Podcasts about pnnl

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) draws on signature fundamental capabilities to advance scientific discovery, improve energy resiliency, and enhance national security.  On this podcast episode, Laboratory Director Steven Ashby, Ph.D., discusses key drivers and challenges that are steering the lab's important work regarding grid resiliency and affordability. Ashby also tells our listeners about the new Grid Storage Launchpad, a one-of-a-kind Department of Energy facility to develop and test novel battery concepts at scale in a safe environment. Of course, with all these emerging technologies, there are inherent risks—wildfires, and cyberattacks to name a few. Ashby discusses these risks and the ways PNNL is working together with the industry (including by leveraging novel AI capabilities) to quantify and combat problems that can be addressed by advancing the grid.

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have found a new element in critical infrastructure protection. They've discovered how the algorithms that rank pages in internet searches also can help planners better understand how to prevent cascading failures in electrical or water systems. Here with how it all works, PNNL mathematician Bill Kay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have found a new element in critical infrastructure protection. They've discovered how the algorithms that rank pages in internet searches also can help planners better understand how to prevent cascading failures in electrical or water systems. Here with how it all works, PNNL mathematician Bill Kay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The latest episode of Public Power Now features Vincent Sprenkle, Director of the recently opened Grid Storage Launchpad, a national grid energy storage research and development facility on the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's campus in Richland, Washington. Among other things, he details the specific research activities that will be undertaken at the Grid Storage Launchpad.

Anyone that's followed this podcast will know that Paolo's final question to each guest is, “What advice would you like to share with younger scientists just starting their career?” Here, our guest, Dr. Monte Helm, professor of chemistry at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, shares advice that he clearly lives by, which is, “… be flexible ii your career and follow what you think you'll be passionate about.” While Monte's academic training is in inorganic chemistry, he'll tell you he's always cared about teaching as much as the subject itself. Join us to meet this lifelong learner and teacher, that's parlayed his passion for phosphine chemistry and teaching into roles as a postdoctoral researcher, a professor at an undergraduate research institution, a deputy director at a national laboratory, and now a teaching-focused role at a community college. A set of roles that definitely demonstrates flexibility!In addition to learning about the fundamental research Dr. Helm has done in crown-phosphine and phosphine ligand synthesis, we learn about his unconventional career path and the key role that mentors and sabbatical opportunities played in its development. He talks openly about the joys and challenges of each role, about his motivations for each career change, and his current love of teaching at a community college where he's able to focus solely on teaching to students that may not have had positive primary educational experiences in science. Related episodes: Season 2, Ep. 3: Rethinking CatalysisSeason 2, Ep. 6: The charm of the forgotten elementsSeason 3, Ep. 3: Imagination and the chemistry of the things around usSeason 5, Ep. 4: Shining a photochemical light on undergraduate researchBonus content!Access bonus content curated by this episode's guest by visiting www.thermofisher.com/chemistry-podcast for links to recent publications, podcasts, books, videos and more.View the video of this episode on www.thermofisher.com/chemistry-podcast.A free thank you gift for our listeners! Visit the episode website and request your free Bringing Chemistry to Life t-shirt.Use Podcast Code:  laBcheM in March or sc13nc3  in April We read every email so please share your questions and feedback with us! Email helloBCTL@thermofisher.com About Your HostPaolo Braiuca grew up in the North-East of Italy and holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from nearby esteemed University of Trieste, Italy. He developed expertise in biocatalysis during his years of post-doctoral research in Italy and the UK, where he co-founded a startup company. With this new venture, Paolo's career shifted from R&D to business development, taking on roles in commercial, product management, and marketing. He has worked in the specialty chemicals, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical markets in Germany and the UK, where he presently resides. He is currently the Director of Global Market Development in the Laboratory Chemicals Division at Thermo Fisher Scientific™ which put him in the host chair of the Bringing Chemistry to Life podcast. A busy father of four, in what little free time he has, you'll find him inventing electronic devices with the help of his loyal 3D-printer and soldering iron. And if you ask him, he'll call himself a “maker” at heart.

Among the grand challenges for cybersecurity is how to make the nation's electrical grid safer. It's a big problem in a lot of ways. The grid contains nearly countless numbers of components, each of which has to be protected. And pieces of the grid are owned by thousands of companies, public utilities, and local governments. Now a team from the Energy Department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has come up with a whole new idea for grid protection. Joining the Federal Drive with the outlines of it, PNNL data scientist Sumit Purohit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Among the grand challenges for cybersecurity is how to make the nation's electrical grid safer. It's a big problem in a lot of ways. The grid contains nearly countless numbers of components, each of which has to be protected. And pieces of the grid are owned by thousands of companies, public utilities, and local governments. Now a team from the Energy Department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has come up with a whole new idea for grid protection. Joining the Federal Drive with the outlines of it, PNNL data scientist Sumit Purohit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we discuss heuristics, biases, behavioral design, NeuralPlan, and behavioral project management in general. Dr. Josh Ramirez, NPPQ, PMP, is CEO and founder of the Institute for Neuro & Behavioral Project Management with Dr. Jodi Wilson. His experience includes work at numerous DOE sites and national labs, including Hanford, LBNL, PNNL, and Los Alamos, and he also teaches project management at Columbia Basin College and Lewis University (Chicago). He has written best practices for the DOE Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) that focus on blending cognitive and behavioral science with project management, and is co-author of NeuralPlan with Dr. Shari DeBaets, a certification that has seen up to 80% increases in probability of meeting project milestones. Josh's doctoral research focused on designing project management with behavioral science. If you want to sign up for free: 1. Go to neural-plan.com 2. Click on "Get NPPQ Certified" 3. Add to cart 4. Click on the GovX box and verify to get your coupon code 5. During checkout use the GovX code --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vets2pm/support

How do we design and build affordable net-zero, carbon-negative homes? That important goal is the subject of today's episode and is the focus of a multidisciplinary team that includes PNNL, WSU and Green Canopy NODE. On the podcast today you'll hear from Patti Gunderson with PNNL who is working with a talented team who are taking a thoughtful approach to this ambitious goal. One that focuses on modular design, carbon sequestering materials, thermal/energy efficiency, and a forward-looking circular approach that relies on cleverly designed, factory-built, bio-based materials right from the start. The outcome is a home that supports an owner's right to repair (we need this with so many so-called durable products in our world today) and also allows the materials in the home to be disassembled and reused and the end of the home's lifecycle.Patricia GundersonPatti Gunderson joined PNNL in 2021 and supports several projects in both the Energy Policy and Economics and Buildings and Connected Systems Divisions. A particular strength is collaborating with manufacturers, designers, builders, and trades people to understand and overcome barriers to adoption of optimized building technologies.Patti most recently spent nearly six years at Home Innovation Research Labs where she proposed, designed, and led research projects to study constructability, functionality, energy efficiency and durability of buildings. Her background in building physics, engineering software tools, systems design, discipline coordination, project documentation, and construction administration provides valuable insight for research, analysis and client support.Prior to HI, Patti worked in the DC office of SmithGroup, an international AE firm, on numerous high-profile projects including embassies, medical centers, university law schools and the flagship Net Zero Brock Environmental Center for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Patti is a big fan of collaboration and has benefitted from research partners and clients representing several national labs, the National Association of Home Builders, the Leading Builders of America, and numerous international manufacturers, as well as staff from DOE, FPL, HUD, and VA.TeamHosted by Kristof IrwinEdited by Nico MignardiProduced by M. Walker

Bienvenidos a un nuevo episodio de nuestro podcast, donde hoy nos sumergiremos en una innovación que está revolucionando el mundo de la inteligencia artificial: el lanzamiento de la Tienda GPT de OpenAI. Noticias: "Figure presenta Figure 01, capaz de preparar café aprendiendo de humanos." "Apple introduce MLX, un framework de código abierto para desarrollo de IA en hardware Apple." "OpenAI responde enérgicamente a la demanda de derechos de autor de The New York Times." "Volkswagen integra ChatGPT en modelos de automóviles." "CES 2024: lo más destacado de los nuevos productos y características de IA en la feria." "Amazon revela nuevas experiencias de terceros con IA para dispositivos Alexa." "Microsoft y científicos del PNNL descubren un nuevo material para baterías con IA." "OpenAI lanza la Tienda GPT, permitiendo a los creadores beneficiarse de sus asistentes de IA." "Valve emite nuevas reglas para desarrolladores de Steam sobre juegos con IA." "ByteDance introduce MagicVideo-V2 para la generación de texto a video." "1X Technologies, startup noruega de robótica IA, recauda $100 millones para su robot doméstico." "Public Citizen solicita investigación sobre el estatus de sin fines de lucro de OpenAI." "Investigadores de Columbia desarrollan sistema de IA para coincidir huellas dactilares." "Análisis de IA sugiere que parte de la pintura 'Madonna della Rosa' de Rafael fue hecha por otro artista." Herramientas: DryRun Security- Un compañero automatizado que añade contexto de seguridad . (Enlace)* Boundaries- Un GPT para aprender a decir no (Enlace) Invstr- Centro de inversión en IA racionalizado (Enlace) Brewed- Creación de aplicaciones web con IA mediante prompting(Enlace) Reiki by Web3Go- Completa suite de desarrollo y monetización de agentes basada en IA (Enlace) McAnswers AI- Agilice la codificación con IA (Enlace) PlayPlay- Creación de vídeos a gran escala con IA. (Enlace)* Stylar- Editor de imágenes editable con IA (link) Rely.io- Portal para desarrolladores mejorado con IA e interacción por voz (link) Catalyst- Red estratégica y plataforma de referencia (Enlace) Gal 01- IA personal que aprende contigo (Enlace) Stripe Your GPTs- Monetiza las ideas de GPT al instante con Stripe (Enlace) Luma Genie 1.0- Generador de modelos de texto a 3D con materiales de alta definición (Enlace) Cognosys 2.0- Su asistente inteligente de IA que se integra con cualquier herramienta (Enlace) PolyAI Pheme- Generación de voces conversacionales para llamadas telefónicas (Enlace) Neuralhub- Plataforma de diseño de arquitectura de IA (Enlace) PocketAI- IA para WhatsApp basada en ChatGPT (Enlace) Spawn- Creación de hojas de personaje de D&D (Enlace) Kippy- Práctica de idiomas con IA (Enlace) HN Jobs- Transforma los comentariosen listas de empleo estructuradas (Enlace) Sama AI- wearable de superación personal con IA (Enlace) Langbase- Crear, implantar y gestionar aplicaciones de IA generativa (Enlace) Leap AI- Cree potentes flujos de trabajo de IA y automatice su trabajo (Enlace) Meet Kai- Combinar la IA y el Metaverso para una nueva forma de interactuar con la web (Enlace) Fliz AI- Creación de vídeos mediante IA a partir de URL (Enlace) Generative AI by iStock- Creación de fotos de archivo basada en IA (Enlace) Followr- Automatizar las redes sociales con IA (Enlace) Items- Activos de diseño gratuitos generados por IA (Enlace) MultiOn- Un agente personal con inteligencia artificial para agilizar la vida (Enlace) Krea AI- Nueva función de solicitud automática de imágenes AI (Enlace) Hero- Vender más rápido con IA (Enlace) Chat Collect- Recopilar correos electrónicos de usuarios de GPT (Enlace) pre.dev- Planificación y aceleración del desarrollo de software (Enlace) GoSearch- Búsqueda instantánea empresarial basada en IA (Enlace) Plan de Asesoria Personal Canal de telegram Canal de Youtube Déjame un mensaje de voz

Forget years for scientific discovery, think weeks: Microsoft in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are ushering a new era of acceleration in science and discovery. Leveraging the power of advanced AI and high-performance computing, they've streamlined the search for new battery materials, revolutionizing how scientists take on pressing challenges in sustainable energy, pharmaceuticals, and more. Could this be the dawn of quantum computing era in scientific research? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tonyphoang/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tonyphoang/support

- Why would The New Yorker cover HPC technologies? - Open Benchmark Council's TOP100 lists - Intel as one of the largest customers of TSMC's high-end fab? - Digital Twins for hyropower at ORNL and PNNL [audio mp3="https://orionx.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/HPCNB_20231204.mp3"][/audio] The post HPC News Bytes – 20231204 appeared first on OrionX.net.

In this special bonus episode recorded at the PhiusCon 2023, Mary James, PHA Director of Publications interviews Ellen Franconi of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. https://www.pnnl.gov/https://phius1.zohobackstage.com/PhiusCon2023Thank you to our sponsor, Zola Windows for making the Passive House Podcast at the Passive House Network Conference possible.https://www.zolawindows.com/Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Computational chemistry may not be at your top concern, but in reality, it's a key to solving some of the world's biggest problems. It takes a massive amount of computing power, something not everyone has had access to until now. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is collaborating with Microsoft Corp. and Micron Technology to make computational chemistry broadly available to applied researchers and industrial users. For more, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with the PNNL scientist leading the effort, Karol Kowalski. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Computational chemistry may not be at your top concern, but in reality, it's a key to solving some of the world's biggest problems. It takes a massive amount of computing power, something not everyone has had access to until now. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is collaborating with Microsoft Corp. and Micron Technology to make computational chemistry broadly available to applied researchers and industrial users. For more, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with the PNNL scientist leading the effort, Karol Kowalski. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show Notes 28 July 2023Story 1: Researchers at PNNL are exploring how to use algae to tap into the vast reserve of mineralogical wealth in the oceansSource: PNNL.gov Story by Steven AshbyLink: https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/pnnl-researchers-are-mining-minerals-sea-vital-energy-independence-researchStory 2: Self-healing metal? It's not just the stuff of science fictionSource: Reuters News Service Story by Will DunhamLink: https://www.reuters.com/science/self-healing-metal-its-not-just-stuff-science-fiction-2023-07-19/Story 3: Trend to watch - What is Li-Fi? A faster, more secure wireless internet is just around the cornerSource: Digital Trends Story by Jon MartindaleLink: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-li-fi/Story 4: Spiral brain-computer interface slips into ear canal with no loss of hearingSource: MedicalXpress.com Story by Bob YirkaLink: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-07-spiral-brain-computer-interface-ear-canal.htmlFor more info, interviews, reviews, news, radio, podcasts, video, and more, check out ComputerAmerica.com!

