Lamont Weekly Report – November 9, 2007

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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I flew down to DC on Tuesday night for two days of meetings - mostly
it was the Board of Trustees of Ocean Leadership - the new JOI/CORE.
We heard reports from all the agencies - everyone is holding their
breath waiting for the next administration at this point - there is a
substantial degree of lame duckness - I learned little that is new. A
major point of business was the appointment of the first President of
this new corporation. And that will be Bob Gagosian - ex-Director of
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He will take on the role
officially December 1st and is committed to bringing a new level of
forceful advocacy on the Hill for the ocean sciences community, and
attempting to get our cause on the agenda of whoever tries to pick up
the pieces of George W.'s legacy.

Remarkably got home on time on Thursday night - and was greeted by
the very happy news that our research vessel Marcus G. Langseth
passed the NSF inspection (which took place Wednesday and Thursday) -
so now we are clear to transfer title to the Federal Government and
begin the shake-down and calibration activities in the Gulf of Mexico
later this month.

On Sunday night I go down to Galveston for the dedication ceremony on
Monday at which Lillian Langseth will break a bottle of champagne,
and I am very pleased to report that ex-Director of Lamont Manik
Talwani will also attend and make some remarks at the event. We will
try to get some photos up on web page as soon as we can.

We are in the home stretch with the new Geochem building - the
level of activity required to get it ready for the ribbon-cutting on
November 30th is huge - there are more than 150 folks working in the
building on some days - despite our best efforts this puts pressure
on our parking facilities. I beg for your patience - in a few weeks
it should be much better.

Welcome to Donna Shillington who joined us today from Southampton, UK
in our MG&G Division as a Doherty Associate Research Scientist.
Welcome, Donna.

I just checked weather.com for Galveston on Monday - 78 degrees and
isolated thunderstorms - hope we get lucky because breaking champagne
bottles indoor can get messy...

Have a good weekend,




- Mike

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