Director's Commitment to Diversity Recognized
Profiles in Diversity Journal recognized Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Michael Anastasio for his commitment to workplace diversity. In its 2011 March/April CEO Leadership in Action Awards issue, the publication highlights 33 CEOs from across the country who discuss their unique and personal contributions toward supporting and participating in their organizations' diversity and inclusion activities. In a featured essay, Anastasio describes how he celebrates and helps build diversity at the Laboratory and beyond.
For example, supported by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, Anastasio established and chaired the Lab’s executive diversity committee that set clear goals and strategies and championed diversity initiatives to achieve measurable results. Other initiatives included establishing a new "manager on-ramp” program to provide a fair and unbiased screening process to assess management potential, a protégé/mentor program to provide a diverse and inclusive group of protégés with high-level contacts and the skills required for success, and a management hiring process review board to ensure hiring processes are not only fair and consistent but are also used to maximize applicant pools in terms of both quality and diversity.
For more information on the story, go to http://lanl.gov/news/news_releases/2011/March/03.11_anastasio_diversity_journal_essay.shtml.
LANL Wins Six NNSA Pollution Prevention Awards
Los Alamos National Laboratory captured six of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) 21 Pollution Prevention awards for projects ranging from energy savings to creating fuels from algae.
• NNSA recognized the Lab’s Algal Biofuels Consortium Development Team for its continued leadership in renewable energy research that will help bring biofuels to commercial reality.
• A program called Sustainable Projects for a Sustainable Future won a Best in Class award for activities that included community involvement in the Laboratory’s third Energy Town Hall and starting a volunteer-operated organic vegetable garden that supplies a Lab cafeteria.
In addition, Environmental Stewardship Awards went to projects that saved energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions by creating a video teleconferencing center, integrated new DOE and NNSA sustainability goals into the Lab’s Environmental Management System, and
found a new technique to analyze plutonium that drastically reduces radioactive wastes.
For more information on the awards, go to http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/lanl_wins_six_national_pollution_prevention_awards.html.
New Managers Start at Lab
On March 28, Paul Henry joined the Lab as the Principal Associate Director for Capital Projects, and Donna J. Hampton became the new Human Resources Division Leader.
Henry brings to the Lab 32 years of construction and enterprise management experience, including background as a Bechtel senior manager. The newly created position includes project management functions previously located within the Project Management and Site Services Directorate and incorporates all of the Environmental Programs Directorate.
Hampton has more than 20 years of Human Resource management experience, including Vice President of Human Resources at Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and most recently, as the Human Resources Division Manager at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.
Lab Physicist Featured in DOE's "10 Questions"
In March, the Lab’s Christine Aidala, currently working at Brookhaven National Laboratory for an experiment using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, answered some questions for the Department of Energy’s “10 Questions” series. The blog article covered her interest in nuclear physics, why she’s interested in proton spin, what alternate career she might choose, and her interest in music.
To view the article, go to http://blog.energy.gov/blog/2011/03/03/10-questions-nuclear-physicist-christine-aidala.
The “10 Questions” series is designed to highlight Department of Energy scientists and the work that they do.
To view this and other topics on the energy blog, go to http://blog.energy.gov/.
Santa Fe Earns "Tree City USA" Recognition for Second Year
To encourage urban communities to maintain and care for its trees, the “Tree City USA” program recognizes locations that meet certain standards for trees. These standards include ordinances protecting community trees, funding levels, and Arbor Day observances. Santa Fe has now met these standards for its second straight year.
In addition to its Tree City USA recognition, the city also received its second “Tree City Growth Award.” The Growth Award further recognizes cities that have embraced education, planning, maintenance, management, and tree-planting standards.
The “Tree City Award” program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.
To learn more about the Tree City USA program, go to http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/index.cfm.
To learn more about the Arbor Day Foundation, go to http://www.arborday.org/.