Dr. Thomas Metz, Ph.D. ( https://www.pnnl.gov/people/thomas-o-metz ) is Senior Scientist, Laboratory Fellow and Principal Investigator, in the Integrative Omics group, within the Biological Sciences Division, of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where his research focuses on development and applications of high throughput metabolomics and lipidomics methods, in conjunction with proteomics, to answer various biological questions. Currently, Dr. Metz is the director of the Pacific Northwest Advanced Compound Identification Core within the NIH Common Fund Metabolomics Program, co-PI of the Proteomics Laboratory for The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young consortium, Lead of the PNNL m/q Initiative, and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Oregon State University. With a BS in Biology, Frostburg State University, a BS in Chemistry, San Jose State University, and a PhD in Chemistry, University of South Carolina, Dr. Metz's work has resulted in more than 180 publications to date. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is one of the United States Department of Energy national laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's Office of Science. They are focused on advancing the frontiers of knowledge, taking on some of the world's greatest science and technology challenges. Distinctive strengths in chemistry, Earth sciences, biology, and data science are central to their scientific discovery mission and their research lays a foundation for innovations that advance sustainable energy through decarbonization and energy storage and enhance national security through nuclear materials and threat analyses. PNNL collaborates with academia in fundamental research and with industry to transition technologies to market. Support the show

Ruth tells Webster and Ron how PNNL (Pacific Northwest National Laboratories) has focused for years on solid state lighting research, but has now seen the value of controls and is now focusing on that. They've gone into the field to see what happens in real time. Ruth expected that the research would be about the technology but she discovered that it's really about people, or, more to the point, the intersection of people and technology. You know if PNNL is looking at it, it's going to grow in importance! Ruth Taylor currently serves as a program manager on the Advanced Lighting Team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where she manages the Next Generation Lighting Systems (NGLS) Program. NGLS uses “Living Labs” to conduct observational research in real-world settings—indoors at Parsons School of Design in New York City and outdoors at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia. NGLS is gathering valuable information on how systems are installed and configured, how well they perform, and how users operate them with the goal of identifying approaches that work, revealing needed improvements, and publishing findings for the benefit of the lighting community. 

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington are working with industry to develop a method of extracting valuable materials from various sources of water.  The technique is the 21st-century equivalent of panning for gold in rivers and streams. The patent-pending technology makes use of magnetic nanoparticles that are surrounded […]

As President Vladimir Putin flung threats of nuclear retaliation during Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, we were given an important reminder of the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. This terrifying wake-up call has dominated headlines for a year. President of Ploughshares Fund Dr. Emma Belcher knows the threat looms beyond the physical borders of Putin's war and how they could easily find purchase on American soil. Join Dr. Belcher for a conversation moderated by The Honorable Gael Tarleton about the current state of global nuclear threats and the proximity of Seattleites to nuclear geopolitics. Dr. Emma Belcher is president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation dedicated to reducing the threat of nuclear weapons. Emma spent nearly a decade at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she led the foundation's Nuclear Challenges grantmaking program. There, she developed and built the foundation's Nuclear Challenge Big Bet team. She also served as an advisor in Australia's Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on national security and international affairs. Emma has been on the TED platform twice, discussing the importance of confronting, humanizing, and ultimately solving the existential threat of nuclear weapons. The Honorable Gael Tarleton, former Washington State Representative for the 36th legislative district (Seattle) from 2013-2021, began her career as a senior defense intelligence analyst for the Pentagon for a decade. She then ran two international subsidiaries of a Fortune 500 company in Russia, helping rebuild the country after the Cold War collapse by cleaning up nuclear waste and preventing environmental disasters. Tarleton co-founded the Northwest chapter of Women in International Security, was Port of Seattle Commissioner, and served as an advisor for the Institute for National Security Education and Research at UW and technical advisor for PNNL. About Ploughshares Fund For over four decades, Ploughshares Fund has supported the most effective advocates and organizations in the world to reduce and eventually eliminate the danger posed by nuclear weapons.

As the years roll by without sufficient progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the need for technologies that can capture CO2 from its sources or remove it from the air becomes stronger and stronger.  People have developed various ways to capture carbon dioxide, but to date, they generally suffer from some combination of being too […]

Dr. Svitlana Volkova, Ph.D. (https://www.pnnl.gov/people/svitlana-volkova) is Chief Scientist, Decision Intelligence and Analytics, National Security Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), which is one of the United States Department of Energy national laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science. Dr. Volkova is a recognized leader in the field of computational social science and computational linguistics and her scientific contributions and publication profile cover a range of topics on applied machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and social media analytics. Dr. Volkova's research focuses on understanding, predicting, and explaining human behavior, interactions, and real-world events from open-source social data and her approaches help advance effective decision making and reasoning about extreme volumes of dynamic, multilingual, multimodal, and diverse real-world unstructured data. Dr. Volkova has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University, Center for Language and Speech Processing, and an M.S. in Computer Science, from Kansas State University.

"Kabrena Rodda is the group leader of Analytical Chemistry and Instrument Analysis which supports the Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Technologies division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). As a forensic toxicologist, Rodda leads PNNL's capability strategy to combat emerging chemical threats. She holds a Ph.D. (Medicine) in forensic toxicology.Rodda served in the United States Air Force for 22 years prior to coming to the Laboratory. During that time, she managed a $30M nonproliferation program, advised on chemical issues at the National Counterproliferation Center, and commanded at the Detachment, Squadron, and Group levels before retiring as a colonel. She was a United Nations Special Commission inspector and laboratory chief in Iraq in 1995 and 1998 and advised Australian officials on consequence management in preparation for the Sydney Olympics. In 2012, she published a book-length policy paper against synthetic drugs titled, Legal Highs: US Policy for the New Pandemic. In 2017 and 2018, she led chemical threat response workshops at the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and headed the writing team for the American Chemical Society (ACS) policy statement, “Preventing the Reemergence of Chemical Weapons."Rodda is a recipient of the OPCW Director General's Medal, the Secretary of Energy Appreciation Award, and the Secretary of the United States Air Force R&D Award. She is a member of ACS International Activities Committee, the American Academy of Forensic Science, and the International Society for the Study of Emerging Drugs."Disciplines and SkillsChemistryMulti-drug interactionsPharmacodynamicsForensic and analytical toxicologyEducationDoctor of Philosophy, Medicine, Monash UniversityMaster of Science, National Security Strategy, National Defense UniversityMaster of Science, Chemistry, University of WashingtonMaster of Science, Project & Systems Management, Golden Gate University–San FranciscoBachelor of Science, Chemistry, United States Air Force Academy

Lots of federal scientists are connected to ongoing research on the atmosphere, energy, and the question of climate change. Federal Drive host Tom Temin recently got a sort of survey of these topics with an earth scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a delegate to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Dr. Claudia Tibaldi. First question addressed weather versus climate.

Randy discusses the AUG issue of designing lighting (dl), WILD announces their inaugural sponsors, Fulham receives investment from Graycliff Partners, traffic lights of the future may look radically different, and PNNL explores healthcare lighting from the patient's point of view.

Randy discusses the Jonathan Speirs Scholarship Fund, IES and PNNL will have a webinar on Taming Sustainable-Design Complexity, Green Creative teams up with three new agencies, Strand Lighting's bankruptcy creates questions, and McWong International has an opening for a Product Manager.

Host Nick Hennen sits down with Pacific Northwest National Lab's Ryan McClure. Ryan is involved in a NASA-funded project with PNNL to blast soil laden with bacteria to the International Space Station. The bacteria-infused soil is from Prosser, Wash. Researchers like McClure and Janet Jansson, a laboratory fellow at PNNL and the leader of the study, will look at what the bacteria do in a microgravity environment to learn more about how soil microbial communities function in space. That's the intelligence scientists need to grow food in space or on another celestial body. If you'd like to follow the mission's progress and launch, you can do so here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/spacex.html or https://www.nasa.gov/spacex.  

In this episode you get three unique perspectives on urban lighting. Co-host Michael Colligan in Canada, co-host John Bullock in the U.K and guest Kate Hickcox from The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. They discuss the challenges of lighting populated areas. Will more light decrease crime? Will less light? Perhaps it has to do with the kind of lighting. Listen to this, then join the conversation. Kate Hickcox joined PNNL as a Lighting Research Scientist in 2020. She is a creative thinker in the field of lighting, with over 18 years of experience in both lighting research and lighting design. No matter which hat she's wearing, her goals are simple – to provide equitable and universal lighting solutions that support humans and the environment. Kate's unique background blends the artistic with the practical and allows for discovery of unique design solutions and innovative research-based strategies. 

In this episode you get three unique perspectives on urban lighting. Co-host Michael Colligan in Canada, co-host John Bullock in the U.K and guest Kate Hickcox from The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. They discuss the challenges of lighting populated areas. Will more light decrease crime? Will less light? Perhaps it has to do with the kind of lighting. Listen to this, then join the conversation. Kate Hickcox joined PNNL as a Lighting Research Scientist in 2020. She is a creative thinker in the field of lighting, with over 18 years of experience in both lighting research and lighting design. No matter which hat she's wearing, her goals are simple – to provide equitable and universal lighting solutions that support humans and the environment. Kate's unique background blends the artistic with the practical and allows for discovery of unique design solutions and innovative research-based strategies. 

A clever idea to use magnetic nanoparticles to capture valuable materials from brine. Sounds arcane, but it's blossomed into new projects that could help make the U.S. a producer, and not just a consumer, of critical minerals used in electronics and energy production. One planned pilot project, funded co-funded with industry by the Energy Department's Office of Fossil Energy is in the works at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. For more, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with lab fellow Pete McGrail.

Angela Sheffield is a graduate student and Space Industry fellow at the National Defense University's Eisenhower School. She is on detail from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), where she serves as the Senior Program Manager for AI for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development. The National Nuclear Security Administration (https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/national-nuclear-security-administration), a United States federal agency, part of the U.S. Dept of Energy and it's Office of Defense Nuclear Non-Proliferation, responsible for safeguarding national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile; works to reduce the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the United States Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad. In this position, Ms. Sheffield directs efforts leveraging artificial intelligence, advanced mathematics and statistics, and research computing technologies to develop capabilities to detect nuclear weapons development and characterize foreign nuclear programs around the world. Before joining NNSA, Ms. Sheffield led project teams at DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to develop modeling and simulation methodologies to model risk of WMD threats to inform national policy and decision making. Additionally, Ms. Sheffield led multidisciplinary efforts in the development of technical capabilities to detect the development of nuclear weapons with a special focus on AI and ML technologies. Ms. Sheffield joined PNNL after a distinguished career as an operations research analyst in the U.S. Air Force, where she specialized in the research and development and technical intelligence of U.S. and adversary weapon systems. Ms. Sheffield has a BS in Economics from the United States Air Force Academy and Duke University, an MS in Operations Research from Kansas State University, and will graduate from the Eisenhower School in June 2022 with an MS in National Security and Resource Strategy. The views expressed here are those of the guest and do not reflect the position of the U.S. government, DOE, NNSA, or DoD.

Leotek wins two Edison Awards. Espen Technology appoints Freddy Prestonas RVP for the South. DLFNY will have a tour of the New York Public Library. IES and PNNL will have a free webinar on 26 MAY.

We meet with PNNL physicist Emily Mace on this episode of SciVIBE to get to know her a bit, learn about her experience working in the Shallow Underground Lab and with highly sensitive radiation detectors—designed and built by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists—to measure argon-39 activity in groundwater samples.

Arun Devaraj, a materials scientist, remains committed to improving the quality and performance of metals. He is in the midst of an ambitious project to explore how hydrogen, combined with stress and oxidation, leads to catastrophic failures of high-strength steels that are widely used in the nuclear and automotive industries. His research will have important implications for carbon-free energy sources and their storage. And his research will unfold at PNNL's Energy Sciences Center, a recently dedicated $90 million facility on the Richland, Washington, campus.

The CO2 is all around us, can't we just collect and store it safely? Today's guest is Jay Fuhrman. He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Joint Global Change Research Institute. He received his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2021. Jay's research uses integrated assessment models to understand the transitions required for deep climate mitigation, including the large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal technologies, their potential side-effects, and co-benefits. — The NTNU Energy Transition Podcast aims to function as a knowledge hub that empowers individuals and organizations in Europe and beyond to tackle climate change and move our global society toward carbon neutrality. New episodes every Thursday. The NTNU Energy Transition Initiative was established to deliver world-leading research on energy transition strategies, to achieve the Paris ambitions in an efficient and realistic way. Every spring we organize the NTNU Energy Conference in Trondheim, Norway. You can find us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and on our webpage. Please reach out by mail to energytransition@ntnu.no.

Electric cars, more windmills, more solar power, add it up and the nation is facing a crisis in the electrical grid needed to support it all. That is, if you want 24 x 7 power. Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have been running simulations of a system called transactive power, to see how a future grid might operate. Joining the Federal Drive with details, senior technical advisor, Dr. Hayden Reeves.

Marine renewable energy stands to do a great deal of good. The ocean's wave, current, and tidal energy holds the promise of electricity that can help power the grid, strengthen scientific observations, and bring renewable power to coastal communities. But how do marine animals like sharks and whales coexist with marine energy devices? What are the potential impacts? PNNL oceanographer and senior research scientist Andrea Copping leads research that explores these important questions. Join us today as we dive deep into her findings and discuss not only what the science says, but how the investigations unfold.

Are you looking for an innovative technology to bring to market that will launch a new company,improve a product line, or diversify your product offerings? In this Kitsap Business Forum, you'lllearn how to discover and access a pool of untapped government-funded intellectual property(IP)—readily available to move to Washington state-based industries as well as those acrossthe U.S. You'll realize how easy it is to work with a government organization as Sara demystifiesthe technology transfer and licensing process. To inspire your thinking, Sara also will describejust a sampling of clean energy technologies that could be deployed in the Pacific Northwest.PRESENTERSara Hunt, Commercialization Manager, Pacific Northwest National LaboratorySara Hunt is a commercialization manager for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) located in the Seattle office. She is responsible for identifying promising PNNL-developed technologies, overseeing technology development and demonstration, securing intellectual property assets, marketing novel technologies, and negotiating business terms to transfer technologies to private industry where they can be matured into commercial products and services. The technology portfolio Sara manages includes advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and environmental monitoring.

