Diversity chief re-assigned

 Pentagon diversity chief 'reassigned' after comparing Trump to Hitler on social media

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pentagon-diversity-chief-compared-trump-to-hitler-on-social-media

Target: DOE to cut 50% of solar cost by 2030.

https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-announces-goal-cut-solar-costs-more-half-2030

LLNL Director speaks on race

 LLNL lab director pushes critical race theory and fabrication on recent massage parlor shootings.

To: Kim's Connection

Colleagues,

Today I am writing to you with great sadness and frustration as I read about the continuing, and escalating, violence against Asian and Asian-American members in our community and across the country. People simply going about their day being targeted and scapegoated, harassed and injured, and in the recent violence in Atlanta, killed. I cannot imagine the fear, anxiety, and grief these incidents have caused for our Asian colleagues and friends, and their families, but I write today to express my empathy, my support, and my commitment to strive to make our Lab a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for all.

Unfortunately, xenophobia, prejudice, and violence toward Asians are not new phenomena in our country. The heated political rhetoric surrounding the pandemic and its origins did not create this bigotry, but it amplified and empowered those who seethe with this hatred. And beyond these shocking and very public acts, there are many ways that our biases and prejudices play out each day. I have had numerous incidents related to me by our colleagues where more common events have taken a toll. During a resume screening meeting one resume was rejected out of hand due to an Asian name. A racial slur was hurled at an Asian Lab employee walking the site. These things should never happen, but the fact that they happened at the Lab should give each one of us pause. To me the message is simple – we cannot be complacent. Inclusion takes real effort and a meaningful commitment to addressing bias in ourselves and others in an honest and forthright way.

I am sure you share my outrage at these senseless acts, but I hope you also share my desire to support our Asian colleagues in whatever ways we can. This is a moment to reach out and learn about their experiences, to listen without judgement, and offer support. These conversations, over time, are the best way to change this dynamic and build trust across all of the wonderful and diverse groups that make up our Lab and our country.

I recently provided a quote for our diversity, equity, and inclusion website that I will repeat here. People are the foundation of the Lab. Excellence is always our objective – our important missions demand it – and high-performing teams require a diversity of perspectives, experiences, backgrounds, and ideas to successfully innovate. Building an inclusive and equitable environment, a culture that embraces diversity and strives for common cause, a work environment that celebrates both individual and team achievements in meaningful ways, is our greatest opportunity and most essential responsibility.

Take care and stay safe,

Kim

NNSA releases performance evaluation summaries

 NNSA releases performance evaluation summaries for contractors that run its labs, plants, and sites

https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/nnsa-releases-performance-evaluation-summaries-contractors-run-its-labs-plants-and

LANL 88%

LLNL 91%

PhD versus non-PhD behavior

 Within LLNS, is there a difference between PhD and non-PhD acceptable behavior? If there are differences, how does this impact the acceptance or understanding of "Me Too" concerns at LLNL? What PhD scope of conduct is allowable and accepted with LLNS that is clearly not allowable or accepted among non-PhDs employed by LLNS?

What?

 When will the labs going to clean up its act and stop using male last names for scientific phenomena or mathematical rules or theories.

https://ordinary-times.com/2021/03/10/they-are-newtons-laws-of-motion/

But physics looks different these days. “We don’t call them Newton’s laws anymore,” an upperclassman at the school informs me. “We call them the three fundamental laws of physics. They say we need to ‘decenter whiteness,’ and we need to acknowledge that there’s more than just Newton in physics.”

What are they going to do about units: newtons, ohms, farads, hertz, amps (officially amperes), siemans, tesla, watts, joules, kelvin, pascals… They’re all named after dead white European men who all had the advantages Vikram talks about.

Are they going to clean out calculus? What happens to my anecdote about how L’Hospital’s Rule was actually developed by one of the Bernoulli brothers, whom rich L’Hospital was paying to do theoretical math with one of the conditions being he could attach his name to some law/rule.

