It’s closing: After a half century of service for Sandians,Coronado Club closing its doors for last time on Oct. 1

After 54 years of serving Sandians, theCoronado Club will be shutting its doors Oct. 1.Until then it will continue to operate as usual.

Sandia’s Integrated Enabling Services (IES)leadership made the decision after an evaluationof renovations and operating costs versus thebenefits received byan ever-decreasingnumber of members,(Lab News, Nov. 14,2003).

A study team wasformed to assess thecontinued need forthe services — lunch-line, catering, meet-ing space, recreation— offered at theCoronado Club. For each service, the team identi-fied who the primary customers are, how manycustomers use the service, how frequently the ser-vice is used, and if the service is currently beingadequately provided from another source.

The team also evaluated options for provid-ing services for which there is a continued need.It identified possible providers and concludedwhether it is more cost-effective to buy the servicefrom commercial providers or to provide the ser-vice from within Sandia.

“We expect it to be ‘business as usual’(Continued on page 4)

(Continued on page 5)

Vol. 56, No. 11 May 28, 2004

(Continued on page 5)

Managed by Lockheed Martin for the National Nuclear Security Administration

By Michael Padilla

TAKING A DIVE — C-Club lifeguards leap with abandon last Friday from the twin diving boards at the CoronadoClub pool. The children of three generations of Sandians learned to swim and dive here. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

Multimedia Web tool makes it easyto access insights of retired weaponeersKnowledge Management Program introduces streaming video

IOSTAR nuclear space tug conceptmoving toward in-orbit reality

6

8

Beryllium and your health andsafety: What you need to know

Sandia helps 293 firms in state’sSmall Business Assistance Program

Joan Woodard warns policychange could affect GOCO model9

10

Knowledge is power, so the saying goes, butderiving knowledge from raw data is no easy thing.Sandia’s new classified streaming video capability,Knowledge Management Streaming Assets Library(KM-SAL), makes the process of getting your handson video data and turning it into information as effi-cient as it is likely to get.

To understand the value-added benefits of KM-SAL to the Labs, consider Sandia’s Knowledge Preser-vation Program. You may have heard of it; when itwas launched about 10 years ago the idea was to cap-ture the knowledge of retiring weaponeers about thework they had done on various weapons systems inthe stockpile. Knowledgeable old hands were inter-viewed — in classified settings — about how andwhy they did things the way they did; how theysolved problems; how they brought their scientificengineering insights to bear on some of the mostdaunting technical challenges the human mind hasyet tried to tackle.

These exit interviews have been almost univer-sally valuable, occasionally even catching lightningin a bottle, preserving true, almost literally priceless,weaponeering information in a video format.

But here is a paradox: The subject matterexpert’s knowledge is there in the videos, all right(the interviewers themselves have proven to beuncanny in their ability to draw compelling, detailednarratives from their subjects). But in their raw form,the videos are not knowledge; they’re just data. It’sthe ability to draw out relevant pieces of data andreintegrate them in new, coherent ways that trans-forms data back into knowledge.

Thanks to the Knowledge Preservation Project(KPP), the current generation of Sandia weaponeers(who may have missed out on the mentoring andapprenticeship opportunities available to an earliergeneration of designers) is about to gain access tosome 1,900 hours worth of weapon design-relateddata. Until now, though, it has been difficult to drillinto that data pool in an efficient way. And becauseof that difficulty, the data stored on those hours andhours of video files has not made the return trip fromdata back into usable future information.

Until now.A team headed by John Shaw, Weapons Knowl-

edge Management Dept. 2911, was tasked to makethe information contained in the knowledge preser-vation videos more accessible. Not that similar efforts

Sandia welcomes newsecurity director June 1

Retiring Air Force Col. Michael W. Hazenjoins Sandia next Tuesday, June 1, as Director ofSafeguards and Security Center 4200. He will leadall security-related operations at the Labs, includ-ing oversight of the protective force and manage-ment of personnel, physical, and informationsecurity.

Col. Hazen replaces Dennis Miyoshi, whowas named director of what is now Center 4200in March 2003 aspart of Sandia’sresponse to concernsabout and investiga-tions of the Labs’security apparatus.

“Dennis has donea great job of gettingus on the path towellness in a veryshort time, and I amappreciative andimpressed with theimprovements histeam has been able to make in one year,” says RonDetry, VP for Integrated Security Div. 4000.

As planned, Dennis will return to lead thesecurity technology R&D organization from whichhe came, Security Systems and TechnologyCenter 4100.

Dennis agreed to the six-to-twelve-month tem-porary assignment as director of security last year atthe request of Labs President C. Paul Robinson.

“I’m pleased that Dennis will remain withinthe division and be able to take his operational

“We expect itto be ‘businessas usual’throughSeptember.”

By Bill Murphy

Labs security ‘on path to wellness,’but there’s much to doBy John German

MICHAEL HAZEN

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), Rod Geer(844-6601), Michael Lanigan (844-2297), and Michelle Fleming(Ads, Milepost photos, 844-4902). Dept. 12640, Manager: ChrisMiller (844-0587).

Lab News fax ................................................505/844-0645Classified ads ................................................505/844-4902

Published on alternate Fridays by Media Relationsand Communications Dept. 12640, MS 0165

Retro is “in” and we like to stay up with the times, so withthis issue, the Lab News reintroduces a once-a-month column that weran in the early 1990s — “This month in the past” — but stopped forreasons no one here remembers. (We may be forgetful, but we’re honest. . . well, usually.) The columns won’t be detailed history lessons,but brief notes about Sandia highlights, lowlights, whimsicalhappenings, and maybe occasional photos from our archived Lab Newsfiles. We'll feature items from an even 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 yearsago but won't necessarily have something from all five decades eachtime. Our first look in the Sandia rear-view mirror is on page 16.Enjoy.

* * *Carl Hawk, who retired in 1974, wrote a few lines recently in

response to a column note about former Sandians who’ve made marks inthe arts. After working as an engineering staff assistant for years,Carl moved to the Tech Art group in 1960 and remained there untilretiring.

“To me,” he wrote, “there was more diversified talent in theTech Art group than in any other organization of that size at Sandia.We were featured many times in the Lab News and in both Albuquerquenewspapers.”

Although Carl sketched and drew cartoons during his five yearsin the Navy and after joining Sandia in 1951 (“I have a smallcollection of cartoons I drew while at Sandia. They bring backmemories.”), his real artistic expression has always been in buildingcars. Not just customizing — although he’s done some of that, too —building cars from the ground up.

A few days after writing, he sent a copy of a story about himand his hobby that appeared in the July 30, 1954, edition of the LabNews and a copy of a photo montage showing a now white-haired Carl —he was a redhead at the time of the ’54 story — sitting in thecockpit of a Troy, a one-of-a-kind hand-built roadster belonging to afriend and fellow sports car aficionado. A photo published with the’54 story showed him tweaking something on the left front wheel of“Dukeann,” his hand-made custom car of that time.

“You could do a whole Lab News on just the Tech Art folks,” hewrote. And he’s undoubtedly right.

* * *One of our cheerful students came around handing out little

blue cards with Lockheed Martin’s ethics message several days ago. Ithas a slot punched in it so you can string it on your badge holderand have it handy in case you feel an ethical lapse coming on andneed to recharge yourself.

As three or four of us stood around stringing our copies andchatting about them, one counted up the nine things hanging from hisbadge holder (including his badge) and said idly, “I wonder who atSandia has the most stuff in his (or her) badge cluster.”

Good question. How many do you have? And what are they?

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

What’s what

Presentation on MedicareModernization Act,prescription changes June 10

The Sandwich Support Group, which consistsof Sandians supporting aging loved ones, willhost a presentation by the New Mexico StateAgency on Aging along with the Senior CitizensLaw Office on the new Medicare ModernizationAct “MMA.” The presentation, Thursday, June 10,from noon to 1 p.m., will address some of theMMA’s most significant provisions — primarilythose establishing new prescription drug coverageunder Medicare (effective 2006), and theMedicare-endorsed prescription drug discountcard program that starts June 1. The presentationwill be in the Steve Schiff Auditorium in the Tech-nology Transfer Center, Bldg. 825. All Sandiansand Sandia retirees are invited. Questions to DickSteele, Dept. 3004, 284-4353, rsteele@sandia.gov.

SympathyTo Terry Ernest (1733) on the death of his

mother, Iris Sue Ernest, in Joplin, Mo., May 8.To Diana Stavros (10267) on the death of her

father, Jim Stavros, in Albuquerque, May 11.To Larry Tolendino (9334) on the death of

his mother and to Chris Tolendino (3135) on thedeath of her mother-in-law, May 11.

Sandians proposeplan to simplifysecurity measuresfor bioresearch

One-size-fits-all federal regulations lockedinto place at the nation’s biological laboratoriesto improve security against terrorism after 9/11may be impeding useful biodefense and publichealth research, say Sandia researchers JenniferGaudioso and Reynolds Salerno (both 6928) in apaper published in the April 30 Science.

The terrorism threat is real, but mostexperts would agree that Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever presents less danger as a biologicalweapon than anthrax, write the authors. How-ever, current regulations require the same securitymeasures for both.

Among the problems, the writers suggest,is the proposition that any biological agent ortoxin on the regulated list requires security,while those not on the list need none.

The researchers suggest instead a securityrisk assessment procedure that would placepathogens and toxins in one of four biosecuritylevels, similar to a color-coding system. Theoverwhelming majority of pathogens would fallinto the low-risk category, requiring proceduresas minimal as locking doors. Most of the com-monly dangerous agents would land in themoderate risk category, requiring access controlsand personnel checks. Already-in-place biosafetymeasures would keep costs down.

By this process, “high risk” or “extremerisk” — the two top categories — would be lim-ited to the very few organisms that representtrue weapon threats. Only labs working withthose organisms would be subject to the extraexpense in security these agents would require.

This graded response, the authors feel,“would remove the ambiguity of the currentregulatory approach and facilitate continuedbiomedical and bioscience research.”

They note that the expense of the “black-and-white” approach has led to a sharp declinein laboratories registering to do work on threat-ening biological organisms of every stripe.

The Center for Disease Control expected817 labs to register to examine and control regu-lated biological agents; instead, only 323 facili-ties registered.

“Actions such as these [responses toundifferentiated regulations],” write theauthors, “will suffocate valuable public healthand biodefense research, which will furthercompromise our ability to respond to bioterror-ism and infectious disease outbreaks.”

Jen and Ren are staff members of Sandia’sChem-Bio Nonproliferation Department whowork to secure dangerous pathogens and toxinsagainst theft and sabotage. They have workedon biosecurity issues at many federal facilities.

