Yellow Ledbetter and the Lt. Governor

The Lt. Gov. of NJ, Kim Guadagno, visited the lab yesterday to talk about economic development in the state and learn about what's going on at the lab. I had the chance to talk to her for a bit about science education, workforce development, and using plasmas as a teaching tool. Of course I had to fire up our plasma speaker as the attention-grabber. Lately I've been playing Pearl Jam, I have no idea what the lyrics are but it sounds great. The full story is now on the university web site, written by PPPL's Patti Wieser and with a photo by Elle Starkman. I wasn't bored...or asleep..., just listening....intently!

Here's a link to the story.

2012 looks a lot like 2011

...and that's a good thing in my book.

Steph, Aliya, and Deedee continue to strengthen and expand our programs. We're in the middle of the Science on Saturday lecture series, 27 years in a row with record crowds. The middle and high school science bowl competitions are coming up, followed by an expanded Young Women's Conference.  We are getting ready to select undergraduates for the NUF, SULI, and Community College summer internships. The GPIC Hub is starting its second year and I'm concentrating on developing the future workforce (K-12). We've added new teams for our partnership with NASA that will fly experiments in July. Steph and Aliya are working with Trenton High School students on a microgravity experiment. We are developing a couple of new research areas, one in plasma speakers, the other in atmospheric plasmas. The semester just started and I'm teaching a writing seminar. Finally, the US 1 newspaper wrote a story on both the Art of Science competition and me.

Looks like a great year....stay tuned!