August is here-and if your children or grandchildren have somehow missed it-local businesses are stocked with supplies for the upcoming school year. At the Community Programs Office, we have already begun the annual school supply drive. And this weekend's Gross Receipts Tax Holiday makes it an ideal time to shop for supplies for your children and others. Click here for more information. LANL employees are also donating to the LANL Laces Program which provides a new pair of shoes to students within each of the identified schools.

For many children the prospect of the first day of school is a fun and exciting one, while for others it can bring feelings of uneasiness. As parents we can respond to our children based on their needs: if they're happy and excited we encourage them, and if they're hesitant we help them either understand what to expect from the school experience or reassure them that parents and teachers are available for support.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the first week of school is re-connecting with friends not seen all summer.

We in the Community Programs Office are also gearing up for a new school year. Every fall we prepare for the thousands of children who visit our Bradbury Science Museum. We're also pleased that we will again operate our Science on Wheels van and we'll visit schools throughout northern New Mexico.

We look forward to a great school year.

The technologies to be recognized at the awards ceremony this October in Chicago are a microscope that can follow the motion of nanometer-sized objects such as quantum dots and organic fluorophores (Jim Werner-Los Alamos' Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies) and the Laser-Weave that can synthesize inorganic fibers into useful shapes, complex patterns, cables, and cloth (Jim Maxwell-Applied Electromagnetics).

August 27 will highlight volunteering at LANL with a volunteer opportunity fair being held over the lunch hour followed by a volunteer recognition event in the early afternoon for LANL employees and retirees.

For more information, contact Debbi Wersonick at 667-7870.

For more information, contact Tim Martinez at 667- 2390.

Last year's campaign raised a record-breaking total of $1.7 million and helped numerous organizations in New Mexico and elsewhere.

For more information, please contact Debbi Wersonick at 667-7870.

• Science on Wheels, a program in which the Museum's science educators take hands-on education programs to schools in northern New Mexico during the school year. Registration reminders for the program are going out to the schools who have yet to schedule their visit.

• A talk on Alzheimer's and Dementia called "Research for the Cause, Hope for the Cure" will be held on Thursday, August 21 at 7 p.m. at the Museum. The last talk in the series called "Current Pharmaceuticals and What is Coming Next" is scheduled at the same time and place on September 18.

• Running now through February, the Museum's Tech Lab exhibit "Science in Motion" shows how forces act upon gears, pulleys, levers, and pendulums.

For more information go to the Museum's Website or call 667-4444.

Students working at LANL learned about the astronomy of transient objects, including the moons around Jupiter, and used various observations to calculate the planet's mass. On July 18, they presented their results at a symposium at the Bradbury Science Museum.

For more information on the program, contact Aimee Hungerford, at aimee@lanl.gov or visit the earthwatch website.

Open Hands and El Rancho de las Golondrinas are holding a Santa Fe Renaissance Fair on Saturday and Sunday, September 20-21. Prior to the fair, volunteers are needed to help with ideas, building games, decorations, and other attractions. During the fair, people are needed to help set up, tear down, and staff booths and activities, and perform as "street characters."

Open Hands helps the elderly, disabled, and economically disadvantaged live with dignity while El Rancho de las Golondrinas offers 200 acres of historical recreations. The funds raised from the fair will benefit both organizations. For more information go to the Open Hands Website.

• Kudos to the University of New Mexico for receiving an Energy Star Combined Heat and Power award from the Environmental Protection Agency for reducing its energy use by 20 percent. .