October
6, 2000
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6, 2000 |
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Runaround and SHARES to Share Spotlight Next Friday Volunteers Needed for Packet Stuffing, Runaround Tasks
Runaround and SHARES to Share Spotlight Next FridayBy Lisa Gonzales
For the first time, the Lab Runaround -- to be held this Friday, Oct. 13 -- will coincide with the kick-off of Berkeley Lab SHARES, the Lab's annual charitable giving campaign through which employees can contribute to many different nonprofit organizations. "Athletic events have a time-honored tradition of being associated with charitable events," says Steve Derenzo, the Runaround coordinator, pointing out that the spirit of altruism created by bringing together these two events "adds to the value of the athletic experience." The 23rd annual Berkeley Lab Runaround will start promptly at noon by the firehouse (Bldg. 48) and end at the cafeteria parking lot. Both walkers and runners are invited to complete the course, a trail 3.0 kilometers (1.86 miles) long with some steep elevation changes. Participants in average physical condition should be able to jog the level and downhill sections. As in past years, a strictly noncompetitive BikeAround begins at 11:30 a.m. and follows nearly the same course as the Runaround, finishing in plenty of time for bikers to participate in both events. According to Derenzo, the Runaround attracts more participants every year than any other activity at the Lab. Since most traffic on the Hill will be impacted by the event, with road closures along the route, employees are advised to avoid driving onsite between 11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m. Shuttle bus service will be suspended while the run is in progress. In order to further this feeling of community, the annual SHARES (Science for Health, Assistance, Resources, Education and Services) Charity Fair will be held in the vestibule of the cafeteria, featuring information booths representing many of the organizations benefiting from the campaign. A second fair will be held on Oct. 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Bldg. 937. Present will be the four donor umbrella federations -- United Way of the Bay Area, Earth Share of California, Community Health Charities and the Bay Area Black United Fund -- as well as the many Bay Area nonprofit agencies chosen by the Lab for their special compatibility with Berkeley Lab's missions in science and education. A complete list of the charities can be found on the SHARES website at http://www.lbl.gov/shares/. "Despite regional prosperity, there are still those in our communities who continue to struggle," says David Bueche of the United Way of the Bay Area. "It takes a strong, dedicated volunteer base, an expert staff and the generosity of our many donors to achieve positive, long-lasting results."
"United Way provides the critical link between people who care and the community programs that make a positive impact on the lives of families," says Bueche. The Lab's response to SHARES has grown over the past two years. In 1998 donations totaled $60,000, a figure that went up to $95,000 in 1999 -- an increase of 58 percent. "Although we are gratified by last year's response, we feel we can do even better this year," said Ron Kolb, head for Public Communications and co-coordinator of this year's SHARES campaign. "The Runaround is a favorite event for hundreds of Lab participants and onlookers, and it seems like the perfect opportunity to highlight our fundraising efforts." Kolb adds that the goal of SHARES is to make it easy and rewarding for every employee to find a community organization to support, either with a one-time donation or through monthly payroll deductions. "Those at the Runaround are encouraged to stop by the Charity Fair," says Kolb. "With hundreds of worthy choices available, we think that everyone here can find a good reason to participate." All Lab employees will receive a SHARES campaign packet in the mail during the week of Oct. 13. The packet will include a letter from Lab Director Charles Shank, information about the charitable agencies, a pledge form, a pre-addressed envelope for submitting donation materials, and a raffle ticket. Employees who wish to participate in the campaign need to complete and return their pledge form by Wednesday, Nov. 22. During each week of the campaign, employees who make a donation will be entered in a prize drawing. Early donors will be eligible for drawings in each subsequent week. Prizes this year will include one year's free parking in the Hinks garage, two sets of adult admission tickets to the Chabot Space Center, a bicycle helmet, and a Run-around T-shirt. The current list can be found on the SHARES website, which will be updated as more prizes are added. Another new aspect of this year's SHARES campaign is the participation of volunteer coordinators from the ASD. They can provide a broad range of information to their divisions, answering questions and assisting with the pledge form as needed. In order to emphasize a feeling of coast-to-coast Lab community, the employees of Berkeley Lab's Washington, D.C. office will stage their own Runaround through the streets of the capital, beginning at 3 p.m. EST, or noon PST -- simultaneously with the run on the Hill. Runaround T-shirts will be given to all finishers. Food, music, and fun prizes will be available at the finish line at the cafeteria. As usual, prizes will be given for things such as best costume, and trophies will be awarded to the first man and woman to finish the course. The top three men and women finishers in each age category will receive medals. Race results will be published in Currents as soon as they are made available. Complete results, including individual times, will be published on the Runaround website at http://cfi.lbl.gov/~derenzo/runaround/. "There's a magic to the Runaround," says Derenzo. "Usually we are all so busy and focused on our work, but the Runaround lets us come together once a year and just really have fun and enjoy ourselves." When asked why he thinks the event creates these feelings, Derenzo says, "It's a mystery, but there's real magic here." Perhaps this years Charity Fair will capture a bit of that magic, too.
