MEETING MINUTES: OCTOBER 18, 2000
As you are probably aware, LAWIS moved its calendar to coincide with the
fiscal year, which means that we elected our new board earlier than usual
- in September. You can find a list of our new officers/steering
committee members on the LAWIS web page (see URL below). For those of you
interested in attending, the next Steering Committee Meeting will take
place on November 15th, from 1-2 PM. Look for us in the back of the Otowi
cafeteria (or listen for the raucous laughter).
The rest of the
LAWIS steering committe meetings have been scheduled for 1-2 PM as follows:
- December 15 - Kathy Prestridge's home
- January 17, 2001 - Otowi Sideroom C
- February 21, 2001 - Otowi Sideroom C
- March 21, 2001 - Otowi Sideroom C
- April 18, 2001 - Otowi Cafeteria
- May 16, 2001 - Otowi Sideroom C
- June 20, 2001 - Otowi Sideroom C
- July 18 , 2001 - Otowi Sideroom C
- August 15, 2001 - Otowi Cafeteria
- September 19, 2001 - Otowi Sideroom C
- October 17, 2001 - Otowi Sideroom C
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.
MEETING MINUTES: OCTOBER 5, 2000
ATTENDANCE
The steering committee for Los Alamos Women in Science met Thursday, Oct.
5, at 9:00 a.m. in Side Room C of the cafeteria. Members present were
Cathy Cleland, Susana Delano, Janie Enter, Ann Mauzy and Angelique Neuman.
Members absent were Mary Campbell, Laura McNamara, and Dana Roberson.
Newly elected members Lisa Colletti, Lori Merrill, Kristina Moreno, and
Kathy Prestridge attended. Carol LaDelfe, Tinka Gammel, and Robi Mulford
also attended.
Everyone introduced themselves.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes of the August 10th meeting were approved as corrected: the
"Phynish" Web site is one we might use as a model.
OLD BUSINESS
Report From NMNWSE: Angelique reported that the Annual Meeting has only
two papers and 14 signed up to attend. We discussed the appropriateness of
using the student e-mail alias sa-all@lanl.gov to get the word out.
Fema Claim: Tinka will claim "miscellaneous" losses from FEMA. She
reported that she had given tapes and pictures to the Science Museum
before the fire. Ann reported that we are just waiting on a copy of our
"tax-free" certificate.
Web Address: Tinka reported the new LAWIS address is
www.lanl.gov.lawis. Cathy updates the "Women in the News" section. Robi is organizing noontime
talks. All three update what they have time for!
Recap Of The Last Year: Janie gave a synopsis of the last year (nine
months since we changed to the "new" year starting in October). She
thanked last year's board and gave us presents, including passing a real
gavel to our new president Cathy Cleland.
By-Laws Revisions: We didn't have a quorum at the annual LAWIS meeting.
This topic will be on the agenda for the next Steering Committee meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
New Officers:
- Cathy Cleland will serve as president
- Kathy Prestridge will serve as vice-president
- Ann Mauzy will serve as secretary
- Kristina Moreno volunteered to serve as treasurer
- Dana Roberson is EHY Chair and needs a co-chair
- Lori Merrill volunteered to serve as membership chair
- Laura McNamara has since volunteered to continue as newsletter editor
New Meeting Time: The Steering Committee will meet on the third Wednesday
of each month from 1:00 to 2:00 in one of the cafeteria side rooms or at a
large table in the back of the cafeteria. Cathy will contact Aramark to
arrange for meeting rooms.
Treasurer's Audit: We need a person who is not on the board to serve on
the audit committee.
ISSUES FOR THE COMING YEAR
The new board expressed their interest in working on
- child-care issues
- partnering with the WDWG for the annual panel on women's careers (and
recruiting a member of the WDWG to serve on the Steering Committee, and
- securing a well-known woman in government to give a
Director's colloquium. Millie Dresselhaus, Science Advisor to Bill
Richardson was suggested. Janie advised us to invite her through WDWG,
GRO, and Browne.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Mauzy, Secretary
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MEETING MINUTES: OCTOBER 18, 2000
At press time, the minutes from the October 18th meeting had not yet been
revised or approved. I'm including it to give some idea of our
discussions, but please keep in mind that this is a draft version.
