Sandia ‘RAP artists,’ White Sandstechs free stuck radiation sourceExtraction a Mighty Mouse robot detective story

The cylinder was small — the size of a restaurant salt shaker — but it emittedenough gamma rays to kill a person in half a minute. And it was stuck. Technicians at DoD’s White Sands Missile Range Gamma Irradiation Facil-

ity ordinarily use pneumatic air to propelthe little cylinder from its insulated loca-tion to its exposed test position and backagain, like drive-up banking facilities usepneumatic tubes to shuttle cylindersbetween customer and teller. The methodhad worked satisfactorily for decades.

But on Oct. 2, after the irradiator fin-ished a test sequence, a switch along thecylinder’s path caught in one of its ribbingsand would not release. The cylinder, emit-ting 20 rads/second at a distance of onefoot, wouldn’t move, says White Sandshealth physicist Douglas McDonald.

Five hundred rads is considered alethal dose; half the people receiving it diein 30 days.

Researchers significantly increased pneumatic pressure on the 3-by-1-inchcylinder, but it would not budge.

Warning horns blared. Warning lights flashed. They would do so for almostthree weeks.

The facility’s primary mission is to irradiate electrical circuit boards to testtheir survivability under extreme circumstances. But because vehicles are some-times irradiated as well, emissions intentionally extend beyond the buildingthrough a raised overhead door into an already cordoned-off area outside. Theseemissions were now unceasing.

“We’re required to alert staff [24 hours a day], using a visual and audible sig-nal, to the existence of a radiation area,” Richard Williams told the Lab News.

(Continued on page 5)

(Continued on page 4)

Vol. 57, No. 24 November 25, 2005

(Continued on page 4)

Managed by Lockheed Martin for the National Nuclear Security Administration

Sandia RAP team members andengineers, using a robot affection-ately nicknamed “Mighty Mouse,”teamed with White Sands person-nel to solve problems on the fly,and dislodge an exposed and verydangerous radioactive source. It’sthe kind of unadorned detectivestory that Lab News writer NealSinger obviously loves to tell.

How the good guyssaved the day

Real-world solutions offered forall-too-real terror threatsSandia, Lawrence Berkeley experts publish new airport guidelines

Sandians’ ECP record-setting generositypasses $2.8 million

Airport executives and emergency plannersnow have a new suite of concrete recommenda-tions on how to boost security at their facilities,thanks to a just-published report developed byresearchers from Sandia and Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory (LBNL).

The tangible, real-world recommendations inthe 100-page “Guidelines to Improve Airport Pre-paredness Against Chemical and Biological Ter-rorism” is intended to help security managers atairports and other transportation facilities reducethe risk of these types of attacks.

The report makes concrete recommendationson improving security and assessing vulnerableareas, and helps readers understand the nature ofchemical and biological attacks. The report has

been turned over to Airports Council Interna-tional (ACI) and the American Association of Air-port Executives (AAAE), two large organizationsthat represent the interests of thousands of air-port personnel and facilities in the US and aroundthe world.

The project was an extension of PROACT(Protective and Responsive Options for AirportCounter-Terrorism), a five-year, Sandia-led pro-gram most recently supported by the Departmentof Homeland Security. LBNL became part of thePROACT effort in 2003 and joined forces withSandia to develop the guidance document.

In addition to the ACI and AAAE’s distribu-tion plans, the Transportation Security Adminis-tration (TSA) has distributed the document to itsown staff at the nation’s highest-threat airports,and plans to incorporate portions into its existingdocument, “Recommended Security Guidelinesfor Airport Planning, Design, and Construction.”

Donna Edwards and Susanna Gordon (both8114) worked with LBNL colleagues to developthe guide.

“We wanted to offer airport planners a user-

By Mike Janes

By Neal Singer

Sandia observes NativeAmerican Heritage Month;Debby Tewa helps bringPV electric power to Hopipeople. Stories on page 6.

Shoes for Kids 2005

DOE’s mobile atmos-pheric lab deploys toNiger to continueARM program studies.Story on page 9.

“I am blown away by Sandians’ generositythis year,” says ECP chairman Art Verardo (2990).Here are just a few of the highlights of this year’scampaign, as provided by Art.

• Employee participation increased by 8 per-cent to almost 71 percent

• New hires increased their level of participa-tion by more than 26 percent

• All divisions significantly increased theirlevel of participation (both in percentage ofparticipation and money pledged)

• The three bargaining units increased theirlevel of participation (both in percentage ofparticipation and money pledged)

By Iris Aboytes

Border lab a ‘go’

The Bi-National Sustainability Lab, whose ori-gins can be traced to Sandia and VP GerryYonas’s Advanced Concepts Group (Gerry is atright in photo), got an enthusiastic sendoff lastweek in Santa Teresa, N.M. Story on page 10.

Shoes for Kids, aSandia tradition for49 years, will againthis year fit morethan 400 local kidswith brand-newshoes, thanks toSandians’ donationsand Mervyn’sdepartment store.See story andphotos on page 12.

BOB ANDERSON demonstrates the capabilities of the robot affectionately known asM2, for Mighty Mouse, as in “Here I come to save the day.”(Photo by Randy Montoya)

Sandia National Laboratorieshttp://www.sandia.gov/LabNews

Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-0165Livermore, California 94550-0969Tonopah, Nevada • Nevada Test Site • Amarillo, Texas •Carlsbad, New Mexico • Washington, D.C.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated bySandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the US Departmentof Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Ken Frazier, Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505/844-6210Bill Murphy, Writer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505/845-0845Chris Burroughs, Writer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505/844-0948Randy Montoya, Photographer . . . . . . . . 505/844-5605Nancy Garcia, California site contact. . . . . 925/294-2932Contributors: Janet Carpenter (844-7841), John German(844-5199), Neal Singer (845-7078), Larry Perrine (845-8511),Howard Kercheval (columnist, 844-7842), Will Keener (844-1690),Iris Aboytes (844-2282), Michael Padilla (284-5325), Julie Hall(284-7761), Rod Geer (844-6601), Michael Lanigan (844-2297),and Michelle Fleming (Ads, Milepost photos, 844-4902). ErinGardner (intern, 284-8432). Dept. 3651 Manager: Chris Miller(844-0587).Lab News fax ................................................505/844-0645Classified ads ................................................505/844-4902

Published on alternate Fridays by Media Relationsand Communications Dept. 3651, MS 0165

About those messages to single addresses that comprise large groupsof people.

Recently, somebody sent a message to everybody in the IntegratedEnabling Services Strategic Management Unit (IES SMU), which generatedsome responses. That seems OK on the surface. Trouble is, in responding,the responders clicked on the “Reply all” button,which sent the response to everyone in IES — in caseyou aren’t aware of the size of IES, it includesroughly 2,800 Sandians (plus contractors) — whichinspired many who didn’t want the message in thefirst place to say so. To everyone who got the firstmessage.

After a furious flurry of these “don’t sendany more messages to me!” messages, including lots of“ditto” responses, someone with a delightful sense ofhumor or, perhaps, just a keen sense of opportunityreplied-all asking if anybody wanted a puppy.

After more notes — some more polite than others— someone either very curious or having a sense ofcomedic timing asked: “What kind of puppy?”

It was about then that the multi-response tirades dwindled to atrickle, eliminating the fun of reading them, and I lost interest. Whethera puppy transaction actually occurred, I don’t know.

* * *Meanwhile, the “IES SMU” mention above provides a perfect segue to

something all of us working in large beauracracies are familiar (andstruggle) with — acronyms and initialisms.

A reporter called recently about SAND Report SAND2002-2019Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations. He might be able to get a nicelittle light-hearted feature out of it, he said.

Some discussion of the value of such a piece to the Labs ensued,producing the following observation from within the Media Relations group:

“At Sandia, sometimes we have a program that sounds like an acronymbut isn’t. When we refer to such a program, we follow it with the acronymTINA in parentheses. That means ‘this is not an acronym.’

“It’s AVS, really, — er, I mean, it’s all very simple, really. Really.”* * *

Bill Suderman (10334) e-mailed following a Sandia Daily Newsreminder last week that Nov. 21 was the annual Roadrunner Food Bankdrive’s Take-a-Turkey-to-Work Day, which asks Sandians to bring a frozenturkey to work that day to contribute to the drive.

“If I can get a carpool placard and use those close-up parkingspaces, I’ll do it in a NY minute,” he wrote. “One turkey should last ’tilabout March this time of year.”

Forget it, Bill. NOAA says we’re in for a warmer-than-usual winter.Someone would notice.