For more information about the Runaround, contact Stephen Derenzo at X4097 or sederenzo@lbl.gov. For more information on road closures, contact Jim Breckinridge in Security at JBreckinridge@lbl.gov.
ASD volunteers coordinators for the SHARES campaign are
Joan Wolter (Engineering),
Volunteers Needed for Packet Stuffing, Runaround Tasks
The SHARES campaign is seeking volunteers to prepare the packets that will be mailed out to employees. The packet stuffing will take place on Oct. 9 at 9:30 a.m. in Perseverance Hall.
Volunteers are also needed for various Runaround tasks, such as T-shirt distribution and handling of refreshments. All volunteers will receive a Runaround T-shirt. To volunteer contact Stephen Derenzo at X4097 or sederenzo@ lbl.gov.
Lab Receives Major Grant to Study Protein StructuresBy Lynn Yarris
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has launched the "Protein Structure Initiative" with the intent to determine the form and function of thousands of proteins over the next decade. The initial phase of this initiative has started with the awarding of seven new grants, each totaling around $4 million for the first year, including one to Sung-Hou Kim, a chemist with Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division. "This project can be viewed as an inventory of all the protein structure families that exist in nature," said NIGMS Director Marvin Cassman in announcing the grants. "We expect that this effort will yield major biological findings that will improve our understanding of health and disease."
Kim, also a chemistry professor at UC Berkeley, has been a pioneer in structural geno-mics and one of the leading advocates for grouping proteins into families on the basis of recurring structural patterns known as "folds," using these fold families to help predict protein functions. Other leaders working with Kim on this NIGMS grant project include Berkeley Lab's Paul Adams, Steve Brenner, Thomas Earnest, Rosalind Kim, and David Wemmer, plus Clyde Hutchison of the University of North Carolina and David McKay of Stanford. With the completion of a "working draft" of the human genome, scientists are now busy identifying the genes within the sequences of those three billion DNA bases. The next step is to determine the purpose of those genes, which means determining the molecular and cellular functions of the proteins they code for. Proteins are the building blocks of living cells and control much of the biochemical processes that are vital to all life. The prevailing method for predicting a protein's function is to compare the sequence pattern of its DNA to the DNA sequence patterns of genes whose functions have already been identified. A major problem to relying exclusively on this approach is that while proteins in different organisms may have similar form and function (the two go hand-in-hand for proteins), the DNA sequencing patterns of their genes may be dramatically different. As an alternative or supplemental approach, Kim and other crystallography leaders have proposed that the molecular functions of a protein can also be predicted from the folds that underlie all protein architecture. While the number of different proteins may number in the hundreds of thousands, most biologists agree there are probably less than 10,000 distinctly different types of folds, and that a majority if not all proteins will belong to one of these fold families. Under the protein structure initiative being launched by NIGMS, the seven grant recipients will each work with representative protein populations obtained from organisms whose entire genomes have been sequenced -- the idea being that through the eons, families of proteins have selectively evolved into the structural shapes best-suited to do their specific jobs. Kim and his colleagues will work with two closely related bacteria, Mycoplasma genitalium and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. The former contains the smallest known genome of any free-living organism and infects the human genital and respiratory tracts. The latter causes a form of pneumonia. To identify the structures of the full complement of proteins that make up these two "minimal organisms," Kim and his colleagues will primarily use x-ray crystallography, backed by nuclear magnetic resonance and computation. They will have access to the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology which features one of the world's premier x-ray beamlines and experimental stations for protein crystallography, the Macromolecular Crystallography Facility at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). "The use of a synchrotron radiation source such as the ALS can dramatically decrease the time required to solve novel protein structures," Kim says. "It makes a clear and compelling case that protein crystallography can provide a foundation for structural genomics." As a major part of their effort, Kim and his collaborators will look to reduce the time required to produce and set protein crystals up in the beamline, illuminate them with x-rays, and collect the data. Automation of the entire process, including the use of a unique crystal-growing robotic system designed and built by a team of engineers and technicians led by Joe Jaklevic with Berkeley Lab's Engineering Division, will be a key. Data collected by Kim and his collaborators, along with that collected by the other NIGMS grant recipients, is to form the foundation of a public resource linking sequence, structural and functional information. NIGMS will make this information available on the Internet to all scientists.
Making a Difference In the CommunityBy Monica Friedlander
On Sunday, Sept. 24, Pat Butler of EH&S woke up at 6:00 in the morning to the blaring sirens of fire trucks speeding the wrong way on Oakland Avenue. She turned on the news and learned that not far from her neighborhood a four-alarm blaze was ravaging a four story building on Jackson Avenue in Oakland, leaving dozens of people homeless and destitute. "I was touched by how families with children lost everything," Butler says. "Toys, photographs, everything. It's a miracle no one was killed." Like so many others moved by the tragedy, Butler felt she had to do something. Less than 24 hours later she had a strategy in place. With the help of the Lab's Community Relations and Public Information Departments she got the word out and the ball rolling on a labwide relief effort. The response, Butler said, was "heartwarming and overwhelming." Every day that week people brought bagfuls of donations to the cafeteria. By last Friday more than 60 giant garbage bags filled with clothes, food, toys and household items -- worth at least $2,500, Butler estimated -- were ready for pickup in the lobby. And even after the close of this drive, donations still continued to pile up at the cafeteria.
