October is a time of change here. It's the first month of the new fiscal year (Happy New Year!) at the Laboratory, and it ushers in autumn--one of northern New Mexico's most beautiful seasons. There will be another change this month for us at the LANL Community Programs Office as Lillian Montoya-Rael, our office director for more than three years, leaves to pursue a new career in the private sector. This electronic newsletter to the community was one of Lillian's initiatives, and you'll be able to read a little more about her plans elsewhere in this edition.

Join us in wishing Lillian the best, and please continue to help us do everything we can to ensure that the Laboratory's relationship with the community is positive, productive, and mutually beneficial.

Thank you!

Families are chosen for standing out among New Mexico's ranching businesses and for participation and support in the New Mexico State Fair. Also factored in is a strong history of commitment to youth activities.

Like many New Mexico ranch families, the Chacons have a long history of direct involvement in New Mexico agriculture. Today, the Chacons run a commercial cow/calf operation in northern Rio Arriba County on the same land that their family homesteaded in 1875. They have our congratulations!

Employees who have children in grades 9-11 may also find this workshop extremely helpful.

The sessions will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the following locations:

• October 23 in Santa Fe at the LaFarge Public Library (1730 Llano Street)
• October 24 at the Espanola City Hall (Council Chambers- 405 N. Paseo de Onate)

To qualify, companies must have been founded and have started generating revenue by the first week of 2003 and therefore have four full calendar years of sales. Additionally, they have to be U.S.- based, privately held, and independent--not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies--as of December 31, 2006.

The event included presentations by Earthstone, Healthy Buildings, and Bandgap Engineering, plus a technology presentation on plant-growth enhancements being developed at the Laboratory.

As with the first Springboard event, panel members offered opinions, concerns, and advice to each presenter. Panel members included LANL Visiting Entrepreneur, Peter Dickstein; Director of Venture Banking for Los Alamos National Bank, Michael Dolittle; Attorney for Heller Ehrman, LLP, Alison J. Freeman-Gleason; LANL staff member, Dr. Ben Luce; Founding Partner for Yaletown Venture Partners, Kirk Washington; Founder of Asset Manufacturing Services, LLC, Doug Welter; and Wasatch Venture Fund Analyst, Katie Szcepaniak-Rice.

Springboard is sponsored by LANS, LLC; LANL's Technical Transfer Division, and Community Programs Office, as well as the Regional Development Corporation. For more information contact, Doruk Aytulu at 505-667-5315 or doruk@lanl.gov.

Lillian enjoyed working with all of you. But, as she mentioned in her last e-mail to you, she will still be actively involved in many local organizations, so we'll still get to interact with her.

All the best to you, Lillian!

This year the theme is "Skeletons." Families are invited to work together to identify animal skulls, put together a human skeleton, solve x-ray mysteries, and more!

The fun begins on Friday, October 26, at 4:00 pm and will continue until 7:00 pm.

A new feature this year is the "Give a Hoot" food drive that encourages families to bring in non-perishable food items for Santa Fe Food Depot to help impoverished families throughout northern New Mexico.

Business Kudos

• Kudos to all the NM Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week award winners. The celebration honors minority businesses, minority business buyers, and advocates for their personal achievements and contributions.

Community Kudos