* * *Clever people in Labs groups come up with some funny web or e-mail

addresses, like the Electrical Safety Committee’s http://zap.sandia.govweb address. If you know of others, zap ’em along to me. We’ll share ’em.

— Howard Kercheval (844-7842, MS 0165, hckerch@sandia.gov)

Mike Desjarlaisnamed an APS Fellow

Citing his “pioneering work” with warmdense plasmas and liquids, the American Physi-cal Society’s Executive Board has elected MikeDesjarlais (1674) a fellow.

“As you may know,” the letter to Mike fromAPS board officer AlanChodos states, “electionto Fellowship in [APS] islimited to no more thanone half of one percentof the membership. [It is]recognition by yourpeers of your outstand-ing contributions tophysics.”

His full APS citation,which appears on his fel-lowship certificate, reads:“For pioneering work onthe application of quantum molecular dynamicssimulations to the generation of accurate wide-range electrical conductivity models for warmdense plasmas and liquids.”

Mike was nominated by the APS Division ofPlasma Physics and received his certificate atDPP’s annual meeting in Denver last month.

Mike received a PhD from Cornell Universityin 1986 through the Laboratory of Plasma Studiesand immediately joined Sandia’s light ion-beamfusion effort centered on PBFA II, now evolvedand operated as the Z machine

Mike’s early research focused on developingtheoretical models of magnetically insulated iondiodes. The work received broad internationalrecognition and ultimately led to his specialappointment as a DMTS in 1995.

His current research is primarily in the area ofhigh-energy-density physics, with emphasis onusing quantum molecular dynamics to calculateaccurate equations of state and transport proper-ties for warm dense matter, the principal motiva-tion being Sandia’s inertial confinement fusionand material properties research efforts on theZ machine.

The wide-range conductivity models he hasgenerated for use in advanced modeling codeshave become very popular in the high-energy-density physics community.

In 2002 Mike received a Sandia EmployeeRecognition Award for Individual TechnicalExcellence citing his work with density func-tional theory to develop an accurate wide-rangeconductivity model for aluminum. This led tomany new connections within Sandia, spawningseveral ongoing collaborations with staff in San-dia Centers 1100, 1400, and 8700 on advancingelectronic structure methods for use in high-energy-density physics applications.

Mike maintains collaborations with physi-cists at Los Alamos National Laboratory; theCommissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), France;and the Universität Rostock, Germany. He is anexecutive committee member of the APS TopicalGroup on Shock Compression of Condensed Mat-ter, an adjunct research professor with the Institutefor Shock Physics at Washington State University,and an associate editor for Physics of Plasmas.

Saul Skolnick (age 83) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 7Joe Die Fulmer (95) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 8Janice T. Kowalski (79) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 8Warren Nilchee (95) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 10Frank W. Muller (73) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 11Gary O. Miller (66) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 13James M. Winter (78) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 18Donald L. Benoist (77). . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 18Jack M. Donaworth (70) . . . . . . . . . . . . August 28Frank J. Feery (90) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 1Charles W. Quillen (89). . . . . . . . . . . . . October 2Bruno Paoletti (87). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 2Margaret I. Key (83) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 6Robert F. Carrell (82) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 7Marcus M. Herrera (83) . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 8John A. Fackelman (94) . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 8Louis E. Guintard (88) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 8Thomas E. Russell (83). . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 9J.R. Hollingshead (65) . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 11Alexander S. Trujillo (81). . . . . . . . . . . October 11Fred F. Eichert (84). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 13Oscar E. Carter (73) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 22

Note: A number of retiree deaths that occurred inSeptember were listed in the Nov. 11 Lab News.

Retiree deaths

Work with ‘warm, dense plasmasand liquids’ cited

MIKE DESJARLAIS

One more Lab News issue will be published thisyear, dated Dec. 9. The deadline for submittingclassified ads for that issue is noon, Dec. 2.

The first 2006 issue will be published Jan. 4.The deadline for submitting classified ads for thatissue will be noon, Tuesday, Dec. 20; a reminderwill be published in the Dec. 9 issue.

Lab News schedule and deadlines

Retiring and not seen in Lab News pictures:Ronald Coonen (4012), 29 years; Eugene Mutchie(2431-1), 28 years; Gerald Roudabush (10848-2),30 years.

Employee deathPaul Sands of Cyber Security Technologies

(4312) died Nov. 9. He was 55 years old.Paul had been at Sandia for more than 16

years. He is survived by his wife Patricia, daughterLorraine, and son.

What’s what

PUPPY LOVE

SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 3

Combustion science ‘essential,’ DOE science chieftells Sandians at all-hands meeting at the CRF

“I’m delighted that 25 years ago somebodyhad the foresight to recognize that combustionwas essential,” Ray Orbach, director of DOE’sOffice of Science, told Sandians at an all-handsmeeting at the Combustion Research Facility inlate October.

Orbach, in remarksanticipating the CRF’s 25thanniversary symposium(held Nov. 17), added thathe believes “the mostimportant issue facing ourcountry is energy, period.”

It was Orbach’s secondvisit to the CRF, followinga full tour he took a fewdays earlier, shortly afterstepping into his new role.

Center 8300 DirectorTerry Michalske noted thatOrbach is known both forhis leadership ability andfor his excitement aboutscience. “He’s responsiblefor directing and leading a major fraction of thenation’s science research resources,” Terry said,“with a budget of more than $3.5 billion thatcovers everything from the dark matter in theuniverse to the beauty of nanoscience — that’s alot of orders of magnitude.”

A wide spectrum of research activities takesplace at the CRF, Orbach observed, saying, “Yougo all the way from the very basic to the veryapplied, and you do that seamlessly.”

In the next 20 years, he said, US energy con-

sumption is expected to go up by one-third, as isoil consumption. Natural gas usage is expectedto increase by almost two-thirds, and electricityby 50 percent.

“The search for energy is here,” Orbach said,“and if we’re not careful, we’ll see conflict.”With less than 5 percent of the world’s popula-tion, the US consumes one-fourth of the world’s

For Len Napolitano, becoming director ofComputer Sciences and Information Technolo-gies Center 8900 is a bit like coming home, sincehis first promotion to management had been torun the scientific computing department, he toldthe some 250 members of his center at his firstall-hands meeting.

Len, most recentlysenior manager of Bio-logical and MicrofluidicSciences Dept. 8320,said in remarks at theDistributed Informa-tion Systems Labora-tory that he appreci-ated interdisciplinaryand multidisciplinaryproblems long beforehelping to grow a bio-science capability atSandia.

He has severaldegrees from MIT — a bachelor of science inhumanities and science (with concentrations inAmerican studies and biology); a bachelor of sci-ence in art and design; another bachelor of sci-ence in civil engineering, and a master of sciencein civil engineering.

‘I saw the place . . .I stayed’Although he grew up in Albuquerque, Len

never thought about working for Sandia until hewas on an interview swing along the West Coastin 1979 and stopped in Livermore.

“I came, I saw the place, I loved it, I stayed,”he said.

He started at Sandia in the StructuralMechanics Department, analyzing solar centralreceiver systems. As a Sandian, Len tookadvanced studies at Stanford University, wherehe completed an interdisciplinary PhD program,writing a thesis on computer architectures for

‘A bit like coming home,’ says Len Napolitanoon becoming director of Center 8900

By Nancy Garcia

computational mechanics with advisers fromcivil engineering, mechanical engineering, elec-trical engineering, and computer science. Aftercompleting his dissertation, he returned towork on the Strategic Defense Initiative, joininga group that was trying to build special-pur-pose, massively parallel computer hardware forimage processing.

His new posi-tion appeals tohim, he said,because computerscience research ischanging society.“Information tech-nology is the trans-forming technol-ogy of our time.Everyone’s hookedin and wired up,”he said.

Len doesn’texpect to make major or immediate changes,since the day-to-day operations are run by thesenior managers, Jim Handrock (8960) andChuck Oien (8940). Jim was acting director inthe five months since Ken Washington (4600)moved from director of 8900 to becomeSandia’s chief information officer.

On the other hand, Len would like to seethe center be a learning and developing organi-zation. In the past, he’d filled jobs in differenttechnical areas addressing different nationalproblems. Each one wasn’t the same as whathe’d done before — but also wasn’t the sameafter he’d done them.

The newly established bioscience capabilityat Sandia is still growing. “We went from beinga lab that didn’t do biology to being a lab thatdoes,” he said. “We have created evolving tech-nological capabilities in response to an evolv-ing set of threats — Tom Hunter’s view of us inleadership in the country is adaptability tochanges that we master and apply.”

energy but produces only 15 percent of it. Con-servation and cleanliness, the kinds of thingsaddressed by energy efficiency and low-emis-sions research at the CRF, will profoundly affectthe energy balance and have an internationaleffect, he said.

