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by Amy M. Kile
An agreement between Argonne and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) clears the way for research to analyze trends in the environment, determine how ecosystem factors could be affected by those trends and provide solutions for managing the nation’s forest lands.
The Master Inter-Agency Agreement was signed by Argonne Director Hermann Grunder, Bob Wunderlich, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne Area Office and Dale Bosworth, chief of the Forest Service.
To fulfill legal and mission-related requirements, the USFS must evaluate environmental issues affecting our national forests and consider alternative management plans and possible mitigation to maintain a sustainable forest environment. Argonne will work with the USFS to develop new approaches for analyzing and documenting these environmental issues.
The agreement was a result of a USFS request for technical support from DOE and Argonne similar to the agreement DOE and the lab have with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Argonne provided BLM programs with technical support for the past six years, including the environmental evaluation for renewing the federal grant for the Trans-Alaska pipeline system used to carry oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska.
“The agreement provides an opportunity for Argonne to work on a number of key national issues with the USFS, including domestic energy production from public lands, renewable energy and the President’s Healthy Forest Initiative,” said John Krummel (EAD), strategic area manager of natural resources and integrated assessments.
The USFS is interested in developing partnerships with organizations that can enhance and complement their own research activities, including initiatives in wildfire management.
In providing new techniques for assessing environment and energy interactions, Argonne will use environmental models and its high-performance computing capabilities. This will enable Argonne and the USFS to investigate various land management scenarios and allow researchers to visualize changes in landscape patterns that affect forest sustainability.
Argonne-Idaho and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho Office will celebrate Women’s History Month with speakers, song, dance, a fashion show of multi-cultural traditional costumes and recognition of several local women who make a difference.
The program will be held Thursday, March 20, at the University of Idaho Auditorium beginning at 11:30 a.m. The program will be free and open to the general public.
This year’s theme is “Women Pioneering the Future,” honoring pioneering women from U.S. history. It honors their struggles for equality and civil rights, educational and professional opportunities, and contributions to the arts, sciences and human causes. The theme also recognizes innovative women of today.
Argonne-Idaho employee Maureen Finnerty (NT), 2002 Woman of the Year, will be one of the keynote speakers and will present the 2003 Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Woman of the Year Award.
For more information, contact Shelly Havlovick (RPS-SS) at ext. 3-7653.
Researchers will discuss the results of their Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) projects at a “mini-symposium” Friday, March 14, from 2-3:30 p.m., in Argonne-East’s Building 402, Room E1100-1200.
All interested employees whose schedules permit are invited to attend. Refreshments will be available.
Speakers and topics will include:
2 p.m. -- “Determination and
Optimization of Beam Properties at Entrance and Exit of Gas Cell Systems,” by Guy Savard
(PHY)
2:15 p.m. -- “Improved
Capabilities for Determining Test Fuel Power and Motions in TREAT,” by Art Wright (NE)
2:30 p.m. -- “Reduction of ThO2
Based Fuel Waste,” by Bill Miller (CMT)
2:45 p.m. -- Break
3 p.m. -- “Extra Space-Time
Dimensions,” by Carlos Wagner (HEP)
3:15 p.m. -- “Development of
Process for Treatment of Steel-Encased Heavy Metals,” by Chris Grandy (NE)
by Amy M. Kile
I-Street magazine has named Senior Account Manager Paul Betten (OTT) and Neil Kane, executive director of Argonne’s Illinois Enterprise Technology Center (ITEC), to its annual Top 100 List. The list recognizes people who have an impact on the technology industry and economic development in Illinois.
Betten, who is also marketing and software licensing manager for Argonne’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), received the honor after speaking at the Union League Club of Chicago. I-Street named him “person of the week” and placed him on its Top 100 List for his work with software licensing.
Betten runs the Argonne software shop, a Web site from which people can purchase software programs such as those for energy management and simulation, computation and geographic information systems.
Betten was the case manager for Smart Signal, a start-up company founded at Argonne, which licensed Argonne technology to develop artificial intelligence-based software that could predict possible computer or equipment failure and alert users of the problem.
“Argonne licenses a number of emerging technologies, so I’m happy that it can get the recognition for being an emerging technology leader in the Chicago area,” Betten said.
Kane works closely with Betten and OTT to promote and develop high-tech businesses such as Smart Signal.