Rapid expansion of the workforce

 I’m noticing a lot of the new hires at the labs are washouts from industry. A friend of mine washed out of Silicon Valley and got a cushy job at one of the labs. He even got several of his former coworkers and his C-student wife jobs. Is this a trend because of the rapid expansion of the lab workforce?

It'on!

Nuclear weapons are emerging as one of the top political brawls in the brewing battle over next year's defense budget...

 https://thehill.com/policy/defense/541906-lawmakers-gird-for-spending-battle-over-nuclear-weapons

A LLNS NIF Engineering Mansplainer

 A LLNS NIF Engineering Mansplainer

Like Governor Cuomo, a male LLNS NIF Engineering Manager by the name of “Dr. B” verbally attacked his much younger female subordinate so hard, that she sought protection and shelter from an understanding and tall 300 series Supervisor as she cried for abuse relief and wished to go home. This occurred during the NIF “Pulse Sync” first test.

“Dr. B.” was well known among NIF workers for his frequent anger outbursts or what one may call low emotional intelligence.

Did “Dr. B” ever receive any official written warning of his inappropriate actions against this young female engineer from LSEO management?

Pushback on W-93

 Seems to be pushback on the W-93, the newly proposed warhead for submarine launched missiles

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2021/03/04/lawmakers-aim-to-prevent-sea-based-nuclear-cruise-missile/

Secession support

 1/3 of Americans support breaking the nation up or secession. If it it comes to that who gets to run the labs.

https://www.studyfinds.org/stimulus-check-secession-americans-agree-split-country-into-regions/

One the things that is kind of interesting is that on the west coast 41% Democrats want succession, while the mountain zone it is 36% Republicans and the south 50% of Republicans, so it is not some simple thing as saying only Republicans want it or only the south wants it. It could be interesting if the west coast becomes Californation with LLNL and New Mexico joins Flyaoverlandia with LANL, ORNL and Y12 join the New Confederacy, and DC joins "New Europe" I sort of thought the insanity would end once Trump was gone but I think was just a catalyst to get us over the sanity barrier. People are still fighting and in some ways it is getting worse. Sure this sounds crazy but after all we have seen I can believe anything possible at this point.

Just wondering...

 Will the alleged sexual misconduct review ground swell of Governor Cuomo, prompt Federal or State sexual misconduct reviews of LLNS managers, or are LLNS Managers overly protected by LLNS and the NNSA for that to ever happen?

Budil's first update

 LLNL Public Affairs Office

Date: March 2, 2021

A message from the new LLNL Drector, Kim Budil

Colleagues,

I’m very excited and honored to be writing my first email update as Lab director. I look forward to using these notes to update you on what I have been up to, new directions the Lab is taking, the news of the day, or whatever else is consuming my thoughts at the moment. I hope you find this bit of insight valuable and look forward to hearing back from you when something resonates or begs a question. I also am looking forward to my first all hands meeting as director, where I can provide a view into my early days on the job and plans for the future. One of my strongest beliefs as a leader is that you cannot communicate too much and I hope to test that maxim.

As I noted when I was announced, being selected as the director of LLNL is the honor of a lifetime. Having the opportunity to take the helm when the Lab is in such a good place and has been so ably led is a gift. But that does not mean this is a time to rest on our laurels. There is much work to be done and many opportunities on the horizon. I look forward to working with the whole team to bring big ideas with real technical ambition to the most important challenges facing the nation and the world today.

It is not very difficult to identify the major challenges of the day – a nuclear deterrent and enterprise that both require modernization; the threat from emergent pathogens; a changing climate driving ever more severe weather events; a vigorous multipolar, great power competition; and rapid advancement in disruptive science and technology that is increasingly international in character. These challenges will require our best ideas, bold action, our sustained commitment to national service, and the whole Lab coming together as one team. Our desire and ability to translate innovation into impact is exactly what is needed in this moment.