Imported oil contributes to the budgetdeficit, which will choke expansion, Orbach said.

To increase efficiency, DOEis looking at alternatives,such as direct solar-to-chemical energy conversion.The budget authorizationbill signed at Sandia/NewMexico, he said, “has anemphasis on science andthe contribution of scienceto energy.”

He expects the Officeof Science to play an ever-broader role and told theaudience, “We’re all in thistogether — we’re very, veryinterested in your accom-plishments and ideas. . . .All we have left are you

and the other DOE labs — you are playing therole of a really fine Bell Lab type of industrial laband if we don’t keep the funding, we’ll lose theoutput we had. . . . We’ve always been the leader;I don’t know what happens when you’re sec-ond-best. To me, the issue of discovery is firstand foremost.”

Since he was also slated to give remarks viavideolink at the anniversary event itself, Orbachtold the audience, “Let’s just consider this apre-celebration.”

By Nancy Garcia

“We’ve always been the leader;I don’t know what happenswhen you’re second-best. Tome, the issue of discovery isfirst and foremost.”

LEN NAPOLITANO

AN ANIMATED Ray Orbach, head of DOE’s Office of Science, shares his passion for science with an audience ofSandians at the Combustion Research Facility. (Photos by Bud Pelletier)

AN ENERGIZING DISCUSSION – MIT BayerProfessor of Chemical Engineering Greg McRae,who chairs the Combustion Research Facility(CRF) advisory committee, participated in apanel titled “FromHere to the Hydro-gen Economy:Building an EnergyBridge to theFuture” at the 25thanniversary celebra-tion of the CRF,moderated byEnergy, Securityand Defense Tech-nologies Div. 6000VP Les Shephard.McRae commentedthat inventions such as Sandia’s energy-conserving white light laser diode (that waspresented in a laser-pointer pen as a mementoto dignitaries, employees, and media in atten-dance) are among the imaginative solutionsthat emerge from the Labs. He went on to callthe CRF “one of the true jewels in DOE’scrown.” For more on the Nov. 17 anniversarysymposium see the Dec. 9 issue of theLab News. (Photo by Bud Pelletier)

Symposium marks 25thanniversary of the CRF

“We’re sitting on thetype of technologythat should be indis-tinguishable frommagic, and I wantpeople to be amazedat what we do.”

Making a contribution through new accom-plishments will be an exciting challenge in thenew center, he believes, and told his listenersthere is much to be done in the national interest.

Referring to Arthur C. Clarke’s “third law,”the observation that “any sufficiently advancedtechnology is indistinguishable from magic,” Lensaid, “We’re sitting on the type of technologythat should be indistinguishable from magic,and I want people to be amazed at what we do.”

GREG McRAE

SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 4

Guidelines(Continued from page 1)

friendly guide that gives them aclear understanding of chem/biodefense of their facilities and con-crete steps they can take to assessand improve their current readinesslevels,” says Donna, the lead author.

Active, passive measuresReaders can use the information

to help determine what kinds ofphysical or system upgrades arerequired for their facilities, orwhether an outside consultant isneeded. The guidance is alsointended to help airport personneldeter high-consequence chem/bioattacks through targeted physicalsecurity measures and to mitigatethe impact of an attack through passiveprotection (measures that reduce impact even inthe absence of response) and active responsemeasures.

Susanna says the nature of a chem/bio threatis far different from conventional attacks and acomprehensive guide is needed to help airportsdeal with such a threat.

In developing the guide, Sandia drew exten-sively on knowledge gained from its collaborationwith San Francisco International Airport (SFO)under the PROTECT and PROACT programs

(both initiated by DOE and continued under theDepartment of Homeland Security). Insight wasalso gleaned from Sandia’s participation in theDoD’s Biological Defense Initiative and guidelinesSandia developed for other sites. Other contribu-tions came from existing guidelines for buildingprotection, including some from the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention/National Insti-tute for Occupational Safety and Health, and theUS Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center.

In collaboration with SFO, Sandia conductedresearch over the past few years to understand

how agents would spread through anairport. They also studied the effective-ness of HVAC responses, conductingextensive gas and smoke tracer tests atSFO. Together, Sandia and Berkeley cre-ated a set of specific prioritized recom-mendations targeted at improving thepreparedness of airports and other facili-ties with wide-open interconnectedspaces against chemical and biologicalterrorism.

“We understand that no airportwill look identical or respond in pre-cisely the same fashion,” Donna says.“But the starting point for any facilityis the same: gaining a thorough under-standing of the specific threats and thecharacteristics of those threats, whichin this case involves chemical and bio-logical agent attack. Only then can youbegin to look at plausible responses andfacility ‘hardening’ measures. The ulti-mate goal, of course, is to protect air-

port facility users and save lives in the event of aterror attack.”

To develop the guide, the researchers workedextensively with airport managers at SFO, whoprovided insights into their security measures,and strategies for improving security. The San-dia/Berkeley team sent the draft document toreviewers at other airports around the country toensure that it reflected the best thinking of secu-rity managers. Although focused on airports, thedocument is also relevant to facilities such astrain and bus stations and ports.

• Temporary employees increased their levelof participation by 11 percent

• Total participants increased by more than700 people (626 regular and 118 temporaryemployees)

• Overall pledges/contributions (includingretiree and Lockheed Martin Cornerstonecontributions) total more than $2.8 million(and could go up more)

“Sandians have so much to be proud of — ourservice to the nation, our commitment to values,our ability to excel,” says President and LabsDirector Tom Hunter. “Few things say as muchabout who we really are as our commitment toour community and our support to those in need.Your spirit of giving continues to make a pro-found difference in many lives and makes us bet-

ter. I am impressed by what we do together, butespecially proud of our response to our campaignand by each Sandian who chose to share.”

“Cochairman Pam Catanach (3652) and Iwant to thank all of the campaign coordinatorsfor the incredible job you have done to get ourmessage out to your coworkers,” says Art. “Yougave real meaning to our theme of ‘ExperiencingOur Tradition of Giving.’ We also want to thankmembers of Large Staff for the support and leader-ship that you provided during this campaign.Finally, we want to recognize the leadership pro-vided by this year's campaign co-champions, VPsAl Romig and Kim Adams.”

“What a great achievement for Sandians,”says United Way of Central New Mexico CEO

Juanita Sanchez, program manager of theECP from 1993 to 2005, decided it was time forher to get a “real job.”

She is now working with the TradesApprenticeship Pro-gram in Center 2400.Pam Catanach (3652)was this year’s ECP pro-gram manager and ArtVerardo (2990) waschairman.

“ECP wasn’t a realjob for me,” saysJuanita. “It was a pas-sion. It was the noblejob of fundraising,which is probably themost misunderstood, yet vital, job we do tohelp communities provide services to thosemost vulnerable.”

Juanita took over the program in 1993when the ECP contribution going to UnitedWay of Central New Mexico was $1.76 million.Last year’s total was $2.515 million. Neither ofthese totals include California’s LEAP (nowSHARE) program.

“Imagine what our community wouldbecome without our health and human serviceagencies funded through ECP,” says Juanita. “Isure would not want to live here. Would you?”

When she took over the campaign it was all

done on paper. She worked with Payroll todesign a totally paperless campaign. She alsosaw the campaign evolve to include retirees. Herfarewell from her passion job to her real job wasthe following poem.

Experience our tradition of giving(Dedicated to the 2005 ECP Representatives

and Core Team Members)

Children learn when hunger does not slowtheir fragile minds

The elderly can live in dignity when theyare comforted and valued

Teenagers can graduate when they aretaught to love themselves

A single mother can provide for her familywhen we help her

And a father can become a nurturing par-ent when we support him in his quest

When we are all woven into this commu-nal blanket

Interlacing all the global shades of yarnsand threads

We become fuller, cherished, confident,generous, and warmer

We can then continue to link all handsinto the journey

As we ask others to experience our tradi-tion of giving.

©Juanita Sanchez, November 2005

ECP numbers(Continued from page 1)

Jack Holmes. “When you consider thesignificant changes that have takenplace this year at the lab, thecampaign results are evenmore magnificent. Everyonestepped up: new hires,those in the tech areas,union members, thesteering committee, thereps, and the lab leader-ship. I’m not sure Sandi-ans realize the tremen-dous influence they havein the community. Theirspirit of volunteerism andcaring and their consistencyof performance in communityinvolvement is far-reaching. Theyalso are far and away the largest sin-

gle contributing group to the UnitedWay campaign year after year. Con-

gratulations to everyone.”