Sharon Patterson Grant, LEED AP BD+C and Homes, has been providing green building consulting and education since 2006. She has consulted on over 100 LEED homes, neighborhoods and commercial buildings across the Pacific Northwest, and has developed and taught numerous LEED workshops. She has also consulted on dozens of projects to reduce energy use in buildings and green organizations, including the largest commercial property management firms in Idaho. Recently, Sharon has taken her expertise and gone all in on ESG (and Corporate Sustainability) with RE Tech Advisors. Sharon has specialized in energy codes, primarily through her work with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, Bonneville Power Administration and Office of Energy Resources to provide education, co-facilitate a statewide collaborative, perform cost analysis and conduct a statewide market assessment. She also worked on a white paper for PNNL on incorporating orientation into codes. The scope of projects expanded to providing strategic energy management for commercial property owners, cities and school districts. Cities have included Boise, Tacoma, Missoula, Eugene, Providence and Grand Rapids. For the USGBC, Sharon was chair and vice chair of the Idaho Chapter for 4 years,and currently sits on the West Regional Council and is national co-chair for the Build Better Codes campaign. Her other board positions include GreenWorks, Northwest Integrity Housing Company and Idaho Smart Growth. As a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor and a Healthy Homes Specialist, Sharon has taught at BSU and Maui Community College and presented at conferences such as Region 10 EPA, Sun Valley Sustainability and the National Environmental Health Association. As a Provider and Instructor with ID and WY Real Estate Commissions, she has provided green building classes to hundreds of real estate professionals. Sharon has degrees in Ecological Design and Business. Her work received Idaho Grow Smart Awards in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and a Better Bricks Award in 2010. She is a published author on green building topics and was host of “Building a Greener Idaho,” a weekly radio show on Radio Boise.   Show Highlights Benefits of a broad theoretical based ecological design degree. Calculated leaps, travel, and trying different things will shape your career path.  Meaningful impact with affordable housing to educate operational costing and provide training to residents. Green design provides solutions to the drain on our health care system. Whole Neighborhood LEED Platinum project that promotes the value for the environment and educates people to support.  Different ways to provide education to trades to encourage respectful relationships that promote the green building process. Challenges to do renewable energy in a conservative population that doesn't believe in climate change and has been “blacklisted.” Sharon shares what she is doing now, which has an impact across the nation. Practical business approach to climate change. “It's the most important and critical thing we can do in this day and age. If we don't change the amount of carbon emissions going into our atmosphere we're not going to have a future for our children and my son is eight. I want him to have a future. I want him to experience future generations and I want them to have a prosperous life.” -Sharon Grant Sharon Grant Transcript    Sharon Grant's Show Resource and Information   Meadow Ranch LEED ND Homes LinkedIn Eco Edge RE Tech Advisors U.S. Green Building Council     Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to www.gbes.com/join to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes.  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast!   Copyright © 2021 GBES

We're chatting with Ben Baker, President of Your Brand Marketing and Podcast Host for Your Living Brand Live Show. Ben has worn a lot of hats and has had the opportunity to see how employees truly affect their company's brand story, and how you can uncover the gems that could make up an authentic internal brand story for your company. We also continue our segment with Ragan's Communications Leadership Council with Amanda Schoch, Chief Communications Officer at PNNL. You can find our resource guides as well as our guests' contacts on our associated blog page: www.internalcommspro.com/shownotes You can learn more about Ragan's Communications Leadership Council on their website: https://commscouncil.ragan.com/ Music Provided by Bensound