As fate would have it, however, Butler's efforts took an unexpected twist last weekend. As instructed by the Red Cross, on Saturday she drove the van filled with Lab donations to the Imani Community Church, where she expected fire victims to receive her. For whatever reason, they did not. Once again, Butler had to think fast on her feet. "I called the Bay Area Rescue Mission in Richmond and they were very enthusiastic," she said. "They said this was one of the biggest donations they ever received, so our clothing drive was put to very good use after all, especially since the shelters they service are really low in donations this time of year. I hope this experience will encourage people to run a clothes drive like this every year." As for the Oakland fire victims, they were anything but forgotten. Even here at the Lab other employees who rushed to help from day one. Edith Perry, for example, also of EH&S and the mother of two, took several bags of children's clothes to Oakland Technical High School, where the fire victims were housed in the first few days after the fire. "It was a very emotional scene, children, families, people there to console them," Perry said. "I didn't want to intrude. I just took the bags and left them. It made me feel good, which in turn made me feel like I wanted to do even more."
"This tragedy really struck a chord with a lot of people," says Jaye Winkler, a public affairs volunteer with the Red Cross, who worked up to 20 hours a day since the fire. "Maybe it's because it affected such a wide range of people -- from toddlers to 80-year-olds. There were a lot of personal stories." Such as the Concord man who called Winkler to donate money for dance shoes for a rhythmic dancer who lost one of his most cherished possessions. Or the birthday party Winkler helped organize for eight-year-old Malaisha Ford, who rode away on a new bike after hers perished in the fire. Or the employee at a Taco Bell near the apartment complex, who opened the restaurant early that Sunday morning and cooked for the victims. Yet even this level of community involvement is not enough, Winkler says. "It's been an exceptionally expensive fire season," she explains. "In July and August alone we spent $100,000 on housing putting up 132 individuals. And this fire alone involved 63 individuals. Housing is the most difficult to find." For now the victims of the Jackson Street fire are housed in hotels spread out from Castro Valley to Berkeley. Donations are always welcomed and they are tax-deductible. But most important, Winkler says, you get something back from reaching out to others. "There are a million ways in which people can help. You get more out of volunteering than you imagine. It restores your faith in the kindness and generosity of people. And it makes you feel connected to the world." To make a contribution, call the 24-hour donation line at (888) 437-5722. To volunteer or for other information, call the local Red Cross chapter at 595-4400.
First Transistors from Single Buckyballs Made at BerkeleyBy Lynn Yarris
The first transistors to be fashioned from a single "buckyball" -- a molecule of carbon-60 -- have been reported by a team of Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley researchers. Taking advantage of a phenomenon that is largely viewed as a problem by the electronics industry, the research team created a separation between two gold electrodes that was about one nanometer (one billionth of a meter) across. This tiny gap could accommodate the insertion of a single buckyball in order to create a molecular-sized electronic device. "Nature long ago solved the problem of making electronic devices on a molecular scale, and we're now beginning to learn how to do things the way nature does," says Paul McEuen, a physicist who holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division and UC Berkeley's Physics Department.
The ability to use individual molecules as functional electronic devices is a much coveted prize in the computer industry because of the potential for dramatically shrinking the silicon-based microelectronic systems of today. As electronic devices are reduced in size to a nanometer scale, the atoms with which silicon must be doped will eventually begin to move about, resulting in poor or uneven performances. Nanoscale sizes should not pose a problem for devices based on single large molecules of carbon, as the atoms in these molecules are covalently bonded and therefore firmly locked in place. Within the past few years, a number of research groups, including McEuen's, have made transistors from carbon nanotubes -- tiny sheets of graphite that have been curled and connected along the seam. Although considered a single molecule of carbon, these elongated tubes were several times larger than the soccer-ball shaped carbon-60 molecules used by McEuen and his colleagues to make their newest transistors. Buckyballs are so tiny that, as transistors, they only permit one electron at a time to move through them. This opens the door to the study of single-electron transport effects. "Transport measurements of these single carbon-60 transistors provide evidence for coupling between the center-of-mass motion of the carbon-60 and single-electron hopping, a novel conduction mechanism that has not been observed in previous quantum-dot studies," the authors stated in their Nature paper. "The transport measurements demonstrate that single-electron tunneling events can be used both to excite and probe the motion of a molecule." McEuen likens the carbon-60 molecule to a ball tethered to a spring that rests on the surface of a gold electrode. When an electron hops onto the carbon-60, the "spring" is compressed as the charge of the additional electron draws the molecule closer to the gold surface. When the electron hops off the carbon-60, the spring is released. In this manner, electron-hopping causes the molecule to oscillate, like a ball on a spring bouncing up and down. McEuen says this quantized nanomechanical movement of the carbon-60 might serve as a logic gate, a means of storing information in the position of the molecule that would be more stable and much faster than the current technology. To make their transistors, McEuen and his colleagues capitalized on a phenomenon known as "electromigration." If two electrodes are physically connected to one another and a large current is sent through them, the movement of the electrons can create nanometer-sized fissures between the electrodes. Opening up cracks between the electrodes is not usually desirable when making electronic devices, but this was a case, McEuen says, of using lemons to make lemonade, as the cracks in the gold electrodes were a good fit for buckyballs. Transport measurements showed that the conductance across the cracks was substantially enhanced when a solution of carbon-60 was deposited onto the connected electrodes, indicating that individual buckyballs had filled those cracks. Measurements were also found to be in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. The gold electrodes used in this study were fabricated on Berkeley Lab's "Nanowriter," an ultra-high resolution lithography machine that can generate an electron beam at energies up to 100,000 volts with a diameter of only five nanometers. Says Erik Anderson of the Center for X-ray Optics, a collaborator on this study who helped design the Nanowri-ter's pattern generator and control system, "The Nanowriter's high-resolution, excellent placement accuracy, and modest throughput capabilities enabled us to make a large number of high quality gold electrode structures which we could then break apart with good reliability." The devices created with the buckyballs are analogous MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors). Though McEuen says they probably hold no commercial use at this time (the carbon-60 molecules can be readily blown out of the junction between the electrodes by too much voltage), they do represent one of the first actual experiments with a device for the upcoming age of nanoelectromechanical systems, or NEMS.