Never prouder“I have been a Sandian

for 28 years, and I havenever been prouder to bea member of this greatorganization,” says Art.“The many less-fortunatemembers of our commu-nity who will benefit from

your generosity thank allof you for your efforts dur-

ing this year’s campaign.Thank you [ECP representatives

and all contributors] for yourincredible efforts. You are amazing.”

“Few things say as much aboutwho we really are as our commit-ment to our community and oursupport to those in need. Your spiritof giving continues to make a pro-found difference in many lives andmakes us better.”

Labs Director Tom Hunter

Juanita Sanchez gets ‘real job’

JUANITA SANCHEZ

THE SECURITY GUIDELINES developed by Sandia and LBNL were based on manydata sets, including information gained from tests at San Francisco InternationalAirport. The smoke dispersal test shown above was conducted several years ago ina new, unoccupied wing of the airport.

SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 5

Robot (Continued from page 1)

Williams is White Sands’ associate director for itsSurvivability, Vulnerability, and AssessmentDirectorate.

The facility also had to be staffed around theclock, he said, to warn security personnel andother potential visitors not to enter the areabecause radiation was present.

Because of these precautions and the lab’slayout, there was no danger to staff or the envi-ronment. But the approximately 3,000-square-

foot test facil-ity was nowinoperative.

The WhiteSands team’soptions, sayMcDonaldand Williams,were expen-sive, labor-intensive, andtime-consum-ing. Nohuman was

strong enough to carry a shield heavy enough toprotect him or her. There were robots on the EastCoast that might be located and flown in. Thefacility also had the capability to design, manufac-ture, transport, and maneuver in a very heavy leadshield on a front-end loader to block and then sur-round the errant source. Technicians drillingthrough the shield might send in a rod to free theswitch.

But the quickest, simplest option was to workwith NNSA’s local RAP (Radiological AssistanceProgram) team, DOE’s usual responder-of-choicein assessing and resolving emergency radiologicalsituations.

On Oct. 3, White Sands personnel called San-dia RAP — exactly the right thing to do, saysRichard Stump (12345), Sandia RAP leader. “Partof RAP’s mission is to help out in jobs like this,”he says.

Able to draw upon many Sandia resources,Richard called robotics manager Phil Bennett(6644) and explained the problem.

Phil said his group had a robot that might dothe job. The 600-pound, five-foot-long robot, nowunofficially known as M2, rolled on treads, couldmaneuver around obstacles, and had a long, multi-jointed gripper arm. It had the dexterity to reachinto awkward places and apply force to drills andscrewdrivers. It could remember positions, impor-tant in starting with tools at the right height anddepth.

But radiation that can kill a human can kill arobot. Phil estimated M2 could withstand intenseradiation for only 50 minutes. That might be longenough, perhaps, to free the cylinder.

The plan was to drill through the protective3/16-inch steel plate covering the switch. Byinserting a wire through the drilled hole, theswitch — which rotated on a hinge pin, similar toa teeter-totter — could be nudged to change itsalignment. A bomb-disposing robot might havebeen capable of this in simpler circumstances. Butthis plate was four feet off the floor, three feet awayfrom any vertical position, and sat on a 45-degreeangle. The height, depth of extension, and anglewere beyond the capabilities of ordinary explosiveordnance disposal robots to drill.

Problems overcome, one after anotherBut when the call came, M2 was down with a

faulty motor control board in its forearm. A callto DOE provided immediate funding to get itworking; a replacement part was built andshipped from Agile Manufacturing in Waterloo,Ontario. Manufacturing, shipping, installation,testing, and querying White Sands took twoweeks.

“Our people at first wondered what theholdup was,” says White Sands’ Williams, “andthen we saw how well [the Sandia RAP team], withall their questions to us, had prepared.”

Because the robot lacked a trigger finger todepress and release a drill control, the Sandia teamstalked the aisles of local hardware stores, buying

cordless drills and otherequipment they modifiedinto remotely operateddrills, hooks, and grippers.On tests performed at San-dia by Bob Anderson andJim Buttz (both 6644) on amock-up sent north fromWhite Sands, M2 per-formed perfectly.

On Oct. 21, the team— including DOE teamleader Gregory Sahd fromWIPP, and RAP teammembers Richard, Phil,Bob, Jim, and Al Horvath(12345) — made the tripto White Sands, wherereality — as it often does— proved more complexthan the dry run had ledthe team to expect.

Aided by M2’s videocamera, Bob steered therobot around two free-standing radiation shields and stopped it at thework site. The robot drilled through the steel plateon target, leaving room for a probe that presseddown the back side of the teeter-totter.

The switch did not budge. The robot drilled a second hole and applied

the probe, with the same negative result. A third hole, drilled through the switch’s

hinge pin, failed to dislodge it.Using a hook, the robot attempted to pull the

switch by yanking at two linked wires; the wirescame apart. Grasping one of the wires in its pincer,the robot only succeeded in detaching it.

By this time an hour and a half had gone by,and the team was temporarily out of ideas. Philhad estimated that the robot could remain ambu-latory in the radiation field for only 50 minutes,and in fact the robot’s lower portion was no longerresponding to commands.

Wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot poleThe RAP team, working with White Sands per-

sonnel, as a precaution against this specific circum-stance, had tied a rope to M2 before sending it intothe work area. The rope, attached to a RAP teamwinch 100 feet outside the structure, insured therobot could be hauled out if radiation damaged itsdrive unit. But radiation shields now blocked adirect haul. M2, powerless, was hemmed in.

The radiation field fanned out like a flashlightbeam, strongest at its center and weakest at itsedges. Using a ten-foot-long pole and standing atthe edge of the field, the team hooked and thentugged at the rope hauling M2. The deflection ofthe rope’s pull slid the robot around a moveableradiation shield without knocking it over. The RAPteam’s winch then pulled the robot directly out.

Rebooting the robot and performing othermaintenance, Bob and Jim found they could reacti-vate it, and the team finished the day ready toreturn the next morning.

The new plan was to unscrew six bolts secur-ing the 3/16-inch steel plate that blocked theteam’s direct access to the switch.

When they returned the next morning, how-ever, the robot again would not start. The problem

was traced to a damaged fiber optic line, appar-ently chewed by one of the numerous rabbits inthe area.

“The orange fiber optic cable probably lookedlike a carrot,” said Williams of the line transmittingcontrol data to the robot. “Fortunately, WhiteSands has another facility that uses fiber opticlines, and it was able to repair the cable.”

But it was Sunday morning. It took half a dayto replace the damaged line.

The time was not wasted. The group, makingfrequent trips to the local Home Depot and Lowe’s,modified its tools. Three screws required Allenwrenches to turn them; the other three screwswere single-slotted. The drills needed to turn on inreverse when pushed, yet move slowly enough toengage the screw heads at the start of each effort.The robot could not control the speed via the trig-ger, since it had only a pincer grip, and accuracywas difficult when trying to insert a turning screw-driver into a single-slot screw head. The team pur-chased a small, clear acrylic bubble that acted as asee-through guide for Bob to aim the screwdriverhead; unfortunately, heat from the radiationsource melted the plastic.

So ended the second day.

The third dayA metal guide bought from the hardware

store the next morning was opaque, but smallenough in diameter to satisfactorily seat the toolon the screw.

By counting revolutions, the team could esti-mate whether the screw had been rotated enoughtimes to free it from the plate. The team then triedair pressure and hook tools to remove the plate.When neither worked, they steered the robot outof the area and outfitted special tips to the end ofits gripper. This time M2 succeeded. A blast of airthen blew the entire switch out of the cylinder’spathway, and the radiation source at long last wasblown back to its storage position.

Inspection revealed the problem: Forceful earlyattempts to blow the cylinder back apparently hadbent the straight switch into a right angle. Noth-ing other than plate removal could have freed it.

It was at White Sands that the robot came tobe affectionately (and unofficially) dubbed “M2,”for the cartoon character Mighty Mouse (“Here Icome to save the day”).

“It would have been impossible to return thesource to storage without removal of that switch,”says Richard.

Cleanup extended for another day.The four-day on-site effort ended the problem,

to the exuberance of the RAP team and relief ofWhite Sands personnel.

“The warning lights and horns that could beheard for miles away finally stopped after 21straight days of annoying personnel at WhiteSands,” says Richard.

Says McDonald, “The facility is being evalu-ated. We’re looking at what happened and consid-ering what we can do to prevent similar incidentsin the future.”

Says Williams, “The team effort [betweenWhite Sands and Sandia RAP] produced a mar-velous job.”

