Lamont Weekly Report, May 9, 2008

Even though the weather last Sunday afternoon was glorious, Robin Bell's Public Lecture - talking about places much colder and ice-covered -  was well-attended and was the third in this year's series - another highly successful series that continues to bring new faces and friends to the Observatory.

Next Friday - in place of the regular colloquium - is our annual Jardetsky Lecture - this year the speaker is Don Forsyth, a world-leading seismologist from Brown University. Undoubtedly this will be a great talk - all are invited and of course there will be a reception afterwards.

Sarah Huard and I had lunch with the Vetlesen Foundation's George Rowe on Wednesday, the one time each year I get to eat in the Rainbow Room overlooking Rockefeller Plaza. The support that the Vetlesen Foundation gives Lamont each year is critical to our health and long-term security.

Wednesday afternoon I flew down to DC  - dinner that evening talking about the US components of the Ocean Drilling Program with Bob Gagosian, Steve Bohlen and Bjorn Kjerve, Dean of Geosciences at TAMU, and then two days of Board meetings as I am currently a Trustee of the Ocean Leadership Inc.

Very sad news from my perspective that Steve Bohlen has announced his intention to step down from his position leading up the ODP and Ocean Observations Initiatives at Ocean leadership - no firm date yet for his departure - sometime in the next few months. But the ocean community is losing a very steady hand on the tiller of a number of
important initiatives.

It is raining here in DC - come 330pm I will be heading to National to catch another 5pm flight in a vain attempt to get home at a reasonable time...

 Have a great weekend,

- Mike