Paul Casey: Your brain does not see the word knots. So if you're like, I am not going to eat chocolate, you know what your brain hears is chocolate. And so then you're like start moving toward it and you have actually more of a craving for it because the brain doesn't see that where it's just a fun fact about the brain Speaker 2: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. It's the Tri-Cities influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast. We're local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey interviews, local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and non-profit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams. So we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of growing forward services, coaching, and he could be individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Diane Howard. Diane is the executive director for the port of Benton. And I asked her for something funny about herself and she sees all about classic movies and the time that they're supposed to be watched every year and you're going to have to do it justice. So go for it. Diahann Howard: Yes. I love, yeah, all things. Star wars, DC, Marvel, our fall season for our family and extended family kicks off with the Harry Potter series. Then we transitioned into the Lord of the Rings for over the Christmas period and of hosts. Then we've got to do the TMC movies as well. I got white Christmas, I got everything timed out and my family knows me for this. And it's just a little bit of my, I, I just enjoy all those types of movies and it's just hilarious. And then I a layer, I sprinkle on top of that, a little bit of the peanuts collection for every holiday season. So my kids will come home from college and I've got peanuts, you know, The Great Pumpkin going. It just depends on what's going on, but I just like the things that make them smile and it makes us smile and allows us to connect a little bit and kind of have our, we used to have forced family fun, Fridays and things that we would do. And it's just part of the, the cycle of the year for our family is centered around movies and games and activities. And Paul Casey: I love it. I was going to say you're forcing them into a sedentary life with all that movie watching, but Diahann Howard: Oh no, I hope not. But yeah, that's we don't want to go too many movies in a row, but that's for sure that'll break it up, but nothing better than a crisp fall day and a good Harry Potter movie Paul Casey: That is so much fun. Well, we'll dive in after checking in with our Tri-City influencer sponsor Speaker 5: From the Columbia Basin to the Pacific Ocean, Basin Pacific Insurance and Benefits, help protect families and businesses in a professional, timely manner. Ours are knowledgeable and service oriented, helping you ensure your home auto and toys as well as commercial business, larger small health insurance, individual, or group agribusiness and crop insurance at basin Pacific insurance and benefits. You get the service of a large broker with the care of a local agent locally owned since 2010, visit us online at Basin Pacific Tri-Cities dot com. Paul Casey: Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well welcome, Diane. I was privileged to meet you years ago. I think it was through leadership Tri-Cities is that where we met? I'm trying to, Diahann Howard: That are either a team for meeting and I got an opportunity to meet you. And I literally think it was that same week that our commissioner Robert Larson said, Hey, you got to talk to Paul. He's a great guy. He's got this new business. It was, it was wonderful for me to be able to tell him, you know, I've, I've just met him. And I think it was, it was either you're correct. Leadership tries to do sort of chamber event. I just can't remember. It's been some time Paul Casey: You're right. You're right. And I remember interviewing you over at C3 church for like a meet the leader that was before I started this podcast, but I was trying to start like a community forum where we would just get to talk leadership with, I think Ken Hohenberg was there and it's hard to think who else was there on that one, but that was fun. Diahann Howard: Thank you for having me on again. Paul Casey: Appreciate it. Absolutely. Well, so then our Tri City influencers can get to know you tell us about what your organization does and what do you spend 80% of your day doing in your role? Diahann Howard: So the port of Benton is chartered by under the state of Washington, as all ports are under RCW 53. And our primary focus really is economic development on behalf of the region and on behalf of the state, as well as tourism. And that's, it's just that clear. So our port district is two thirds of Benton county. We've got everything from the north Richland area, a little bit of office R and D commercialization education. And then we transitioned over to Benton city. We've got some redevelopment buildings there. Then we go over to Prosser area, a lot of work with the wine industry there, a lot of work with the Walter Core, which is now a partnership with WSU, and which is fantastic. And then we continue to kind of head south and we've got Kirby park. And in addition to that, you know, port right transport station. Diahann Howard: So we've got barge facilities, that's really just a intake for large components that come to the Hanford site or part of the Hanford project. And then we've got two general aviation airports, one in Richland and the other in Prosser. And then finally, we've got 16 miles of rail track that runs from north Bridgeland all the way down to the Columbia center region. And both class ones could run direct on this rail, which is a really capability in the state of Washington. So that's what we do. So a lot of my day is really just spent collaborating with community economic development partners with my team, ensuring that they have what they need and that, and I think that we all love what we do here at the port, because it's always varies. I mean, you can be working in wine to airports to taking care of not that this is necessarily a good thing, a broken sewer pipe at a facility or a water pipe. So you never know what the day's going to bring. And I think that that's what makes it a lot of fun and why I know that I love what I do. Paul Casey: Wow. That is awesome. I really appreciate giving me the whole scope of that. Cause I remember moving here and hearing port and I just assumed boats, you know, and I, I, it was, I remember going to a chamber meeting where the, all the ports were there and wow, what a, an education. So I'm hoping the listeners by you rattling off the whole scope of what you lead was very educational, Diahann Howard: Good from a broad perspective, you know, at the end of the day ports, we're really, we are a system that lead to the port of Seattle, the port of Tacoma or the sea port Alliance. It's all about getting our value, add and add products to market. And we serve a global market in the state of Washington. So that's really what we're about. We're a system and we're always working in collaboration with our other port districts Paul Casey: And your journey to where you are today. Diane, what have you learned from previous bosses? Previous supervisors probably there's good and bad, right. And don't mention any names keep in mind today while you leave. What has stuck with you from those experiences? Diahann Howard: I've learned from, primarily what I've learned is what I don't want to do when I manage people. To be honest, I also have learned from some of my past managers about just the importance of seeing broad perspective and really looking at things from multiple lenses. And I think that that was the biggest gift that was given to me from that manager. I, myself focus more on a servant leadership style. I really prefer to provide clarity of direction and strong communications, which there can never be enough of. And I really want to ensure that I've got all of my team growing and set up for success, really positive, really positive with them and appreciate them in public in anything that I need to correct. I do that one-on-one in private. I would never want to be treated that way and I don't want to treat anyone else that way is really kind of my motto on that. Paul Casey: I love it. So many leaders that have come on this podcast that said servant leadership is like the only leadership style, right? And all the benefits and how winsome that is to your people to follow you. When you have style, you're not a lording over leader, you're coming alongside kind of a leader and removing obstacles love that, love that style. Even in my own personal mission statement, because I believe in it so much, you, you lead by talking about a broad perspective. Can you elaborate a little bit more on what that means for a leader to have a broad perspective?     Diahann Howard: You've got to, there's always multiple sides of a story. There's also multiple perspectives. Not everybody always has all the information on everything all the time. And I'll speak to this a little bit later as well. I just think that you've got to take the time to listen to get that perspective, but look at it from different angles. How does that look? I know for myself, one thing I've always said is can I face the 70,000 people that live in the ports district and tell them that this is a good decision? Can I explain to them in one or two sentences why it's important and how it creates a job for somebody tomorrow? If I can do that, then I know I'm on the right path. So again, broad perspectives and making sure that you're looking at the good and the bad of it too. I mean, it's not always, sometimes we've got to, to look at the bad. You definitely need to look at the bad and be prepared for that and understand how you're going to help support your team through that and how you're going to manage through that. Paul Casey: What a great rule of thumb to think about. I have to announce this to 70,000 people. Am I in good footing? I make it considered all these issues. Have I talked to the right people? I've often heard, it said like before you send the email, if this were to get published in the Tri-City Herald, do you feel comfortable with that? Or would you probably do some edits? Well, leader has to have to fire themselves up. So Diahann, where do you go for inspiration for yourself as a leader? Okay. Diahann Howard: For me, it's really back to the same thing. It's the community. I think that's the benefit of my, for myself of being born and raised here, I've got a lot of clarity and sense of purse, a purpose, and I've got a strong passion for the community. It's inspiring to me to want, to help people that I know and have grown up with. I've seen their businesses grow. I've known their family for a long time. I also understand what this community looks like in times of trouble in the mid to late eighties. And I know what it was like to see, you know, lots of families have to leave and the impact the region. So for me, the community itself is very inspiring and that's again, the role of economic development. That's what it's all about. It's really, it's, it's a run that never ends. It's about what we're doing today strategically to help support and grow and create an opportunity for someone else tomorrow. And really why I enjoy this type of work. Paul Casey: Well, let me ask this cause COVID affected us all in the last two years. If community is such a good driver for you to fire yourself up, then COVID hits. How did you get, how did you stay connected to community so that you could keep building yourself up and not as a lot of expressive people, you know, that were more extroverted? They, they were just really glum, you know, and discouraged during that, because that was their source and it was taken away. How did you still fire yourself up? Diahann Howard: Actually for the port, it drove us to increase our level of digital communications webinars working with our downtown associations, like the Prosser downtown, the Prosser chamber, the city of Richmond. It actually had us connect further and deeper with them talking one-on-one meetings with industry, folks, and tenants, just to see how they were doing those just one-on-one conversations was how, how we did it. And our role for ports is a little bit different during COVID. We, again are a state entity, we're a special purpose district. We can't waive rents. We can defer them, but we can't waive them. And it still has to be paid back. So just making sure that we were having constant contact with there, with our tenants, making sure that we were really staying in tune with what was going on with them, but it also drove our team. Like, look, we now is our time to strengthen and be ready so that when our community and our region does come out of this, we're in a really strong position to continue to help support them. Diahann Howard: That we've actually created a pathway for everybody to come forward out of COVID. And that's really what we focused on. We looked at our facilities and areas where we can improve them and make them more attractive. And, and basically forward-thinking, you know, simple things like lighting projects and cleaning, just painting up facilities just to freshen them up so that when people do come back, they're going to feel like, yeah, you know, this feels good, this feels good. I feel safe. And I feel good. And I know that the people that manage these facilities have taken the time and the effort to ensure that everyone's following state safe protocols, Paul Casey: What a fantastic response, everything from the buildings being now, what can, what can we focus on when other things we can't focus on, but I love your ears, your phrase of further and deeper in communication. And of course we're not out of the woods yet. So Tri-City influencers. If you still have opportunity while we all have opportunities to go further and deeper in all of our relationships, whether that's at work or on a personal level. And I would just encourage us all to continue to follow that guidance because people are feeling very alone and that leads to a lot of negative emotions. So that's a cool response. Diane, how do you balance or, well, let me ask you this first. I, I would love to know how you develop yourself and what are you currently working on to develop yourself so that you can be a model for developing your team? Diahann Howard: Hmm, well, I'm constantly working on my communications, so I, I just don't think you can ever over communicate. And even when you think that you have, you, haven't everyone communicates in different matters. The other thing I'm really, really working on is just really actively listening, deeply listening. And I also think that right now, you mentioned COVID right now for, I know for my team and for just, it's really a time to provide everybody a lot of grace and empathy. And I stress that to them, not only to each other, but to our tenants, to the people that we engage with on a daily basis. We really want to give everybody some grace and empathy right now. There's just a lot going on. People are managing COVID family's concerns. And then we're also here at work trying to get that this job done. So I really want to listen. Diahann Howard: I would really want to understand more about what's happening in their life. And I, I really focus on providing them as much flexibility as I can because it's a different time right now. And I don't re going forward even post COVID. Cause I believe there will be hopefully a post COVID. I really have discovered that I really, I do not want to lose this connection with my team. So I, I think that this just becomes more part of our normal, as far as our live, our life work balance is what I'm hoping to strive for it. And focusing on them, taking care of themselves and their families from Paul Casey: So good. You know, I just finished doing a training for PNNL on communication skills and you hit, you hit some big ones there, I'm over communicating because if you think you're over-communicating, especially in the land of COVID, you're probably just enough, I guess it goes over communications, going to people are going to miss it so many times. And they're finally going to hit it. Maybe around the seventh time. The research says, and then listening really is the best form of communication and endears people to their leaders. So Tracy influencers, you want more influence? You've got to be a better listener. Not, not, not necessarily the one that's doing all the talking. I love what you said, Diane, about grace and empathy as let's have this go on forever, not just during a crisis time, but let that be a way or almost ground rules for how we communicate with our teams. Great stuff. How do you balance or integrate your family time with work time? And I don't know if that was impacted during, during the COVID shutdowns at all. You can throw that in there if, if it was for you, but how do you give priority time to both? Diahann Howard: So this is one that I constantly have to work on, even when there's no COVID, even before COVID with the very beginning of COVID, we were ripping our organization forward into cloud-based flexibility, ensuring that everybody had the right communications and work tools so that they could either work at home or work in the office. So there was a lot going on. There was a lot to understand and unpack during that period of time, but I am really constantly working on this one. It's hard. It's hard for me to set my phone down. It's hard for me to sometimes I, I, I really have to focus to actively again, listen, and really I am, I am trying to take a better approach to managing a work-life balance. And COVID actually has showed me that I'm not on a constant frantic jumping pace of travel. And I really understanding my need to prioritize. I have a fantastic team and that has been phenomenal for me in order to provide a better work life balance. And I do truly appreciate them each and every day. So I don't feel like I'm always caught up in a fire drill. So it, it it's, you have to actively be conscious about it. You have to actively pay attention to it and you can't let your health, your health has to be a priority. Paul Casey: Yeah, I think for being a little vulnerable because you're probably a driver personality style at some level and just a teeny bit. Okay. And a lot of leaders listening are also a drivers or the line personality styles I like to teach. And it is hard because we love our work and we love excellence and we love results and goals and metrics. And so it is hard sometimes to put the phone down and to divert our attention and have a replenishment plan too. So thanks for, thanks for sharing that. You're a work in progress along with the rest of us. Diahann Howard: Absolutely. Paul Casey: Well, before we head into our next question on hiring and retaining great employees, a shout out to our sponsor, Speaker 5: A lot of sweat and hard work has been put into your farm and ranch protecting it. And your family's legacy is what matters most at Basin Pacific Insurance and Benefits. We understand the challenges Agra businesses face today. Our team is knowledgeable and service oriented from small farms and branches to vertically integrated agriculture. Our team at base and Pacific and manly crop insurance provides the services of a large broker with the care of a local agent locally owned since 2010, visit us online at Basin Pacific Tri-Cities dot com. Paul Casey: And what's your process for attracting great talent on your team. And then what do you do intentionally to make your workplace a place where employees want to stay for a long time? You've actually given us a little glimpse into some of that through your leadership style. Diahann Howard: Well, first and foremost, I seek out really good people. I love people that are better than me and expertise in their fields and see a bigger picture and are collaborative. My first and foremost thing I'm always looking for is how do they play with, along with the team? How do they work with others? That to me is the most important is, is, is the integrity of the team and ensuring that everybody has or feels like they have space here. And everyone has a seat at this table, so good people bring that cause they have the confidence to go with it. So I love that. I also to continue on ensuring that I'm staying in touch all employees, I hold one-on-one meetings with and I call them, stop, start, continue meetings. So what should we stop doing that we're currently doing? What should we start doing that we're not thinking about right now? Diahann Howard: And what is it that you like and how we're going strategically that we should continue depends on the person. Cause not everybody wants to, you know, say hello every morning or have a one-on-one meeting every week, but it just depends on the person whenever they need. So for some, I meet with them monthly, some weekly, some only semi-annual, it just depends again on their needs and wants. I really encouraged them to enhance their strengths, but I focus with them on any weaknesses that they want to develop to drive their passion and success. I really liked the fact of flexibility and the diversity of work here that makes it again enjoyable to be at the port. It's different every day. It's never the same. And there's always opportunities where people might say, you know, I want to try, I want to collaborate with that. Or I want to kind of step into that role. Diahann Howard: Okay. Let's, you know, let's try some new things. I have no problem with that. I actually like it. And we really do strive to be fully transparent with our entire team on what we're working on. I was to provide a monthly email out, to tell, for example, our facility staff that are really out in the field and we don't see them and interact with them, especially with COVID is often. But that, that, that way they know what's going on. They know what's coming in front of our commission for consideration. And it's just really important for me that everyone's B D is treated fairly with integrity because they all bring value back to the organization and they, they literally are what makes support successful Paul Casey: So many golden nuggets there. So let's, there's, you're going to have to rewind to get all those. But two that I picked up from that was the stop start, continue. And I'd heard, I've heard this before. I've heard that leaders can do this for all the themselves as like a leader report card. Like what of my behaviors do I want to do? I need to start doing more of stop doing or continue. I like how yours is organizationally. You make your employees think organizational, what does, what is it that we need to stop doing start doing or continue that that's a neat twist on it that I hadn't heard before. And I also thought it was interesting of the varying cadence of one-to-one so that you're not on the same cadence with everybody. Some people want more of your FaceTime, others, you know, probably want more autonomy. So that's creative, There's so much to do in the leader's chair. So how do you not burn out? How, what, what are you, what are your thoughts on delegation for you? Are you a great delegator? Do you struggle with the, any tips for our listeners on delegation? Diahann Howard: Well, the secret to delegation is when you have good people, delegations, not a problem. So I have no problem with it. I, I do not like a micromanagement approach. It is not very successful. It actually drives productivity down and culture down. And so delegation's really not a problem. The struggle at times though, is just ensuring that they are communicating and collaborating and matching and understanding each other's communication styles. And so that's the important thing is to always touch base with them on and make sure again, all sides are feeling like they are a part of that effort or that they know where things are going or how things are going to be moving forward, or they've come up with a joint plan. And really a lot of times they're doing so well. It's just really my intention, no goal to just to stay out of their way. Diahann Howard: So that can be hard to cause you want to know, you want to know and you want to see the progress and you've got to measure and you want to know, but you can just, it's better sometimes just they're doing great, stay out of their way, tell him how much you appreciate them. And then, you know, see if they need coffee, you know, what, what is it that they need to, to keep going and help them through? And what, what else can you be provided to help support them? So again, try to provide various approaches and work with them. I also really try to set, not set, sorry, unrealistic debt timelines are. I prefer quality, quality over time, quality over just completing that task and checking the box. Because for example, we have an integration project right now on our leases and the finance system. Diahann Howard: I would not want that to be rushed, good input in good data in great quality out. And I would prefer that they don't have the pressure of that. And just knowing that they don't, they actually do a fantastic job of pressing the pedal to the metal because they know that there's there. There's going to be flexibility there. And if something comes up, we can talk about it because at the end of the day, for us, it's about ensuring that we provide good customer service and good end product. So I'd rather just have them again, take the time to do it right and allow them to keep that good work-life balance in place. Because the more we take care of ourselves, the better we can take care of each other and take care of our customer. Paul Casey: Yeah. The old sharpening, the saw from Stephen Covey, right? If we you've got a sharp solver, we're probably going to produce more quality and be less irritated and angry and depleted, or if you have a Bolsa. So yeah. So your philosophy is quality over speed, as much as possible. And, and it's great that you've, you've made that clear as an expectation to your people. Cause I would assume there's some other bosses out there, their speed, maybe they wouldn't say speed over quality, but they would probably say speed is very, very important or maybe they've got different expectations. So it's great that you've got, you're being as clear as you can, with your people about what you expect. You also brought up communication styles. Tell us more about how you assess what a persons on your team's communication style is that, does that start way back at the interview even, or you give them a survey or how do you assess whatever one needs on your team? Diahann Howard: I think it really starts on just the one-on-one. I'm also very observant of people. So I, I just, it's how, it's how they like to be approached. I will go say good morning to people at their offices, just to see that they have everything that they need and kind of check in some, you know, some people might be rolling their eyes like right now, like, oh God, I wouldn't want her to come to my office, but I get that. And those that kind of, I understand. And, and I give that, I give those people space because they don't need that kind of contact. However, that's when you start to learn people's communication styles, you know, some prefer to definitely see it in writing. Some want to be taught, talk it through some want clear direction. I think that's the other thing is a value that we have now as a port has an overarching strategic plan. Diahann Howard: So our again, organization and culture is the number one priority for the port and for our team. And since we all know that, and we talk about it and that leads into their everyone's individual work and goals. I think that that definitely helps, but it's just getting time to, to observe the person and their interaction with other people, as well as with is as well as between us one-on-one then I really try to help weave that web between them and other people and help everybody understand like, well, maybe this person actually does better if he follow up with an email or maybe you need to just go ahead and set a meeting because both of you are, have a lot going on right now. And not that anyone wants more meetings, but in this instance, it's probably better. If you sit down and talk it through it and don't make assumptions. So we always talk about those things because we do have a lot going on. If we can take care of things quickly, we definitely try to do that because we're, we're working in a very collaborative manner. Paul Casey: Yeah. That's great stuff. I've got a tool from Harvard business review years ago called the leader report card, no leader users, guy. That's what it was called. Yeah. And so I made a little tool out of that where a boss can tell his or her people what their style is like, how they want to be communicated with what their pet peeves are. It's, it's a fascinating little tool and then they can get it back from their team to see what their communication style is and their strengths and their weaknesses and their pet peeves. That it's, it's a fun little way to get leaders and their employees learning each other pretty quickly. So they don't step in landmines along the way, like the roll dice of the good morning. That's what, I'm glad you still do that dynamic because research does show, it sets a positive vibe in the office. So I know Diahann Howard: Even if I go down the hall and just care about something we've got going on for that day, because I black, but it's really just to kind of break open the break, open the day and set a good tone. I hope that's my, Paul Casey: Well, you mentioned strategic planning a moment ago. What's your process for that? Diahann Howard: Again, we just two, two years ago, we brought in an outside consultant firm and we did again, the one-on-one meeting. So individual one-on-one meetings start continue one-on-one discussions with the consultant economic development partners, stakeholders with the consultant, and then one-on-one meetings really with our industry folks in order to ensure that we're really meeting the needs of our clients, customers, and really trying to ensure that we are staying strategic on, on direction forward of what we needed to do. It's allowed us to really eliminate a lot of unnecessary costs and expenses that we had. It's been a phenomenal, the things that we've been able to address through that process. And we've also been again, taking this time to do things like the lighting projects to drive energy efficiency, just again, to ensure that where people do come back to work, the environment again is refreshed and safe. So it's, it's been very helpful for the team to definitely feel like we're rowing in the same direction. Everyone has clarity of role. Everyone has clarity of lane, it just drives the productivity. And again, big word for me is efficiency forward in order to meet the needs of business and our customers and tenants Paul Casey: Efficiency forward, it sounds like Growing Forward. So we'll, we'll make those together. Well, finally, Diahann, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Diahann Howard: I think it's a reminder. It's kind of like, you know, Spider-Man right, the leading of the privilege and it comes with great responsibility. You, you definitely need to remember that it is not about you anymore. It's about your team. You have to constantly want to learn and grow yourself and you're going to also learn and grow from them. I'll also take a little bit of note from Jim Mattis that, you know, you've got to know all your business, everything from, for me, it's everything from the facilities to the finance side, to the legislative side, to the transportation side, you need to know your business. And that's really important and be open to all levels of input. This again, can be hard because not everybody always knows all the information. So don't just make judge some quick judgements, take some time to reflect again, listen. And then the end, if you just do what's best for your organization and community, that mindset's really always worked out well for me. And I hope it works out well for them. Paul Casey: Hmm. Great stuff. Great stuff. So Diane, how can our listeners best connect to you? Diahann Howard: Well, the best way to connect to us as our Port of Benton's website, which is just portofbenton.com, you can either call or email us. Everything's listed there as well as our strategic plan. Any updates on any projects, we also have newsletter information, digital and print. So whatever way again, you prefer to communicate, we're here to serve you and we appreciate your trust. And we in our, we appreciate your trust and we hope that we continue to meet the needs and be good stewards of your investment. Paul Casey: Well, thank you again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading. Diahann Howard: Thank you, Paul. Paul Casey: Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend it's a book I just read on vacation called the slight edge. It's been around for a while. The author's name is Jeff Olson and he talks about just little habits done every day. They're not jazzy sexy habits, but it's the little habits, a little exercise, the little 10 minutes of reading professionally a day, they had up to greatness over the long-term. So check out the slight edge by Jeff Olson. Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guest, Diane Howard, from the port of Baton for being here today on the Tri-Cities influencer podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road that will make a difference in your circle of influence. Desmond Tutu said hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness until next time KTF keep growing forward. Speaker 2: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you is free. Control my calendar checklist, go to www dot take back my calendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message 2 7 2 0 0 0, and type the word grow. Paul Casey: The Tri-Cities influencer podcast was recorded at fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of safe strategies.

It's season 3, episode 2 - Into the Metaverse! - week for Public Power Underground. We caught up with a couple special guests, and got back into the regular format covering public-power and public-power-adjacent news. 02:17 - Arin Reports  07:16 - Temporary Gas Plants in California  10:02 - Tu Phan talks Power Markets and Metaverse  20:04 - PNNL's Research on Heat Pump Water Heaters  22:16 - Roger Gray talks about BPA post-2028 product design concepts  37:37 - Broadband expansion to rural areas  39:02 - Northwest Power and Conservation Council releases draft 2021 Power Plan  40:09 - High Columbia Temperatures Worry Steelhead Watchers Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it's work to watch!

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Remembers September 11th, 2001.   Host Nick Hennen interviews with staff at PNNL on Sept. 11, 2001, including Senior Public Affairs Advisor Greg Koller, former lab director and national security director, Mike Kluse and former DHS director Mike Mitchell. It also offers perspective on how National Security work at PNNL continues to have a significant impact on the security of the country with two STEM ambassador visitors to the SciVIBE podcast: Data Scientist, Kate Miller and Team Leader of Technical Security Solutions, Russ Haffner. They discuss Artificial Intelligence, Social Media Misinformation, Disinformation and the threats we face today as a nation, and how they've changed since 9/11.   

