Laboratory Management Reviews
Office of Basic Energy Science, Division Of Materials Science and Engineering

Dear Materials Sciences and Engineering Laboratory Managers and Coordinators:

We intend to once again hold a series of Laboratory Management reviews, beginning 01/03/2006, similar to the series held at DOE Germantown during 2005. The participants will include Materials Sciences and Engineering managers and coordinators from your Laboratory, and the entire Staff of Materials Sciences and Engineering under BES. These meetings were planned for either 3 hours or 2 hours as follows:

  • "Large programs" from 9 AM to 12:30 PM with ½ hour break: Ames, ANL, BNL, LBNL, ORNL, LANL, the combined Sandia's, Seitz MRL

  • "Smaller programs" from 9 AM to 11:10 AM with 10 minute break: PNNL, NREL, LLNL, INEEL, SSRL

    The conference room will be equipped with both an LCD with computer and an overhead projector. The standard agenda will be as follows:

  • Vision; Staff Recruitment & Development Assignments; Facility Exploitation, Recent Scientific Achievements:
    This agenda item must include:
    -- Identification of what science your laboratory wishes to grow
    -- Presentation of your recruiting plans
    -- Statement of staff assignments & re-assignments worth noting
    -- Explanation of how you will exploit existing facilities
    -- Indication of known future retirements or departures where the cognizant individual might have so informed their to their management
    -- Provision of stand alone Materials Sciences & Engineering funded achievement graphics that will be backed up by an oral elaboration on the occasion of your management review for no more than five achievements for labs with an FY05 Materials Sciences & Engineering operating budget of more than $7M/year and no more than three achievements for labs with an FY05 Materials Sciences & Engineering operating budget of less than $7M/year. These graphics should use lay language and be comprehensible to OMB, Congressional Staffers, accountants and lawyers as well as be respected as something original and significant by a more scientifically erudite audience.

  • Context: How does BES/Mat Sci & Eng portfolio fit into or relate or link to other parts of your laboratory, i.e. activities at your lab that are funded outside of BES or outside of Mat Sci & Eng?

  • Environment, Safety and Health:
    -- Discussion of experiences and lessons learned over past year
    -- What actions have you taken to strengthen our record and prepare for possible future contingencies or concerns regarding Environment, Safety or Health?

  • Capital Equipment:
    -- Use the Capital Equipment list template to identify Capital Equipment items > $25K that were acquired in FY2003, FY2004, FY2005 and to date, if there is any, in the present year FY2006. The column headers include (1) Instrument Identification, (2) Description, (3) Programmatic beneficiaries (PIs, FWPs, other?) of this new Capital Equipment, (4) Estimated Cost (to nearest $k), and (5) Additional Comments.
    -- Use the same Capital Equipment list template to identify Capital Equipment items > $25K, identifying future high priority Capital Equipment needs. Indicate highest priority Capital Equipment at the top of this table which should descend according to decreasing priority.

  • Issues and concerns:
    This is your opportunity to inform us of issues and concerns, and to raise questions related to them.                                                                                        

    • Please submit one CD and twenty collated and stapled hard copy sets to Christie Ashton at least one week before your scheduled visit that contains all of the documentation, graphics and tables that you plan to present at this meeting. Our intention is to provide copies of all of your submissions to our entire staff in advance of this meeting.

    Suggested schedule: Please inform Ann Lundy Anna.Lundy@science.doe.gov if you accept the following suggested date for your laboratory, or in the event that it is not feasible for your organization please so indicate and in such circumstance please suggest to Ann two non-Friday alternative dates. Please, however, do not suggest President's Day (21 February) or the week of the March APS Meeting (21-25 March). 

            >> Schedule here <<

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