DERRING DO — The Sandia team that deployed to White Sands included, in addi-tion to M2 the robot (third from left), Dan Puetz, Daniel CdeBaca, Bob Anderson,Robb Lee, and Clinton Hobart (all 6644). (Photo by Randy Montoya)

HOW DO YOU GET to Carnegie Hall? Practice, man,practice. Here, M2 (Mighty Mouse) practices the com-plex drilling routine it will follow to free up the stuckradiation source at White Sands.

IMPROVISED solutions to a uniquechallenge, developed on the fly.

Debby Tewa (6218) spent herfirst 10 years living without elec-tricity, water, or a telephone in athree-room stone house in an iso-lated area of the Hopi Reservationin Arizona.

Today, as a contractor to theSandia Tribal Energy Program, sheprovides technical advice aboutmaintaining photovoltaic units topeople on Indian reservations wholive remotely like she did. Formany, it’s the first time they’vehad electricity in their homes.

“I can identify with the peopleI’m helping,” Debby says. “Manylive the way I grew up, and I fullyappreciate their excitement in hav-ing electricity and light at night.”

Photovoltaics technology har-vests the energy from the sun andconverts it into electricity, which isstored in batteries for future use inthe home.

As part of Debby’s job, she andprogram director Sandra Begay-Campbell (6218)offer technical advice to tribal governments, whichreceive DOE Tribal Energy grants. Her work alsoincludes teaching Native Americans how to useand maintain photovoltaic units, supporting proj-ect management plans, and helping people net-work and learn from each other about their photo-voltaic systems. In addition, she is enhancingDOE’s PV Reliability database with off-grid systeminformation which includes Navajo PV systems’maintenance data.

Debby and Sandra work closely with theNavajo Nation with which Sandia signed a memo-randum of understanding in 2000 to encouragefurther collaboration between the two entities. TheNavajo Utility Authority, through DOE funding,has installed photovoltaic units at more than 300homes on the reservation since 1993.

“There is still a long way to go,” Debby says.

“It’s estimated there are 18,000 families in theNavajo Nation without electricity.”

The reason there are so many, she adds, is thatmany Navajos live at remote sites, like she did as ayouth, and it is prohibitively expensive to stringelectricity lines to those areas. The cost of expand-ing the gridline is about $27,000 per mile. ManyNavajos make do with kerosene, wood, and coal.

Debby lived with her grandmother in theunelectrified house through the fifth grade. Thenshe moved to Tuba City, Ariz., to live with her par-ents — they had a telephone, electricity, and water.

After graduating top of her class from ShermanIndian High School in Riverside, Calif., she attendedNorthern Arizona University (NAU) where she spenttwo years but didn’t earn a degree then. She decidedto take the nontraditional path and went to a tradeschool to become an electrician.

After earning her electrical theory and applica-

tion certification, she workedbriefly as an electrician for the GilaRiver Indian Reservation south ofPhoenix. In 1987 she joinedNativeSUN, a Hopi-managed non-profit organization that installsphotovoltaic units at homes inremote areas off the grid.

She spent 11 years there, firstas an electrician and later as a pro-gram manager, bringing electriclight to people who never had itbefore.

One of the people she helpedwith her first photovoltaic systemwas her aunt, who quicklyadapted to the new technology.

“She’s had her system for12 years now and just changedthe battery for the first time,”Debby says. “She’s happy withthe system.”

Debby talked to her cus-tomers in their Hopi language andhelped them understand whatwas involved in having a photo-voltaic unit.

After 11 years, she went back to school at NAUand earned her BS degree in Applied IndigenousStudies with a minor in Environmental Science.Sandra recruited her as a student intern three yearsago to assist her with the tribal energy work.

Her current job has given her some interest-ing experiences, she says. For example, she’sbeen working with the Ramona Band of CahuillaIndians in Southern California. They are devel-oping an ecotourism business that brings geolo-gists to learn about the local flora and fauna.They were not hooked up to the electric grid.Debby works with their electrical contractor toset up a hybrid system for their business thatconsists of a small wind unit, photovoltaic sys-tem, and a back-up diesel generator.

She also gives photovoltaic workshops towomen, most recently in August at the AmericanSolar Energy Society Conference in Florida. As partof the workshop, the 20 participants installed aphotovoltaic unit at an elementary school inOrlando, Fla. Helping with instruction were San-dian Marlene Brown (5733) and Lori Stone of SolarEnergy International.

Soon she will be back working with her nativeHopi people. The tribe recently received a DOEgrant to develop a wind turbine program.

“I’ll be offering them technical assistance,” shesays. “It’ll be good helping people at home again.”

SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 6

Lightbringer Debby Tewa provides expert advice aboutphotovoltaic units to people on Indian reservationsMost lived without electricity like Debby did growing up on Hopi Indian reservationBy Chris Burroughs

The electrification of homes on the HopiReservation — work Debby Tewa did while sheworked for NativeSUN — will be featured in aBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Sciencedocumentary.

On Nov. 30 Debby is scheduled to escort aBBC Science film crew to a remote Hopi village

where homes are using electricity from photo-voltaic units.

The next day the crew is also scheduled toshoot video of six Stirling Energy Systems solarengine units currently being demonstrated at theSandia-operated National Solar Thermal TestFacility.

BBC crew to chronicle Debby Tewa’s work

DEBBY TEWA with photovoltaic units at Sandia. She is helping Native Americans in remote areaslearn how to maintain PV units deployed via DOE grant money. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

andia’s American Indian Outreach Committee and the 377th ABW at KirtlandAir Force Base joined to promote this year’s Native American Heritage Month,

focusing on the theme Native Americans: Yesterday, Today — A culture with muchmore to explore. This year’s activities included: a 5K Fun Run/Relay and Health Fair; apowwow social which also included a native foods cook-off and an arts and crafts event;

a luncheon/traditional clothing day, with a keynote address by Gov. Everett Chavez,Santo Domingo Pueblo, and Native people dressed in traditional clothing at each tableready to share the significance of the attire; and a special invitation to Jemez Pueblo’sFeast Day. During the luncheon event, held at the Mountain View Club, individuals intraditional garb visited from table to table explaining their clothing.

Sandia’s AIOC was established in 1979 to increase the number of American Indianemployees at the Labs, and to encourage American Indian students to continue theireducation and to pursue advanced degrees, with an emphasis in science and engineer-ing, while maintaining their cultural values. AIOC also facilitates programs and activi-ties that address the spiritual and cultural needs of American Indians.

In the photo, Mary Montoya (10244, Isleta Pueblo, left) is dressed in a traditionalIsleta woman’s wedding dress; Alejandro Uentille (Navajo) is garbed in a WarriorNorthern Traditional Dance outfit; Val Uentille (Navajo) wears a Grass Dance outfit;Debra Leitka (10244, Seminole) demonstrates a traditional Seminole woman’s dress,and the young man in front is Alijah Uentille (Navajo), wearing a Fancy Dance outfit.

Sandia, KAFB honor Native American heritage

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SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 7

Tech art display in Bldg. 802highlights pre-CAD visualization

The work of 11 Sandia technicalartists is on display in the third-floor south hallway of Bldg. 802.The artists are:• Buzz Babcock• Leo Ortiz• Lee Cunningham• George Marks• Rusty Ganzerla, Jr.• Ray Lamb• Jim Walston• Jerry Gorman• Joe Mickey• George Dooley• Dick Strome

The artists

n the age before engineers conceived and designed their creationsusing sophisticated 3-D software, technical artists helped visualize theprofoundly complex devices developed at Sandia. With the advent of

computers, the age of pen and ink, acrylics, charcoal, colored pencils, andoils may be past. Or is it? Sometimes, the line between tech art and fine artis a fine one indeed, and artists, technical or other-wise, will continue to help Sandians visualizetheir world for the foreseeable future.

The technical art seen on this page is part ofa larger collection on display in the south hall-way of the third floor in Bldg. 802.

The artists whose works are on display werefeted at a special reception in early November.

The exhibit was organized by Mike Clough(3651) and Myra O’Canna (4532).

Buzz BabcockWeightlessnessSwitch, 1966

Joe MickeyProject Deep Steam,Kern River Field, 1981

Jerry GormanTrident II Launch Sequence, 1987

Above: Leo Ortiz, Conceptual Rocket Cutaway, circa 1960s. Right: Artist James “Jim” Walston looksat his pen and ink drawings of Presidents Harry S. Truman and Bill Clinton. Jim’s portrait of PresidentTruman is the definitive one for most Sandians. The photo of Jim is by Randy Montoya.