By Neal Singer

Lois M. Easton (age 88) ...............................Dec. 29Marian C. Weiss (82) ...............................March 13Helen Lyons Kluver (93)..........................March 14Florencio J. Mora (88)..............................March 15Peter J. Komen (85)..................................March 20Louis D. Lindsay (73)...............................March 21Wilburn E. Walker (89) ...........................March 21Dennis R. Benedict (79)...........................March 23Fredericka L. Juhasz (71)..........................March 24Johnson C. Hays (84)...............................March 26Donald L. Tyson (92)...............................March 27Felix Hendren (91) .......................................April 1James A. Hawkins (69) .................................April 1Violet M. Bernard (87) .................................April 3Lorraine G. Cook (80) ..................................April 3Kenneth K. Hykes (85) .................................April 7Dwight L. Russell (94) ..................................April 8George P. Steck (79) ...................................April 13Harold G. Short (73)...................................April 15Brad Oliver Shaw (85) ................................April 20Kenneth G. Adams (71) .............................April 21Wayne T. Welkenback (90)........................April 23Bert W. Lindsay (86) ..................................April 26

Retiree deaths

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 3

Security master’s program graduates first students main campus in West Haven, Conn., as well asbeing hosted by Sandia in California.

Muller said she learned about the programthrough news media reports and an online search.She called the university, received a call back athome from Dean Thomas Johnson, director of theSchool of Public Safety and Professional Studies,and less than a month later was sitting in class.

“I felt like it was meant to be,” she says. Likemany of the students, she had been a technicalexpert who had managerial duties (in emergencyplanning) prior to enrolling. Johnson said theprogram administrators are very proud of theirstudents.

Muller lauded the learning environment cre-ated by the students.

“I think it’s a fantastic program,” she says.“What we’re learning is living history. Everythingthat’s on the news is what we are studying.”

Jason Dunton, who moved out from Massa-chusetts to attend the program and plans to startan alumni program after he graduates in July, saidit has “really been a life-changing experience.” Heis working for a Department of Homeland Secu-rity agency, the Transportation Security Adminis-tration, and hopes to become an intelligence ana-lyst. On the whole, the students are beingprepared to assist efforts to assess and respond tosecurity threats through jobs in government orintelligence agencies, among other employers.

Echoing Muller’s comments, new graduateMark Ward praises the “synergy between out-standing faculty and great students.” His degreeconcentrated on information protection andsecurity.

Sheryl Stewart (8528) helped arrange for theprogram to be offered on site and responded toinquiries. “We didn’t know what to expect,” shesays. “At least 250 to 300 people applied. It’s beenvery exciting.”

Adds Barry Hess (8941), program manager forCyber Security Strategic Initiatives, “We were con-vinced this is something Sandia should be a partof, and we are still convinced of that.”

One Sandian, David York, 6863, is currentlyenrolled. (David notes that national service goesback a long way in his family since his great-greatuncle Alvin York received the Medal of Honor asan Army sergeant in WWI.)

The keynote speaker at the luncheon wasCarol Haave, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense inCounterintelligence and Security at the Pentagon.

Countering threats, she said, involves piecingtogether a jigsaw of voluminous amounts ofinformation using different capabilities such asmodeling and simulation, threat analysis, datamining and correlation, and plain old gumshoework. At what point do you know what the pic-ture on the front of the box is — without benefitof knowing what the picture on the front of thebox is? It’s not an easy challenge to be predictive,much easier to prove an event in hindsight whenthe picture is known.

“We want people to think about security,”she said, “but we don’t want them to be fearful.”She continued, “A powerful military allows us todo something for good, and good is somethingthat is described differently through the courseof time.”

She called for “inculcating into each con-sciousness that we touch” an awareness of secu-rity, realizing that “there’re not enough dollars inthe US treasury to protect all our military installa-tions, bases, and adjunct facilities.

“Leadership is important and that is whereyou come in,” she added. “I think there are limit-less opportunities; it’s very important to thenation and the world. You represent the leader-ship of the future.”

Muller composed a poem acknowledging theprogram administrators and faculty, concludingthat, “as national security professionals, we arenow in the know.”

The program was recently featured on theOsgood File. To see a transcript, visithttp://wcbs880.com/osgood/osgood_story_106024652.html; a story based on this nationally syndi-cated radio program is at: http://www.acfnew-source.org/science/security_degree.html. Finally,the University of New Haven’s website describingthe course offerings and requirements is at: UNH:http://www.newhaven.edu/psps/nationalsecurity.html.

The first group of students to graduate froma unique master’s degree program in NationalSecurity offered at Sandia/California through theUniversity of New Haven were feted in April in aluncheon with classmates, faculty, and friendsand relatives.

By the end of the month, at least seven stu-dents were expecting to receive their master’s ofscience degree in National Security and PublicSafety. Since the program launched in January2003, more than 30 students have registered toattend evening and weekend classes at the site,as well as takingonline courses.Instructors areexpected eventuallyto include Sandiasecurity experts.

“These professorsare the ‘Who’s Who’in the field they’vebeen teaching in,”says Pavan Gill, amember of the Con-tra Costa County(Calif.) Sheriff’s Department who works in itsHomeland Security Unit and was graduating inApril with a concentration in InformationProtection and Security.

The first student to complete coursework anda research project was Joy Muller, who said shereceived her degree Jan. 17. She interviewedcounty emergency preparedness coordinatorsinvolved in national security in Washington stateabout interagency coordination and bioterrorism,and provided a PowerPoint version of her inter-views to the school for potential use as a readerfor students.

“I wanted to show since the establishment ofthe Department of Homeland Security this is howall the agencies are supposed to work together,”she says.

A collaboration of the Criminal Justice andPolitical Science departments at the University ofNew Haven, the program is administered by theDean’s Office of the School of Public Safety andProfessional Studies and operates both at the

By Nancy Garcia

Ray Orbach visits Sandia/California Combustion Research Facility

VISITING THE Combustion Research Facility at Sandia/California on arecent Saturday was Ray Orbach, director of DOE’s Office of Science. Inthe picture at left Rob Barlow (8351) addresses the group. From left toright are Rob; Principal Deputy Director James Decker; Chief of StaffJeffrey Salmon; Sarah Allendorf, Manager of Combustion ChemistryDept. 8353; Jackie Chen (8531); Pace VanDevender, VP 1000; HabibNajm (8351); Orbach; and Michael Strayer of the Office of AdvancedScientific Computing Research. In the picture above, Jackie Chen isdiscussing direct numerical simulation. Orbach expressed a strong com-mitment to DOE’s energy security mission including programs at Sandia.He voiced support for programs at the Combustion Research Facility,which is an Office of Science user facility. He also challenged thoseattending to apply large-scale supercomputing to address complicatedscientific issues in combustion.

“What we’relearning is livinghistory. Every-thing that’s onthe news is whatwe are studying.”

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 4

Coronado Club(Continued from page 1)

through September,” says Larry Clevenger (3300),Director of Sandia’s Benefits and Health Services.“We will be having a summer program and ‘sub-clubs’ can continue their activities.”

This year’s retiree picnic (May 27) will be heldat the Coronado Club, and meeting space can bereserved and lunch will continue to be serveduntil October 1.

“Our goal is to make it a very smooth transi-tion,” says Larry.

The following are the findings for each ser-vice/program provided at the Coronado Club.Becky Statler (3341), study lead, released theresults.

Lunch lineLunch line customers can be absorbed by the

other facilities on base. The lunch line serves anaverage of 388 customers a day. The customerbreakdown is about 129 Sandia “walk-ins,” 95meeting attendees with and without a lunchticket, 78 military personnel, and 86 retirees orswimmers.

The team has identified alternatives for lunchincluding the Thunderbird Café, the DOE SnackBar, a roving BBQ, the Mountain View Clublocated on the east side of KAFB, and other mili-tary facilities including the bowling alley and BX.

CateringThe Thunderbird Café, DOE Snack Bar, or

community providers can handle catering needs,the study found. The Coronado Club fills approx-imately 44 orders a day. However, the number oforders has been cut by a third and has continuedto decline since corporate policy and practiceswith respect to business meeting meals andrefreshments have been tightened.

Meeting and Conference SpaceA more formal assessment of the need for,

and design of, a conferencing and meeting centerwill be conducted. The Coronado Club hosts onaverage 29 events a week. Two of the 29 are largeevents with an average of 124 attendees. Twenty-four are meetings or classes that average 23 atten-dees. Three are private events — weddings, gradu-ation parties — with an average 146 attendees.The alternatives identified included finding orbuilding a new conferencing and meeting facility,

using the Mountain View Club, or using theThunderbird Café during off-hours and week-ends. In the short-term using the Mountain ViewClub is a good alternative, but it isn’t a long-termsolution, according to the study results.

RecreationRecreation was separated into two groups:

the Sandia Employee Recreation Program (SERP),and social and recreational services.

Responsibility for SERP will be moved to theBenefits and Health Services Center. SERP cus-tomers include approximately 1,500 participa-tions in sports associations (basketball, bowling,soccer, etc.); 500 attend classes or seminars (scrap-booking, financial planning, fitness, etc.); 4,000attend special events (Beach Waterpark, Scorpionshockey, Sandia Motorspeedway, etc.). Since SERPis funded separately, it can continue to operatefrom a different facility.

Financial support of the social and recre-ational activities will be discontinued Oct. 1.Sandia will work with the Air Force to negotiatean arrangement whereby Sandians may join theMountain View Club. Information will be pro-vided to Sandians about the Manzano MesaMultigenerational Center and any other alterna-tives that may be identified.

General membership has steadily declinedsince 1997. Currently, 7 percent of eligibleretirees are members and 10 percent of eligibleemployees are members. Sub-club membershipnumbers are: Thunderbirds, 242; Aquatic Club,123; Tennis Club, 98; Junior Tennis, 48; and SkiClub, 48. Approximately 550 families purchasepool and patio passes in the summer.

According to the study, club social andrecreational activities were intended to be sup-ported by membership dues. The membershipdecline has made it exceedingly difficult tocontinue funding the activities. When the facil-ity is closed and member dues are no longercollected there will no longer be funds to sup-port the social and recreational activities of theclub and sub-clubs.

The study team has begun discussions withthe Air Force concerning the possibility of Sandiaemployees and retirees joining the MountainView Club. It has the capability of providingmost of the activities currently offered toCoronado Club members and it appears thatdues would be comparable to what memberspay now, says Becky.

Currently, without being members, Sandiaemployees can eat lunch and reserve meetingspace at the Mountain View Club.

Another alternative to member services is theManzano Mesa Multigenerational Center locatedon Southern Boulevard just east of KAFB. Man-zano Mesa has classrooms, a computer laboratory,a social hall, a fitness center, a kitchen, a gymna-sium, a shower room, lockers, and office space. Itoffers several types of classes and sponsors a vari-ety of hobby groups.

Swimming poolThe swimming pool will be open this sum-

mer and will be closed at the end of the season.Passes will continue to be accepted at the pool.

Fate of the Facility The Coronado Club is a Sandia facility that

sits on DOE land. Although plans for the build-ing’s future have not been finalized, it will mostlikely be demolished when funds are available.

“I know that people will miss the CoronadoClub,” says Larry. “It was a difficult decision.”