Good Budget News for DOE's Office Of Science
The holiday season came early for DOE's Office of Science this year, and it was an especially joyous occasion for physicists. A House-Senate conference has allocated $3.2 billion for the DOE agency that funds Berkeley Lab and the other national laboratories -- $24 million above what the Clinton administration had requested and more than $200 million above what lawmakers approved earlier this year. Conferees matched the Administration's request for the $1.3 billion Spallation Neutron Source by approving $278.6 million for the facility being built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by a collaboration that includes Berkeley Lab. This figure is $38.6 million more than what the Senate approved in July and $162 million more than what the House agreed to earlier this year. Responsibility for the SNS lies with the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, which received $1 billion, or $223 million more than in FY00. High energy physics programs at DOE would receive $726.1 million in FY01, an $11.4-million increase from current levels and equal to DOE's original request. Conferees were even more generous for the Office of Biological and Environmental Research, appropriating $500.3 million, which is $55 million more than DOE asked for. A substantial portion of this increase, however, is for Congressionally-directed projects. The Office of Fusion Energy Science was not left out of the conferees unexpected largess. They approved $255 million for OFES -- $7.7 million above DOE's request, which had been criticized by members of the fusion community. Details on the final FY 2001 budget and what it will mean for Berkeley Lab will reported in a forthcoming issue of Currents.-- Lynn Yarris
Washington ReportWashington Post Op-Ed Boosts Office Of ScienceThe DOE's Office of Science got a surprising new ally in its ongoing effort to convince Congress of its importance. Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and a former director of the National Institutes of Health, weighed in on behalf of the agency that funds this and other DOE national labs in an op-ed piece for the Washington Post.After applauding Congress for slating NIH to receive its third consecutive 15 percent funding increase, Varmus said: "But Congress is not addressing with sufficient vigor the compelling needs of the other science agencies, especially the National Science Foundation and the Office of Science at the Department of Energy. This disparity in treatment undermines the balance of the sciences that is essential to progress in all spheres, including medicine." Citing such technological developments as positron-emission tomography, computer-assisted tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, all of which came out of programs at the national labs, Varmus wrote: "Scientists can wage an effective war on disease only if we - as a nation and as a scientific community - harness the energies of many disciplines, not just biology and medicine. The allies must include mathematicians, physicists, engineers and computer and behavioral scientists." Why They Choose Not to ServeThe question of why more distinguished scientists do not follow in the footsteps of a Harold Varmus or a Glenn Seaborg and choose to serve as top officials in Washington was addressed by a panel of veteran government policy-makers in a new report from the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and the Institute of Medicine. The answer, they concluded, is a lack of attention to science by incoming administrations, a slow appointment process, and outdated rules to prevent conflicts of interest. The problem is particularly acute, they say, for high-tech executives, who should have a bigger role in national policy. "Working in Washington full-time is not a career path for most people in Silicon Valley," says Tim Newell, an aide to Jack Gibbons, the White House science adviser during President Clinton's first term and managing director of an Internet investment banking firm in San Francisco. "The last few years have seen huge growth and unprecedented economic opportunities. Those tremendous opportunities, plus the barriers mentioned in the report, make it harder to attract quality people to Washington." The eight-page report (www.nationalacademies.org) is a follow-up to a 1992 study by the academies. It urges the next administration to include scientists on its transition team and to appoint a presidential science adviser early enough to play a role in screening for other top positions. -- Lynn Yarris
NIH Continues To Fund Tritium Labeling Facility
As a result of high marks received from scientific and safety reviews, the National Tritium Labeling Facility (NTLF) at Berkeley Lab will receive funding from the National Institutes of Health to continue operations through July 2003. The authorization notice was received by David Wemmer, director and principal investigator of the NTLF. The continuation-grant funding totals just over $1 million per year. NIH has supported the NTLF since 1982. The facility, which conducts research to help biomedical studies of cell metabolism through the labeling of pharmaceuticals and other materials with tritium, underwent a rigorous scientific review in 1998. It scored among the top of NIH's grant applicants. An NIH-appointed safety review panel visited the NTLF in May 1999 and confirmed that the facility was meeting all regulatory requirements, offering five recommendations for improvements in the program. The panel made a return visit last April to verify the actions taken on the panel's recommendations.