Rusty Ganzerla, Jr.MC-3941, Flight Termination SystemFiring Set, Circa 1970s

George MarksConceptual DesignPull-Out Switch, 1966

Leo Ortiz, ConceptualComponent, Circa 1960s

I

The Oct. 28 Lab News featured a front-page arti-cle outlining a new employee benefit for Sandians:Under an agreement with the University of TexasSystem, which has developed an increasingly closerelationship with Sandia and Lockheed Martin, Labsemployees, their spouses, and dependent childrenqualify for in-state tuition rates at the schools in theUT system. If Lockheed Martin wins the bid to man-age Los Alamos National Laboratory, LANL employ-ees will receive the same benefit.

Since the publication of that article, a number ofSandians, retirees, and contractors have raised ques-tions about various aspects of the benefit, specificallyseeking clarification of eligibility requirements.

The UT System has developed answers to ques-tions on these issues, which are printed here.Regarding the most pressing question — are retirees,employees of Sandia contractors, and their familieseligible for the benefit? — the answer is no. (The fullexplanation is addressed in question 5 below.)

Frequently Asked Questions1. Does the State of Texas provide a college tuition

benefit to Sandia employees and their families as a resultof the science and technology development agreementbetween the two entities?

Yes. Texas Education Code §65.45(d) authorizesThe University of Texas System Board of Regents tocharge tuition and fees at the rate charged to Texasresidents to non-resident employees of entities withwhich the UT System enters an agreement regardingscience and technology development, including anagreement to manage a national laboratory engagedin such an endeavor. The statute states that a personemployed by the entity with whom the systementers an agreement, and that person’s spouse orchild may pay the in-state rate when enrolled at aUniversity of Texas System institution.

2. When is the in-state tuition rate under a scienceand technology development agreement available?

It is available when the UT System enters intoan agreement pursuant to Texas Education Code§65.45 to the extent that the agreement authorizesthe benefit. The benefit was available to Sandiaemployees and eligible family members effectiveSept. 1, 2005.

3. What institutions are a part of the University ofTexas System?

UT at Arlington; UT at Austin; UT atBrownsville; UT at Dallas; UT at El Paso; UT-PanAmerican; UT of the Permian Basin; UT at San Anto-nio; UT at Tyler; UT at Southwestern Medical Centerat Dallas; UT Medical Branch at Galveston; UTHealth Science Center at Houston; UT Health Sci-ence Center at San Antonio; UT M.D. AndersonCancer Center; UT Health Center at Tyler.

4. In order for a child to qualify, must the child be adependent of the employee?

Yes. A dependent child is a child eligible to beclaimed as a dependent of a parent for purposes ofdetermining the parent’s tax liability under theInternal Revenue Code of 1986. A parent is a nat-ural or adoptive parent, managing or possessoryconservator or legal guardian of a child.

5. Are the employees of Sandia contractors or retirees

of Sandia eligible for the in-state tuition rate based on thisagreement?

No. The Texas statute states that a personemployed by the entity with whom the systementers an agreement under Texas Education Code§65.45(d), and that person’s spouse or child maypay the in-state rate. The statute does not provideUT System institutions with the authority to chargeemployees of Sandia contractors or retirees of San-dia who are not Texas residents the in-state tuitionrate.

6. Will an individual who receives the Texas in-state tuition rate be eligible for that rate during his/herentire enrollment at a UT System institution even if theSandia employee terminates employment?

No. The tuition benefit under the agreementterminates upon termination of employment withSandia. Documents of eligibility will be required ofenrolled students prior to the census date at thebeginning of each semester in which the studentenrolls in a UT System institution. The “censusdate” is the date in an academic term for which aninstitution is required to certify a person’s enroll-ment in the institution to the Texas Higher Educa-

tion Coordinating Board for funding purposes.7. Will an individual who receives the Texas in-

state tuition rate under this agreement be classified as aTexas resident?

No. The individual will be classified as a non-resident eligible to pay the in-state tuition rate.

8. Does the State of Texas have other laws besidesTexas Education Code §65.45(d) that authorize non-residents of Texas to pay the in-state tuition rate?

Yes. There are various Texas laws that authorizeTexas institutions to charge the in-state tuition rateto non-Texas residents. A summary of these laws canbe found on the Texas Higher Education Coordinat-ing Board web site at: http://www.collegefortexans.com/cfbin/tofa.cfm?Kind=W

9. Who can assist me with questions regarding resi-dency, tuition, and financial aid?

The following is contact information for individu-als at the nine UT System academic institutions whowill be able to assist with such questions:http://www.utsystem.edu/news/tuition/Questions.htm

The following provides links to the UT Systemhealth institution colleges and schools:http://www.utsystem.edu/hea/HealthColleges.htm

SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 8

Q&A addresses issues regarding UT System tuition benefit

Sandia’s office assistants attended the New Mexico Office Professionals’Conference at the Albuquerque Renaissance Suites last week. The assistantscould choose to attend one of two days, Nov. 8 or 9. The event was hostedand organized by theOffice Professionals’ Qual-ity Council (OPQC).

The annual confer-ence consists of educa-tional breakout sessions, aluncheon and a motiva-tional speaker. This year’sspeaker, Suzie Humphreys,focused on passion andendeavor in the work-place and in life. Sheshared her “can do” atti-tude with humor whiletelling about her experi-ences in jobs rangingfrom secretary, to singerin a Las Vegas show, totelevision talk show host. Her advice caused a hunger for ambition, and ahunger for lunch, which took place next.

Following the luncheon, participants chose from breakout sessions includ-

Sandia office pros get ‘can-do’ advice from speaker Suzie Humphreys

ing: “Passion for fashion — how to dress correctly in the work force,” assertive-ness management, exercise classes, and self-defense training from the Albu-querque Police Department.

The OPQC conference, which dates back to 1979, is a day away from theoffice to promote the well-being of mind, body, and soul. The conference is a“thank-you” for assistants; something nice, said Polly Gutierrez (245), a mem-ber of the 2005 OPQC Conference Committee.

Other conference committee members are Marsh Burfeindt (1130), Ros-alinda Davis (1769), Suzanne Friggens (6950), Sandra Maestas (3815), DeniseRichard-Franco (1128) and Jean Totten (10730). — Erin Gardner

The mission of the OPQC is to provide a base for continuous improvement in theoffice-professional environment and promote communication and teamwork amongoffice professionals, staff and management by sharing ideas, issues and solutions. TheCouncil comprises three officers and five teams. Officers include Jeana Brosseau, Chair(3555); Beverly Manuelito, Vice Chair/Treasurer (5916); and Mercedes Herrera,Information Officer (10030). The five teams are: Mentor Team, Work Processes Team,Community Outreach Team, Educational Outreach Team, and Conference Team.Chrissy Garcia (11000) serves as this year’s Executive Assistant Advisor; Marcia Vogele(3600) is this year’s OPQC Advisor; and Marlene Johnson (3555), Team Lead forSecretarial Services, also participates each year as an Advisor. For more information onthe OPQC, visit the web site at: www-irn.sandia.gov/pubs/ opqc/opqcmain.htm.

OPQC mission is continuous improvement

KAFB access — spouse pass updateDue to the high volume of spouse passes that

have been requested by Sandia employees, KirtlandAir Force Base (KAFB) now requires a minimum oftwo business days to process new requests.

To initiate the process, submit a completed Secu-rity Forces Management Information System (SFMIS)form to the Bldg. 800 receptionist two days beforeobtaining the spouse pass (contact the Badge OfficeReceptionist for information on how to get the form).

The form will be processed and forwarded tothe KAFB Consolidated Support Building (CSB, Bldg.20245) on Fourth Street southwest of the fire stationat the corner of Wyoming and F Avenue. Two busi-ness days after submitting the SFMIS form, thespouse must be present at the CSB or the Gibson orTruman gates to have his/her photograph taken. Thepass is valid for one year from the date of issue.

The CSB telephone number is 846-6429 andhours of operation are Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4p.m. (The CSB office is closed the third Thursday ofevery month.) The KAFB spouse pass allows accessto the base only and not to any Sandia-controlledpremises. Visitors to Sandia must have official busi-ness and be properly badged through the SandiaBadge Office.

The new spouse pass requirement is part of aneffort by the US Air Force to exert more control overaccess to bases.

The familiar hand-written base passes — includ-ing those issued to spouses or family members in 2004and 2005 — will no longer be accepted as authorizedcredentials admitting access to Kirtland AFB.

The following summary, provided by theBadge Office, offers more information about thenew requirement.

Q: Why has Sandia stopped issuing picture identifi-cation for spouses to use as entry onto KAFB? The passesfrom the military are only good for one year.

