May 15, 2012
Physical Biosciences Deputy Director Paul Adams (3rd from left) and life scientist Mark LeBarge (far right) joined Lab Federal Government Relations Head Don Medley (2nd from left) for the “UC in DC” event last week. The group — which included colleagues from UC Berkeley and all the other UC Campus — met with key members of congress, including Chaka Fattah (center, D-PA) and participated in a reception, with a focus on how UC advances biomedical research and solutions.
Tags: Government Relations, Life Sciences Division, Physical Biosciences Division, University of California
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May 14, 2012
Five Berkeley Lab researchers were on the list of 68 recipients from 47 institutions in the third year of the Early Career Research Program managed by DOE’s Office of Science. The awards, which focus on areas of high priority for the nation and DOE’s mission, support exceptional researchers during the critical stages of their formative work by funding their research for up to five years and $2.5 million. Lab winners include (l-r) Hank Childs (CRD), John Dueber (PBD), Oliver Gessner (CSD), Daniel Kasen (NSD), and Kevin Wilson (CSD). More>
Tags: Awards, Chemical Sciences Division, Computational Research Division, Nuclear Science Division, Physical Biosciences Division
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May 14, 2012
To give employees easy access to healthy, locally grown food, the Facilities Division and cafeteria vendor Epicurean are hosting a farmers market on Wednesday, May 16, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the cafeteria parking lot. The market will feature independent, organic growers, including Ridgecut Gristmill, Green Planet, Rose Lane Farms, Galli Produce, Naked Juice, and others. Staff are encouraged to bring their own, reusable grocery bags. This market is organized by the Facilities Division’s “Change Agent” program.
Tags: Employee Activity, Health/Wellness
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May 14, 2012
As part of its community-relations activities that support education opportunities for local students, Berkeley Lab provided a $10,000 sponsorship to BUILD, Cal Corps Public Service Center’s literacy tutoring program. Each year BUILD matches more than 350 Cal student-reading mentors with elementary school students in Oakland and Berkeley. Mentors read one-on-one with children and provide individualized support to help struggling readers catch up. In addition, BUILD mentors read with children over the summer. Berkeley Lab Government & Community Relations representative Armando Viramontes presented the sponsorship along with Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Superintendant of Berkeley Unified School District William Huyett, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Cal Corps Public Service Center Director Megan Voorhees.
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May 14, 2012
On Thursday, May 17, the Earth Sciences Division will hold an Earth Science & Industry Seminar titled “Data Science and the Tech Sector.” Daniel Krasner, who currently leads the data science team at Sailthru — an email, ad and analytics platform provider — will explain how the deluge of data generated over the last five years, the demand for data scientists has blossomed. He will discuss the mathematical and technical skills industry requires for these kinds of jobs. The seminar begins at 3 p.m. in Building 90-1099 and will be followed by a catered networking session at 4 p.m. More>
Tags: Earth Sciences Division, Lecture/Seminar
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May 14, 2012
Those interested in learning more about the Lab’s onsite Weight Watchers meeting can attend an informational meeting on Wednesday, May 16, at noon in Building 26-124. For additional details, contact Cathy Wentworth (x6266).
Tags: Employee Activity, Health/Wellness
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May 14, 2012
The next ALS Science Cafe will be held tomorrow at noon in Building 15-253.Light refreshments will be served. This month’s topics and speakers are Peter Fischer of the Center for X-Ray Optics on “Which Direction Will They Point To?,” Corie Ralston of the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology on “Molecular Mechanisms of Chaperonins: What Happens When Proteins Need a Time-Out,” Scott Sandford of the NASA-Ames Research Center on “Using the ALS to Study Extraterrestrial Materials.”
Tags: Advanced Light Source, Lecture/Seminar
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May 11, 2012
The Lab’s Women Scientists and Engineers Council invites for a lunch and to hear guest speaker Natalie Roe, director of the Physics Division, on Wednesday, May 16, in the second floor conference room of the ALS User Support Building (Bldg. 15-253) from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. An experimental particle physicist and observational cosmologist, Roe has a distinguished record of research and service to the Physics Division, the Lab and the National High-Energy Physics community. Lunch will be provided. For details contact Veronica Nero, x7443.
Tags: Human Resources, Lecture/Seminar, Physics Division
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May 11, 2012
Practical quantum computing must keep quantum bits in a pristine state of “coherence” long enough to do mathematical operations. Nitrogen vacancies (NVs)—a nitrogen atom and a next-door empty space where two carbon atoms should be—are common defects that can maintain coherent spin states for up to a whopping hundreds of microseconds. Julian Schwartz and Thomas Schenkel of the Accelerator and Fusion Research Division worked with Shaul Aloni and David Ogletree of the Molecular Foundry to find a way to put lots of NVs right where they want them in a diamond, using electron beams followed by high-temperature annealing. More>
Tags: Accelerator and Fusion Research Division, Molecular Foundry, Science/Research
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May 11, 2012
Earth is mostly protected from solar radiation by the magnetosphere. But sometimes the magnetosphere “cracks,” allowing radiation to seep in and wreak havoc on power grids and satellites. This phenomenon is not well understood, so scientists from UC San Diego ran simulations to investigate what happens. In the process, they generated approximately 3 petabytes of data, and reached out to Berkeley Lab’s Burlen Loring to develop customized visualization techniques for analyzing data. More>
Tags: computing, Science/Research
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