LET THAT BE A LESSON TO YOU — More than a dozen universities took part in Sandia’s Education Fair heldrecently outside the Thunderbird Café. The event was hosted by Sandia’s University Programs office, a Pro-gram of Corporate Education, Development & Training. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

The Coronado Club had its grand opening on June 9, 1950. Some 2,500 people turned out for the festivities.The Sandia Bulletin (predecessor of the Lab News) touted it as “your brand new social and recreation center.”It featured a dining room, “gleaming kitchen,” cocktail lounge and bar, and “four fine bowling alleys down-stairs.” (Those bowling alleys were converted to meeting rooms in 1965.) Dances and themed parties — thephoto on the right is from a 1954 “3000 A.D.” party — were a long-time staple of the club. Twelve Sandiansserved on the initial Board of Directors: H.F. Gunn (president), T.B. Sherwin (VP), R.J. Hansen (Secretary), R.E.Roy (Treasurer), Dorothy Youel (Recording Secretary), R.W. Henderson, L.J. Heilman, H.W. Sharp, GenevaBishop, D.F. Worth, J.L. Rowe, and T.G. O’Hara. The club manager was Charles Williams. A Lab News article onthe Coronado Club’s 50th anniversary in 2000 (June 16, 2000), titled “. . .a fond look back,” called the facilitya “lunchtime retreat, after-hours gathering place, and social club to generations of Sandians.”

The Coronado Club in Sandia memory

Education fair brings university reps to Sandia

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 5

Hazen(Continued from page 1)

experience back to the R&D side,” says Ron.Ron Moya, current acting director of Center

4100, will be moving to a new assignment in thefall and is in the process of choosing one of severalpossible summer assignments.

Hazen began as a sentryIn replacing Dennis, says Ron Detry, the

search team sought someone with a broad list ofstrengths, including an understanding of securityoperations and regulatory environments, demon-strated leadership and operational managementexperience, knowledge of the DOE system, andresonance with the idea of incorporating newtechnologies into security operations whereappropriate.

Col. Hazen began his 31-year Air Force career asa guard at a gate, he adds, working his way throughthe ranks to take on major leadership and policyresponsibilities for the Air Force. His bio is availableat http://www.peterson.af.mil/hqafspc/library/bios/Bios.asp?BioChoice=41.

Hazen most recently served as Director ofSecurity Forces at Air Force Space Command Head-quarters, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. In thatposition, he led an organization responsible forsecurity policy guidance for NORAD and USSpace Command headquarters and units world-wide, including security of the nation’s ICBMforce. His role included providing personnel,

equipment, and training for security force unitswith more than 4,000 security force personnelworldwide.

“Col. Hazen has experience with nuclearweapons on the Air Force side, as well as experienceacquiring security technology from Sandia andother places,” says Ron. “I was delighted to findsomeone with so much relevant experience.”

A critical junctureHazen will join the Labs at a critical juncture

in the history of Sandia’s security operations,says Ron.

Earlier this month, Energy Secretary SpencerAbraham announced the likelihood of sweepingchanges in security policies and practices at allDOE sites.

In addition, says Ron, “the ship is no longersinking. It still needs work, but it is not a matter offixing a broken organization. It’s a matter of contin-uously improving a good one.”

Ron lists several changes made since March2003, including reconstituting the Safeguardsand Security organization and staffing it withcapable Sandians from across the lab (includingpeople from the former Integrated Safety andSecurity Center), establishing a new top-notchmanagement team for the protective force, hir-ing some 35 Pro Force officers, and reducingovertime hours.

Training also has been improved and mademore consistent, and post orders (work instruc-tions followed at security posts) were rewrittenwith input from the officers responsible for fol-lowing them.

Progress has been made in matching security

force needs with available technologies, and Center4100 strategic R&D plans have been better alignedwith future Pro Force technology needs, althoughthere is still a long way to go, says Ron.

Substantial improvementsThe Labs also has catalogued and prioritized

deficiencies, culled from 500 findings and recom-mendations from security audits dating back to2001, and sought ways to address these deficienciessystematically and measurably rather than piece-meal, says Ron. Simultaneously, Center 4200 hasdeveloped a process for verifying completion of cor-rective actions that has captured the attention ofhigh-level officials at NNSA headquarters as a possi-ble best practice.

The Security Standdown last fall raised the levelof security awareness lab-wide, he says, and therecent kickoff to the Security Awareness Campaigndrew more than 1,000 Sandians. Feedback receivedindicates Sandians want to know how they canimprove security practices.

“This is a substantial group of improvements ina year,” he says.

Hazen’s initial priorities, says Ron, will be tocontinue to address deficiencies in a number ofareas that require coordination with line organiza-tions, including improving policies and practices inpersonnel security, marking and control of classi-fied materials, and control and accountability fornuclear materials.

“This is Col. Hazen’s 18th command change inhis career, so I know he’ll hit the ground running,”says Ron. “I know he’ll forward process and policyimprovement that are supportive of Sandia’s mis-sion and meet NNSA’s expectations.”

hadn’t been undertaken before. It was recognized right from the start that wadingthrough dozens of hours of video files to find the two or three minutes you wereinterested in wasn’t very efficient.

A couple of homegrown solutions to the data-mining challenge were tried overthe years; while they were okay, they didn’t really bring a compelling level of robust-ness, functionality, and ease of use to the task. And the technology didn’t cooperate:analog videotape is a good storage medium, but isn’t nearly as search-friendly andretrievable as digital files stored in non-linear magnetic or optical media.

If the knowledge preservation materials were to have practical value, a betterway would have to be developed for weaponeers operating in a classified environ-ment (such as the Sandia Classified Network) to get at the nuggets of informationand the flashes of insight that would help them do their jobs.

“We in 2900 decided to form a group of people with expertise to analyze variousCOTS [commercial off the shelf] products that would work in a true nuclear weaponscomplex enterprise mode,” John says. “Tamara Orth, 2911’s Weapons KnowledgeManagement Program Project Manager — who already had under her belt leadingthe effort for Web FileShare’s initial SCN deployment— was added to my staff to help expand and integrateKM-SAL’s capabilities with other on-going WeaponsKnowledge Management Program activities.”

Tam recalls that the development team (Collabo-rative Environments, 6223, Marge Petersen, ProjectLead) looked at several packages, all of which hadpluses and minuses, but none seemed just right, untila small company, Virage (recently acquired by and integrated with Autonomy), gotthe team’s attention.

“They got wind of what we were looking for and they actually called us,” Johnsays. Their tool, specifically Virage VS Archive, had a terrific feature set. Here’s howthe Virage website describes its product: “Virage VS Archive is a content manage-ment solution to efficiently store, categorize, manage, retrieve and distribute video,audio and other rich media content.” The Virage package also included a piece ofsoftware that would automatically convert speech to text and another part thatwould capture and synchronize PowerPoint slides with the video streaming. Bingo.

“It does what we needed,” Tam says, adding that it is very adept at handlingclassified video media, with built-in security tools and need-to-know authentica-

tion. That’s not surprising, since it was actually created for the super-secret NationalSecurity Agency — “America’s Codemaker and Codebreaker,” says its Web site.And Lockheed Martin was using Virage in its classified aviation enterprise.

Virage’s utility, though, isn’t limited to classified. It is, for example, the tool ofchoice for delivering streaming data at the NationalPublic Radio (npr.org) Web site.

The Virage/Autonomy tool is the foundation ofKM-SAL, but keeping the tool functional requires anon-going team effort.

“Video Services [Dept. 12620] owns the equip-ment and they continue to find ways to improve theservice,” John says. “They’ve been instrumental in

making KM-SAL more lively and interactive. And they’re going to be very key play-ers in making this [resource] better and better as it goes along.”

Also, he says, CSU Special Projects Dept. has been instrumental in creating newthin-client solutions — ideally suited for classified computing environments — thatwill support this application and make an even more capable set of solutions forthe future.

John says that ultimately, through secure, classified connections, KM-SAL maymake Knowledge Preservation content available complex-wide.

While the driver behind KM-SAL was the treasure-trove of Knowledge Preser-vation video interviews, the capabilities of a suite of Virage/Autonomy tools extendwell beyond retrieval of archived material. And Knowledge Management is morethan an archiving function — it means getting knowledge to those who need it ina timely and efficient way. As such, KM-SAL is already being used to deliver, in aclassified setting, interactive multimedia weapons courses. In addition, it will beused in both classified and non-classified networks, for streaming presentations ofinterest to Sandians. And it can be used to preserve important design review meet-ings that occur each day or multiagency colloquiums where knowledge and infor-mation density is very high.

“When I first came to this department three and a half years ago,” says John,“the question that needed to be answered was ‘What’s the value of information-sharing in nuclear weapons work?’ I think KM-SAL answers that question.

“We aren’t close to being finished with the project,” he says, “but we have cre-ated the right foundation to build on for the future.”Check it out:

http://srn-vss.sandia.gov/vas/accounts/admin/main.htm

A Labs-wide teamHere are the organizations and individuals that helped make KM-SAL a reality:

• Hank Witek, Military Liaison & Knowledge Management Group (P&CI &cyber funding, sponsorship and creating a vision for the effort)

• Weapons Knowledge Management Department (Owner & KnowledgeManagement Program Areas Integration with KM-SAL)

• Technical and Compliance Training Department (Integrated LearningTechnologies using KM-SAL)

• Collaborative Environments Department (IT Development Group for KM-SAL)• CSU Special Projects Department (IT Support & System Maintenance Group

for KM-SAL and new client development)• Video Services Department (Videography Specialists)

In a nutshell: The challenge and the responseThe challenge: Sandia’s Knowledge Preservation Project is designed to record

the knowledge, experience, and ideas of key nuclear weapon design engineers forreuse by others. The project attempts to capture all aspects of perishable, undocu-mented, nuclear weapon design, testing, and manufacturing information. Areas ofdiscussion include technologies, components, testing, materials, systems, andmanagement/political interactions (as they impacted the weapons program).

The response: KM-SAL aims to make recorded information easily availablevia a streaming video capability that enhances the exchange of knowledgeamong weaponeers, weapon interns, and weapon instructors. Sandia has 1,900-plus hours of Knowledge Preservation Project (KPP) videos. KM-SAL provides use-ful access to these videos. These videos must be need-to-know-controlled andsearchable by text, topic, and presentation slides via the desktop. KM-SAL alsoprovides an unclassified retrievable resource of weapons information videos.

Streaming video(Continued from page 1)

“We aren’t close to being finished withthe project, but we have created the rightfoundation to build on for the future.”

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 6

Living with beryllium: Sandia’s handling of berylliumfocuses on health, safety of all employees first

Beryllium may be found in soil, in copperparts, and in Sandia buildings.

Concerns about the latter were raised inDecember 2003, when employees noted differ-ing work practices being used in two portionsof Bldg. 983, where Sandia’s Z machine residesand where beryllium is routinely employed inexperiments (Lab News, Feb. 6, 2004). Sincethen, Sandia has taken extra precautions inensuring that traces of beryllium are eithercleaned up or controlled as appropriatethroughout the Labs, as the health and safetyof Sandians is the number one priority.

Al West, Director of ES&H and EmergencyManagement Center 3100, and Dr. Larry Cle-venger, Director of Sandia’s Benefits and HealthServices, recently took some time to answer ques-tions concerning this issue. Michael Padilla of theLab News conducted the interviews.

Lab News: Can you define beryllium, and tellus what its uses are?Al West: Beryllium is a lightweight metal used inthe nuclear weapons program and commercialindustry becauseof its uniqueproperties. Oneuse is as analloying agent inproducing beryl-lium copper.This metal isused for variousapplicationsincluding elec-trical contacts,spot-weldingelectrodes, andnon-sparkingtools. Berylliumis also used as astructural material for high-speed aircraft, mis-siles, spacecraft, and various communicationsatellites.

