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Thursday, Feb. 13, 1997

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Subcommittee named to aid in selection process for Laboratory director
Los Alamos County sponsors health care public forum
NM 502-NM 30 interchange update
Mark your calendar and get in shape

Subcommittee named to aid in selection process for Laboratory director

A subcommittee has been formed by the University of California to help in the search and evaluation of candidates for a new director of the Laboratory.

Laboratory Director Sig Hecker has announced that he will step down effective Oct. 1 after nearly 12 years as Lab director.

The 18-member subcommittee, established under university policy, consists of UC senior managers, faculty representatives and members of the UC President's Council on the National Laboratories. It also includes Lab research scientists and administrators as well as other Lab managers and staff representatives.

Chair of the subcommittee is C. Judson King, UC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. The group will work in concert with a committee announced last month which is the primary advisory group to UC President Richard C. Atkinson for the selection of a new Lab director.

Atkinson wants to forward a recommendation to the UC Board of Regents on a successor to Hecker by late spring or early summer.

The subcommittee will support the advisory panel, which Atkinson heads, by helping to identify qualified nominees and applicants and evaluate the candidate pool. The advisory committee will review the subcommittee's work and consult with the president in his consideration of a new Lab director.

In addition to King, other UC administrators on the subcommittee are Robert Shelton, vice provost for research; Carl Poppe, associate vice provost for research and laboratory programs; and Robert Van Ness, interim special assistant for laboratory administration.

Representing the UC faculty are Arnold Leiman, former chair of the UC Academic Council and a psychology professor at UC Berkeley; and Lawrence Coleman, chair of the UC Davis division of the UC Academic Senate and a physics professor at the Davis campus.

The UC President's Council on the National Laboratories, an advisory group on UC's management of Los Alamos, Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories, is represented on the subcommittee by Kaye Lathrop, retired associate director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center; and Thomas Page, chairman and chief executive officer of San Diego Gas & Electric.

Ten Lab employees also have been named to the subcommittee. They are Walter Kirchner, program director, Department of Defense (DoD) Programs; Barbara A Stein, deputy director, Dynamic Experimental (DX) Division; Melvin G. Duran, a group leader in the Nonproliferation and International Security (NIS) Division; John C. Vigil, Science and Technology Base (STB) Programs; Jill Trewhella, a Laboratory Fellow and member of Bioscience/Biotechnology (CST-4); Peter D. Barnes, division director, Physics (P) Division; Richard P. Bastian, program director, Quality and Planning (QP) Program; Tonya Suazo, staff specialist, Industrial Partnership (IP) Office and chair of the Employee Advisory Council; Joysree B. Aubrey, a technical staff member in Thermonuclear Applications (X-TA) and chair of the Science and Engineering Advisory Council; and Larry R. Avens, group leader of Advanced Technology (NMT-6) and chair of the Lab's Diversity Council.

UC manages the Los Alamos, Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore laboratories for the Department of Energy.

Note: Anyone wishing to comment on points that should be considered in the selection of a new Laboratory director should do so by writing to President Richard C. Atkinson, University of California, 300 Lakeside Drive, 22nd floor, Oakland, CA 94612.

--University of California Office of the President press release

Los Alamos County sponsors health care public forum

Los Alamos County is holding a health care public forum from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the Los Alamos Community Building, 475 20th St. The forum will include an overview by Michelle French, director of health and welfare in the University of California's Office of the President, on UC's progress in this area. Mike Baker, special assistant to Laboratory Deputy Director Jim Jackson, also will provide a brief synopsis of the Lab's internal progress on health care. Robert Van Ness, interim special assistant for Laboratory administration in UCOP and director of the UC/Northern New Mexico Office, and Sam Gibson, UC's acting human resources manager for Laboratory administration, will be available to answer questions as well. For more information, call the Los Alamos County Administrator's Office at 662-8080.

NM 502-NM 30 interchange update

Laboratory employees who live in Española, Pojoaque and Santa Fe will notice a change in the traffic around the NM 502-NM 30 interchange project when they return to work Tuesday.