“The services we provide are consulting services, everything from helping to identify market opportunity, writing business plans, recruiting management and ultimately securing funding,” Kane said.
Kane and Betten are currently working together on two software-related projects. One is already licensed to a small business and ITEC is giving Betten advice on structuring that business. The other involves software that OTT thought might make a good candidate to spark a small business, although it must go through a process before that determination can be officially made.
I-Street’s Top 100 issue is sponsored by Trans-Tech LLC, the University of Chicago’s Master of Computer Science Program, the University of Illinois at Chicago MBA program, the Illinois Technology Enterprise Corporation in Evanston and Benedictine University.
The Chief Information Office and Electronics and Computing Technology Division have been reorganized to form a newly integrated CIO Computing and Instrumentation Solutions Division (CIS).
The new organization is intended to provide a strategic competitive advantage for the laboratory while reducing computing costs, said CIS Director Brent Stacey. All information technology staff within Operations will be merged into this new division, to eliminate redundancy and unnecessary cross-charging, reduce cost and improve customer service. The new organization will offer computing staff new career opportunities as processes are reinvented to be more responsive to the laboratory.
The reorganization:
Consolidates all of Operations IT
services, computing, software and support
Consolidates help desk functions from
Telecom and Client Computing
Moves Client Computing out of
Networking and into the new Desktop and Mobile Computing Solutions Group
Integrates Networking and Telecom into
the new group Networking and Telecom Solutions
Moves computer operations out of the
MIS group to its own entity.
Refocuses Instrumentation and
Electronics as a laboratory resource.
According to Stacey, the new organization’s keys to success are its ability to be cost-effective, flexible, responsive and reliable. He welcomes comments on how CIS can improve as a support organization.
Q: What security changes can we expect at Argonne-East if the terror alert level changes to red?
A: Terror alert level red is similar to the Department of Energy’s Security Condition (SECON) level 1, Threat Critical, but is not quite the same. This rough correlation is true of all five SECON levels. A chart of the security action plans that go with each of the SECON levels is online.
The main difference between Homeland Security Alert Advisory level red and SECON-1 is that SECON-1 refers to incidents in the “immediate area where a malevolent or terrorist attack has occurred which may affect the site, or when an attack is initiated on the site ...” Thus, where the Homeland Security level might escalate to red for the nation as a whole, we expect DOE would implement SECON-1 on a site-by-site basis based on the local situation.
At SECON-1, DOE-HQ, Chicago Operations, Argonne Area Office, and Argonne management would jointly activate an Emergency Operations Center, assess the threat to the site and occupants, and implement additional protective measures. These measures could include limiting the presence of personnel on site to critical and essential program and operations staff, reducing all after-hours access and activities, increasing local law enforcement presence on site, gracefully shutting down non-essential and non-critical experiments and research activities, and staggering arrival and departure schedules.
Following the DOE directive, we would implement a full search and inspection of all vehicles, suitcases, briefcases, packages and hand-carried items, without exception. It is likely we would close Westgate and Eastgate with barriers so all site access would be through Northgate.
Again, SECON-1 is called for in the event of a specific local or regional attack that would impact the site and would not necessarily be implemented because of a red alert or advisory.
With this said, note that with the nation recently at orange, security inspected all visitors, guests, and delivery vehicles plus random employee vehicles. If the nation went to red, even without SECON-1, we would anticipate that more employee vehicles would be searched and that we would recommend staggered arrival and departure schedules. In preparation for other actions, we would advise facility and program mangers and supervisory personnel to identify critical and essential personnel and implement their own local patrols, inspections, walk-throughs and protective measures within their facilities.
Friday “seafood celebrations” at the Argonne Guest House begin March 14.
Lunch and dinner will include seafood entrees like crab cake sandwiches and peel-and-eat shrimp, along with a soup and salad bar. “Land-based” entrees also will be available.
February was a good month for Argonne bowlers, with two employees rolling their first 300 games.
Kevin Knoerzer (XFD) made history Feb. 26 when he rolled the first 300 game in the history of the Argonne Mixed Bowling League.
“It was just unbelievable,” said Knoerzer, who has a 178 average. “I thought I’d missed the last throw, so I turned around. I was going to tell everyone, ‘Oh well, sorry,’ but the crowd reaction told me I’d hit it.”