ATTENDANCE
The steering committee for Los Alamos Women in Science met Wed., Oct. 18,
at 1:00 p.m. in Side Room C of the Otowi cafeteria. Members present were
Cathy Cleland, Lisa Colletti, Ann Mauzy, Laura McNamara, Lori Merrill,
Kristina Moreno, Kathy Prestridge, and Dana Roberson. Janie Enter was
absent. Alexine Salazar, Anne Fitzpatrick, Mary Campbell, Margo Clark, and
Susana Delano also attended.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes of the October 5th meeting were approved as amended: remove
Dolores Montaño from the list of board members.
OLD BUSINESS:
BYLAWS REVISIONS
There was no response on the first e-mail notice with an attachment. A few
voted at the annual LAWIS meeting. Ann will send out hard copies with a
return deadline of Nov. 1. Mary noted that the revisions do not need a 2/3
majority. A simple majority will suffice.
FEMA CLAIM
Update: A check for the full amount was received Thursday, Oct 19. Alexine
took it to the Annual NMNWSE meeting.
EYH CO-CHAIR
The date for the 2001 EYH is March 28. We are already getting requests
from teachers. Dana reported that she had contacted the "Physics
Chanteuse." She feels the co-chair should be a LANL person. who will be
the Chair for 2002. Alexine and Dana will work on this and try to get
someone from last year's committee. If not, we will recruit from the
membership at large through the newsletter.
RECRUITMENT BROCHURE AND MORE
Laura is back on the recruitment brochure intended for the New-Hire
packet. The person to contact is Barbara Pacheco. We suggested that the
Membership Committee contact the UNM Science Department, send the
brochures to master management, other colleges, the library, each
division, and the Bradbury Science Museum. The committee could also put
out put table cards at the cafeteria. Dana said she could print the
brochure and would send it to contractors and the DOE.
TREASURER HAND-OFF
The past and present treasurer will get together for the hand-off of the
books. The April 2000 statement is missing. A motion passed to authorize
Susana to spend the $3 to get a copy. Lisa Colletti will be an auditor,
and Kristina will ask Janey to be another auditor. New signature cards
will include Janey, Kristina, and Cathy.
OUTREACH CHAIR
Membership chair Lori Merrill will also serve as Outreach Chair if she has
sufficient help. The Outreach Committee will include EYH and new
memberships under their umbrella.
LAWIS WEB PAGE
Update the Web page and change it to show the Steering Committee's new
meeting schedule (see
NEXT MEETING).
MENTORING
Other organizations that have mentoring include WGWD, HR-6, and student
mentors. We agreed what we need are networks. We talked about getting HR
generalists involved. We need to have something unique, coherent, and
effective.
It was suggested that we get HR to come and talk to us about what they are
doing to publicize jobs to women and to encourage them to apply. Laura
will get someone from HR 6 to do a lunchtime talk. Cathy will talk to HR
generalist in her organization about how to work through the HR generalists.
NEW BUSINESS:
Child care
Is there a need for child care for science fairs? The consensus seemed to
be probably not. The bigger issue is child care during work hours. Kathy
Prestridge will let us know what WDWG is doing. Kathy will also ask them
about their awareness of LAWIS. Maria Rightley is the new WDWG Chair.
HONORARIA FOR NOONTIME SPEAKERS
Peggy Van Hulstyn has asked for an honorarium and travel expenses. A
motion passed to advise her that we do not pay honoraria for this purpose,
but we would offer $.32.5 per mile and lunch either before or after her talk.
We ran out of time to talk about this but should be thinking about it.
membership renewals
Get them sent in!
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Mauzy, Secretary
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ANNOUNCEMENTS, EVENTS, ETC.
- LunchTime Talk Series
LAWIS has a new organizer for our Lunchtime Talks: Roberta Mulford is
doing a bang-up job getting a lineup of interesting speakers for the
series. If you're interested in giving a talk, you can contact Roberta by
e-mail (u088247@lanl.gov). For all Lunchtime Talks,
the venue (usually one of the Otowi Siderooms) is open from 11:30-1:30 for an early or
late lunch and socializing. Nonmembers are invited join us, so bring a friend. We
realize that the 9/80 workweek doesn't give much of a lunch hour, but
remind your group leader that LAWIS is a laboratory sponsored organization
- and bring her/him along to learn something new.