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wright-hamor/ (Cimone Wright-Hamor) works at https://www.pnnl.gov/cybersecurity (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) (PNNL) as a cybersecurity researcher while pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. She has spent the last decade of her life interning at a variety of organizations. She has had ten internships at more than six different organizations, including public and private industries ranging from Fortune 500 companies like https://www.microsoft.com/ (Microsoft) to successful startups such as https://www.smartagllc.com/ (Smart-Ag), state government, and national laboratories. Cimone has spent the last five years of her career working in the cybersecurity field. While completing research, she has helped protect the infrastructure for the State of Iowa and ensured that startup companies are developing software with security in mind. In this episode, we discuss getting started in information security due to responding to an incident, an early upbringing which prepared her for cybersecurity, bridging theory to engineering, teaming with dev and security teams, the importance of project updates, increasing diversity in the industry, and so much more. Where you can find Cimone: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wright-hamor/ (LinkedIn) https://blackcomputeher.org/ (blackcomputeHER) https://www.pnnl.gov/science/staff/staff_info.asp?staff_num=10129 (PNNL)

Dr. Karma Sawyer is the Director of the Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings (EI&B) Division, responsible for shaping and managing a vision and strategy to assure that PNNL addresses DOE's most important energy efficiency, clean energy and electricity infrastructure challenges. The EI&B Division consists of more than 330 staff members in five technical groups. Prior to joining PNNL, Karma served as the Program Manager for Emerging Technologies at DOE's Building Technologies Office. In this role, she developed and executed multi-year R&D strategies across a range of building technologies. She also worked collaboratively with the national labs and external stakeholders to advance cross-cutting initiative, such as the Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings, Advanced Building Construction and Grid Modernization Initiatives. From 2010-2013, Karma served as an Assistant Program Director and Fellow at ARPA-E, focusing on carbon capture and thermal storage technologies.Dr. Sawyer earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008. She also holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Syracuse University.Our services for both our clients and candidates can be found below   ✔️For Employers: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/for-employers/✔️For Candidates: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/career-opportunities/✔️Consulting: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/consulting-services/✔️Executive Search: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/executive-search/Nenni and Associates on Social Media:► Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nenni-and-associates/► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nenniandassoc/► Email Listing: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/join-email-list/► Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nenniandassoc► Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/NenniAssociates

Ruth Taylor currently serves as a program manager on the Advanced Lighting Team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where she currently manages the Next Generation Lighting Systems (NGLS) Program. Ruth is your first line of defense against crappy products and design. Get an inside look at how products you sell are tested at the PNNL.

Randy discusses the LSI acquisition, Dallas Market Center updates their health plan, submit today for IES Progress Report, PNNL launches their education series, Q-Tran launches MICRO5 Series, SK & Associates gets certified in controls, and ESPEN launches new 8 foot LED technology.

One of the most annoying and delay-inducing procedures in airport passenger screening is shoe removal. Now, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed and are in the midst of commercializing a way to scan shoes still on their owners' feet. For more, a PNNL chief engineer Mark Jones.