Knoerzer’s first 300 game also came with a borrowed ball on loan from a friend. “I did really badly with it over the weekend, but I figured I’d give it one more try,” he said.
Michael E. Vaught (IPD-MED) rolled his first 300 Feb. 11 in a Tuesday night mixed league at Suburbanite Bowl in Westmont. Vaught, who has a 206 average, admitted to being a little nervous on the last throw and also didn’t see the finale. “I turned around after it hit and let the crowd tell me whether I’d gotten it or not,” he said.
2002 flexible spending claims must be postmarked by Monday, March 31. For more information, contact Human Resources at ext. 2-2991 (Argonne-East) or ext. 3-7361 (Argonne-Idaho).
Andrew Anthanitis, a retired fire inspector with 29 years of service in the Fire Department, died Feb. 10. His wife, Lucille, survives him.
Michael J. Caselli, a retired glassblower with 18 years of service in the Chemistry Division, died Jan. 13. His wife, Caroline, and daughter, Karen Matich, survive him.
Mary L. Erickson, a retired administrative assistant with 38 years of service in Central Shops, died Feb. 12. Her husband, Robert, survives her.
Stephanie Gincauskas, a retired cafeteria attendant with 17 years of service in the Support Services Division, died Nov. 30. Her children, Christine Dedin and Walter, survive her.
Gilbert Grinnell, a retired repair machinist with 23 years of service in Central Shops, died Dec. 22. His son, Gary, survives him.
William J. Jepsen, a retired special projects manager with 34 years of service in the Media Services Division, died Jan. 5. His children, Lora Oldham and Mark, survive him.
Alphonse J. Polowinczak, a retired satellite shops supervisor with 37 years of service in Central Shops, died Jan. 4. His wife, Jeanette, survives him.
Doreen J. Prucha, a retired administrative secretary with 23 years of service in the Office of the Director, died Nov. 19. Her daughters, Sharon and Janice Doubek, survive her.
Charles T. Shudell, a retired chief postal clerk with 31 years of service in the Material Services Division, died Nov. 19. His daughter, Anne Ociepka, survives him.
Elmer J. Specht, a retired firefighter with 21 years of service in the Fire Department, died Nov. 14. His son, Jeffrey, survives him.
Lloyd Warner, a retired firefighter with 41 years of service in the Fire Department, died Jan. 16. His wife, Gaylene, survives him.
Argonne’s Chemical Management System (CMS) has a new Web address: www.cms.anl.gov. Employees who use the system should add the new site to their browser favorites lists or create a new desktop icon. The CMS Web site provides one central location for all topics and information related to chemical management. There are about 38,000 Material Safety Data Sheets available for searching, viewing and printing at the site. For more information, call Jeanne Elkins (EQO) at ext. 2-9857 or Betty Dai (ECT) at ext. 2-4253.
An interactive program for family caregivers will be held at Argonne-East Wednesday, March 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The program will give employees an opportunity to talk about their own family caregiving issues and to receive personal attention and guidance from eldercare expert Joy Loverde. The program will include discussion about balancing life and work responsibilities and about handling the emotions of family caregiving.
To ensure quality of this program, space is limited. For information, contact Fran Perri (HR) at ext. 2-2989 or fperri@anl.gov.
“Dare to Dream” will be the topic when the Argonne Chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals meets in Argonne-East’s Building 900 Wednesday, March 19, at 5:30 p.m.
Speaker Carolyn Arthur (HR) will discuss ways to make dreams a reality. All employees are invited to attend, and refreshments will be available.
For information, contact Michelle Lawlor (DIS) at ext. 2-0270.
George Cutwright, a representative of the Social Security Administration’s Joliet office, will visit Argonne-East Wednesday, March 19, from 8 a.m. to noon.
To schedule a meeting, call Fran Perri (HR) at ext. 2-2989.
Representatives from 25 area colleges will visit Argonne-East Wednesday, April 2, to answer questions about course offerings, degree requirements and class schedules. Four-year and community colleges will be represented.
The college fair will be held in Building 212, Room A157 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is open to all Argonne employees as their work schedules permit.
The Human Resources Department will be available to provide information about the Argonne Educational Assistance Program and the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP). CLEP is a program through which college credits can be granted for learning derived through life experiences.
The Plant Facilities and Services Division and Human Resources co-host this annual event. For more information, call Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410.