DOE Awards $24 Million for Environmental Cleanup Research
Researchers at 21 universities and research institutions, including Berkeley Lab, received $24 million from the Department of Energy to renew 31 research projects funding key studies that may help solve complex environmental cleanup challenges. The awards are a result of the first renewal competition conducted under the DOE's Environmental Science Program. Nearly half of them will go towards solving subsurface contamination problems. "The renewal of these research projects will provide critical knowledge to help us understand how to clean up sites in a safe and efficient manner," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. At Berkeley Lab three projects are being funded under this program. One, in the amount of $720,000, will evaluate the effect of chemicals and hydrology on the transport and retention of radionuclides in subsurface materials. Principal investigators are Don DePaolo and Mark Conrad of Earth Sciences. David Shuh and Wayne Lukens, both with Chem Sciences, are the PIs for a $600,000 project that will go towards researching how to remove technetium found in tank farms at the Hanford and Savannah River sites. Finally, $870,000 will be used to develop a new electromagnetic measurement method for use in characterization, monitoring, and verification efforts at DOE sites. Ki Ha Lee of Earth Sciences is the PI. Terry Hazen, leader of the Environmental Remediation Technologies Program, says "There is good reason for optimism that other Berkeley Lab proposals in this program will be funded once the Water and Energy bill has been finalized by Congress."
A Rare Peek Inside the BaBar Detector
Benefits Brown Bags, Health Fairs in Anticipation of Open Enrollment
On Oct. 31 the Benefits Office is hosting a brown-bag session on "Your Additional Benefits," to be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Perseverance Hall. The event will focus on special discounts and benefits available to employees by virtue of the Lab's affiliation with the University of California. These include discounts for the Enterprise Vanpool Program, UC Berkeley Computer Stores, Cal Performances, CARE Services, and CAL Bears, among many others. Various organizations that offer discounts and reduced-fee services to UC employees will participate and donate prizes for a free drawing to be held at the brown bag. Since this event takes place on the eve of Open Enrollment (Nov.1-30), representatives from the Benefits Office will be on hand to provide information about Open Enrollment and other upcoming events. Other Events Two upcoming Health Fairs will be held on November 14 and 22. Benefits will also host a special brown bag Open Enrollment meeting in November. Details about these events will be forthcoming. The next issue of Currents will offer an overview of UC-related services and discounts for Lab employees.
Update Vehicle Information For New Parking Permits
The Site Access Office will be reissuing parking permits in November to all career employees at Berkeley Lab. The goal, says Sue Bowen of Site Access, is to improve parking availability and parking services on the Hill, while also recycling the old permits. Before parking permits can be issued, all employees must review and update their vehicle information. In order to facilitate the process, the parking permit and vehicle update form is available online on the self service website. Employees with secure web access can complete the form at http://hris.lbl.gov/self_service/parking/index.html. (Please note the "s" in "https.") The deadline for verifying and updating vehicle information is Tuesday, Oct. 31. Those who do not have an IMAP4 e-mail account need to open an account to access the form. To do so, go to http://www.lbl.gov/ICSD/CIS/accounts. Employees without computer access The Site Access Office will assist employees who do not have access to a computer at the following locations and times:
The permits will be distributed at various locations at dates and places to be announced soon. For questions contact ssbowen@ lbl.gov.
Don Vasco Wins Prize in Petroleum EngineeringBy Paul Preuss
Don Vasco of the Earth Sciences Division (ESD) and two of his colleagues have won Cedric K. Ferguson awards from the Society of Petroleum Engineers for the "best peer-approved technical paper of 1999." The awards were presented Monday, Oct. 2, at the society's annual meeting in Dallas. Vasco and Akhil Datta-Gupta, formerly of ESD and now a professor at Texas A&M, along with Seongsik Yoon, Datta-Gupta's doctoral student now with the (RC)2 company of Denver, won the awards for a new method of characterizing reservoirs during secondary recovery of oil -- using fast-changing data from injection and production wells. During primary recovery, oil can be pumped out easily, but as pressure falls off, water (or some other fluid) must be injected so the production wells can remove the remainder. As time goes on, the production wells produce less oil and more water. "Eventually it becomes more expensive to dispose of the water than the oil is worth, and the production well has to be shut down," Vasco says. Although static computer models of reservoirs are generated routinely, incorporating dynamic data into these models -- keeping track of changing conditions -- has proved computationally daunting. Yet if changing reservoir conditions could be tracked rapidly, decisions about whether and where to drill new wells could be made much more economically. "We developed a way to update reservoir models rapidly. In one day with a PC we can do what takes days or weeks on a mainframe," Vasco says. "Data from injection wells is routinely gathered, but until recently there was no systematic way to make use of it." Vasco and his colleagues figured out how to use the arrival time of injected water at the well-head of production wells -- and whether it arrives gradually or abruptly -- to get a picture of the permeability of the reservoir. "It's like tomography, in which the travel time of a signal from the source to the detector is measured. Time along the ray-path varies with the characteristics of the intervening material. With enough sources you can build up a good image." While tomography from seismology is routinely used to develop images of underground geological structures, the ray-paths Vasco and his colleagues are measuring are actually the flow-lines of the water from the injection well to the production well, called "streamlines." A research grant from the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) allowed the researchers to devise the new method. After it was refined, they successfully tested it in two sections of the North Robertson Unit in West Texas, mapping the streamlines from 27 production wells back to their sources in 17 injection wells. Now only a single simulation run is needed to do a "back projection," which forms a context for integrating the continuing flood of new data. "Before, if I tried to use this kind of information, I would have had to conduct tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of simulations," Vasco says. The Ferguson award-winning description of the method, titled "Integrating dynamic data into high-resolution reservoir models using streamline-based analytic sensitivity coefficients," appeared in SPE Journal in December of 1999. Yoon, who is under 33, was awarded a medal, while the more senior Vasco and Datta-Gupta received certificates.