LN: Where can beryllium be found?AW: Beryllium can be found in various house-hold products including golf clubs, variousceramics, and appliances. Other uses include eye-glass frames, car brakes, support beams, and somestructural components. Beryllium, which is a nat-ural metal, can be found in soil and, with the dry,windy nature of the Albuquerque climate,detectable levels of beryllium can exist on sur-faces throughout Sandia from the soil.

LN: How does DOE regulate beryllium?AW: DOE is concerned about both airborne beryl-lium dust and beryllium surface contamination.In 1999, it finalized requirements for a “ChronicBeryllium Disease Prevention Program” and speci-fied compliance by Jan. 7, 2002. The regulationwas developed to reduce airborne exposure toberyllium particulates by DOE workers. Thedesired outcome was a reduction in the preva-lence of chronic beryllium disease from inhaledberyllium particulates in the DOE worker popula-tion. The regulation provides the opportunity forworkers who are concerned that they may havehad past or current beryllium exposures to partici-pate in a medical surveillance program.

LN: How is this measured?AW: The surface contamination measurementsare expressed in tenths of micrograms per 100square centimeters. This is less than a millionththe amount of material found in a packet of sugarsubstitute such as Sweet ’N Low on an area thesize of a piece of toast.

LN: What are some causes of beryllium hazards?AW: Beryllium dust can be created by manyindustrial activities such as grinding on a piece ofmetal, the making and breaking of electrical con-tacts in bridge cranes, or the destruction of cer-

tain components removed from nuclear weaponsystems during the demilitarization process.

LN: Can you briefly explain the history of theberyllium issue at Sandia?AW: Beryllium has been used by Sandia since itsfounding. Because beryllium is a toxic material, ithas always been subject to various levels of indus-trial hygiene control. We wrote our first ChronicBeryllium Disease Prevention Program, or CBDPP,in 1997 in response to the DOE directive. Then,Sandia ramped up its controls for beryllium tocomply with the new DOE regulations andrewrote the CBDPP. We operated under that planuntil December of 2003 when some Facilitiesemployees noticed that several other employeeswere wearing protective gear in Bldg. 983 whileworking near and around the Z machine. Theemployees wearing the gear were taking precau-tions because of construction taking place in thearea and there was concern that beryllium surfacecontamination in the form of dust could getstirred up as work was performed. Some of theberyllium levels were above DOE’s mandatedclean-up level, so operations were temporarilysuspended to conduct additional inspections andto decontaminate one area that previouslyhoused a grinding activity. The building reopenedin February 2004 under a revised CBDPP. Aroundthe same time period, beryllium surface contami-nation was also discovered in Bldgs. 981 and 970in Area 4.

LN: In other buildings?AW: In April of this year, Bldgs. 809 and 867 weretested for beryllium as part of our expanded effortto identify beryllium surface contamination Labs-wide. Both facilities are temporarily closed as aprecaution until the results are analyzed andmore data collected. Because beryllium contami-nation was found, employees were offered volun-tary participation in Sandia’s existing berylliummedical surveillance program. In fact, anyemployee in any building with any concernabout their possible exposure to this metal in theworkplace is encouraged to contact Medical for aberyllium screening.

LN: What is being done now?AW: We are continuing to sample Sandia build-ings using a prioritized list of locations whereberyllium might be present due to the type ofwork done in that facility. Only five buildingshave returned positive results to date. However, Isuspect there will be more buildings.

LN: How are Sandians warned about the haz-ards of beryllium?AW: Workers in areas where beryllium hazardsmight be present are notified of beryllium-associ-ated hazards through signs, training, and ES&Hwork documents such as operating proceduresand health and safety plans. These work docu-ments identify the hazards and control measuresnecessary to mitigate hazards. Beryllium aware-ness training is required prior to gainingunescorted access in several buildings at Sandia.Additional beryllium worker training is requiredto gain access to any of the three beryllium-control areas within the Z machine.

LN: What is the best way to handle beryllium? AW: The best advice I can give to employees is towear personal protective equipment if they mustwork in or around beryllium and its compoundswhen the levels are above those specified in theregulations. No attempt should be made to workwith any beryllium-containing material beforebecoming familiar with proper handling safe-guards.

LN: What have been some challenges in dealingwith this issue?AW: Because beryllium is naturally present in theNew Mexico soil, and because we have a very sen-

sitive process for detecting it, we can find beryl-lium in many places at the laboratory. Some win-dowsills have levels of beryllium from the soilthat exceed the regulatory limits for equipment oritems being released to the public. In addition,because of recycling practices, much of the cop-per in use today has measurable quantities ofberyllium in it. We thus find beryllium nearbridge cranes and around screen rooms. Further-more, some of the materials formerly used in theweapons program were not regulated, as theywould be today. Thus we have to deal with issuesassociated with legacy beryllium contamination,which is why we are surveying for beryllium Labs-wide and looking for sources of contaminationthat we did not consider the first time around.

LN: What else should Sandians be aware of?AW: The good news is that, in spite of our abilityto detect minute amounts of beryllium, the risk ofsignificant exposure in the workplace is very, verylow. For instance, at the Z machine, which is theone operational area at Sandia where beryllium ishandled on a regular basis, since the year 2000,the DOE personal breathing zone action level hasbeen exceeded only once while workers were per-forming hardware cleaning, and procedures werechanged as a result of that event. Furthermore,since last October we have taken more than 100additional personal breathing zone air samplesfor workers doing a variety of tasks in Bldg. 983and none have exceeded the action level. Thisgives us confidence that the protective measuresin place are doing the job of preventing expo-sures. I am also sure that we will continue to findmore instances of beryllium in the workplace aswe examine more buildings. When that happens,we will take suitable precautions to protect ourworkers as we rectify the situation. This will causesome work disruptions as it has in Bldgs. 983,867, and 809, but we will try to minimize theimpact of such events. Our first commitment is tothe health and safety of our workers. With that inmind, we acknowledge that we have customerdeliverables to meet once we are sure that we cando so in a safe manner.

LN: What are some health concerns withberyllium? Larry Clevenger: The largest concern aboutberyllium is related to respiratory, or lung andbreathingeffects. Con-ceptually,short-termexposure tohigh levels ofairborne beryl-lium dustwithout pro-tection cancause an acutepulmonarydisorderresemblingpneumonia orbronchitis.While this hasbeen described in the medical literature, contem-porary industrial hygiene controls and workersafety practices have largely eliminated exposinghigher levels of beryllium as an occurrence. Low-level exposures resulting in Chronic BerylliumDisease (CBD) are now the issue that hasprompted many actions throughout DOE and inindustry. Here, the concern is related to long-termeffects that may not be manifested for many yearsafter a low-level exposure. The new findingsabout beryllium suggest the health effects arerelated to an immune response that may occur insome individuals who are genetically susceptibleto beryllium and the effects may, in a small num-ber of cases, cause a form of chronic lung diseasewith symptoms similar to emphysema or other

Questions on history, current status, health concerns answered

(Continued on next page)

AL WEST

LARRY CLEVENGER

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 7

Beryllium(Continued from preceding page)

chronic lung disorders.

LN: What should Sandians do to ensure thatthey are not exposed to beryllium? LC: As Al identified, Sandia is taking aggressivesteps to determine where beryllium may havebeen used at Sandia. This characterization is thefirst step in establishing risk. From an employeeperspective our general approach to safety andhealth should serve us well. Understanding cur-rent work hazards and any potential legacy haz-ards should guide the necessary work practicesthat protect individuals. These practices mayrequire certain engineering controls such as theuse of control zones and specialized equipmentand administrative controls including training,use of personal protective equipment and partici-pation in an appropriate medical surveillance pro-gram. I encourage people to talk to their man-agers, industrial hygiene reps, or Medical aboutany beryllium-related issue.

LN: What are the chances of someone incontact with beryllium being exposed to thedisease?LC: Generally speaking, it appears that about 1 to6 percent of exposed individuals may developCBD as a result of an allergic response to even lowlevels of exposure. This may take years todevelop.

LN: Can you statistically explain the chances of aperson being affected by beryllium? LC: One way to think about this is to consider thatabout 40 percent of individuals may have thegenetic marker that has been associated with sus-ceptibility to beryllium sensitivity. If such individu-als were to have a history of exposure to beryllium,say at relatively low levels, then about 1 to 6 per-cent of them would be expected to develop CBD atsome point in the future. On the other hand, ifthese susceptible individuals had past occupationswith higher levels of exposures (metal workers, forexample) then the disease rate may go as high as 16percent. The experience at DOE sites has beenmuch lower than this.

LN: What advice do you give employees whohave been in contact with or think they mayhave been exposed to beryllium? LC: DOE has developed structured programs toaddress concerns with possible current or pastexposures. My recommendation would be to

notify the responsible manager, the ES&H repre-sentative for the organization, and Health Ser-vices. This approach assures a systematic reviewof the concern from a work assignment, industrialhygiene, and health perspective.

LN: How many Sandians have been examined?LC: In the last few years all Sandians, retirees,and other workers associated with Sandia havebeen invited to participate in beryllium surveil-lance programs — one for employees managedhere at Sandia and the other for former workersthat is managed through Oak Ridge AssociatedUniversities on behalf of DOE. To date we haveabout 45 workers who are defined as “berylliumworkers” and an additional 355 “beryllium asso-ciated workers.” This latter category impliesindividuals who may have had a past exposurebut do not have a current job assignmentsinvolving work with beryllium. We are also per-forming evaluations on individuals associatedwith the current building investigations.

All in all we have some 508 people who havebeen evaluated. To date we have two individuals

BERYLLIUM is routinely employed in experiments at Sandia’s Z machine. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

with CBD (one of whom is from Rocky Flats wherethe diagnosis was made). We also have five indi-viduals who are beryllium sensitive but have notdemonstrated signs and symptoms of CBD. Allare involved in on-going monitoring programs.

LN: What are some recommendations/additional comments? LC: My best advice is that if an individual has aconcern about a past or current history of beryl-lium exposure, then contact Health Services.Anna Miller is our point of contact, and she canbe reached by e-mail or phone (845-5411). Shewill provide information about beryllium screen-ing programs and schedule an examination. Thisexam is pretty straightforward. It will include acomprehensive history and physical, laboratorytests, a chest X-ray, and a blood test to determineberyllium sensitivity. This latter test is called theBeryllium Lymphocyte Proliferation Test (Be-LPTfor short) and is the current best available test todetermine if an individual has the allergic sensi-tivity we have been talking about.

Q: I’m walking down the hall in a buildingwithin Tech Area 1 and I hear a cell phone ringbehind me. I turn around and notice that an individ-ual has answered the cell phone and is carrying on aconversation. I realize that some individuals areauthorized to have a cell phone in the tech areas, buthow do I know who is and who isn’t authorized.What should I have done?

A: Thanks very much for your question andyour awareness in recognizing that cell phonesare a source of many of our security incidents.

