Fire danger: Moderate
Annual Open Enrollment for Medical Insurance Announced
Human Resources has announced that this year's open enrollment period is the whole month of November. All changes to benefit plans must be completed through the University of California's Open Enrollment Action line by midnight (Pacific Standard Time) Thursday, Nov. 30, 2000. Beginning the week of Oct. 23, UC will send open enrollment packets to the mailing address of each UC/Los Alamos National Laboratory benefits plan member who was hired prior to Sept. 27, 2000. Employees who were hired on or after that date will receive an Open Enrollment packet from the Laboratory's Benefits office. For more information about plan changes and 2001 premiums, link to http://www.hr.lanl.gov/Benefits
DOE lifts Foreign Visitors Moratorium
DOE has lifted the Foreign Visitors Moratorium, for more information, click here.
Lunch Buddies program to be featured on
'Hometown Heroes'
The North Central Community Lunch Buddies program of which
the Laboratory is a sponsor will be featured on an upcoming segment
of KOB Channel 4's Hometown Heroes.
The feature is scheduled to air during the 6 p.m. newscast on
Friday, Oct. 20, said Mike Kolb of the Lab's Community Relations
Office (CRO) and a member of the program's advisory board of directors.
The Lunch Buddy program pairs volunteers willing to spend one
hour a week having lunch with an elementary student "lunch
buddy," said coordinator Dena Digangi.
North Central Community-Based Services is the not-for-profit agency
that oversees the Lunch Buddy program. The Laboratory has provided
technical assistance to the program and the not-for-profit Laboratory
Foundation has provided some funding support.
The Lunch Buddy program was first tried in Los Alamos four years
ago, according to Digangi. Studies done in Washington state, where
the program originated, showed improvement in students' attendance,
school performance and ability to get along with others, even
after the adult-student relationship ended. The Los Alamos program's
evaluation showed similar results, as well as a dramatic increase
in self-esteem and confidence, she said.
In the Española Valley, a Lunch Buddy program is in place
at four elementary schools, Digangi said.
Kolb said that since the Lunch Buddy program began, more than
250 adult volunteers have participated, half of which are Laboratory
employees. He added that the program this school year also has
expanded to Peñasco.
Laboratory employees interested in participating or learning more
about the program can call Kolb at 7-2076, write to mkolb@lanl.gov
by electronic mail, or call Digangi at 747-3454 in Española.
--Steve Sandoval
Los Alamos' Welfare-to-Work Program to
be Featured Nationally
The Laboratory's highly successful job-training program for welfare recipients will be featured at a national Welfare-To-Work conference in Phoenix this week.
Los Alamos' "Bridge to Employment" program - which has shown a 97 percent success rate in helping welfare recipients become viable, productive workers who hold jobs with better-than-average pay - will be featured Wednesday at the Phoenix conference, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.
"Bridge to Employment" program coordinators Mary VanEeckhout and Carol Smith of the Materials Management Group (BUS-4) will showcase the program to a national audience and will outline how the program has provided valuable workforce training and self-esteem skills to people who formerly had eked out an existence on state welfare rolls. With few exceptions, participants in the Los Alamos program have become full-time workers in jobs that pay an average of $10 an hour and offer critical benefits like health-care insurance and retirement plans.
"What is important to us as program coordinators is the difference this program has made in people's lives and the difference it has made in Northern New Mexico," Smith said. "We figure that for every person we help through this program, at least two other lives are affected due to the positive effect is has on families. Through this additive effect, we believe this program has helped a couple hundred people break free from the welfare cycle."
Los Alamos' "Bridge to Employment" started in 1997 as a pilot program that was funded entirely by the Laboratory. The pilot program trained nine Hispanic workers ranging in age from 26 to 44. Three years later, all nine original program participants are gainfully employed, seven at Los Alamos National Laboratory, one at the New Mexico State Police and one at the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.
Based on the success of the pilot, the New Mexico Department of Labor awarded a grant to Los Alamos to continue the program. As a result, 54 people from Northern New Mexico have participated in the training, learning job skills that start from the very basics, such as dressing appropriately for work, and eventually progress to more advanced skills such as operating a computer. In addition, program coordinators help program participants identify issues that might threaten employment stability, such as child care, money management, domestic violence, sexual harassment, and housing and transportation issues.
"It is extremely rewarding to watch participants gain new skills and grow in confidence," VanEeckhout said. "I feel honored to be involved in this effort. There is nothing like watching someone gain skills and self-esteem."