Bulletin BoardCool Annual Tradition in Computing Sciences
Stores Catalog Now Available Online
Starting Oct. 9, Stores users will be able to place orders from a new web-based online catalog accessible from the Facilities Home Page, IRISv2, and from the LBNL Site Index under "Stores Online Catalog." Customers will be able to search the entire 6,000-item database by product description, application and/or LBNL catalog number. The search screen will display a description, unit price and availability information. To submit the order users will need a project ID, delivery information and date by which the item is required. A demonstration of the Online Stores Catalog will be held on Oct. 11 during lunchtime in the Bldg. 69 Training Room. To attend or arrange for one-on-one training, contact Tammy Thompson at X6429 or TLthompson@lbl.gov.
Work Request Center Room ReservationsThe Work Request Center (WRC) is now handling room reservations for four additional areas at the cafeteria:
Bldg. 54-101, cafeteria lobby
Reservations may be made through Netscape Calendar and the Facilities's WRC conference room website at http://hris.lbl.gov/self_service/parking/index.htmlhttp://web5.lbl.gov/conf_rooms/. For questions or to reserve a room contact Denise Iles at X6011 or the WRC at X6274.
New Dance Series: East Coast SwingNote new location in Bldg. 64
A new four-week series of dance lessons will begin on Monday, Oct. 9. The classes are held from 12 to 1 p.m. on the ground level of Bldg. 64 (south end) and are taught by professional dance instructor Charlene Van Ness. No previous dance experience is required. Free practice sessions are held every Wednesday at noon at the same location. The cost is $20 for the full four-week series or $6 per lesson on a drop-in basis. Participants are asked to arrive 10 minutes early for the first session to register. For additional information contact Joy Kono at jnkono@lbl.gov or Sharon Fujimura at spfujimura@ lbl.gov.
AIM Classes
The AIM computer class schedule for the remainder of the year is now available online at http://www.lbl.gov/Workplace/EDT/computers/PC_Classes.htm. Classes are held in Bldg. 51L from 9 to 4. For more information contact Heather Pinto at mpinto@lbl.gov.
Host a Cal Connections "Externship" Student
Cal Alumni are invited to share their career perspective with Cal students who are participating in the Externship Program for the year 2001, sponsored by UC Berkeley's Career Center. The program places students for a day or longer in work environments where they can shadow employees in the workplace. The program is run during winter break, January 1-12, 2001. To participate, contact Selina Wong at selinaw@ uclink. berkeley.edu or 642-1718 as soon as possible to request a registration form. The deadline for submitting the form is Thursday, Oct. 19.
Priority Mail Offers Delivery Confirmation
Mail Services reminds employees that the US Postal Service is now offering Priority Mail with Delivery Information. With this option USPS can scan the mail and give senders a daily report on their delivery status. The fee for this service is $0.35 for Priority Mail, and $0.60 for standard mail, in addition to the postage. Priority Mail offers the lowest priced two-to-three day delivery in the industry, at the rate of $3.20 for weights up two pounds. For more information see http://www.usps.com. To contact Mail Services or obtain supplies at the Lab call X5353.
Me and Isaac Newton at Film Festival"Me and Isaac Newton," the acclaimed feature-length documentary by award-winning filmmaker Michael Apted, will be screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival in San Rafael on Sunday Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. and Tuesday Oct. 10 at 9:30 p.m. The documentary explores the roots of scientific inspiration by focusing on the contributions of seven scientists -- including Berkeley Lab's Ashok Gadgil, inventor of the award-winning UV Waterworks. Director Apted's credits include both documentaries and feature films such as "Coal Miner's Daughter," "Gorillas in the Mist," and the latest James Bond movie, "The World Is Not Enough." More details about the Film Festival can be found at http://www.mvff.com/calendar.html.