A: The commanding officer of Kirtland AFB isin the process of implementing a more stringentprocess for controlling unescorted access onto thebase. In the past, some 85 different credentialswould allow holders to gain access to the base. Thatsituation created numerous inconsistencies, as wellas potential vulnerabilities to all personnel on thebase. With the new SFMIS process in place, thenumber of authorized credentials has significantlydecreased.

All US Air Force bases have implemented theSFMIS database pass for all visitors and/or personnelwho do not possess authorized government creden-tials. Additionally, the Air Force has determined thatnon-permanent residents will be issued an SFMISpass up to only one year at a time.

Examples of permanent base residents aremilitary members and their families, governmentemployees/contractors, and resident tenants such asSandia employees, contractors, and consultants.

Additional security measures will be imple-mented in the near future, including backgroundchecks for selected personnel. Those checks will beconducted at the discretion of the Air Force.

* * * For additional information on base access and

visiting Sandia, refer to the Badge Office’s externalweb site at: http://www.sandia.gov/about/loca-tions/newmexico/index.html. Specific questionsmay be directed to Gabriel Pacheco at 284-5977 orRubyann Sanchez at 284-3958.

OPQC conference attendees await keynote speaker.

After a six-month stint taking cloud andaerosol measurements at Point Reyes NationalSeashore on the California coast, the ARM MobileFacility moved to Niamey, Niger, in October for ayear’s deployment there.

Going along to help set up the climate moni-toring equipment was Sandia engineer Mark Ivey,who spent a week in the West African country.

ARM — for Atmospheric Radiation Measure-ment — is the largest global change research pro-gram supported by DOE. It was created in 1989 aspart of the Global Change Research Program tohelp resolve scientific uncertainties related to

global change, focusing on the role of clouds.ARM has three permanent research sites aroundthe globe, plus the mobile facility that recentlywas deployed to Niger.

“This is the mobile unit’s second deploy-ment,” Mark says. “For the next year, the ARMMobile Facility [AMF] will be measuring cloudproperties, solar and thermal radiation, andmeteorological conditions at the surface.”

He adds that a multinational experiment isinvestigating how mineral dust from the Saharaand biomass burning play a role in the WestAfrican monsoon and the climate in general. Thebelief is that these aerosols, as well as deep tropi-cal convection in the sub-Saharan wet season,have a big impact on climate in that region, andpossibly well beyond Africa.

“This experiment will help us better under-stand how solar and thermal radiation are trans-ferred in the atmosphere when deep convectionand aerosols are present,” Mark says.

While the mobile unit will be taking climatemeasurements on the ground, a European satel-lite positioned over the Sahara will be takingthem from the sky. The combined measurementswill provide the first well-sampled, direct esti-mates of changes of solar and thermal radiationacross the atmosphere. The mobile unit will alsobe used to study the impact of clouds, aerosol,and water vapor on the surface.

Niger is one of the hottest countries in theworld, with heat so intense that it often causesrain to evaporate before it hits the ground. Mark

calls the Sahara “the biggest dust aerosol genera-tor on the planet.”

Teams from the participating organizationswill be spending time at the research site on arotating basis. An Australian couple will be therefor more than a year to take care of the equip-ment and work with local meteorologicalobservers.

Mark, a member of the first rotation team,arrived in Niamey, Niger’s capital, on Oct. 11, threedays after a chartered 747 jumbo jet carrying theequipment landed at the airport. The AMF equip-ment includes seven containers, each 8 feet tall, 8feet wide, between 12-20 feet long, and weighing5,000-10,000 pounds. One extra container withequipment will arrive in January. A separate con-tainer for batteries and other types of potentiallyhazardous materials was shipped from Californiato Niger, taking 12 weeks to get there by sea.

The mobile unit has its own power genera-tion, communication system, and state-of-the-artclimate measurement instrumentation.

Mark worked closely with colleagues at LosAlamos National Laboratory in planning the Nigerdeployment. His involvement in the ARM Pro-gram dates back to the late 1990s when he led ateam at Sandia that designed, built, and integratedARCS — Atmospheric Radiation and Cloud Sta-tions. The ARCS systems are still used at the Tropi-cal Western Pacific ARM sites, and two ARCS vanswere included in the AMF deployment in Niger.

Among Mark’s responsibilities as part of thefirst working team at the Niger sites was the on-site electrical engineering expertise required toinstall and operate the mobile facility. The USEmbassy in Niamey assisted with obtaining theformal procurement contracts required for localcommunications, utility, and meteorological sup-port services.

SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 9

Is northern Alaska getting warmer?Through actual long-term measurementstaken at climate-monitoring stations in theBarrow area and storiestold by area natives,it appears it is.

Once every twoto three months,Mark Ivey and his col-leagues Bernie Zakand Jeff Zirzow (all6214) go to the ARMpermanent site at Bar-row, Alaska — thenorthernmost townin the US — to checkon measurements,make sure everythingis operating properly,and participate in fieldexperiments on the North Slope.

Over the years they have come to knowsome residents of Barrow, a town of 4,500 peo-ple, mostly Inupiat Eskimos.

The ARM site has a large instrumentationshelter with state-of the-art atmospheric mea-surement equipment. It has been operatingsince 1997 — not long enough to extract atemperature trend from the “noise,” but otherstations in the area, including the ClimateMonitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory oper-ated by National Oceanic and AtmophericAdministration (NOAA), have been measuringlocal temperatures for decades, with existingrecords for Barrow reaching back to 1901.

The latest analysis from the NOAA Barrowfacility shows an increase in the daily averagetemperature of +0.1 C per year from 1977 to

2004, or + 2.7 C overall.Reported increases inseasonal averages arehigher, with the rise inspringtime averagetemperatures measuredat +3.8 C over roughlythe same period.

Inupiat elders inthe Barrow area areconvinced of thechange. They’venoticed, says Mark,that the nesting pat-terns of migratorybirds and ice-related

seasonal territories ofmammals, including polar bears and Bowheadwhales, have changed dramatically in the lastdecade. The ice that freezes fast to the Barrowshoreline in winter forms later than it used toand can’t be trusted in springtime duringwhaling season. That change has alreadymade a difference in the timing of the yearlysupply barge from Seattle. Recently it’s beentwo weeks earlier as compared to the historicalnorm.

And then there is the musk ox thatrecently started hanging around the ARM facil-ity near Barrow. Although there are many cari-bou and polar bears, no one remembers seeinga musk ox so far north before.

DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement programmobile facility moves to Niger for year-long staySandia researcher Mark Ivey spends a week setting up climate monitoring equipment

And now there’s this musk ox . . .

The DOE Atmospheric Radiation Mea-surement (ARM) Program established perma-nent instrumented research sites at threelocales around the world for studying cloudformation processes and their influence onclimate. Recently designated as “user facili-ties” by DOE, the ARM Climate ResearchFacility is now available to visiting scientistsfor experimentation.

The three regional sites include theSouthern Great Plains site near the Okla-homa/Kansas border; the Tropical WesternPacific locale consisting of sites at Darwin,Australia; Manus Island, Papua New Guinea,and Nauru Island; and the North Slope ofAlaska sites at Barrow and Atqasuk.

There is no fee for scientists using thefacilities or data. However, to qualify for ARMfunding for any incremental costs associatedwith an experiment, they must submit pro-posals to the ACRF Science Board, whichreviews the proposals based on scientific meritand the feasibility and costs associated withusing the facility. The board then providesrecommendations to DOE for a final decision.

ARM facilities

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)Mobile Unit is part of the African Monsoon Multidiscipli-nary Analysis (AMMA) research program that is sched-uled to be in Niger for seven years. However, the ARMunit will be there only one year to support a DOE-fundedexperiment called RADAGAST, short for Radiative Atmos-pheric Divergence using the ARM Mobile Facility, Geo-stationary Earth Radiation Budget instrument data, andAMMA stations. The principal investigator for RADAGAST

is Anthony Slingo from the University of Reading in theUK. The ARM team includes science colleagues from DOEnational laboratories — Sandia, Los Alamos, Pacific North-west (PNNL), Argonne, and Brookhaven; the AustralianBureau of Meteorology; and several other countries. PNNLinitially designed and built the mobile unit, then turnedthe completed unit over to LANL for deployment. Sandiais handling engineering issues related to operations. TheARM program is funded through DOE’s Office of Science.

The players: national laboratories, universities, and more

By Chris Burroughs

MARK IVEY, right, and colleagues from Niger discussthe deployment of ARM’s Mobile Facility near Niger’scapital city, Niamey.