The Los Alamos "Bridge to Employment" program begins its training at the Laboratory's mail room. There, trainees learn about the structure of the Laboratory and the importance of consistency and team work. The Laboratory's permanent mail room employees have reached out to the trainees and have helped inspire confidence and a sense of belonging. The permanent employees also look out for the trainees in other ways on their own time - from helping them track down leads on housing and childcare, to helping trainees fix their vehicles so they have reliable transportation.
In addition to the day-to-day work that comes with earning a paycheck, trainees also learn from VanEeckhout and others about the work world, as well as from mentors who supply valuable guidance on career decisions, educational opportunities and employment advice.
Many of the program participants move into other divisions at the Laboratory or on to other companies associated with the Laboratory or the region. Some Bridge program participants have found clerical positions within the Laboratory's Travel and Procurement groups, and in the Laboratory's Human Resources, Physics, and Earth and Environmental Sciences Divisions. Others have become chemistry technicians at the Laboratory or have worked in disciplines crucial to Laboratory security and safety activities.
As for finding work outside of the Laboratory, VanEeckhout and Smith are quick to point out the value of the Laboratory forming partnerships with area employers; these partnerships have helped make the program a success. Company partners provide employment opportunities, mentors and other resources critical to the success of "Bridge to Employment."
Private businesses that have provided support to "Bridge to Employment" include Johnson Controls Northern New Mexico, Protection Technology Los Alamos, Parsons/Brinckerhoff, Los Alamos Medical Center, Los Alamos National Bank, Española Multi-Specialty Clinic, Hensel-Phelps Co., Gardner/Zemke Co., Fisher Scientific, Neptune Co., and La Tierra.
Coordinators Smith and VanEeckhout also have high praise for Allan Johnston, director of the Laboratory's Business Operations Division, who helped find funding for the original pilot project and the continuing effort, and who supported the concept of using the mailroom (operated by the division) as a training ground.
"Allan Johnston has been such a key player in this initiative that he really deserves a lot of credit for helping us get this program up and running successfully."
Smith and VanEeckhout hope that others who hear their presentation in Phoenix will be able to adopt some of the strategies that have been used to make Los Alamos' "Bridge to Employment" program so successful.
"Because we feel we've made a difference in Northern New
Mexico, we can only hope that others will learn from our experiences,"
Smith said. "Then, maybe in our own small way, we can help
make a difference elsewhere. Helping people help themselves is
what it's all about."
--James Rickman
Basic
Input May Be Put Out
Ron Minnich is working to set cluster computers free from the
obsolete Basic Input Output System chip that has become an electronic
straight-jacket during the course of the last 25 years.
He is the man behind the LinuxBios Project, an initiative that
promises to bypass the outdated BIOS chip to more effectively
manage computer clusters, which are multiple computers tied together
to solve complex problems.
Minnich, who has been building clusters for ten years, believes the problem has always been that one person should be able to manage such complicated systems that can contain between 36 to 1,000 computers.
Currently, it takes several people to manage a cluster.
Minnich's goals is to make the management of clusters more automated. However, the BIOS chip that has been a part of virtually all PCs for two decades has been in the way. The BIOS chip has controlled the start up functions of each computer, telling each individual machine when to boot a floppy disk drive or some device.
With LinuxBios, all of the computers within a cluster, will report all functions to a central computer. When they boot they are under complete control of one computer. Such an automated management system will improve the reliability and increases the speed of these cluster systems.
Currently, it takes several minutes to boot each computer. Minnich's goal is to boot a cluster up to sixty times faster than the current time of about three minutes, up to sixty times the normal speed.
One user is already reporting boot times of 12 seconds, 15 times faster than with the old configuration.
Many personal computer companies are supporting his work by providing Minnich with hardware and documentation. A version of his software, which is designed to be installed on BIOS flash computer chips, is available for download at www.sourceforge.net. Minnich welcomes input from other researchers and institutions on this project.
Minnich has a Ph.D in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the Lab, he worked in the Supercomputing Research Center from 1989 to 1994. From 1994 to 1999, he built clusters for Sarnoff Corp. in Princeton, New Jersey.
--Michael Carlson
Science and Technology Advisor to President Clinton Visits Lab
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Los Alamos
Opera Guild presents "Ein Oktoberfest" on Oct. 21