Beginning Monday, motorists who travel on NM 30 to get to Los Alamos will use a new asphalt ramp to merge onto westbound NM 502. The ramp was scheduled to be completed today, weather permitting, said Danny Gallegos, project supervisor with the state Highway and Transportation Department's Española project office. This same ramp also will carry motorists traveling to Española from Los Alamos, he said.

The Laboratory is closed Monday in observance of President's Day.

For the past three months, motorists that use NM 30 to get onto westbound NM 502 have had to stop or yield at the NM 502-NM 30 intersection before merging onto NM 502, he said.

A temporary road at the intersection will be closed and the left turn holding bay on NM 502 will be moved about 1,000 feet west, Gallegos explained. Cars traveling east on NM 502 have to turn onto the new ramp to get onto NM 30, he said.

This new traffic pattern will be in effect about two months until the contractor can finish building the new bridge.

Signs will be placed to alert motorists to the change in the traffic pattern and NM 502 will be temporarily re-striped, Gallegos said.

Motorists westbound on NM 502 headed to Española are encouraged to use US 84-285, although they will be able to turn right onto the new ramp, said Gallegos.

Corn Construction Co. of Albuquerque is the general contractor for the $4 million interchange project. The project is expected to be completed in late summer, weather permitting.

Last week, the contractor finished hanging 40-to-50-ton concrete beams between the already built bridge abutments. The contractor is now building the bridge walls and will soon begin the bridge decking, he said.

Later this month, the contractor also will begin building a new ramp that will carry westbound NM 502 vehicles onto NM 30. Once this ramp is completed, the contractor will start on the bridge "approaches" that carry vehicles from eastbound NM 502 onto the new bridge and onto NM 30.

NM 30 is a two-lane road that cuts through Santa Clara Pueblo intersecting with NM 502 on the south and Española on its northern end.

Gallegos said emergency vehicles will be allowed to go through the work area, and reminded that the posted speed limit through the construction area is 45 miles per hour.

Gallegos added that the contractor won't work during peak rush hours and has notified radio stations and newspapers in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Española about the expected delays.

About 1,830 Lab employees and subcontractor personnel live in Santa Fe County; 2,100 live in Rio Arriba County and another 450 live in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties south and west of Santa Fe. Many of them travel Interstate 25, U.S. 84-285 and NM 502 to work daily.

The Lab allows managers to use flex-time scheduling, but employees should plan on delays and adjust their schedules accordingly.

Employees and subcontract personnel traveling from Santa Fe and points south who commute along this route also may consider joining car or vanpools. Those interested in joining a vanpool can call 988-7433, 294-0302 or 877-9597.

--Steve Sandoval

Mark your calendar and get in shape

Laboratory employees, contract personnel, retirees and spouses still can sign up to be on the Lab team participating in the 1997 Corporate Challenge this spring in Albuquerque.

Dependents 21 or older of Lab employees, contractors and retirees also can participate, said Roger Johnston of Advanced Chemical Diagnostics Instrumentation (CST-1).

Johnston said the Corporate Challenge emphasizes health and physical activity rather than competition. He noted that previous Lab Corporate Challenge teams ranged in age from 18 to 78.

The Lab team is again supported by morale funds from the Human Resources (HR) Division.

The Corporate Challenge running/racewalk championships are put on twice each year by the United States Corporate Athletics Association, a non-profit organization devoted to life-long fitness and friendly athletic competition.

The 1997 Corporate Challenge is May 17 at La Cueva High School, and June 7 through 8 at Wilson Stadium. The first day of the challenge features a 5-mile men's run, 3-mile women's run and a 2-mile walk for men and women, said Johnston.

The second and third days will consist of primarily track and field events, he added.

For information about Corporate Challenge events, or to be placed on the Corporate Challenge mailing list, contact Johnston at 7-7414 or write to roger_johnston@lanl.gov by electronic mail.

--Steve Sandoval

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