Paul Casey: So a goal is like pulling the rope when you cannot clearly see what is on the other end. You know the treasure is there, but you can only see a shadowy outline. With each pole, the treasure becomes more and more clear until there it is right in front of you. Speaker 2: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast where local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and non-profit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams, so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Service, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Justin Raffa. He is the artistic director of the Mid-Columbia Mastersingers. And a fun fact about Justin he said his little whistling thing, Justin talk about that. Justin Raffa: It might be easier if I just do a little demonstration Paul. Should we just- Paul Casey: Please do. Justin Raffa: ... and then I'll explain later? Paul Casey: Okay. Justin Raffa: [inaudible 00:01:16] So there's a little taste of this annoying whistling approach that I learned as a kid. I use my teeth and I look really goofy if you were just watching me. [inaudible 00:01:35] this funny embouchure but I can do things like that. That's the piccolo solo from Stars and Stripes Forever- Paul Casey: Yes, it is. Justin Raffa: ... and I've learned how to do the little trills and yeah. Paul Casey: Yes, and it was funny because we laughed about this because I used to have a gap or a chip tooth right in the front for like 20 years. And I was able to also whistle through that gap, so that's pretty funny. Well, we're going to dive in after checking with our Tri-City Influencer sponsor. Paul Casey: It's easy to delay answering uncomfortable questions like, "What happens to my assets and my loved ones when I die?" So it's no surprise that nearly 50% of Americans don't have a will, and even fewer have an estate plan. Many disabled clients worry that they don't have enough assets to set up an estate plan. But there are important options available to ensure that you have a voice in your medical and financial decision-making, even if your health takes a turn for the worst. Estate planning gives you a voice when your health deteriorates or after you're gone. Marin Miller Bam, attorney at law, is currently providing free consultations. To find out more about estate planning or to book an appointment, call Marin at (206) 485-4066 or visit Salus that's S-A-L-U-S -law.com today. Paul Casey: Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well, welcome, Justin. I was privileged to meet you many years ago when I was working at a church and you came alongside the music director there and was helping with oratorios and then the Messiah, and it's like, "There's this young guy coming in here with all this musical talent." I remember that. And then through leadership at Tri-Cities, we've had a chance to work together, volunteer together through that to promote leadership development in the Tri-City. So, great that I get to interview today. Justin Raffa: Thank you so much for this opportunity, Paul. I'm a big fan of the work that you do on this leadership front for our community. I've had the pleasure of working with you as a facilitator with one of my groups. And I don't know that I'm a Tri-City influencer. My friends like to call me a pusher and an instigator. They use those terms a lot, but I'm delighted to have a chance to talk with you today. Thank you for the invitation. Paul Casey: We could change this podcast because it's still an eye, Tri-Cities Instigator, right? I think that would be really creative. Well, help our Tri-City Influencers get to know you. Take us through a couple of your career highlights that led you to where you are now. Justin Raffa: I'm a South Jersey native. I grew up outside of Philadelphia in the part of New Jersey where it gets its nickname, the Garden State. I was heavily involved in music for years. I loved singing in church choirs as a kid, and then in all of my different levels of school, I was always involved in music. And it was about my junior year of high school where I thought, "Maybe I could do this for a living." And my high school choir director, who was my favorite teacher of my favorite class, gave me an opportunity that year. And she asked me, "Hey, would you like to teach the class? Would you like to run a couple of rehearsals on this piece and conduct it in the concert?" And I couldn't believe that she would give me that opportunity as a student. She sat in the back of the room and I was down there running the show and I really got hooked. So I'm grateful for those opportunities that I had in high school. Justin Raffa: I went off to my undergraduate degree. I had a lot of opportunities to intern with volunteer community choirs, learning more about the nonprofit side of my industry, which is my bread and butter now, which is what I love the most. Being an intern for a variety of choirs in the Princeton area in Central Jersey, I went to Westminster Choir College in Princeton, not part of Princeton University, but the university was just a 10-minute walk from my campus, so I did spend a lot of time there. But I just took every opportunity I could, which a lot of performing artists do early in the career. You never say no. Whatever chance you have to get in front of people to get on the podium conducting a group, I just ate up, eat, slept and breathed music for so long. Justin Raffa: My first teaching job was in Bisbee, Arizona, a little town on the border of Mexico. It was 2,500 miles away from everyone and everything I ever knew. I'm an only child, so when I finished my undergrad, I was just ready to get out of Jersey, to get out of the east coast. I was just ready for an adventure. And as a young teacher, you want to go out there and change the world. So I thought, "Let's take this job." Justin Raffa: I didn't speak a lick of Spanish. Most of my students there were bilingual. I am as pasty gringo complexion, I had to stay calm. My father's family is Sicilian and my mother's kind of generic UK, but I had a really wonderful time. I was 22 years old and I was out there by myself and had a chance to run the choir and drama departments of the Bisbee High School. And I was also quickly promoted as the lead conductor, the artistic director of the Bisbee community course. So here I am now 22 also in front of adults and getting to pick music and program concerts and things that if I had stayed on the east coast, I probably would have still had to be the intern for the another decade of my life. Justin Raffa: It's just very saturated. My industry back on the east coast, there's a lot of us looking for work, so at the border of Mexico, I had a lot of opportunities and I'm grateful for that. I got to test things out. I made a lot of mistakes in my first couple of years of teaching and working with adult choirs. I also was on the city of Bisbee's Arts Commission, which is where I first stepped into the government sector of advocating for arts. Justin Raffa: I did my master's degree a couple of years after, 27 years old, I needed a job, and I found this interesting little community called the Tri-Cities in Washington State. I'd never spent any time in the Pacific Northwest. I was interested. I was ready to move to another corner of the country ready for that next adventure. I came up for an interview, they liked me, I liked them, and 13 years later, here I am. Justin Raffa: And again, I was 27 years old when Mid-Columbia Mastersingers hired me to be its lead conductor, the artistic director. That's a big responsibility for someone that's still fairly early in their career. The board took a chance on me and I'm grateful for that. And that original team and I worked very close together to really build and start to rebrand the organization. Paul Casey: Yeah, it sounds like say yes to opportunities, I heard in that story. I heard about mentorship in that story. I heard take a chance on somebody that's showing promise, so a lot of good leadership lessons. Justin Raffa: But the salary that the Mastersingers offered me that first year, by the way, which I am happy to share. I don't mind talking about money. I know some people get weird about money. It was basically a $4,000 stipend for the year. And my parents back in Jersey were like, "You're doing what?" Paul Casey: For the year. Justin Raffa: "You're doing what? You're moving to another corner of the country to take on a job that pays you four grands." I was like, "Mom, dad, you got to start somewhere in this industry. It's a small-sized nonprofit performing arts organization. I think I can invest in this and build it, and it's going to give me the opportunities that I want to work in my field." Justin Raffa: I'm glad that we've been able to build the organization and my salary along with it in these past 13 years. But yeah, taking chances and recognizing that, for a lot of us who are artists money is definitely secondary. And we hope that it comes, but it takes a lot of time to build up your experience where you're at a level where you're being compensated for what you think you're worth. But I was happy to do it when I was 27, or I actually I would do it again now. Paul Casey: Well, that's a real love for it. So being in your strength zone can multiply your influence, so how do you add the most value to your organization? Justin Raffa: I have talked a lot over the years about getting the right people on the bus. Paul Casey: Yes, the bus. Justin Raffa: And for me, when the Mastersingers hired me, the organization was a 30ish thousand-dollar annual budget, pretty small, seven or eight members of the board of directors, most of which were singers or singer spouses. So very much the early stages of what nonprofits look like. So I was very intentional and strategic from day one about who do we want on the board? What other staff positions do we want to create? And who are the best people to fill those jobs? Justin Raffa: The board and I, we are very protective of who we bring into that inner circle, because we know that one bad apple can really- Paul Casey: So true. Justin Raffa: ... poison the water. So we've been very diligent about who we invite to come on our board. And as we've grown staff positions, I am fastidious about who we're hiring. I'm on all the selection panels. And that's part of my role as artistic director, when we're bringing additional artistic roles, just, you got to get the right people on the bus. Justin Raffa: And in choir, it's all about team. I could be the greatest, most intelligent musical mind that this country has ever seen, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter because the work I do is so contingent on groups of people. So yeah, getting the right people on the bus I think has been a really important step for me in growing my organization. Paul Casey: And then on the flip side, you have to be self-aware of your weaknesses. So is there a favorite way you sabotage yourself? Justin Raffa: Yeah, and I've just recently started addressing this. But when you work for a nonprofit organization, when you work for a nonprofit arts organization in communities like Tri-Cities, sometimes it's hard to set work boundaries. We do have a physical office space, but I do not have set office hours. I do not have a nine-to-five job where I need to report to this physical location. Justin Raffa: I can go into the office, but mostly my colleague, Wendy, who is our managing director, she's the front face of the office, so I almost never go in. Which means that at times I find myself answering emails on Friday night at 11 o'clock at night. Because I feel that there's this urgency to get it done. And not having those clear boundaries about showing up to a physical space to work and following a 40-hour work week nine to five, working in the nonprofit sector can be really consuming. And you feel like you're just on, 365 days a year you're just on call 24/7. And so I've had to be really intentional about balancing my time and setting up those limits and said, "I'm not going to answer emails after nine o'clock at night. Let's try that." Paul Casey: Right. Justin Raffa: And it's hard because things might come in and I see it, especially now that we all have phones where we get little dings when anything else comes like, "Oh, it'll just take me a second to answer." No, it can wait. Or, "It's the weekend, I'll get it on Monday morning." So it's been really hard for me because I love my work so much. And I often do have the time. I could take a couple minutes right now and answer that despite the fact that it's 11 o'clock at night. Justin Raffa: So just having to solidify those boundaries and those time restraints so that I don't feel that I'm constantly living my job. Paul Casey: Yeah, and that is hard when you love your job. I totally can relate to that as well, but it will drain you. And it also sets an expectation sometimes of the recipient of the email that, "Oh, I got to respond at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock as well." Justin Raffa: Right. I don't want to condition people to think that, "Oh, well, Justin's going to answer my email within 30 minutes because he always does." That also sets up unhealthy habits. Paul Casey: It does. Justin Raffa: And end up, because you could see what time this email was sent, what time the response was sent, all of that is tracked. And I'm trying to help my staff colleagues as well. We've all been culprits of this. Like, "Folks, let's just take it easy. This is not so urgent. If something's urgent, pick up the phone and call me. But have a nice weekend, see you Monday morning." Paul Casey: Good stuff. Well, rarely, by the way, only children unite just saying that if any of those- Justin Raffa: Yeah, it's a thing. Paul Casey: ... actually influencers out there that are only children will have to start a meetup. But rarely do we achieve our highest potential by ourselves. And you said, it's all about the team in choir. Who keeps you accountable? Who keeps you energized to getting your goals accomplished? Justin Raffa: It's pretty easy for me as a conductor because it's my singers. Paul Casey: Yeah. Justin Raffa: It is the wonderful array of volunteer people that I serve in this community who look to me weekly in rehearsals or when we're doing events. Being a choir director is a very authoritarian job in many ways, it's not a democratic institution. The conductor is front and center, usually elevated standing on a podium, and is calling the shots, is dictating, "This is what we're going to do, and this is when we're going to do it, and this is how we're going to do it." Justin Raffa: So I answer to my singers. I am responsible to them. I am inspired by them. And as I mentioned a moment ago, I could be the most skilled, experienced conductor, but if my singers aren't having a good experience, if they're not happy with the nature of rehearsals or how the organization is operating under my leadership, they're all volunteers, and they don't have to show up next week. And I'm nobody without a choir. Justin Raffa: Standing up there by myself, waving my arms, it doesn't matter, right? Everything I do is based on my singers. And since we are a volunteer co-organization, that all of our singers are volunteers, most of them do not have professional musical backgrounds. They have other day jobs, and callings, and spouses, and partners, and children, and things that take their time. So they need their time to be well-spent when they are assembled with me for rehearsals and performances, or they can just opt out. Justin Raffa: And all of the professional development that I do to stay up to date on what are the newest cutting edge trends in choral music, all the professional development workshops and things I attend, is so that I can be of better service to my singers. Keep them connected, keep them engaged, keep them excited, and keep them coming back. Paul Casey: I love that, because they could vote with their feet. Justin Raffa: Absolutely. Paul Casey: Do you also have a formal feedback mechanism or are they just free to give you feedback at any time? Justin Raffa: We typically have a series of surveys that we'll share with them. And we survey a lot of our stakeholders, so following a performance, we survey our audience. Recently in this era of COVID, we've done a number of surveys with our singers to gauge initially, what do you want to do and what do you not want to do since we can't be assembled, since we can't be together in person singing? Because the staff and I didn't want to just arbitrarily create all these online offerings, whereas the majority of our singers would go, "Nah, I'm not digging that. I don't want to do that." Paul Casey: Yeah. Justin Raffa: So just trying to gauge their interests. And now, as we see a lot of businesses and industries that are transitioning back to hybrid services and in-person services, asking the singers, "Do you want to do this? Are you ready to be back together? What's the timeline? How eager?" Or, "What are the conditions that you want to see met before you would be comfortable resuming in-person rehearsals?" So that I would like to think that we've created a lot of opportunities for singers to give them feedback. Justin Raffa: Many of them have become good personal friends, they're in my social circle, so I would also hope that they would feel comfortable approaching me if there was an issue that needed to be addressed. But we also have a number of other staff and obviously a board of directors who are my bosses. If there was an issue, they are points of contact for singers to give that feedback, if they're not comfortable talking with me. Paul Casey: Yeah, you mentioned it's slow now of course, during COVID, and I feel for you because it's your passion and you can't assemble to produce these works of art. But when, before COVID, and hopefully very soon, replenishment of energy is a big deal, because you said you could be on all the time because you love what you do. So what do you do to manage stress other than the boundaries that you mentioned earlier trying to put a cap on replying to email? Justin Raffa: Paul, I am a massage junkie. Paul Casey: Are you? Justin Raffa: I try to go every two weeks if I can, if my budget allows it. Paul Casey: Nice. Justin Raffa: I also, a couple of years ago, started receiving acupuncture treatments, which I think are very complimentary, the yin to the yang of massage. If massage is the macro, acupuncture is the micro treatments. So that self-care is very important to me. I have a hot tub on my back patio that I use very frequently. Paul Casey: Oh, yeah. Justin Raffa: And it's funny because in this era of COVID, my industry was among the first to officially shut down because the nature of performing arts. We're all about big groups of people being together in the same physical space and usually in very close proximity. That's what choir is. Choir singers, we stand shoulder to shoulder often. Paul Casey: Yeah. Justin Raffa: So I have taken advantage of all of this free time I've had to really reflect on my health and stress management, because I historically have done a terrible job at it. I will just work myself to death. So I calmed myself into a daily exercise routine. I get out of the house every day. I think it's important to be outdoors, get some sunshine. I take a 30ish-minute walk. I'm very privileged, I live in Richland, close to the River Walk, so I have a built-in walk that's right out my back door. Paul Casey: Nice. Justin Raffa: And then I started a 30-minute exercise routine. I rotate arms day, legs day, core day. And if you had said to me over a year ago that this would be my future, I would say, "No way. I hate working out. I hate exercise. I'm not a gym guy." But so many of my doctors and my healthcare team, people that care about me have said, "Justin, as you approach 40, you need to take care of yourself and build muscle mass." Justin Raffa: I'm a pretty flexible person. My massage therapists have always told me that, but you need core muscles to be strong, so I don't turn into a shriveled hunchback of an old man when I'm 50. Paul Casey: Right. Justin Raffa: So I think devoting the time to take care of your physical wellbeing is something that I'd never prioritize, but that I've been able to do. I've seen a lot of benefits from that. And I've also recently been working on learning mindful meditation, something I'm interested in, but since I've had so much time by myself that I can really focus in on it. Paul Casey: Well, Tri-City influencers, a lot to put on your wellness self-care checklist that Justin just ran through. So hopefully you got some great ideas to make sure you've got in your own replenishment plan. Well, before we head to our next question on people development, a shout out to our sponsor. Paul Casey: Located in the Parkway, you'll find motivation new friends and your new coworking space at FUSE. Whether you're a student just starting out or a seasoned professional, come discover all the reasons to love coworking at FUSE. Come co-work at FUSE for free on Fridays in February. Enjoy free coffee or tea, Wi-Fi, printing, conference rooms, and more, and bring a friend. FUSE is where individuals and small teams come together in a thoughtfully designed resource-rich environment to get work done and grow their ideas. Comprised of professionals from varying disciplines and backgrounds, FUSE is built for hardworking, fun loving humans. Learn more about us at fusespc.com or stop by 723, the Parkway in Richland, Washington. Paul Casey: Justin, people development, that's what you do, it's crucial for leadership, and if you could clone the ideal person for your organization, what are you looking for? What traits would they have? Justin Raffa: Artists, and I'd say teachers and conductors in general, we are so focused on product versus process. We're working towards a performance and perfecting that performance. So we tend to put a lot of value on skill sets, on people's training. But at the end of the day, what I have discovered is, I could bring in the most talented and experienced artistic team, but if they're jerks, if they're not pleasant to work with, if they aren't good team players, the whole process is miserable. And then you could have the most beautiful high-quality aesthetic product, but it's not worth it to me anymore. Justin Raffa: So early in my career, I really looked up to these pillars. I idolized a lot of celebrities in my industry who I discovered are really nasty people. So I want to clone people who are flexible, who are pleasant to work with, that I'm going to look forward to going into the weekly staff meeting with them, and not dreading, "Oh gosh, I hope Paul doesn't go off the handle again because we didn't have enough green M&M's in his dressing room." Because a lot of that happens, a lot of artists who have wild expectations, and are very needy, and very demanding, and I don't want to play with those people. Justin Raffa: I would rather have a less-quality product, but that I have really enjoyed the process of getting there, working with people that bring me joy, that I really value the time that I spent, because we do. We spend so much time together as ensemble artists building a product. So I want to clone a team of, I don't know what that physically looks like, but flexible and reliable, that they're going to get the job done and not just do lip service. And for me as a leader, I want to a team of folks that I know if I'm going to divvy out these responsibilities, which has also been hard for me, sometimes it's like, "Well, I'll do it. I'll take care of it myself," if I divvy that out, I trust that the team is going to deliver. Paul Casey: Which is crucial for delegation, crucial for that. Yeah, and I also agree that we want to hire people, in whatever leadership position you're in, that you look forward to being with. That we don't think about going to a meeting with them and it's like, "Oh, I've got to go to a meeting with so-and-so." I heard it said that you want to hire people that you would choose to go to dinner with. That's one of the filters to look through and so, I love that. Paul Casey: Well, you have to think of your organization as the head of a nonprofit, you've got to look further out, long-term, you've got to look at the big picture, how do you do that, Justin? Justin Raffa: I have also historically been terrible at this, because I've often said, "I live in the present moment, and I'm just paying attention to what's in front of me." And as I approach turning 40 and coming into formal middle age I suppose, I feel like it's a big shift for me. Paul Casey: Yes. Justin Raffa: A lot of this, I think just comes with age that we become more experienced and it forces us to think ahead about what's next. When I was in my 20s, it didn't matter. I got a job for $4,000 a year. I'm not thinking about retirement or savings, it's like, "I'll spend it when I got it and have fun and I'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow." But as I've worked in particular with the Mastersingers, if we have big goals, if we have big dreams about what we want our organizations to accomplish, if I don't want to keep working for the same 30ish thousand-dollar annual budget organization, we have to plan ahead. We have to set those goals because it does take a long time to get there. Justin Raffa: The choir's budget is now, just over $250,000 a year. And I'm so proud that we have built that here in the Tri-Cities. It can be done, a performing arts organization that thrived. At a time when, I was hired in the summer of 2008 in the midst of the big economic downturn that the country was facing where so many performing arts organizations were closing up shop, going bankrupt. You've got to set goals if you want to actually grow, and set your sights big, because I am. I want a big, bigger, better, bolder community. I want a bigger, better, bolder organization. And it's not something that I can do today or tomorrow, it takes the time to invest. Work with the team, set those big visions, because it's going to take a lot of time to get there, but you will, if you invest the time. Paul Casey: Well, congratulations for what has been built through you with the team, because that is phenomenal. Justin Raffa: Thank you. I'm proud of the role I've played, but it's because of the team. We got the right people on the bus when we need them. Paul Casey: That's right. And to use your macro/micro wording from earlier. So macro vision, the big goals, wanting to make this even more phenomenal than it is. What are the small acts of leadership in your role as artistic director? How do you make a positive difference in each one of your volunteers? Justin Raffa: When you and I went through LTC, we learned about five leadership traits in a particular system. And one that I had never really considered, because it's not important to me as an individual, is called encourage the heart. Paul Casey: Yep. Justin Raffa: And I think that conductors, classical music conductors are also notoriously terrible at this. We are trained to be pragmatic. We are fixing problems. And when something is correct, we just check it off the list and we move on. It's like, "What else needs to be fixed? Where else are the problems?" So I was so appreciative of my time in LTC that one of my biggest takeaways was stop and celebrate successes. And not just the big ones, once a year at the annual meeting, celebrate the little things, thank people, thank them more often than you think. Justin Raffa: And again, it's because I find that myself as an individual, that's not so important to me. I don't need a lot of lauds and thanks. I often say, "It's my job, I'm doing my job." But not everyone is like me. And of the diverse team and volunteers that I serve, it goes a long way in a rehearsal to stop and say, "Altos, that was really beautiful, thank you for that." And they look at me like, "Oh, my gosh." Because they're waiting for, "Altos, you're still singing the wrong note and I just don't know why." So this idea of encourage the heart, celebrate successes not just the big ones, and thank people often. Paul Casey: Thank people more than you think, I like that. Well, if one of our Tri-City influencer listeners asked you what are some leadership resources they must go to, it could be books, it could be podcasts, it could be other ways to grow their leadership skills, where would you point them? Justin Raffa: I used to be such an avid reader for pleasure, but now as a conductor, most of my "reading time" is spent studying music scores. But there are a couple of resources that I've enjoyed over the years as a leader. One of which I just mentioned, the leadership challenge, I believe is the formal concept that you and I studied in Leadership Tri-Cities and there's a book that came out with that. I very much enjoyed that book. It really changed my perspective on identifying those five key roles because two of them were very obvious to me. It's like, "I know I already do this pretty well, but the other three it's like, oh, I never really thought of that." So I certainly encourage people to read that. Justin Raffa: And the rest of my response, probably I would take this in a different direction than some of your other guests say, I think it's important for us here as leaders in the Tri-Cities to read the Tri-City Herald. I am a subscriber online, but we need to know what's happening in our community locally. And despite all the changes that the Herald has had in terms of staffing or the parent company that's in charge, they remain the best authority of local news. And I think it's important for us to know what's happening in our community on all these various fronts of business sectors and politics, because ultimately it is going to affect me and my organization. Justin Raffa: I think good leaders need to be aware of the big picture of what's happening in their community. Not just that I know all the latest arts and culture news, but that I'm aware of what's happening at PNNL and Hanford and on the tourism front, all those things come together. And support your local paper, right? We need good media. So be a subscriber to the Herald. It is a great resource. Justin Raffa: And then out for my daily walks, I usually listen to the New York Times, puts out a podcast called The Daily. It's about 30ish minutes, so it is the length of my walk. And that is focusing on different national issues, little 30ish-minute clips of what's going on nationally or even internationally what's happening in the world. And I have a lot of respect for The New York Times. I think it's a great publication. It's got a good team of people that are doing that investigative journalism that is not always guaranteed with a lot of our news and media sources these days. Justin Raffa: So those are things that I consume on a daily basis, in addition to reading lots of meeting minutes of city councils and other jurisdiction meetings, I try to keep myself up to speed on what local governments are doing. And since I can't attend every single meeting of every jurisdiction, I go back and read a lot of meeting minutes, which can be a little stale, but again, good to know what's going on? And what are our local elected officials? What are the decisions that they've been making for our community? Paul Casey: Great to stay aware. Good reminder. Well, finally, Justin, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Justin Raffa: Be present in the community, get out there and be visible, meet people. I continue to spend a lot of my work putting in time, getting out of the choir rehearsal, going to networking events and the chamber of commerce luncheons, any kind of communal gathering. I think it's important that I'm advocating for my organization, that I let people know that we exist. Justin Raffa: That was one of the biggest challenges when I moved here in the summer of 2008, as I was house hunting and people would say, "What brings you to Tri-Cities, you work in a Patel?" "No." "Are you hired by one of the Hanford contractors?" "No. I am the new artistic director of adult community choir called Mid-Columbia Mastersingers." And inevitably people said, "Who? Never heard of them." So I've had to build the profile of my organization. And a lot of that is just being present, getting out there. Justin Raffa: And getting out outside of your industry. We tend to cluster with people we know. All the arts and culture folks in town are good friends, they're in my social circle, I meet them at local watering holes, but sometimes we just become too insulated, right? All the doctors hang out with the doctors and all the lawyers hang out with the lawyers. We need to intersect those paths. Leadership Tri-Cities was a big help for me on that front. Some of my closest friends in my class were the most different from me and worked in sectors that are farthest removed from what I do as a musician. Justin Raffa: So get out there and meet people, meet people outside of your industry, and build your reputation that people know you to be a kind, compassionate and reliable person. Not just that, "Oh yeah, Justin is the quiet guy." Everybody knows that. They know I'm a music person, but I also hope that they know me to be kind and caring and reliable, that if I'm involved in a project or I've joined a board that I will deliver, I will show up when I'm given a task, I have a reputation for seeing it through. Build that community profile that people just don't think of you as, "Oh yeah, well, he's the CEO of this company." What beyond our titles do people know you for? I think that's so important, building those relationships, positive relationships with people. Paul Casey: Great reminders, to weave yourself into the fabric of your community and be that go-to dependable person. Well, Justin, how can our listeners best connect with you? Justin Raffa: Well, Paul as you and many know I did throw my hat in a political arena this past year. Paul Casey: Yes. Justin Raffa: I stood as a candidate for local office. If people are interested in engaging on those issues and just a lot of local community awareness, I do maintain a Facebook page called Elect Justin Raffa. I am not running for anything, I have not made any declarations, but I wanted to keep that page alive to just continue to talk about local community issues that I think are important. I also have a Twitter presence as well. You can follow me there, electjustinraffa. You can email me directly, it's info@justinraffa.com. My first and last name, R-A-F-F, as in Frank, A, is how I heard my mother pronounce my name for years over the phone, because inevitably the letter F might sound like a letter S. Paul Casey: And Justin, you probably also would love them to support the arts fundraisers in town as well, right? Justin Raffa: Yeah. In fact Mid-Columbia Arts Fundraiser is the name of an organization that supports not just my own, but some of our partners Mid-Columbia Ballet, Mid-Columbia Musical Theater, Mid-Columbia Symphony. There is such great art being made here in the Tri-City. Sometimes we're not so visible because we don't have a brick and mortar. We haven't built that performing arts center just yet. Maybe we'll talk about that next time. That's the long-term goal of mine that I will see through before I leave this community. We are going to get it done. Paul Casey: Yes, keep being a champion. Well, thanks for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well. Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend. He was one of the stalwarts in the personal development world, passed away several years ago, a guy by the name of Jim Rohm, jimrohn.com, J-I-M-R-O-H-N.com, and he lives on through his blog through The Success Academy, their resources, a team that just wants to keep getting his stuff out there. He was one of the personal development gurus of the 20th century. Stuff on goal setting, communication and leadership, all of my passions, you might want to hit up jimrohn.com to learn more. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guest, Justin Raffa from the Mid-Columbia Mastersingers for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to inspire leaders in our community. Paul Casey: Finally, one more, a leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. Zig Ziglar said, "Outstanding people have one thing in common, an absolute sense of mission." And so next time KGF, keep growing forward. Speaker 2: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org, for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Speaker 2: Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you his free Control My Calendar Checklist, go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool, or open a text message 72000 and type the word 'growing'. Paul Casey: Tri-Cities Influencer podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.