ARM MOBILE FACILITY equipment being unloaded atNiamey airport in Niger. (Photos courtesy of Mark Ivey)

Image courtesy of Fla. Center for Instructional Technology

Charles Egbom20 2666

SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 10

New Mexico photos by Michelle FlemingCalifornia photos by Bud Pellitier

John Emerson35 2453

Victor Baca30 2553

Eunice Young25 5532

Steven Johnston30 2956

Rita Marie Baca30 10223

Jerome Hands26 10800

C. Douglas Foldie24 2714

Larry Claussen23 6223

Yvonne Oglesby16 5051

Bob Poole27 2452

Larry Grube39 2990

Lyle Kruse34 6957

Bi-National Lab opens shop, hopes to create‘necklace of labs’ along Mexican border

After four years of preparation, and under differ-ent management than originally intended, the Bi-National Sustainability Laboratory (BNSL)announced itself ready for business in a 4,000square-foot-facility in Santa Teresa, N.M. The lab, ashort ride east from El Paso and a few miles from theMexican border, is a collaboration initiated andchampioned by Sandia’s Advanced Concept Group,and financially supported by the US, Mexico, andthe State of New Mexico.

The two-hour opening ceremony on Nov. 18was attended by approximately 125 people.

The point of the fledgling enterprise is tochange the US-Mexican border from a political trou-ble spot to a necklace of research centers stretchingfrom the Gulf Coast to the Pacific. Success would bedefined by the number of research ideas its person-nel could morph into functioning, profit-makingcompanies, with better paying jobs on both sides ofthe border the hoped-for result.

Projects of current interest include microelectro-mechanical systems(MEMS), advancedmaterials for petro-leum processing, andenvironmental andwater technologies.

The US and Mex-ico contributed initialfunding of $400,000each, and the State ofNew Mexico,$100,000. Ten stateson both sides of theborder have expressedinterest in taking partin the project, as haveUS and Mexicannational laboratories,research universities and centers, and businesses.

Though representatives from many high Mexi-can and US political offices were among the atten-dees, the person most often praised was Sandia VicePresident Gerry Yonas (7000), who conceived theidea of the project and fought for its existence aftervisiting Colonias, a slum adjacent to Juarez. Itstunned him, he told the Lab News, that right acrossthe border from the US, across (so to speak) a mereline in the sand, thousands of families live withoutrunning water, sewer lines, adequate housing, food,electricity, and clothing. Children have continualdiarrhea from drinking polluted water.

“It was inconceivable,” he said, “to have ourneighbors just a few hundred miles to our south liv-ing in such deplorable conditions right across theborder from our security and wealth.”

He worried that the obvious disparities wouldresult in even worse public health, law enforcement,and social ills that would eventually drift northward.

He wondered as he drove back north if the situa-tion could be changed dramatically through creationof a shared lab, essentially on the border, where Mex-ican and US scientists, engineers, economic develop-ers, and lawyers could work together on mutualproblems and mutual opportunities to create peace,freedom, and prosperity through technology.

Rick Homans, Secretary of New Mexico’s Eco-nomic Development Department and the celebra-tion’s first speaker, acknowledged Gerry as “thefather of this baby, the visionary, the individualwho originally had the idea that there was unfin-ished business from NAFTA, and that we have theability to turn a huge challenge into a huge opportu-nity. Today takes us from a concept on paper to aproject housed in a building — a huge step forward.”

A spokesperson for the Mexican National Coun-cil of Science and Technology said in Spanish that“people around the world are interested in copyingthis model; even though we have only just started, it

is a dream shared. It’slike we are on the fieldin a stadium and theyare looking at us frommany parts of the sta-dium, from manyparts of the world. Wehope this will changethe way borders arelooked at.”

Among thoseattending from Sandiawere president ofBNSL’s board JessicaTurnley (7000), BNSLsteering committeemember Gary Jones(10113), and Vipin

Gupta (6218), a member of Sandia’s border groupinvolved in solar and water projects.

The BNSL was envisioned initially by Gerry asoccupying a large building — “a shining laboratoryon a hill,” or at least, on the border — in whichMexican and US researchers would work on theknotty problems that might one day cause enmitybetween neighbors. Solutions would include moreefficient use of water, better border crossing sensorsand arrangements, research into areas of joint inter-est like crop development in arid regions, and a cen-tral location where Mexican and US researcherscould share cultures.

Current management, under the direction ofPaul Maxwell, former vice president of research atthe University of Texas at El Paso, envisions a stringof small research centers that the BNSL would help

fund, provide training and cross-border legal andpatent expertise, some laboratory space, and bringtogether researchers in government, universities,and private industry to create marketable goods thatwill bring to life the somewhat desolate borderregion.

In both versions, the BNSL is expected to pro-vide business planning, mentoring, incubation,marketing techniques, and aid in morphing techno-logical ideas into developed products.

“Gerry Yonas picked Santa Teresa as the rightspot for the BNSL,” said Maxwell at another meetinglater that day. “He was right. We envision ourselvesas an engine of research excellence for sustainedeconomic development [east and west along] theUS-Mexico border.

“To cross the Valley of Death [the journey anidea must take between conception and emergenceas a business product], businesses need new techni-cal ideas — but they don’t have them; academicshave ideas but don’t know how to cross [from theother side of] the Valley. BNSL will help,” he said,crediting the picturesque Old Testament expressionto Gerry, who credited to Gary Jones.

Gary spoke briefly on the difficulties in makingbinational investors comfortable with patents thatdo not have both US and Mexican originators,because of different rights the two countries assignto patent holders.

Gerry suggested biomems as a possible area ofBNSL interest but otherwise spoke very briefly. Hedescribed himself as “a card-carrying physicistand dreamer,” and compared the BSNL’s task tosherpas who accompany tourist mountain climbersto the top of Mt. Everest, over and over withoutrecognition.

“The BSNL’s activities will require steady, care-ful, sherpa mountain climbing,” he said.

Dream of Sandia’s ACG takes on flesh, though somewhat altered

By Neal Singer

GERRY YONAS addresses session announcing the opening ofthe Bi-National Sustainability Laboratory at Santa Teresa, N.M.

Most of you have read Sandia’s ChristmasStory. Forty-nine years ago the gift exchangebetween two scientists at Sandia took a differentturn. Instead of exchanging gifts or cards, theybought shiny new shoes for needy children.

Over the years, word spread and the Christ-mas program escalated to the department level.By 1995, a division of 800 employees donatednearly $5,000 for new shoes. That year, LockheedMartin/Sandia adopted the program as a corpo-rate-sponsored project. Since 1999 each year hasseen a new high in donations.

Last year employees and retirees donatedmore than $22,000, which translates to about 500children getting new shoes. Over the last 49 years,Sandians have provided shoes to about 10,000children in our community. The children areselected by their teachers.

At a recent fitting, little boys pretending to beKobe Bryant jumped high in their new basketballshoes. One boy, his own sneakers two sizes toobig, found a pair of shoes that were just his size.

SANDIA LAB NEWS • November 25, 2005 • Page 12

SHOES FOR KIDS

Story by Iris AboytesPhotos by Randy Montoya

He selected shoes that “look good on me.” Hetalked about loving to run without shoes. He saidhe runs faster that way. Asked if the rocks hurt hisfeet, he responded, “I don’t feel them.”

One little girl had a hard time trying to decideif she should get boots or sneakers. She decidedshe would go with the sneakers. She said shewould get boots next time.

Fittings began Nov. 8 and continue to Feb. 14.This year school buses will bring 25 childrenfrom 20 schools to fittings at Mervyns atCoronado Center. Fittings are held on mostTuesdays and Thursdays. If you are interested inhelping fit shoes, contact Patty Zamora (3652) at844-2146 or at pgzamor@sandia.gov.

Donations for Shoes for Kids Fund can bemade at the Sandia Laboratory Federal CreditUnion Acct. #223180, P.O. Box 23040,Albuquerque, NM 87192-1040, or call 293-0500to make a transfer online: 223180-90-01, shoes.

The account remains open throughoutthe year.

Sandia’s ‘Christmas Story’ is retold as it has been for 49 years

“Our HeartsWarm Kids Feet”Center 3500 “Socks for Kids”

Please join us in supporting the“Shoes for Kids” by donating socksfor children in:

• Kindergartenthrough fifthgrade

• Any children’s size(ages 5-10)

• Any color/designfor girls and boys

You may leave your sock donationwith any 3500 assistant or hangyour socks on “The Wall of Socks” inBldg. 800S / Rm 1080.‘Tis the season – Happy Holidays!Thank you!

– Center 3500 Assistants

December 1-16, 2005