On the home front, the senior management team and I are committed to continuing to improve our culture. We believe that diversity in all its dimensions – race, gender, sexual orientation, educational background, lived experience and more – is an essential ingredient of excellence and innovation. Each of us should feel welcome and encouraged to bring our authentic self to work each day so we can contribute to the fullest extent. Our work environment should be supportive and inclusive, but must never be weak or easy. The intellectual environment must be challenging – ensuring that our ideas are sound and our work is excellent – requiring each of us to bring our “A game” every day. Each of our choices and interactions contributes to our culture, and we need to embrace our ability, and responsibility, to personally shape it for the better.

I’m very excited to get started, and I hope you share my sense of optimism, purpose and urgency. It’s time to lace up our track shoes…

Take care and stay safe,

Kim

Tips for Jennifer

 ..

Steven Chu’s 5 Tips For New Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm: Lead With Questions, Find A Watering Hole...
Jeff McMahon - Forbes
March 1, 2021

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm may have to do some of the work herself that normally would fall to staff, according to former Secretary Steven Chu, during what are sure to be slow first days in office...

Granholm was nominated Dec. 17 but not confirmed until Feb. 27. Even with an earlier start Chu said his first days at DOE were difficult.

“I had been confirmed a week before the inauguration—which was good!” Chu said, “and so I was able to start the very next day, but some of the other confirmations take a while, and so you're really there sort of trying to maintain the ship in a very interesting way.”

Until Chu’s deputy secretaries and undersecretaries were confirmed, and until the department’s 140 political appointees were seated, he was doing things himself like making phone calls to check the references of employees at ARPA-E, then a newly formed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy.

Acting appointees are of limited help, he said in a conversation with Chris Field, director of Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment. “Actings don’t have nearly the influence and power. The career people don’t really take them seriously, and so you’ve got to be very careful about actings.”

Chu offered insights from his experience at Energy.

1 Appoint A Special Advisor

...because special advisors don’t require Senate confirmation..

2 Dump The Consultants

Chu was able to save money and inspire employees, he said, by discharging K Street consultants that had been hired for some of the department’s work. “I wanted the people in the department to actually do the work, not to hire some consultant, and that was actually a very uplifting thing for many of the members of the department.”

3 Get Out Of The Way

Chu aspired to change the hierarchical culture at DOE. He hired prominent academics and members of the National Academies, and he fostered an academic atmosphere—in which disagreement and debate is invited regardless of rank. “I said my job is mostly bringing in good people, don't second-guess them, and block and tackle for them, which means literally keep the bureaucracy from stopping or slowing them down, and let them spread their wings.”

4 Lead With Questions

How does a leader still lead after getting out of the way? With questions, said Chu: “The way you actually assert some influence is, we would ask questions, and the type of questions were deep penetrating questions that kept everybody honest.”

5 Find A Watering Hole

Chu attributed this tip to Arun Majumdar, the Stanford engineering professor who was Chu’s choice to serve as the first director of ARPA-E. Like Chu, Majumdar aspired to create an academic culture in which disagreement was invited. Such a culture requires lubricant: “Arun did something very important,” Chu said. “Friday late afternoons they all went to a favorite watering hole and became all good friends, so you can have honest discussions without it getting personal.”

Chu is a professor of physics and molecular and cellular physiology at Stanford University and the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He won the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics and is credited by President Obama with designing on a napkin the technology that capped the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Even with a president committed to science, said Chu, Granholm will face additional challenges because of damage done by Donald Trump.

“A lot of the long-term career people were driven out through terrible means,” Chu said. “You know, the senior career people, you can't fire them, but you can transfer them to different locations or very undesirable jobs, and then they quit.

“These are people who—as Republicans, Democrats, different administrations have different philosophies—they could weather the storm, but they couldn't weather this one.”

Nobel prize winners support Charles Lieber

 Nobel Prize winners come out in favor of lying and tax evasion in the case of Charles Lieber. Note that he’s supported by Harvard professors NOT Harvard which has refused to pay his legal fees.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nobel-prize-winners-and-other-scientists-come-to-defense-of-harvard-professor-charles-lieber/ar-BB1e7uvR?ocid=uxbndlbing