If you see an individual using a cellularphone in the limited areas, please feel free toapproach and ask to see their Critical Use Autho-rization Card. Authorized cellular phones used inthe Limited Areas are to be accompanied by aCritical Use Authorization Card, issued by Tech-nical Surveillance Countermeasures (formerlypart of Electronic Security). This card contains thename of the authorized individual, the dateissued, the date the authorization expires, themake and model of the phone, and the phonenumber. In rare cases, a group name (e.g.,Machine Shop, Shift Captain) may show in thename field.

Individuals who have been authorized to usecellular phones in the limited areas are typicallyfamiliar with the security requirements and issueswith cellular phone use in the limited areas, and

should have no problem verifying that they haveauthorization. If the person you approach refusesto show authorization, or is quarrelsome, reportthe incident to the Security Incident Manage-ment Program at 540-2382. Try to get the nameof the individual if you can; also take note of thelocation and time of the incident.

For more information regarding cellularphones, the URL for the cellular phones web-site is: http://www-irn.sandia.gov/iss/cell_phone/ index.htm, which also containslinks to the CPRs that govern the cellularphones and Technical Surveillance Counter-measures (TSCM) programs.

— Paul Linke (30-1), TSCM Program Manager* * *

Q: What is Sandia’s policy on who has access toother employees’ salary information? A Sandianbrought to my attention how much I get paid and theyhave access to some database containing employees’salary information. I was quite disturbed by this, andwould think that nobody except managers shouldhave access to employees’ salary information.

A: Sandia has always considered salary infor-mation to be UCI, and access to an employee’ssalary or other UCI information is limited. Accessis limited to an individual’s line management andalso to a limited number of job functions thatrequire salary data (e.g., Payroll and Benefits).

However, labor is charged to projects in thefinancial system using a Standard Labor Rate(SLR). Each SLR has a range of base salaries thatdefine the band or salary limits for that SLR. The

SLR bands cover all employee salaries at Sandiaand are constructed so that the mid-point plus 5percent equals the upper limit of the band and themid-point less 5 percent equals the lower limit ofthe band. (The top and bottom bands have limitsgreater than 5 percent from the mid-point to helpensure the mid-point is closer to the average forthat band.) The mid-points of the bands are thenincreased by a factor to account for all non-basecompensation and then increased by another fac-tor to account for fringe, thus generating theannual SLR. Budgeting project costs is the primarybusiness purpose for the annual SLR rate.

The SLR system does not identify an individ-ual’s salary, but a salary range can be identifiedfrom knowing an individual’s SLR. The businessneed to be able to budget costs, coupled with thelack of specificity, is what allows us to make SLRinformation available. However, as with allother assets/information, availability and accessare to be used only for legitimate business pur-poses. Personal curiosity is not a legitimate busi-ness purpose. People misusing the SLR or anyother corporate asset/information for personalor non-business purposes, or in a fashion to castSandia National Laboratories in a negative light,are engaging in inappropriate and unethicalbehavior and should be reported to manage-ment or Sandia’s Ethics and Business ConductOffice, Dept. 12810, MS-0353, or the Ethics Hot-line at 844-1744. Appropriate disciplinary actionwill be taken. — B.J. Jones, Director, Human

Resources Center 3500

Roger Lenard and a group of like-minded scientists and engineers atSandia — notably, Paul Pickard, RonLipinski, and Steve Wright, spacenuclear power guys — envision andwork for a day when human crewsexplore the solar system on a grandscale. And they’re convinced with aserene certainty that the way to do it— the only viable way to do it (andthey have the numbers to make theircase) — is via nuclear rocketry.

What these persistent andpatient researchers at Sandia (alongwith other initiates around the spaceexploration community) haveneeded and wanted is a way to proveto skeptics that space nuclear poweris the practical, safe, reliable, and effi-cient propulsion system that theyknow it to be.

Proof in the marketplaceThey are about to get their

proof in that most critical, demand-ing, unblinkingly pragmatic arenaof them all — the marketplace.

Enter IOSTAR.IOSTAR Corp., a long-time Sandia CRADA part-

ner through its parent company, Intraspace Corp.,earlier this month made its business case for anuclear-powered space tug to investors attendingthe Technology Ventures Corp. Equity CapitalSymposium. The power behind the tug would bebased on a Sandia-designed, developed, built, andoperated gas-cooled reactor driving an ion engine,using inert xenon gas as the propellant.

IOSTAR — the name is an acronym for In OrbitSpace Transportation And Recovery — bases its busi-ness model on what it estimates to be a $7-billion-a-year market opportunity. IOSTAR projects that it cancapture 10 percent of that market in its first year ofoperation and 30 percent by the tenth year.

Several years ago, it occurred to Intraspace offi-cials that there could be a large market in the satel-lite recovery business. Each year, in the commercialarena alone, a certain number of launches fail toput satellites in the correct orbit, making themeffectively useless for their intended mission, noth-ing more than multimillion-dollar space junk.

But if, Intraspace reasoned, if you could inter-cept the stranded satellite — usually stuck in a lowearth orbit (LEO) rather than the intended geosyn-chronous orbit (GEO) — and move it efficiently tothe correct orbit . . . if you could do that, insurancecarriers would pay good money for the service. Themarket analysis showed that there was indeed aneed for the service. It also discerned a healthy mar-ket potential in the new launch business — a con-ventional chemical rocket would boost a satellite toLEO and a more efficient system would tug it toGEO. The market also lay open for a satellite main-tenance and upgrade.

So, sure, there was a market. There’s a market

for gold, too. But you can’t make any money if itcosts you more to get the gold out of the mountainthan you can sell it for on the street.

Enter Sandia.The story of IOSTAR and Sandia could be a case

study for the nexus among entrepreneurialism andtechnology, vision and engineering, the dreamableand the doable.

Roger Lenard recounts that Intraspace, seekingto make the business case for what was clearly asolid technical concept, came to Sandia askingabout using nuclear-powered rocket. A CRADA rela-tionship was established at that time.

In his analysis for Intraspace, which factored inhow much an insurance company would be likelyto pay for a recovery service, how much masswould need to be moved from LEO to GEO, andhow long customers would be willing to wait fortheir satellites to arrive on station, Roger deter-mined that you’d need a propulsion system with aspecific impulse of at least 900 seconds simply topay for propellant to move the satellite around,given today’s launch costs. (See “Specific impulsedefined” below.)

A reactor-based system made senseSubsequent, more detailed analysis of the

challenge, Roger says, pointed more and moretoward one inevitable conclusion: the technologythat made sense — from a technical and businessperspective — was a reactor-based nuclear-electricsystem.

“For a variety of reasons, primarily having todo with risk and cost, we settled on a system thatwas a direct gas-cooled reactor; it would directlydrive a Brayton cycle conversion system, and thatwould directly drive a set of ion engines operatingat about 4,000 seconds of specific impulse.”

The numbers were good. Sandia demonstratedto Intraspace’s satisfaction that if they were to pur-sue the space salvage market, nuclear was the wayto go; realistically, the only way to go.

Now, with a viable plan in hand and a solidbusiness case, Intraspace needed to raise money.There was a source: a federal loan program that wasused to finance the Tracking Data Relay SatelliteSystem. Through four years of effort in Washing-ton, Intraspace helped shepherd legislation throughCongress that would provide a $1.5 billion loan fora commercially viable reusable in-space transporta-tion system. In other words, for something thatsounds very much like IOSTAR. The legislation wasgeneric — i.e., the loan would be available for sucha system; it would be up to Intraspace to demon-strate that its IOSTAR concept met the require-ments of the legislation.

(Roger here clarifies the IOSTAR operationalmodel. The reactor-powered system would stay inspace and would be replenished with xenon fuelfrom time to time. Ideally, it would never be idle,

but would always be moving stuffaround for customers. “You don’twant to make them [the IOSTARtugs] wait between jobs in a parkingorbit,” he says. “You want to followthe Southwest Airlines model: theplanes don’t make any moneyunless they’re in the air — with pas-sengers in them.”)

A rigorous processIt turns out, Roger says, that the

federal loan for IOSTAR is available,but the company needs about $15million to complete a very rigorous,very detailed loan application thatrequires “an awful lot of knowledgeabout the system in terms of cost,schedules, risks, market assessments,payback, salvage value — just a widevariety of things.”

Timing happened to be goodfor the IOSTAR project: legislationjust passed in the State of NewMexico allowed direct state invest-ment in businesses with potentiallong-term beneficial impact on thestate’s economy. And the state,

under Gov. Bill Richardson’s leadership, has seenthe private space business as a growth opportu-nity for New Mexico. In the meantime, Technol-ogy Ventures Corporation got wind of IOSTARand recognized in it a great potential that per-fectly fit the TVC profile.

“TVC decided this was a great project,” Rogersays. “It transferred Sandia-developed technology— namely, the gas-cooled reactor; the integratedBrayton cycle, all the models we developed, ourshielding, our test facilities, as well as our directoperator capability (for technical and legal reasons,Sandia and DOE would own and operate the actualreactor operation in the IOSTAR model) — to acommercial venture that satisfied a wide, widerange of commercial, military, and, eventually,NASA missions.”

TVC, Roger says, took on Intraspace/IOSTAR asa client, and spent several months working withthem, helping them revise some aspects of theirfinancial model to make the enterprise more attrac-tive to the investor community.

And that brought IOSTAR to the Equity CapitalSymposium early this month.

If IOSTAR, through its TVC symposium expo-sure or otherwise, finds its angel (and the state mayvery well be a partner in any equity investment),Roger says, “it looks like the project could belaunched in somewhere between four-and-a-halfand five years, everything going according to plan.There are always hiccups here and there, but thatlooks like a schedule that could be met.”

Epistemologically proper thingRoger welcomes Sandia’s involvement in

IOSTAR as an opportunity to prove the concept heand his colleagues have been working toward.

“Look,” he says, “first off, we ought to be doingit because it’s the right thing to do. You can only doso much exploration with 300 watts of power, solarcells, and 450 seconds of specific impulse. So if youever want to operate within the solar system cost-effectively and with regularity, you’re going to haveto have nuclear power systems. So there is the moti-vation in the fact that this is the epistemologicallyproper thing to do. Now having said that, theIOSTAR people aren’t the only ones who have seenthe light. NASA has its Prometheus program, whichis looking at nuclear electric propulsion and expan-sions to the radioisotope program and may, therumor mill has it, may be looking at nuclear ther-mal-based systems again.

“You know, it seems to me that the importantpoint is that there is a convergence of the fact thatthere are commercially viable missions and a tech-nological capability here. The time is right.

“All of this is in its infancy and can stillfounder again, but to the extent that Sandia canbring its technical forces to bear safely in an expedi-ent fashion it seems to me we’ll do that.”

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 8

Sandia-designed space reactor could drive in-orbit salvageConvergence of factors transforms IOSTAR scheme from visionary to viable

Specific impulse definedSpecific impulse (commonly abbreviated Isp) is the

impulse (change in momentum) per unit mass for rocketfuels. In other words, the specific impulse is a measure ofhow much push can be obtained from a fixed mass of fuel.A rocket must carry all its fuel with it, so the mass of theunburned fuel must be accelerated along with the rocketitself. Thus, minimizing the mass of fuel required toachieve a given push is crucial to building effective rockets.Using Newton’s Third Law it is not difficult to verify thatfor a fixed mass of fuel, the total change in velocity (in fact,momentum) it can accomplish can be increased only byincreasing the exhaust velocity.