Lab LifeRetirement Party
All Berkeley Lab Baby
CalendarGeneral InterestSAT, OCT. 7"REDESIGNING RETIREMENT" CONFERENCE9:30 - 4:40, Clark Kerr campus UC Berkeley WED. OCT. 11MAC USERS GROUP MEETING11 a.m. - 12 p.m., Bldg. 90-3148 MON., OCT. 9SHARES PACKET STUFFING9:30 a.m., Perseverance Hall New Dance Series Starts East Coast Swing 12 - 1 p.m., Bldg. 64 ground floor FRI., OCT. 13RUNAROUND XXIII & SHARES CHARITY FAIR12 p.m., starts at Firehouse.SHARES Fair at the cafeteria TUES., OCT. 17SHARES CHARITY FAIR II11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., Bldg. 937 THURS., OCT. 19SHOEMOBILE7:30 - 3:30, cafeteria parking lot FRI., OCT. 27RETIREMENT IN VIEW12 p.m., Bldg. 66 Auditorium To sign up call Fidelity Investments at 1-800-642-7131. TUES., OCT. 31YOUR ADDITIONAL BENEFITS11:30 - 1 p.m., Perseverance Hall
Announcements for the General Calendar and Bulletin Board page may be sent to MSFriedlander@ lbl.gov. Seminar & Lectures items may be mailed to currents_calendar@lbl.gov. You may also fax items to X6641 or mail them to Bldg. 65B. The deadline for the Oct. 20 issue is 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16.
Seminars & LecturesFRI., OCT. 6SURFACE SCIENCE AND CATALYSIS SCIENCE SEMINAR
Realistic Surface Science Models of Industrial Catalysts:
Hydrodesulfurization and Polymerization
CENTER FOR BEAM PHYSICS SEMINAR LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION INFORMAL SEMINAR
Is Estrogenic Activity Present in Hops? 8-Prenylnaringenin, a Novel
Phytoestrogen in Hops WED., OCT. 11A JOINT COLLOQUIUM OF THE NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND PHYSICS DIVISIONS
Pictures, Models, Approximations and Reality! Phase Transitions and
Our Understanding of the Physical World THURS., OCT. 12PHYSICS DIVISON RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
The Next Ten Years in Neutrino Physics TUES., OCT. 17CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
Modeling Reactions That Have Memory: Bioremediation THURS., OCT. 19PHYSICS DIVISON RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
Long Baseline Program at Gran Sasso
EH&S Classes - October 2000
* Includes EHS 392/405, followed by the orientation. Please arrive at 8:15 for sign-in. For more information or to enroll, contact Susan Aberg at Saberg@lbl.gov or enroll via the web at http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/ehstraining/registration/. Preregistration is required for all courses except EHS 10 (Introduction to EH&S). Times and locations are subject to change. For a full, updated schedule of EH&S training sessions see http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/schedule/.
November MoveSMART Training
Aue to popular demand, six MoveSMART (EHS 62) training sessions have been scheduled during the first week in November. The program is designed to develop skills for safer and stronger handling of materials, boosting balance, lifting correctly, and safe use of hands and knees.
Wednesday, Nov. 1, 8:30-11:30, Bldg. 51-201
The sessions are three hours long and preenrollment is required. You can register online on the EH&S training website athttp://www.ia1.lbl.gov/ehstraining/registration/. Questions concerning MoveSMART training may be directed to Don Van Acker, X2976. Classes are expected to fill up, so early registration is encouraged.
Flea MarketAutos / Supplies`95 CHEVROLET BLAZER LT, white, exc cond, new trans, leather int, fully loaded, cd, phone, tow package, 85K mi, $12,500/bo, Drew Kemp, X5789`93 NISSAN PATHFINDER, metallic green, loaded, good cond, sunroof, ac, auto, stereo/cass, tow pkg, roof rack, 127K mi, $8,000/bo, Evon, X7948, 236-5617 `93 DODGE INTREPID, cd/am/fm w/10-spkr infinity sound, pwr seat & win, cruise, loctronics security, new trans, clean, $5,700, Willow, X7498, Hugh, 558-9558 `92 SATURN SC2 COUPE, 125K, 5 spd, white, air bag, loaded, new tires, runs well, leather, $5,395, Paul, X4578, (925) 682-8872 `89 TOYOTA COROLLA all-track, 4 dr, 5 spd man, 103K mi, 1 owner, pwr steer, am/fm/cass, $2,200, Steve, X5396, 559-8669 `87 TOYOTA TERCEL, 3 dr hatch, manual trans, 90K mi, 1 owner, runs great, $1,800, Arie, X5171, 549-9489 `87 HONDA CIVIC, 169K mi, new cd player, at, ac, runs very well, $2,300/bo, Jim or Barb, 482-2354 HousingBERKELEY HILLS home, unfurn, 2+ bdrm/2 bth, quiet wooded neighborhood near Tilden Park, remodeled