Computational chemist Samantha Johnson talks to SciVIBE about her life and work at PNNL and the search for combinations to bolster energy future. Johnson is among the PNNL scientists preparing to move into the Energy Sciences Center, the new $90 million, 140,000-square-foot facility that is expected to open in late 2021.

Materials Scientist Curtis Larimer talks about ElastiDry, a PNNL invention that can be applied to PPE in the fight against Covid_19 that emerged as the winner at the recent National Labs Accelerator Pitch Event.  

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 9, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: October Fest 1: This U.S. university was founded October 28, 1636. Harvard. 2: In late October 1922, he became premier of Italy. Benito Mussolini. 3: Martin Sheen played Bobby Kennedy in this 1974 TV movie about a crisis in Cuba. The Missiles of October. 4: This Middle Eastern president was assassinated while reviewing a military parade October 6, 1981. Anwar Sadat. 5: On October 21, 1520 this sailor entered the Chilean strait that today bears his name. Ferdinand Magellan. Round 2. Category: State And Territory Flags 1: The great falls of the Missouri River are pictured on its flag -- we stress great falls. Montana. 2: The motto on its flag is "Battle Born", not "Wanna Bet?". Nevada. 3: From left to right, this flag has a big "V", a big eagle and a big "I". U.S. Virgin Islands. 4: A palm tree divides the "U" and "A" on this territory's flag. Guam. 5: Rhode Island's flag has 13 of these; Indiana's has 19; Missouri, 24. stars. Round 3. Category: Females, Women And Ladies 1: Though not a continuation of the series, 2001's "Quidditch Through the Ages" was a short book by this woman. J.K. Rowling. 2: She was the mother of Princesses Stephanie and Caroline. Princess Grace. 3: Check out this empress' 190-carat Orlov Diamond at Russia's Armory Museum. Catherine the Great. 4: This primatologist and author was murdered in 1985, probably by a vengeful poacher. Dian Fossey. 5: By the time this 1877 title woman realizes she's been looking at life and love wrong, she catches a train, literally. Anna Karenina. Round 4. Category: U.s. Regions 1: It's what PN stands for in PNNL, a national laboratory in Richland, Washington. Pacific Northwest. 2: "Profound" adjective for the part of the "South" stretching from South Carolina to Louisiana. deep. 3: A classic 1936 book about the literary peak of Boston and Concord was called "The Flowering of" this area. New England. 4: Geographic collective name for Delaware, Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky from when they refused to secede. border states. 5: Thought to be barren, the Great Plains were marked on pre-Civil War maps as "The Great American" this. Desert. Round 5. Category: A Proverbial Mess 1: Good one deserves another turn. one good turn deserves another. 2: A is words picture a poem without. A picture is a poem without words. 3: In worth the bird hand in is a bush the two. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 4: Once twice shy bitten. once bitten twice shy. 5: A color different of a horse. a horse of a different color. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

Year in Review: A look back at three fascinating stories featured in SciVIBE in 2020. PNNL advances the frontiers of knowledge, taking on some of the world’s greatest science and technology challenges. Distinctive strengths in chemistry, Earth sciences, and data analytics are the heart of our science mission, laying a foundation for innovations that improve America’s energy resiliency and enhance our national security. We are a national lab with Pacific Northwest roots and global reach. Whether our researchers are unlocking the mysteries of Earth’s climate, helping modernize the U.S. electric power grid, or safeguarding ports around the world from nuclear smuggling, we accept great challenges for one purpose: to create a world that is safer, cleaner, more prosperous, and more secure.

While trees are known to absorb greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, PNNL researchers have found that under certain circumstances, trees actually contribute the more powerful greenhouse gas methane to the atmosphere. It can happen when seawater floods nearby forests; the flooding acts like a switch, causing release of methane from soil and trees. In some cases, enough fuel is bound within a tree’s tissues that it can, when manually released, sustain a flame. Coastal scientist Nick Ward discusses the work he’s presenting at the Earth science conference AGU 2020 and how his colleagues expect the process to become more important as sea levels rise, causing more coastal forests to flood. Check out more on AGU 2020 here: https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/agu-2020-connect-virtually-pnnl. Here's a link to Nate's work on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft3rZdPIE5s&t=3s

If nuclear energy is to become a major contributor to the energy portfolio, we must find ways to safely and effectively dispose of the radioactive waste it generates. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory materials scientist Charmayne Lonergan discusses what she's learning through her research on vitrifying Cold War era nuclear waste at PNNL, how the laboratory helps educate the public about this technology, and her goals as a STEM Ambassador to increase diversity in the sciences.View the transcript for this episode here.About the guestCharmayne Lonergan is a materials scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. Outside of her work on the vitrification of nuclear waste, Lonergan serves as a PNNL STEM Ambassador, co-chair of the ACerS Young Professionals Network Steering Committee, and on the ACerS Publications Committee. Check out displays that PNNL's STEM Ambassadors use when talking to the community about their work here.About ACerSFounded in 1898, The American Ceramic Society is the leading professional membership organization for ceramic and materials scientists, engineers, researchers, manufacturers, plant personnel, educators, and students.