It follows that the faster the speed at which propellantis thrown out the back of the rocket, the faster the rocketcan travel or the more cargo it can carry. The specificimpulse of a rocket propellant is a measure of how fast thepropellant is ejected out of the back of the rocket. A rocketwith a high specific impulse doesn’t need as much fuel as arocket with low specific impulse to reach a given velocity.

— From Wikipedia, the online open source encyclopedia

By Bill Murphy

Artist’s rendering of IOSTAR on station.

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 9

Sandia and the University of Colorado atColorado Springs have entered into a memorandumof understanding (MOU) as a basis for future techni-cal collaborations at the Colorado Springs campus.

The MOU encourages cooperative effortsbetween Sandia and CU-Colorado Springs in abroad range of technology areas including micro-electronics, MEMS (microelectromechanical sys-tems), nanotechnology, and software for numerousspace and security applications. The agreement alsoemphasizes advanced manufacturing technology,recognizing the need for US industry to remaincompetitive in the global economy.

CU-Colorado Springs recently established theRocky Mountain Technology Alliance (RMTA), anorganization ofindustry, govern-ment, and univer-sity leaders seekingto establish a tech-nology-rich businessdevelopment envi-ronment in Col-orado Springs andthe surroundingregion. The agree-ment stems from arelationshipbetween RMTA andSandia’s Regional Alliance for Manufacturing Pro-gram (RAMP).

RAMP is a strategic Sandia manufacturing ini-tiative led by Sandia’s Manufacturing Systems Sci-ence and Technology Division. One of RAMP’sobjectives is to establish regional partnerships withuniversities, industry, and government to engage inmanufacturing R&D, exercise Sandia’s capabilitiesthrough technical assistance projects, and help todevelop and improve the high-tech manufacturingcapabilities of current and potential partners.

Leaders at CU-Colorado Springs and Sandiabelieve they have mutual interests and capabilitiesin areas that can be combined to meet the high-tech manufacturing objectives at Sandia, RMTA,and CU-Colorado Springs. Areas of interest includemicrosystems and nanotechnologies, space systemsand engineering, cybersecurity, computer and com-munication networks, power and energy systems,and advanced manufacturing.

Lenny Martinez, VP for Manufacturing Systems,Science & Technology (14000), says there are anumber of potential areas for collaborationbetween the two organizations.

“One that we are particularly interested in at San-dia is providing technical assistance to commercialhigh-tech manufacturing firms in Colorado Springsand other communities throughout the state of Col-orado in support of our regional manufacturingstrategies as identified by RAMP,” Lenny says. “Thesetypes of assistance projects are of growing importanceto Sandia in terms of our needs for partnerships andmanufacturing supply chain development.”

Jeremy Haefner, Dean of Engineering andApplied Sciences and Director of the Colorado Insti-tute of Technology Transfer and Implementation atCU-Colorado Springs, says the future of the Univer-sity and the economic future of the ColoradoSprings region are mutually dependent on technol-ogy — specifically technology that can be devel-oped and commercialized here in the region asopposed to in other US cities or abroad.

“We are citizens of the Rocky Mountain Tech-nology Corridor — the region stretching fromnorthern Colorado to southern New Mexico —from which much of modern technology flows,”Haefner says. “We will expand our applied researchin the region through CU-Colorado Springs and incooperation with our partners, which will lead tosubstantially increased technology commercializa-tion and production.”

CU-Colorado Springs is the fastest growing uni-versity in Colorado and one of the fastest growinguniversities in the nation. The university offers 25bachelor’s, 17 master’s, and two doctoral degrees. Thecampus enrolls more than 7,600 students annually.

Sandia, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs tocollaborate on MEMS, nano, and software projectsBy Michael Padilla

BIOLOGY TOUR — Lisa Villalobos-Menuey, professional research assistant, gives Sandia VP Lenny Martinez a tourof the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Institute of Bioenergetics.

Editor’s note: Federal law sets a goal for smallbusinesses to participate in 23 percent of the totalvalue of all federal prime contracts. In 2000, theguidelines changed to exclude contracts betweensmall businesses and Management and Operating(M&O) contractors (like Sandia) from countingtoward small business participation. This new pol-icy has radically distorted DOE’s and Sandia’srecord on smallbusiness participa-tion. On May 18,Executive VP JoanWoodard testifiedbefore the SenateCommittee onEnergy and WaterResources regardingthe policy changeand the possibleimplications forSandia and itssmall business part-ners. Here are excerpts from her 2,800-wordtestimony:

In fiscal year 2003 we [Sandia] awarded$459 million to small businesses in 94,000procurement actions — 53 percent of ourtotal commitments of $866 million. . . . Byexcluding Sandia’s excellent small businessresults (and those of other M&O contractors),DOE’s true small business performance isgrossly understated. . . .

In 1999, prior to the policy change, DOEmet its Small Business Administration (SBA)goal of 16.7 percent with 18 percent small-busi-ness participation. In 2000, when the changewas implemented, the figure dropped to around3 percent. Although SBA adjusted DOE’s goaldownward to 5 percent, DOE is now well shortof its target. And it is now in the unfair positionof having to meet a goal that is based on a per-centage of the total value of its prime contractswithout being able to include the small busi-ness portion of all its prime contracts. . . .

The new policy has the potential to weaken

or even destroy the Government-Owned, Con-tractor-Operated (GOCO) contracting modelthat has been used by DOE and its predecessorsfor more than 50 years. There is no mathemati-cally possible way for DOE to meet the 23 per-cent target of [the policy] without breaking thefacility M&O contracts into smaller pieces.

There is a major flaw in the . . . plan thatfalls into the “emperor’s new clothes” cate-gory: It is likely to be a zero-sum game. WhenDOE awards a small-business contract that pre-viously would have been awarded to a smallbusiness anyway (by the M&O contractor),there is no net gain for small businesses. . . .

. . . Indeed, local and regional small busi-nesses may actually lose contracts because fed-eral agencies are required to conduct competi-tions on a nationwide scale. . . .

RecommendationsHow to resolve these concerns is primarily

a question for Congress to decide; I offer thefollowing recommendations for consideration.

• The National Laboratories ImprovementCouncil (NLIC) urged reinstatement of the ear-lier . . . policy that allowed M&O contractors’small business subcontracts to count towardthe Department’s goal. We regard this recom-mendation as the preferred solution. . . .

• DOE and its M&O contractors shouldcontinue to work together to increase smallbusiness participation at all levels of contract-ing through small business development andoutreach programs deployed throughout allDepartment elements. . . .

Mr. Chairman, this concludes mystatement.

Labs’ small business contractsshould count in DOE’s favorExecutive VP Joan Woodard says in Senate testimony thatnew guidelines don’t boost small business involvement

JOAN WOODARD

There is major flaw in the . . .plan that falls into the “emperor’snew clothes” category: It is likelyto be a zero-sum game.

SANDIA VP Lenny Martinezand CU-Colorado SpringsChancellor Pamela Shockley-Zalabak sign MOU.

Sandia completed its third year of providingtechnical assistance to New Mexico small busi-nesses last year through a tax credit passed by theNew Mexico Legislature.

Nearly 300 small businesses were assistedthroughout New Mexico in 2003. The assistanceranged from helping a company make better sparkplugs to assisting in the automation of the NewMexico chile industry.

Sandia recently celebrated the success of the2003 program at a reception at the AlbuquerqueMuseum where small-business representatives andSandia principal investigators involved in the assis-tance projects attended.

The New Mexico Small Business Assistance(NMSBA) program allows Sandia to use a portion ofits gross receipts taxes paid each year to providetechnical advice and assistance to New Mexicosmall businesses. During 2003, Sandia received$1,796,000 in tax credits, 77 percent of which wentto small businesses in rural New Mexico and 23 per-cent to small businesses in Bernalillo County.

There are few requirements for small-businessparticipation — mainly that assisted companies befor-profit New Mexico small businesses and thatthe help isn’t available for a reasonable costthrough private sources. Nine success stories fromthe 2003 NMSBA program year were highlighted atthe event. They are:

Beer Engineering performs research anddevelopment in system engineering, complexrobotics, automation systems, networks, and soft-ware development. Applied Thermal Systemsdesigns and manufactures thermal equipment.Sandia’s assistance has provided the two compa-nies an opportunity to gain experience with thecapabilities and limitations of commercially avail-able robots through work on a pick-and-placerobotic work cell project.

Enterpulse, Inc. is a research and developmentcompany in pulsed power specializing in automo-tive ignition, specifically spark plugs. Sandiaassisted in the development of a new spark plugthat has the potential to be 10,000 times more pow-erful than current spark plugs. This assistanceallowed Enerpulse to overcome a major hurdle indevelopment and expedited the fabrication process.

Fast Ditch™ in Vallecito, N.M., is in the com-mercialization stage of producing a unique corru-gated plastic liner for earthen ditches to eliminatethe loss of water that occurs with unlined ditches.

From burn testing provided by Sandia, new linerswill be designed to minimize the ditch surface areathat is exposed to weed burning.

Last Chance Water Company in Otero Countyis a water management company representing landowners of the Salt Basin that manages waterresources and establishes the water supply availableto potential markets. Sandia is assisting LCW in theidentification, quantification, and characterizationof a new and renewable water source in New Mexico.Sandia has also been able to dynamically enhancesoftware platforms.

New Mexico Chile Taskforce in southern NewMexico is a partnership of chile growers, producers,and researchers created to apply science and tech-nology to improving productivity and ultimatelyenhancing New Mexico’s competitiveness in aglobal market. Sandia has worked with a number ofother engineering organizations to integrate a sys-tems approach to chile cleaning and destemming.

Nickel Brand Software in Moriarty helps bridgethe gap between historical (hot iron branding) andcurrent animal identification methods. Workingwith the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Pro-gram, Sandia is researching a dual confirmationsystem for animal tracking and image recognition.

The software will be compatible with tablet PC’sand PDA’s, providing for ease-of-use in the field.

Owens Office Box in Farmington has devel-oped a specialized filing cabinet for use in semitractor trailers. Sandia consulted with OwenBradley to design a pull-out drawer that opens forfiling and fits underneath the passenger seat. Therevenue stream for this product is estimated to be$18-20 million per year.

PEMCO in Farmington is one of only fivecompanies in the United States that providesrepair and refurbishment services for well drillingand servicing structures. The assistance has beencrucial in bringing PEMCO into today’s competi-tive environment for manufacturing in accor-dance with current industry standards andrequirements. That translates to about $150,000in annual cost savings.

STAR Cryoelectronics in Santa Fe develops,manufactures, and markets ultra-sensitive Super-conducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID)sensors and advanced PC-based SQUID controlelectronics products worldwide. With Sandia’sassistance the company was able to modify theprocess and eliminate defects that were causingtheir devices to fail.

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 10

Modifications that clarify requirements and guidance to avoid conflicts ofinterest related to tech transfer activities have been made by Sandia’s Technol-ogy Commercialization and Partnerships.