kitchen w/granite counters, mahog cabs, Italian tile floor, remodeled bathroom, downstairs office w/DSL, stove/refrig, w/d hookups, deck, no smoking, avail 9/1, $2,550/mo w/$2,550 sec dep, Rita, 525-3681BERKELEY rm for rent in 2 bdrm house near UC/Lab, partly furn, wash/dryer, garden, avail 10/1-11/1, $605+util, Bryan, bdlocd@ dante.lbl.gov, X2266, 845-3248 KENSINGTON, $2,200, 2 bdrm/2 bth house avail on or after 10/1, dishwasher, wash/dryer, fireplace, some hardwood floors, bay view, offstreet parking, nice neighborhood w/ in 3 mi of UCB/LBNL, Doug, 486-4933, dcfritz@lbl.gov LAKE MERRIT area, share rental w/young, friendly scientist, 1 rm avail in a 2 bdrm condo, next to BART/bus, 15 min drive to downtown Berkeley, fully furn, private bth, full kitchen privil, fireplace, patio, stove & refrig, wash/dryer, must see to appreciate, $525/mo, month-to-month, $250 deposit, share util, m/f ok, no smoking/no pets, avail 10/01, 322 Hanover Ave/Lakeshore Ave, Ben Hsieh, X5363, 763-8414, HBHsieh@ lbl.gov WALNUT CREEK, 1601 Alvarado Ave, lge 1 bdrm apt on ground floor of 4plex unit, patio, carport, pool, AEK, avail between 10/1 & 10/15, $750/mo, Bob (925) 376-2211 Housing WantedSINGLE PHYSICIAN looking for a house/apartment in the Berkeley/Oakland area to rent/housesit starting mid-November, Sarah, (650) 330-1883Misc Items For SaleBABY ITEMS, Evenflow porta-crib/playpen w/mattress, $50; Peg Prego High Chair in box, $150; potty training seat, $5; diaper genie, $10; many other items incl crib & misc toys, David, (925) 516-2358COMPUTER DESK, solid wood, med oak finish, exc cond, 37Wx 19Dx30H, $150, Jennifer, X7107, 849-9949 EVENFLO infant carrier/car seat, blue w/gold stars, exc cond, $25; bassinette on wheels w/white lace covers, very pretty, $50, Lisa, X5314, (925) 906-9786 EXECUTIVE DESK w/drawers & hanging files, $40; office chair, $10; panasonic fax, $20; exercise bike, $20, (925) 831-9172 NIGHTSTAND, 24Wx22Hx 16D, white, like new, $25; computer table/board 25Wx29Hx15.5D, white, like new, $20; jigsaw puzzles (2) 1500 pieces & (4) 1000 pieces $5/ea, Jan, X6676 OPERA TICKETS, SF, Ballad of Baby Doe, Fri 10/6; Der Rosen-kavalier, Fri 11/17, balc cir centr, $170/pr, Diana, X6444 OVERSEAS MOVING SALE, pine furn, bed, desk, dresser, bookshelves, lamps, electrical appliances, kitchenware, little used, very cheap, Joerg, X4863, 665-4269 REFRIGERATOR, 17 cu ft, white, very clean, $150; older, x-lge capacity microwave, very clean, $50, Ken Woolfe, X7739, 482-3331 SEAT COVERS for car, 2 for front bucket seats, blue & gray woven tweed upholstery fabric, + headrest covers, barely used, $15/bo; Melissa, 665-5572 (lv msg) SONY PLAYSTATION, 9 mos old w/2 dual-shock controllers, memory card, & 3 games, retails for $179, will sell for $100, Andrei, X6634 STORAGE SHED, 6'x7'x7' high, sturdy, hand-made, metal roof, door w/window, can be lifted and moved w/forklift, easy access or can be taken apart, $150, Conway Peterson, 528-8553 WantedCRAFTERS for 5th annual LBNL Craft Fair on 11/16, 4-7pm, sign up with Shelley, X6123VacationSOUTH LAKE TAHOE, spacious chalet in Tyrol area, close to Heavenly, fully furn, peek of the lake from front porch, sleeps 8+, sunny deck, pool & spa in club house, close to casinos & other attractions, Angela, X7712, Pat/Maria, 724-9450TAHOE KEYS at S. Lake Tahoe, 3 bdrm house, 2-1/2 bth, fenced yrd, quiet, sunny, close to attractions, prvt dock, great view, $150/night, 2 night min, Bob, (925) 376-2211 Ride ShareBENICIA RIDER seeks other riders for car/vanpool, will form vanpool if enough interest, from East 2nd St & 780 Park-n-Ride meeting point to LBNL or downtown Berkeley, Sherie, X5183, (707) 746-1129DRIVER WANTED to share driving for carpool from Vacaville/Fairfield to LBNL, 8am-4:30pm, Maria, X6419
Flea Market PolicyAds are accepted only from LBNL employees, retirees, and onsite DOE personnel. Only items of your own personal property may be offered for sale. Submissions must include name, affiliation, extension, and home phone number. Ads must be submitted in writing via e-mail (fleamarket@lbl.gov), fax (X6641), or delivered/mailed to Bldg. 65B. Ads run one week only unless resubmitted, and are repeated only as space permits. They may not be retracted once submitted for publication. The deadline for the Oct. 20 issue Thursday, Oct. 12.
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