Lamont Weekly Report – January 19, 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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<>LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced its intention to
award the Crafoord Prize in Geosciences for 2006 to our very own
Wallace S. Broecker, for his innovative and pioneering research on
the operation of the global carbon cycle within the ocean-atmosphere-
biosphere system, and its interaction with climate". For more
details see the following url:

http://www.crafoordprize.se/press/arkivpressreleases/5.51ddd3b10fa0c64b24800018068.html

This 'Nobel-Prize-equivalent' award is clear proof that global
society recognizes and appreciates the magnitude of Wally's
contributions to our science. It is simply great. Congratulations
Wally. We will (of course) be planning a party!

I say again, I think all will be surprised by how big the new
Geochem building is going to be - few folks realize that the top of
the concrete walls that you see today are in fact at the floor level
of the ground floor! Progress continues well - by early April, all
of the steel will be up, and all of the floors cast, so by then we
will start to get a feeling for how it will look. Current
construction site photos can be seen here:

http://cugeochemistrybuilding.shutterfly.com/action/

Over the course of a two day meeting in Miami earlier this week the
Dean's and Directors of (practically) all the nation's major schools
and research institutions engaged in ocean sciences voted unanimously
in favor of merging the two DC-based non-profit organizations that
have been our primary representatives (and managers of major
programs) for the past several decades: JOI (Joint Oceanographic
Institutions) and CORE (Consortium for Oceanographic Research and
Education). The ex-WHOI Director Bob Gagosian has been hired as a
consultant to help lead this complex transition over the next several
months, that we all hope will leave us with a single strong and
effective voice in DC to represent our vital and urgent interests.

After spending a large portion of Thursday afternoon sitting on the
runway at Miami airport, looking at the blue sky and blue sea, it was
intriguing to discover winter at last upon arrival in Newark. I flew
back with Marcia McNutt (this afternoon's colloquium speaker) who I
have known since the middle late 1970's when the legendary marine
geophysics group at MIT - John Sclater, Peter Molnar, Sean Solomon
and Marcia herself - played such a leadership role in our science.
Times have changed (etc.)

The Campus Life Committee has entered Lamont into a national
recycling competition sponsored by the EPA entitled Recycle Mania.
We will be competing against other college campuses for recognition
in highest per capita recycling of paper, cardboard, bottles & cans,
and lowest overall per capita waste volume (the three R's - Recycle,
Reduce, Reuse). The contest begins January 28th and ends April 7th.

Mary Reagan will keep you up to date each week on how we are doing
against our peers, and our outcomes will be posted each week on our
competition web page here:

http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/university_detail07.asp?ID=188

Our first snowfall of the year did not lend itself to plowing as much
as sprinkling a little salt around. However, Dick Greco & our folks
from B&G very much appreciate the efforts many of you have made to
park in the designated overnight spaces to facilitate the cleanup.
For the small handful of you who have not yet found the overnight
parking spaces, we have placed a map here:

http://www-admin.ldeo.columbia.edu/bg/images/OvernightParking.jpg

Have a great (hopefully snow-free) weekend,



- Mike




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