The areas affected by this change range from licensing intellectual propertyand Sandia’s Entrepreneurial Separation (ESTT) program to scientific/technicaloutside employment and referral of commercialization opportunities to thePartnership Centers 1300 and 8529.

“As a government-owned national security laboratory we have obligationsand responsibilities that don’t have parallels in the private sector, and Congressand the public hold us to higher standards of propriety,” says Steve Grieco(1303), Technology Transfer manager.

He says that this includes, among others, noncompetition with the privatesector, fairness of opportunity, and access to unique facilities and capabilities.

Evolving from strictly government-funded CRADAs in the early 90s, TechTransfer at Sandia now includes industry-funded CRADAs, a well-establishedlicensing program, a high-volume Work for Others program, a multifacetedsmall business program, the Science & Technology Park, and the ESTT program,which allows engineers and scientists to start a business using technology devel-oped at Sandia.

Points of the policy“Over the years, we’ve come to recognize the situations and business propo-

sitions that have the potential to draw criticism and jeopardize our reputationas performing exceptional service with the highest ethical standards,” Stevesays. The recent review and revision of the business rules is a step to apply San-dia’s 10 years of experience managing a vigorous tech transfer program and tohelp sensitize the broader population to the issues and clarify the corporation’sexpectations of its employees.

Technical staff (and all employees) are expected to accord Sandia their pri-

mary professional loyalty and full-time employment. When an employeedivides his or her loyalties between multiple employers in the same field, a con-flict of interest or appearance of a conflict of interest almost always arises.

High-level approval has long been required for outside employment of atechnical nature, such as scientific and technical consulting. This requirementhas not been universally understood. The process requirements were clarified toensure that such cases are reviewed at the proper management level to deter-mine whether the risks of such an outside activity can be sufficiently mitigatedto best protect Sandia’s interests.

As more cases are reviewed, subject matter experts will gain experience andthe corporate risk tolerance will become better known. This will increase thequality and consistency of advice in these matters.

“Sandia is enthusiastically supportive of commercialization of government-developed technologies and has set up a suite of contractual vehicles and proceduresto accomplish its objectives,” Steve says. “To perform responsibly with considerationof the aforementioned concerns (fairness of opportunity, etc.), such endeavors mustbe performed at arm’s length by independent parties. Tech transfer is to be carriedout using the contracts and procedures designed for that purpose rather than as adhoc activities performed by Sandia employees acting independently.”

Disclosure requirementsIn accordance with Sandia’s prime contract, employees must disclose all sci-

entific, technical, or entrepreneurial consultant work or other comparableemployment services which the employee proposes to undertake for others and,in turn, Sandia must transmit such disclosures to the DOE Contracting Officer.

“Sandia remains firmly committed to the vision and objectives of the 1989National Competitiveness Technology Transfer Act,” says Steve.

For detailed information check out: CPR 001.2.3, CPR 200.3.2, and CPR200.3.5. —Michael Padilla

Tech Partnerships group modifies conflict of interest policy

By Michael Padilla

Sandia helps 296 businesses in 2003 through NewMexico Small Business Assistance Program

JOHNNINA ORTEGA of Supplier Information & Relations Dept. 10205 (right), Doug Jennings, and Patricia Salgado(both 10254) examine literature from a Sandia vendor. The three were instrumental in putting together the annualVendor Fair, which offers Sandia suppliers a chance to showcase their wares. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 11

Paul Robinson receives Heart of Diversity Award;Don Blanton, VP 3000 also honored

Sandia President C. Paul Robinson was pre-sented with the Heart of Diversity President’sAward, which was established in his honor, atSandia’s 3rd Annual Corporate DiversityTeam/Division Council Forum. It was presentedMay 13 by the Diversity Leadership Program(3533) and the Corporate Diversity Team,which includes representatives from divisionsacross Sandia.

According to Rochelle Lari (3553), theaward was established in honor of Paul, whohas whole-heartedly accepted ownership andaccountability for diversity leadership at Sandiaand demonstrated commitment, leadership, andactive support in creating a diverse workforce andinclusive culture leading to high performance.

A special video presentation capturing Paul’snumerous communications to Sandians andwork associates on diversity and inclusion wasalso presented at the forum.

Paul then presented Don Blanton, VP 3000,with the Heart of Diversity President’s Award.Don was cited for leading the charge for Diver-sity Leadership at Sandia by demonstrating greatcommitment to the people of Sandia throughhis passionate ownership of the People StrategicObjective and by his work with the Sandia, local,and national communities.

Of the award, Paul said, “It has been said tohandle yourself you must use your head, but to

interact with other human beings you mustbegin with your heart. This is really the essenceof how we should look at ourselves here atSandia. . . . When we look at other individualsaround us that make up this wonderful fabric ofSandians, we should recognize the strength thatcomes from seeing the world through someoneelse’s eyes, realizing the great miracle within thelives of each of those people, which blendedwith your own lives, makes the contribution forwhich Sandia has become.”

Future plans are to give out a Heart of Diver-sity President’s Award on an annual basis atfuture Annual Diversity Forums. — Iris Aboytes

SANDIA PRESIDENT Paul Robinson displays the Heartof Diversity President’s Award.

“. . . to handle yourself you mustuse your head, but to interact withother human beings you mustbegin with your heart. This isreally the essence of how weshould look at ourselves here atSandia.”

National Atomic Museum hosts AsianPacific Islander American Heritage Day

ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDERDAY — The AlbuquerqueChinese chorus performsduring Asian Pacific IslanderAmerican Heritage Day atthe National AtomicMuseum. Observing is TomSalazar (12660), a memberof the museum staff.

In partnership with the Sandia AsianLeadership Outreach Committee, theNational Atomic Museum hosted the annualAsian Pacific Islander American Heritage Dayactivities May 15. Kicking off the event wereAlbuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, SandiaVP 5000 Al Romig, and Museum DirectorJim Walther.

Guests were treated to a spectacularDragon Dance presented by the Van HanhBuddhist Youth Association. Other performersincluded the Chinese Choir, Near East Dance,Japanese Dancers, East Indian Dancers,Filipino Folk Dance, Polynesian Dancers, anda martial arts demonstration by the ChineseCultural Center.

Ping Chen (8773) gave a presentation inthe theater about Chinese medicine. Thiswas followed by a presentation on the art offloral arranging by members of the IkebanaInternational Chapter 41. The New MexicoChinese School of Language and Arts hostedseveral hands-on activities such as brushpainting and calligraphy in the museumclassroom. A private art exhibit of Japaneseporcelain items was on display.

Along with Sandia’s Asian LeadershipOutreach Committee and the museum, othersponsors included Ta Lin Supermarket, Pei

Wei Asian Diner, and P. F. Chang’s ChinaBistro. They provided food samples that wereenjoyed by all.

Asian Pacific Islander American HeritageDay is one of a series of diversity eventssponsored by the National Atomic Museum.Others include Native American Heritage inNovember andHispanic HeritageMonth inSeptember.

Special EventsManager PhyllisPadilla Owensthanks the mem-bers of the plan-ning committee,the Asian Ameri-can Association ofNew Mexico,members of the Sandia Asian Leadership Out-reach Committee, and the museum volunteersand staff who made this event possible.

Members of the Asian Pacific IslanderDay Planning committee were Frank Hung(1748), Meifan Chen (5524), Juanita Sanchez(12660), Jean Tower, museum volunteer, andPhyllis Padilla Owens (12660), programchair.

MEMBERS of the PacificIslander Day PlanningCommittee.

New Sandia Overviewbooklet available

A new Sandia Overview booklet is now avail-able for distribution to Labs visitors, customers,and others interested in Sandia’s work.

The 20-page, 8-1/2 by 11-inch publication isillustrated with recent color photographs andemphasizes the Labs’ national security missions.It explains Sandia’s five primary research areasand highlights many significant historical accom-plishments and commercialized technologies.

It also explains how we partner with indus-try, universities, and other government agenciesto accomplish our missions and contains a com-plete list of user facilities that we share with part-ners. The booklet also discusses Sandia’s people,work locations, budget, and community involve-ment activities.

Limited quantities are available for officialuse at no cost from the Media Relations andCommunications Dept. at Sandia/New Mexico(call 844-4902) and from the Sandia/CaliforniaPublic Relations Office in Bldg. 911, room 109.

The Overview booklet is also available onSandia’s External Web at www.sandia.gov/news-center/publications/corp-info/Overview.pdf.

New Mexico

Anthony Medina from Level II Manager,Advanced Systems Dept. 5720, to Director, Moni-toring Systems and Technology Center 5700.

Anthony joined Sandia in May 1979 as anundergraduate work-study program member. Aftercompleting his bachelor’s degree in May 1983, heparticipated in Sandia’s OYOC program, complet-ing his master’s degree in June 1984 and becominga full-time staff member. He worked in the Elec-tronics SystemsCenter as a designengineer on elec-tronic design of fir-ing systems forW88, ASW/SOW,and conventionalweapon systems. Healso performed pro-ject management onthe Missile DefenseAgency LightweightInstrumentationSystem (LWIS).

Anthony became a Level I Manager in April1991, managing departments responsible foroptics, electronics, and sensors for satellite sys-tems. These departments were responsible for sen-sor payloads such as the Multispectral ThermalImager satellite’s optical and IR payload, AURAultraviolet sensor system, GPS optical nuclear det-onation detection sensor, and EnRad, the next-generation enhanced nuclear detonation detec-tion sensor.

In January 2001, Anthony was promoted toLevel II Manager in Monitoring Systems andTechnology Center 5700, where he acquiredexperience as a program manager in IWFO, WFO,and NNSA/NA-22 R&D satellite sensor systemprograms.

He has a BS in electrical engineering fromNew Mexico State University and an MS in elec-trical engineering with a specialty inelectronics/IC design from Stanford University.

* * *Carmen Allen from PMTS, Security Technol-

ogy Dept. 4138, to Manager, Instrumentation andSystems Verification Dept. 2661.

Carmen came to Sandia in June 1988 as amember of the Computer Consulting Department,

specializing in UNIX and C. In 1990, she trans-ferred to the Satellite Testers and ExperimentalGround Stations Department, where she workedon the developmentof the Payload Equip-ment Tester and theMultispectral Ther-mal ImagerTester/ground station.

In March 1997,Carmen took a tem-porary assignmentwith the CIA, work-ing in the AdvancedAnalytic Tools Divi-sion under the guid-ance of the Direc-torate of Intelligence and the Directorate ofScience and Technology.

She returned to Sandia in October 1998 andjoined the Security Systems and Technology Cen-ter, working in transportation safeguards andsecurity technology. Most recently, Carmen ledthe development of several vulnerability analysisprojects, including the Adversary Time-LineAnalysis System (ATLAS).

Before joining the Labs, Carmen worked forAT&T Technologies.

She has a BS in mathematics, an MS in com-puter science, and an MBA in management, allfrom the University of New Mexico.

* * *Doug Nordquist from Manager, Microsys-

tems Program Integration Dept. 1701, to Level IIManager, Ethics Office Dept. 12810.

