information is available on the LAWIS Web Page, scrupulously maintained by Tinka Gammel and Cathy Cleland. The list is located at (http://home.lanl.gov/lawis/NMNWSE_Northern.html). We're glad to hear from you.

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PRESIDENT'S SOUPÇON

From our fearless leader, Janie Enter:

Wow, what a month...that never was. May is a complete blur to me, and my thanks goes to those LAWIS Steering Committee members that jumped in to initiate actions that needed to be done right away. For instance, a claim for the LAWIS losses had to be initiated immediately. Both members of the State Board, Ann Mauzy, Angelique Neuman, and Alexine Salazar took initiative and endured the paperwork processing to get this claim started. Thank you very much.

LAWIS condolences go out to Tinka, who lost her home (and our excellent storage area) in the Cerro Grande fire. She has promised to make her next garage twice the size to store more! As far as replacing her losses, she has said,

"What would be most appreciated would be a few copies of pictures or other small memento to help replace my 'lost memories', or begin new ones."

Additionally, Ternel Martinez, public affairs liaison between LAWIS and LANL, lost his home as well. Our sympathies go out to him. There is, however, some exciting news in his life. He is in the process of adopting a girl. Unfortunately, the process is on hold until he obtains the FEMA housing, which should be very soon. The process will then be restarted, and he will be a proud father in the near future!

Our most excellent LAWIS Lunchtime Talk Coordinator, Huyen Dinh, is in the process of interviewing and may be leaving us very soon, perhaps even sooner than anticipated. With the resignation of Carol Hogsett, who was to replace Huyen, a tremendous void exists. We are currently soliciting nominations and volunteers to fill this important position. Please contact any LAWIS Steering Committee members if you know of someone or if you would be willing to take on this vital role in LAWIS.

The American Association for the Advance of Science (AAAS) will be in Los Alamos on or around August 1, 2000. Their intention is to solicit participation in AAAS Fellowship Programs. Currently, they are coordinating efforts with Allen Hartford in STB, but I have suggested that they also give a lunchtime talk for LAWIS. Additionally, they are considering talking at the State Convention in Ruidoso in October. Details will be forthcoming. It sounds like exciting stuff for women in science!

The next Steering Committee Meeting will be held on Thursday, July 13, at 7:00 am in Side Room A of Otowi. The tentative agenda is listed below:
As always, if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. I have already been on a "vacation" and am not planning on going anywhere for quite awhile.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS, EVENTS, ETC.

  1. CALL FOR NOMINATIONS. Georgia Pedicini passed on the following information about two prestigious, career enhancing awards for early career researchers.
    Presidential Early Career Award - DPEarly Career Scientist and Engineer Award The award is given to researchers employed by Academic Institutions and funded by a Defense Programs Laboratory. To be eligible for nomination, researchers must have been funded for no more than five years and must be working on their first contracts since receiving their Ph.D. Nominations are due to DOE by July 21, 2000.
    Presidential Early Career Award - Office of ScienceEarly Career Scientists and Engineer Award. Nominees for this award must be full-time employees of a DOE Laboratory, be in their first five years as an independent investigator (beyond postdoc) and have obtained peer reviewed DOE/Office of Science funding. Nominations are due to DOE by July 12, 2000. If you areinterested in submitting a nomination for either of these prestigious awards, STB asks that you contact their office (665-6110) to coordinate a unified Laboratory response. You'll notice that the award criteria are different, and the deadlines are fairly close (and also different for the two awards).
  2. PAST EVENTS. Unfortunately, I do not have a report on Alyssa Olson's talk, but I'll try to get a report for the next issue. However, Lisa Gutierrez, the director of the Laboratory's Diversity Office, gave a lively discussion on "TEAMING FOR SUCCESS: The Power of Diversity," on June 28th. Despite rudimentary tools (no screen for the overhead projector) and an untimely power outage, Lisa managed to cover a variety of important topics: Laboratory support for diversity initiatives, the importance of diversity issues to recruiting and retaining talent, and her efforts to build resources and streamline the mission of her organization. If you've got Diversity questions/issues, I promise that she'll be a great contact for you. Thanks to Lisa for an informative and very entertaining afternoon, even if part of it was in the dark!
  3. COMING UP FAST. Rose Barrientes de Scott, Public Affairs/Legislative Liaison, "WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT: Environmentally Safe Nuclear Waste Disposal," July 12, 2000, at the Otowi Side Room C. The slide presentation introduces the group to WIPP. What, Where and Why is WIPP so important? It outlines the truck route, the safety involved and truck monitoring. Question and answer session at the end.
    Web author's note: this talk was cancelled.

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CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Rhiannon West of CIC-13 has this message: Student volunteers needed! There are a good amount of students who lost their homes in the fire. We need volunteers to start an adopt-a-student program! All it will take is a little bit of your time to collect donations for another student who lost their home and possessions! Possibly a collection of appliances, etc also! Not much time and a REALLY WORTHY CAUSE! Please help your peers and contact me so we can get this ball rolling! You may reach Rhiannon at 665-9869 or rwest@lanl.gov.

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COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

For more information on volunteer opportunities, check out the Community Relations Office web page at http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/cr/index.html and click on "Volunteer Activities".



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REMEMBER: THANKS TO WEBMASTERS TINKA AND CATHY, WE HAVE UP-TO-THE-MINUTE LAWIS NEWS. CHECK THE LAWIS HOMEPAGE AT ( http://home.lanl.gov/lawis/).