PAST TALKS: Friday, October 20, 2000: Jean Dewart, ESH-17 spoke on "Air
Monitoring Results from the Cerro Grande Fire." Roberta Mulford writes,
"Jean Dewart gave an interesting and timely talk on "Air Monitoring
Results from the Cerro Grande Fire". The talk was sparsely attended, but
drew listeners from Santa Fe as well as Laboratory personnel. The
experimental and logistical difficulties of sampling during the heavy
smoke conditions were discussed, and both the raw and reduced data
presented, enabling listeners to clearly see the origin and explanation of
the slightly elevated reading of some radionuclides reported during the
fire. The isotopic ratios identified most of the observations as either
natural uranium or naturally occurring uranium daughter products swept up
from the ground during the high wind periods of the fire. Jean gave the
listeners and appreciation for the detailed process of making corrections
for shielding of alpha emitters on the filter by layer of particulates
deposited on the filter by the heavy smoke, and corrections for the
emissions produced by the filters themselves. Elevated air concentrations
of gross alpha and gross beta measured during the Cerro Grande fire were
shown to be consistent with measurements made at other forest fires. Air
concentrations of plutonium and americium were not elevated above normal
values." Thank you to Jean for giving the talk, and to
Robi for the report.
UPCOMING TALKS: November 21, Sideroom A, 11:30-1:30, TALK from 12:10-1:00,
Noline Clark of C-18 will present a discussion, "Novel Technologies for
Reducing Nitrogen Oxide Emissions in Automotive Engine
Exhaust."
ABSTRACT: The U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments call for stringent
emission standards for automobiles by the year 2004, specifically
targeting nitrogen oxide emissions. The automotive industry has focused
its attention on "lean-burn" engine designs, where the combustion fuel to
air ratio is significantly less than that used in present-day engine
technology. Existing catalytic converter technology does not work under
these new conditions, therefore the development of new materials are
required for the exhaust-handling systems. The American automotive
industry has partnered with the national laboratories in an effort to
address this challenge. Los Alamos has researched and developed
zeolite-based materials that offer promising catalytic activity for this
application.
AND FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD... Rumor has it that Robi has several very
interesting speakers lined up through the Spring of 2001. As soon as I
can coax her into giving me a tentative list, I'll publish it so you can
mark your calendar and spread the word.
- Good News from FEMA
The New Mexico Network for Women in Science and Engineering had stored
Careers books and book bags for EYH conferences in Tinka Gammel's garage,
and they were lost when her house burned in the Cerro Grande Fire. The
NMNWSE put in a claim for losses of $5,683.59 on September 1, and the
check for the full amount came on October 19th. Many thanks to Ann Mauzy
and Tinka Gammel for taking care of this claim.
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CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
Yes, yes, yes, we know: no one has a single second of extra time these
days - but for those of you who are interested in helping out nonetheless,
check out these opportunities:
WISE ROUNDTABLE: If you are a woman graduate from the Math Department or
from the School of Engineering at the University of New Mexico, this might
apply to you: the School of Engineering is looking for a woman who has
graduated from this department and is now working locally and able to
become a member of the WISE (Women in Science and
Engineering) Roundtable. Do any of you know of anyone who might be interested? The
Roundtable will provide a forum for discussions of women's needs in the
sciences and mathematics. Could be a good opportunity to do a little
community outreach. If you know of anyone, please pass their name and an
email or telephone number onto: Roxanne Littlefield, Academic Advisor,
Mathematics & Statistics, University of New Mexico, Humanities, Room 421
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, (505) 277-5250.
URGENT: EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS (EYH) REQUEST. The time commitment is not
terrible (you'll be finished in March), it's fun, it's a wonderful
learning experience, and you'll have a direct and positive impact on many
young women in Northern New Mexico. "Wow, how rewarding," you're thinking.
"What is this prize volunteer position?" Well, EYH Chair Dana Roberson is
seeking a dynamic, outgoing, organized person to co-chair this year's EYH,
which is scheduled for the end of March. As EYH Chair, Dana will probably
shoulder the burden of the work, but I believe she's needing someone who
has good connections throughout the laboratory community, to make
organizing this year's event that much easier... If you're interested, or
you know someone who might be, please contact Dana (
dsroberson@lanl.gov or 7-3935) for details, or get in touch with any of the LAWIS Steering
committee members.
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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".
Back to Contents
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/).
