January 10 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine
My View
Carolyn E. Zerkle: Stimulus Project enhances collaboration on many levels
Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez
American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funding is leveraging the Laboratory’s scientific expertise to help address such national imperatives as creating and enhancing alternative energy sources, capturing greenhouse gasses, and improving our understanding of key biological processes. This “stimulus money” is also helping the Laboratory clean up environmental consequences of Cold-War-era operations and meet obligations of the Consent Order with the New Mexico Environment Department that prescribes a schedule for waste disposal and cleanup of legacy sites.
But the Laboratory’s involvement in ARRA has had unexpected benefits as well: it has helped our institution create goodwill with our neighbors.
The Lab’s Stimulus Project Office has forged partnerships with state, local, and tribal entities, businesses, and universities in the course of applying for stimulus funding and applying funding to myriad scientific and environmental initiatives.
These partnerships have included assisting the state and Los Alamos County in securing an exciting Green Grid demonstration project with
Japan’s NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), working with Jemez Pueblo and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology on creating geothermal energy, and accelerating shipment of transuranic wastes out of Los Alamos for safe permanent disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
The Laboratory’s Stimulus Project Office was created by Director Mike Anastasio and Terry Wallace, principal associate director for Science, Technology, and Engineering, to identify applicable scientific grant opportunities, coordinate grant proposals, support the use of DOE and non-DOE ARRA funding, and provide transparency and accountability about the use of stimulus money by the Laboratory. The office provides necessary formality and support, and ensures compliance with the director’s guidance for stimulus funding:
- support the DOE’s and the nation’s success with ARRA
- be a good neighbor and create partnerships where possible
- find opportunities consistent with the Laboratory’s mission without creating new long-term staff members or funding obligations.
To date, LANL has received nearly $40 million in ARRA funding for scientific efforts at the Laboratory and more than $200 million for environmental cleanup projects, including more than $150 million for our neighbors and partnerships.
Although people may be tempted to view the Stimulus Project Office’s efforts in terms of dollars alone, the amount of goodwill the Laboratory has generated among its partners during the course of applying for and securing stimulus funding is something that is priceless.
— Carolyn E. Zerkle, Stimulus Project Leader
Other Headlines
About the cover: 2009 Laboratory Fellows take a cue from the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover
as they cross Mercury Road to join the group of distinguished scientists recognized for their
outstanding contributions to the Laboratory. See page 4 for story. Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez
|
