Lamont Weekly Report – July 23, 2004

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
P.O. Box 1000, 61 Route 9W Palisades, New York 10964

<> REPORT SUMMARY <>

– Letter from the Director –
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<> LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

It is very good and important news that the VA/HUD appropriations subcommittee has approved (in the NSF budget) a $30M start for Ocean Drilling Program Major Research Equipment request. There are still more steps before this is "money-in-the-bank" but this increases substantially the likelihood that the US will be able to responsibly play its leadership role in the new drilling program by providing a substantially more powerful non-riser drilling platform. This is especially important for us at Lamont because of the impact on our Borehole Research Group.

After meeting last week with Columbia's VP for Research (David Hirsh) and Provost (Alan Brinkley), this week we met with President Bollinger. Our annual formal audience with the President on Wednesday morning covered some of our research successes (thank you to all who provided input - it was extremely valuable), some of our new funding successes, but also focused heavily on the challenges that we face in terms of improving salary security and status for our staff and on the substantial needs we have for new buildings on campus. I think it was a successful two-hour long session, but probably I was too close to the fray to be able to judge impartially.

I can hardly hear the click of the keyboard as I type this because of the torrential rain impacting Monell's metal roof. My office has been doing a good trade in umbrellas today.

Y'all keep dry out there and have a great weekend,

– Mike
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