Doug joined San-dia in July 1990. Hehas held various posi-tions over his 14-yearcareer, most recentlyas the MicrosystemsProgram IntegrationOffice Manager in theMicrosystems Sci-ence, Technology andComponents Center.Previous assignmentsinclude: BusinessOffice Manager forthe Monitoring Systems and Technology Center,Business System Task Leader for the Energy & Envi-

ronment Sector, and Financial Analyst in the Facil-ities, Operations & Maintenance Center.

Before coming to the Labs, Doug was a taxaccountant at two international accounting firms.He has also taught accounting courses at New Mex-ico State University and the University of Phoenix.

Doug is a Certified Public Accountant andreceived a Master’s of Accountancy and bachelor’sdegrees in accounting and economics from NewMexico State University.

* * *Jerry Simmons from Manager, Semiconduc-

tor Material and Device Sciences Dept. 1123, toLevel II Manager, Nanostructure and Device Sci-ences Dept. 1120.

Jerry joinedSandia as a SeniorMember of TechnicalStaff in 1990. Histechnical interestsare in the integer andfractional quantumHall effects, low-tem-perature electronictransport, nanoelec-tronics and quantumelectronics, detectorsand emitters in theterahertz frequency range, solid state lighting, gal-lium nitride-based semiconductors, and thedevelopment of high-brightness LEDs and verticalcavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) in thegreen to the deep UV (250 nm).

Jerry has been manager of SemiconductorMaterial & Device Sciences Dept. 1123 since May2000. He is the program manager for the LDRDSolid State Lighting Grand Challenge, a DARPAproject on deep UV LEDs for chem-bio detection,a Joint LANL/Sandia Nanoscience LDRD projecton Active Photonic Nanostructures, a DOE/BasicEnergy Sciences project on Interacting Nanoelec-tronic and Nanophotonic Nanostructures, andseveral internal LDRDs on semiconductor physics.

He received an Industry Week Technology ofthe Year Award (1998) for his development of aquantum tunneling transistor and was appointeda Fellow of the American Physical Society in2002.

Jerry has a BA in philosophy and a BA inphysics, both from New College in Florida. Heworked as a technician at Bell Laboratories, Mur-ray Hill, from 1982 to 1984 and then enteredgraduate school at Princeton University, where hereceived a PhD in electrical engineering.

CaliforniaSusanna Gordon from PMTS, Systems

Research Dept. 8112, to Manager, Systems StudiesDept. 8114.

Until her recent promotion, Susanna hadbeen a member of Systems Research Dept. 8112since joiningSandia/California inSeptember 1993.

Her early workinvolved analysis ofenergy usage on theBay Area Rapid Tran-sit (BART) system,which led to furtherwork under a BARTCRADA to developenergy-saving traincontrol strategies.She also provided analysis of stand-off laserchemical detection systems.

Since 1997, Susanna has been working in thearea of chemical and biological facility protection,initially as Sandia’s technical lead on the PRO-TECT program, which focused on protection ofsubways from chemical attacks such as the 1995Aum Shinrikyo attack in Tokyo. Since 2001, shehas led the PROACT program, which is collaborat-ing with San Francisco International Airport toinvestigate issues and test technologies for chemi-cal and biological defense of airport facilities.

Susanna has a BS in applied and engineeringphysics from Cornell and an MS and PhD inphysics from the University of California-Berkeley.

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 12

Management promotions

ANTHONY MEDINA

CARMEN ALLEN

DOUG NORDQUIST

JERRY SIMMONS

SUSANNA GORDON

Forklift drivers hone skills, safety awarenessin annual rodeo

REGINA JARAMILLO, a member of theManufacturing Materials Logistics team,shows off her driving ability in the annualForklift Safety Rodeo. She was one of 60participants in the event. The grand prizewinner (for the second time) was ChrisMehring of Fleet Services Team 10265.Second-place runner up and top femaleoperator was Maxine Baca of MaterialsMovement Dept. 10263. The event is inits fourth year and continues to drawmore and more participants outside ofthe Logistics organization. There wereparticipants from 10200, 10800, 14409,4151 and even a member from the Cali-fornia site logistics office. After severaldays of competitions and eliminationrounds, the event culminated with anawards ceremony and safety team cele-bration BBQ attended by 300 employees.The project leads for the event are LizCarson (10262), Ernest Sanchez (3122),Willie Johns (3122), and Danny Donald(3122).

(Photo by Randy Montoya)

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 13

This page is a reproduction of the fourth in a series of new posters highlighting Sandia’s decade-by-decade history sinceits origins in the mid-1940s. The posters, mounted on heavy glass for permanent display in the hallway outside theLabs’ executive suite in Bldg. 802, were produced by Mike Clough (project lead), Jerry Gorman (graphic designer),Myra O’Canna (archival images), and Rebecca Ullrich (writer). Another set of the posters is now on display in thecorridor linking Bldg. 800 and Bldg. 802.

April 15, 1994Steven Richards35 2662

Thomas Snowden35 5924

Richard Sanderville30 12610

Walter Simpson30 1673

Oscar Hernandez25 2955

Kurt Lanes25 5720

Scott Mills25 6141

Ronald Moya25 4100

William Oberkampf25 9133

Donald Larrichio20 10257

Julie Walker19 7000

Glenn Russell25 2662

Mark Dowdican20 2338

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 14

New Mexico photos by Michelle Fleming

Margaret Murray20 2342

James Murray20 1735

Steve Ratheal20 4153

David Schultz20 2331

Joseph Cesarano15 1843

Larry Olson15 6222

Lewis Marlman15 3124

Pam Catanach15 12650

Joseph Sidlauskas20 14133

Debra Browitt15 14407

Randy Lober15 9141

Gordon Groves20 2616

Clint Hall20 1646

Lloyd Irwin20 14403

Joseph Kotulski20 1642

Paul Marquez20 10263

William Mertens20 9618

Ivory Alexander30 1904

Wilma Dansby30 10267

Michael Hall30 2111

Michael Hosking30 1833

Patty Trellue28 2900

Gerry Mitchell27 2952

Tracy Jones15 10756

Ronald Van Theemsche30 2997

SANDIA LAB NEWS • May 28, 2004 • Page 16

Editor’s note: We “reintroduce” in this issue thismonthly column that last ran in the Lab News in theearly 1990s. It features Sandia news from 50, 40, 30,20, and 10 years ago, but every column will not nec-essarily include items from each decade.

50 years ago . . . The Coronado Club Poolopened for the season on May 29. Season ticketswere $2.75 for members; monthly passes wereavailable for $1.10, 55 cents for children. . . . San-dia’s new mobile laboratory units for nuclearweapon field testing, primarily in Nevada, werefeatured. For unexplained reasons, the develop-ment program was dubbed “Project Outcast.” ThenSandia Field Testing Director Glenn Fowler said thetotal cost ran into “thousands of dollars,” but itwas no longer necessary to ship tons and tons ofpackaged equipment to remote sites, unpack,assemble and test, and then reverse the operationand take the tons and tons back home. . . . RayPowell, Jr., became Superintendent of Personneland Public Relations for Sandia Corporation. Hewent on to become one of Sandia’s longest-servingvice presidents, 1959-1985.

40 years ago . . . Sandia’s Purchasing Organi-zation placed a new computer program in opera-

tion that reduced the time for placement of pur-chase orders from an average of 16 days to 24hours or less, with accompanying reductions inmanual and clerical effort. . . . The Navy presenteda special POLARIS Team Flag to Sandia’s LivermoreLab. A letter from Rear Admiral I. J. Galantinaccompanying the flag noted Sandia’s support inproviding the US “with the finest weapon systemin the world today.”

30 years ago … A Feedback question aboutpossibly establishing non-smoking work areaswas answered by then Sandia medical doctor S. P.Bliss partially this way: “Although there havebeen articles in the lay press suggesting that thesmoke from others is deterimental [sic] to non-smokers, up to the present time no scientificstudies have confirmed this. Until there is suchproof, the Laboratories is unwilling to legislateagainst smoking.” . . . The Lab News featured anew vertical axis wind turbine that was fabri-cated at Sandia and then mounted on the roof ofBldg. 802. The objective was to demonstrate thatit could be built cheaper than conventional hori-zontal axis systems. A series of tests was planned.It was described as looking like a giant upside-down eggbeater.

SOLAR TOUR — Tom Mancini, left, of Sandia’s Solar Technologies Dept. 6218 gives a tour of the Labs’ solar tower in April to people attending the North American Energy Sum-mit. The visitors got to see Sandia’s solar thermal power tower and Stirling dish technologies. The North American Energy Summit was organized by the Western Governors’Association. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

Lab News Reader Service informationThe Sandia Lab News is distributed in-house

to all Sandia employees and on-site contractorsand mailed to all Sandia retirees. It is also mailedto individuals in industry, government, acade-mia, nonprofit organizations, media, and privatelife who request it.

Retirees (only):To notify of changes in address, contact

Carol Wade, Benefits Dept. 3341, at 505-845-9705, e-mail cawade@sandia.gov, or Mail Stop1021, Sandia National Laboratories, Albu-querque, NM 87185-1021.

Others:To receive the Lab News or to change the

address (except retirees), contact Michelle Fleming,Media Relations and Communications Dept. 12640,at telephone 505-844-4902, e-mail meflemi@san-dia.gov, or Mail Stop 0165, Sandia National Labora-tories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0165.

Employees:To change the number of copies of the Lab

News your Mail Stop is receiving please callHonario Anaya, Mail Services Team 10268-4, at844-3796. (At Sandia/California contact the MailRoom at 294-2427.)

Q: Do Sandia managers have the authority to moni-tor internal postings their employees are bidding on? If so,are they then allowed to provide unsolicited input to thehiring manager?

A: No, managers in general do not have accessto monitor internal postings on which theiremployees have bid. They only have access to bid-ders on internal jobs they have posted for their owndepartment. There are, however, a very limitednumber of Sandia managers who have access to allbidding information for business reasons. This listincludes the Human Resources managers, the HRattorneys, the Ombuds, and the Ethics office. Allemployees have the authority to provide input tomanagers; sometimes this input is solicited andsometimes it is not. — B.J. Jones (3500)

* * *Q: Like many Sandians, I use a commercial soft-

ware package (TurboTax) to prepare my Federal andState income tax returns. In recent years, they have intro-duced a feature that allows users to download financialinformation from participating banks, mutual funds, etc.(1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-B forms) and employers(W-2 forms) from the Web, and import that informationdirectly into their return. Individual passwords and secureencryption are used to assure privacy.

This not only saves time, it also reduces the chancefor errors, as the data is automatically entered in theappropriate place on every form where it is needed. Ofcourse, the user may still edit any data he/she feels is inerror. Unfortunately, Sandia Corporation is not one of theparticipating employers. Can you tell me if Sandia hasany plans to participate, and if so, how soon it mightmaterialize?

A: Payroll is currently looking at the feasibilityof implementing “Web-based” W-2s for Sandiaemployees. Employees would be able to downloadtheir W-2s directly from the web rather than waitingfor the Postal Service to deliver them. In addition,the project would include the availability of Sandiaemployee W-2 information downloads to tax prepa-ration software. We are in the early stages of evaluat-ing this project but we would like to implement itfor the 2004 tax reporting calendar year. Please feelfree to check with me during the early summer foran update. — Jesus D. Ontiveros (10502)