Summer environmental academy begins July 14

Contact: Kevin Roark, knroark@lanl.gov, (505) 665-0582 (02-080)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., July 12, 2002 -- Teams of High School teachers and students from New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Texas will begin a week-long summer environmental academy at Los Alamos National Laboratory beginning July 14. The focus of this year's academy, held for the first time last year, is the Cerro Grande Fire, from pre-fire setting through the long-term environmental consequences and fire recovery.

The academy is sponsored by the Waste Management Education and Resource Consortium (WERC) an organization committed to environmental education and technology development, the National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Laboratory's Facilities and Waste Operations Division. Members of WERC include Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech and the Dine´.

The overall goal of the WERC 2002 Environmental Academy is to increase awareness of how science, technology and mathematics relate to studies and careers in engineering and environmental fields and to provide teachers with the tools they need to implement a successful curriculum into their classrooms.

Schools are encouraged to send a science, mathematics or social studies teacher, along with one student to the academy; 22 students and 18 teachers are expected to attend the academy's activities this summer. The academy generally limits the number of attendees to 50.

This year's program uses innovative activities for both students and teachers to study the Cerro Grande Rehabilitation Project at Los Alamos in three focus areas, forest stewardship/fuel mitigation, erosion control and cultural assessment. Attendees will explore the physical setting prior to the fire, the emergency management and response, facility recovery, community recovery and the environmental outcome and emergency rehabilitation after the fire. Students and teachers will work together as a team throughout the week and will participate in field trips in and around the Laboratory and local environmental industries. The teams will see presentations by environmental professionals, do hands-on research and laboratory work, and learn to do their own Internet research and Power-Point presentations.

"The real value of the program to both the student and the teacher is the hands-on approach of the program," said Stephen Mee, Cerro Grande Rehabilitation Project Manager. "They get to go out into the burned areas, see the recovery programs first-hand and talk to the professionals doing the work—it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

The academy closes July 19 with the teams' project presentations and a luncheon featuring special guest speaker Peter Maggiore, Secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department.

The academy provides a $200 stipend for teachers and a $50 stipend for students and the program includes all meals and housing for both students and teachers. Teachers are provided curriculum materials to take back to their respective schools to aid in the teaching of environmental programs.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring safety and confidence in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction and improving the environmental and nuclear materials legacy of the cold war. Los Alamos' capabilities assist the nation in addressing energy, environment, infrastructure and biological security problems.

Additional news releases related to Organization/Operations

Additional news releases from the Facility and Waste Operations (FWO) Division