Warm and sincere thanks to everyone who welcomed me to the Community Programs Office.

I look forward to working with you!

We are here to serve and assist, so please feel free to contact me via email at steinhaus@lanl.gov or by calling the office at 505-667-2194.

This month's issue includes kudos to Northern New Mexico College and the new University of California President, Mark Yudof.

Informational articles focus on education programs, including Expanding Your Horizons, LANL Employees' Scholarship Fund recipients, and the opening of a new LANSCE exhibit at the Bradbury Science Museum. We are also featuring stories about plans to celebrate innovation and inventions in July, and northern New Mexico organizations recently recognized by Quality New Mexico.

The conference provided hands-on scientific activities in robotics, cryptology, DNA, and other topics to more than 100 young women in their teens with hopes of getting them excited about careers in math, science, engineering, technology, and allied professions.

LAESF was started by a group of LANL employees who understood the financial need of local students. Since the creation of LAESF, LANL employees, contractors, and retirees, along with other northern New Mexico community members, have contributed nearly $1.75 million to the fund.

The touch-screen exhibit was a collaborative effort involving representatives from LANSCE and a team of five undergraduates from Harvey Mudd College.

For more information about the exhibit, contact Omar Juveland of the Bradbury Science Museum at 665-1835.

Accompanying this festivity will be a display of inventions constructed in response to an "Inventor's Challenge" hosted by the Bradbury Science Museum. The Challenge involves creating mobiles, whirligigs, or wind energy machines and is open to everyone. For more information about the Challenge, contact the Bradbury Science Museum at 667-4444.

There will also be a "discovery zone" on the lawn of the Central Park Square building where young people can touch, see, "squish," and otherwise experience innovations and discoveries. Groups are invited to display, demonstrate, or provide interactive activities that will spark childrens' innovative interests. Groups such as Explora from Albuquerque will also be featured at the discovery zone.

For additional information about the event, contact Jeremy Varela at (505) 661-4844 or jvarela@losalamos.org .

Cedar Mountain's presentation brought out questions and interest not only from the panel but from the audience of economic development, finance, and technology commercialization experts excited about the company's opportunities.

Boaz Soifer, General Manager of Cedar Mountain, said "Springboard was a great opportunity to have contact with highly experienced professionals in an environment that was constructively critical and concurrently nurturing. Our experience in the program provided us with vital feedback to prepare our concept for presentation to prospective funders and for deployment in the real world. We appreciate the work Doruk and his team does."

For more information about the New Mexico Quality Awards, contact Quality New Mexico at 505-944-2004.

• Kudos to the City of Espanola for receiving a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant from the New Mexico Community Development Council for water supply system improvements.