Speaker 1: The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. I'm Richa Sigdel and I'm Tri-city influencer. Paul Casey: We measure what we value. I love that because what gets measured gets done. If you want to make sure a new habit is going to occur, you've got to track it. You've got to measure it. So if you want to get better at whatever your goal is, track it. Speaker 3: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast where local leadership and self leadership expert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and non-profit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Scott Sax. He is the president and project manager of the Central Plateau Cleanup Company, and Jennie Stults, who is the business development director of Amentum. And they like hanging out together so we decided to do it together. And I asked them what's funny and they sort of give a yin and yang kind of answer that one loves green pens, one loves purple pens. So tell us the story of that. Scott Sax: So, yeah. That's something interesting that Jennie and I have discovered about each other. She asked me why I always wrote in green, and there all kinds of quirky answers that you could have like Navy captains always write in green. Well I wasn't in the Navy. But I do have a real story. It's a leadership story. I was walking into one of my plants in Colorado when I was running the site. The manager was with me, and he was signing a work permit to access the area, and he signed in red ink. And our control technician said, "You can’t sign in red. You have to sign in black." And he said, "Why?" He says, "Well, that's just the way you do things." And so when we went out, I figured out, "I’ve got to find out if he has to sign in black ink." And sure enough there was no real reason to sign in black ink. It was all stuck to the old xerox machines that you signed in black or blue in the 60s. And it stayed around and it just became a legacy requirement. Scott Sax: So from that moment on, I always signed everything in green ink to remind myself that you can change anything. Okay? And remind yourself that anything can be changed if it's inefficient, dumb, or just a legacy thing. Paul Casey: A great leadership principle from a quirky thing. I love it. I love it. It's sort of like the ham. "Why was the ham cut off?" "Oh, it's because my grandma cut it off because her grandma..." "Because the oven was too big, and we had to cut it off." Scott Sax: Right. Paul Casey: Well we're going to dive in after checking in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsor. Mario Martinez, Northwestern Mutual. Mario, what types of services do you offer? Mario Martinez: Hey Paul. Thank you for letting me be on here. We run bifurcated practices in that we focus in two areas of financial plans. The first one is we do protection pieces which include life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance, really the things that people should be focused on to protect their families, their businesses. And on the other side of our practices, we do investment services. And on the investment platforms we do both the brokerage platform, and we do the advisory level services. So depending on what someone is looking for as far as guidance on their investment strategies, we can curtail and build a strategy for them to make sense. Paul Casey: Mario, how can people get in touch with you? Mario Martinez: The easiest way you can reach out to me directly on my business cell phone is 509-591-5301. You can send me an email at mario.martinez@nm.com. Or you can reach out to us on our social media platforms, the easiest one being Mario Martinez Northwestern Mutual on Facebook. Paul Casey: Thank you for your support of leadership development in the tri-cities. Well, welcome Scott and Jennie, and thanks for being a part of this today. And we had the hard drive crash of 2020 in among the other crazy things that have happened in 2020. So thanks for coming back and re-interviewing here on the Tri-City Influencer. So tell us a little bit about your backgrounds so that our influencers can get to know you. Maybe a little bit of your journey to your current position and why you love what you do. They're just pointing at each other. It's sort of funny. Scott Sax: I‘ll go ahead and start since I’ve got the longer story because I'm way older than Jennie. So I started my career after college training sailors in the Navy Nuclear Power Program. In the center of Idaho there's actually an aircraft carrier and two submarines, or there was. And that's where they train sailors before they could sink their submarine. And that’s what I did. I was working for Westinghouse. I went from there to Plutonium Production for weapons at Rocky Flats in Colorado, and I've done a variety of things since then, came and ran the plutonium finishing plant here in the early 2000s, worked at Tank Farms as a chief operating officer. In the early 2010s, I went to the UK and I was in charge of all of the commercial nuclear fuel work for the United Kingdom. Came back, ran River Corridor Closure Project as a project manager and president, and starting Monday, I'll start kicking off my new job as the president and project manager for Central Plateau Cleanup, cleaning up the center of Hanford. Paul Casey: What a story. So all the Hanford people are just, "Yeah." Checking things off the list. "I remember that. I remember that." And the rest of us are, "All those sound like acronyms that I don't understand.” Jennie Stults: Every time I hear him talk about his career it's really amazing. So, yeah. He deserves all of a lot of credit. Paul Casey: Incredible. Jennie Stults: Yeah. So my career has been a little different. I've been mostly at Hanford. I started out at, well I actually started out way back when I was in high school. And then I went on, was at PNNL for multiple years. And then took a career change out to Hanford and I worked at Tank Farms, and when my second kiddo was born, I took a state job at the Department of Ecology, and worked on the flip side of being a contractor, actually doing the regulatory work, and did that till I think my youngest was in kindergarten or so, and then went back to the contractor, which was a highlight. I actually got hired a four, and went into a completely different kind of career into the hardcore DOD group out there, which was a great highlight. It was a big change for me, and really loved it. And I worked in Hanford for 13 years doing that work. Jennie Stults: And recently joined Amentum last year as a business development director. So I took another career change. So I've done a lot of different kind of things, which is good. I call myself kind of a utility player. But I've adapted because of different things, a lot of different challenges. And so I'm enjoying my current job. So that's a highlight too. So... Paul Casey: And what does Amentum do? Jennie Stults: So, Amentum, which is the parent company for where Scott has been, you've been Amentum and all the legacy companies, right? Scott Sax: Correct. Jennie Stults: Yeah. So we're a government contractor that has around 20,000 employees. And we just bought DynCorp, so now we're going to have 37,000, 40,000, I don't know, 20 some odd countries. I probably should know the tagline a little bit better. Jennie Stults: So all over. But our division that has gone there, and nuclear environmental, so we run a lot of the DOE sites, our partners on the DOE sites as well as other federal, state, local cleanup work across the US, and in the UK and Japan. So we've got a big division. Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Scott Sax: So a little bit to add onto what Amentum is. So a lot of people know who Amentum is, and Amentum was born out of AECOM, which was a partner with URS which bought The Washington Group which bought Morrison-Knudsen, and Westinghouse. So a lot of the old companies that have been around Hanford for literally almost 60 years, since the beginning. So, a very big company and now Amentum is just focused on those government supports primarily for the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Energy. Paul Casey: Okay. And why do you both love what you do? Got to love what you do. So what wakes you up with enthusiasm in the morning? Jennie Stults: So for me, personally I like to be challenged. I like to do a lot of different things. I like to take on new roles. That's what excites me. I think my thing in terms of leadership is I really like to work on teams. I like to bring people together and foster a sense of kind of collaboration. That really drives me. I don't like environments where it's just very you're one on one, and everybody is kind of free for all. I like to get consensus. So I think if anything that kind of drives me at work, is to work on new things. And for me, I'm not afraid to try something new. I like change. A lot of people don't, and that's fine too. So I'd say that kind of drives me for sure. Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Has virtual been hard for you being a team person? Jennie Stults: No. Actually in some ways it hasn't because I've gotten to do different things again. It just forces you to- Paul Casey: Another challenge. Yeah. Jennie Stults: Yeah. Yeah. And there's other things I like about virtual. I'm actually not too much of a people person believe it or not, but I do like to work in groups and teams, and so we've just tried different things. Scott Sax: I'll give you an alternate answer to that. I hate virtual, okay? I love to work with teams too, and I love to get stuff done, and the stuff I like to get done is executing projects, delivering products, all the people I work with have heard me say, "We deserve to provide the taxpayer a nuclear baker's dozen. We need to give 13 units for every 12 units of money they give us." And that's not the reputation of the Department or Energy kind of work in the nuclear cleanup. It's always going to cost more, take longer, et cetera. Scott Sax: And so that's what gets me charged up is working with a group of people to figure out how to do more for less, and save the taxpayers money. Paul Casey: Sounds like efficiency to me. Scott Sax: Yeah. Paul Casey: So give us a hurdle along your journey that you've overcome in your career. Scott Sax: I think my biggest hurdle, and I probably will never overcome it, is that self confidence in my own ability to get things done, and understanding what's possible. So I think there's always a little bit of insecurity when you're going into a job. "Am I good enough for this? Am I going to deliver or not for the people? Am I going to leave my guys that are working with me and for me lacking because of some weakness I have?" So I think the hurdle I have every single day is to strive harder and work harder, and I think that that's probably consistent with a lot of type A kind of people is that they have that little bit of insecurity that makes them think they're not as good as anybody else, so they work harder, or try harder. Paul Casey: Sounds like humility to me, Scott. Jennie how about you? Jennie Stults: So I probably have something very similar to Scott on that part. I think so my biggest hurdles in terms of growing as a leader and moving up or achieving more, have been because I am a utility person, I have quite often my career found being turned to the left because there has been a company project, and, "Oh, you were kind of on this trail, but oh my gosh, there's an emergency out here. So Jennie, you're perfect." And one day I'm out at the 100K area trying to figure out how to do X, Y, Z, and I've never done it before. Jennie Stults: So I think it's great to be a utility person. I think you need them. I think the hardest part for me with that is it led to sometimes hard to establish a path up into leadership. And so I guess one of my lessons though is you still need to be true to who you are. If you enjoy doing a lot of different things, then do that. Eventually it will work. It may feel like you're getting to the left, to the right, but the one thing I learned about all of my jobs, and I know Scott has probably had jobs where he thought he was going this way, and well I know he has, and you end up going a different way. You didn't get what you wanted. Is that, "I wouldn't be doing my job today had I not done all those different things." Jennie Stults: So at the time it feels a little bit to the left or a set back or different things, but in reality I think every time, I learn something. And so you just have to approach things that way, is you can't see it at the time, but six months later, a year later, you go, "Oh, well that's why that happened." So I think those are some of the hurdles, but I think it is how you face them when you do have those hurdles. Paul Casey: Would you also be an advocate of cross training for that reason? Being versatile to be able to be put in different places in an organization? Jennie Stults: I think so. I think that's one thing as leaders, that's hard to do when you have good people working for you, or around you or even up, is you do not want to let them go because they're there. But I think, and Scott might have some experience with this, is I think it does people good to be forced into different things. You learn some new tools, you learn adaption, you learn how... And sometimes it makes you better I found. I think I got better in positions where I was the least comfortable, but you really have to work hard. Paul Casey: What's your biggest ongoing challenge as a leader? What really stretching you even after all of your years of experience? Scott Sax: I'll give you two answers to that. One answer is directly with a current job, as we're about ready to kick off a transition and take over a major contract. And so establishing the vision, and bringing the team along, and establishing the culture we want, but also growing and learning the culture that's already existing in there. So I think that vision and that leadership part of that is really important for me personally. I'm not at the beginning of my career. So personally I'm at the end of my career. I'm not going to have a lot more jobs. So keeping that passion every single day to get up and drive and make a difference is different in the different parts of your job. So that's it. That's my two. Paul Casey: What does stoke that passion for you? Scott Sax: People. People. And I think in analogies, and I think in pictures. And so, and the things that really just absolutely turn me on is when I talk to somebody that has got a Ph.D in forklift, that just is absolutely a master in running a forklift because I'm not. And asking them how do they do their job so well, and what could I do to help them do their job better. It's real exciting. And so that does turn me on when you get to see somebody just do something that is just marvel. Paul Casey: Love it. Jennie Stults: So for me, I think you work on things all the time. It's kind of funny. And you go through one week, it seems like you're working on something the next week. So for me, it kind of varies depending on what I'm working on, but sometimes I think us type A people try and take on too much, and that's probably my biggest thing I work on, is- Paul Casey: I wouldn't know what that means. Jennie Stults: Yeah, I know. Setting those good boundaries. And so I have really tried to embrace that over the last few years, and chosen to build up my teams around me, and rely on them. And I have found a passion for doing that. I really enjoy mentoring people, I really enjoy working as a team and getting them, because sometimes it's amazing what ideas... I can't remember who. I think it might have been Patton who even said you just tell them where you want to go and they're all figure it out, and there will be a better answer than you could ever come up with. And I've seen that in action myself. I've tried some techniques like that, and it does work. So not just saying, "Oh I can do this because I can do it." but actually stepping back and letting other people start to shine, I think us leaders really need to embrace that, and I think it's something I work on myself is making sure. And I get a lot of reward out of it but it's tough still too. Paul Casey: It is. But it multiplies your influence, doesn't it? Jennie Stults: Yeah. Yeah. Paul Casey: If you both had a leadership philosophy that you put front and center on a bulletin board in your office at all times for everyone to see, what would those messages say? Scott Sax: So it's funny you ask that question because I actually have four signs that I've had with me, and I've added them throughout my career. And the very first one I put up on my wall was just sign that said Pride. And I had my favorite coach in college, a guy named Sonny Holland, and his leadership skill, and what I took away from him was you need to be proud of your individual effort contributing to the team's success, and if you are every single day to try to do that, you could be proud of your team. And I think being proud of something as a father, as a manager, as a teammate, is probably the thing that is my philosophy is, "Don't do anything that you wouldn't be proud of, and try to do things that you can be proud of." Jennie Stults: What's your other signs though? Paul Casey: Yeah, now we want to know because you said there's four. Scott Sax: There's four. "Be part of the solution, not part of the problem." Paul Casey: Love it. Scott Sax: I put that one up when I was a maintenance manager. "The key to getting better is working smarter not harder." And I did that to keep reminding myself every single day that extra hours don't necessarily mean extra productivity. Paul Casey: True. Scott Sax: And then probably my favorite of all time is, "If you aim at nothing, you hit it every time." And so that ties back to that vision. You got to know where you want to go, where you're expecting to go, where you want your team to go, instead of just marching off smartly in all directions. Paul Casey: Good ones. Good ones. Jennie Stults: So I have two, or three maybe. But the one I would say the teams that work with me the most hear me say the most is, "We’ve got to get to point B first." So I see a lot, and I understand totally that you got to have a whole team that sees things all differently. But a lot of times in leadership you'll hear all sorts of things about a step that's 20 months down the road, and we'll have spent 30 minutes on it. And I really try and focus my teams on, "Yes. We have to think long term, but you also have to get to B." You know what I mean? "You're worried about G. Let's get to B first, and let's figure that out." And I think Scott probably sees a lot of that in his leadership that he has done too is we could worry about every single thing going wrong but let's try and figure out the near term, and then we'll keep going. Jennie Stults: And so I think that's probably the one, if you ask some of the people that work with me that hear me say that the most. The other thing I would say is a philosophy of mine is to do what you're doing today the best you can. So we all have things on our jobs that aren't our favorite, but you got to focus in, and I think as leaders, it's really important to remember that because you always lean towards the things you'd like to do. But I really do try, I'm not perfect at it, but I really do try to do my best at what I'm doing today, and sometimes that is stuff that you think, "Oh my gosh. Why am I doing this?" But sometimes you just got to do it and stuff. Jennie Stults: So that's something I try and always make sure the teams around me always know that you got to pitch in, you got to do stuff, let's all work together. And usually it works pretty good that way. Paul Casey: Yeah. I do one thing, I saw you do everything. So that's why you do your best at everything. Jennie Stults: Right. Paul Casey: Well before we get into our next question on vision and more of these guys; dream about the future, let's shout out to our sponsor. Mario Martinez, Northwestern Mutual. Mario, why should people work with a financial advisor? Mario Martinez: Hey Paul. That's a great question. Really I think there's two types of people who should be seeking out a financial professional. The one person is somebody who has very limited access to financial guidance. Maybe they're a younger professional, or somebody who just hasn't had an introduction to a financial professional yet. And the other type of person is really someone who has a lot of different exposure to different professionals. They just haven't found the one person that they really trust to take guidance from. So there's really an over information in that sense. So those are really the two types of people that should be looking to be introduced to a financial professional. Paul Casey: Fantastic. So Mario, how can people get in touch with you? Mario Martinez: The easiest way is to reach out to me directly on my business cell phone which is 509-591-5301. You can send an email to mario.martinez@nm.com, or you can find us on our business Facebook page which is Mario Martinez Northwestern Mutual. Paul Casey: So Jennie and Scott, most influencers I know have a little bit of visionary inside them, and as the leader we have to think about the next hill, even though as Jennie said, we get to point B first before we get to Z. So where do you take time to dream about the future? What does that look like for you? Scott Sax: So I find that I get my best dreams about the future when I'm really tired of fighting the daily mundane bureaucratical stuff. I'm actually not known for my patience. In fact I'm pretty famous for my impatience. Paul Casey: Jennie, stop laughing. Scott Sax: When I get very impatient, I start grading even on myself. I just go out into the field and I watch work get done, and wander around and talk to people. And they just energize me. And most of the things that I can actually say about myself is I've had a tremendous number of ideas or great ideas, but I'm a good implementer of ideas. So if I can ask somebody, "What's your idea for something to make our job better?" and they have it, I love to grab that and run with it and turn that into the future. And so I think dreaming up what you can be and what perfect looks like is important. But again, embrace today and get everything you can get done today. And it enables a lot of stuff in funny ways for tomorrow. Paul Casey: And you listen to your constituents to help create the vision it sounds like. Scott Sax: Right. Jennie Stults: So I get a lot of my personal inspiration stuff because I'm a very avid reader. So I actually like to read different sources: leadership newsletters in my email, sometimes some of them speak to me. And I would say that's probably my biggest source. Sometimes I listen to different things when I'm walking or whatever else, but I tend to do that. I tend to go in batches, and try and really take on some things, especially when I'm finding some challenges, I'll go and look for some inspiration there, and, "How do you handle this? How do you handle that?" And so I think that probably is my biggest source of different things, is doing that, but there's all sorts of different inspirations. I think Scott is right. Every day you get inspired by co-workers, friends, family, whatever it is. Paul Casey: And you can learn from everything, right? Jennie Stults: Absolutely. Paul Casey: Yeah, I'm sitting at a conference, and I may not even completely connect with the person that I'm listening to, but my brain takes one of those concepts and runs with it in a applicable way for what I'm doing, or if I'm listening to a podcast, same deal. And so with the emails. And it's hard not to be compulsive because, "Oh, this newsletter came in. I've got to get something from it. Before I delete it, I have to..." And sometimes I can get a little OCD about that. But I want to learn from everything. Paul Casey: But let's go a little granular with your life here. What's yourtypical morning routine for both of you? Maybe before work, maybe once you arrive at work, do you have any rituals that help you start your day strong? Scott Sax: Well I get up, get in the shower, and get to work in 30 minutes. Paul Casey: And you probably have to get up early, right? Scott Sax: I do. And I try to get to work between 5:00 and 5:30. I did that primarily when I had little kids because I added all my time onto the beginning of the day, and tried not to take their time away from them at night, or on weekends. And so my days got longer. Now I just go to bed earlier. But so I get up, get to work, drink coffee, and I dive into those mundane emails that you're talking about, and try to get the routine stuff cleaned off my system before everybody else starts getting to work. And then I can engage people. Paul Casey: So many leaders I've interviewed use that morning time before they get interrupted by the flood of people arriving to really get some quality stuff done. Jennie Stults: So I have kind of a typical routine, at least when I'm working onsite or a project, I get up very early but I'm a very avid exerciser. So I usually am up about 3:45 and I'm exercising by about 4:15, and I really like to exercise before work. I actually get a lot of my creativity there. I do. I listen to podcasts when I'm doing stuff, I get a lot of great ideas. My team actually one time said, "You've got to stop running." Because I got on a running kick and I come into work going, "All right, I got it. This is it." Paul Casey: Something about the open road. Jennie Stults: I had a thought. So I have been accused of that. But, so I usually do that, and it's very good for me. It clears my head in the morning, it lets me focus. And I did start doing that similar to Scott because my kids were little, and that was the only time I had for a little bit of me time. And so but it does clear my head, and really get me focused and excited for the day. Paul Casey: It probably helps you avoid burnout too. Jennie Stults: It does. Yeah. Yeah. So that's my typical morning. Paul Casey: How did you both prioritize family time and yet still be high performers at work? I know the lines get blurred as you go through your career, but how did you make sure there was time for both? Scott Sax: I think the priest that married my wife and I said something to me when he was telling us how to be married, which I always thought was an interesting me for a priest to teach me how to be married. And I guess, but his explanation for that was, "I see all the problems when it's not working." Paul Casey: Oh, sure. Sure, sure. Yeah. Scott Sax Yeah. So I took his- Paul Casey: Research. Scott Sax: Exactly. But he said, "One thing you have to understand Scott..." and we had known each other for quite some time, "...is being a good father and being a good husband, one of your roles is being a provider and the way you're doing that. So providing and doing your work is a key responsibility for you as a family member." So that relieved a lot of guilt when you had to stay late or you missed a birthday, or you had to work on Christmas, or some of that stuff because that was part of my role as a dad and a husband is providing. And so, didn't relieve all of it. Okay? Scott Sax: I never missed my kids' sports and I was engaged with them in at least their goal setting of all their school. Their mom raised them. I have a amazing wife, and she did a lot of the different stuff to get them through their lives setting their goals and doing all that stuff. But I tried to never work on weekends. I tried to never take my phone out at a basketball game. And phones are detrimental to your family I believe. So putting your phones away and focused on conversation instead of texts, that is really important. So... Paul Casey: We'll tweet that. Phones are detrimental to your families. Scott Sax. Jennie Stults: So I have kind of a different thing because I had my first son when I was 23 I think, not quite 24. And so I've had a challenge of being a mom, and a single mom relatively when my kids were relatively young. And so it was a hard balance for me. I'm very open about talking about this because I think it is really important for people to know that some of us have tough barriers that way, and I never asked for anything special because of it, but it was a challenge. But I think that what I did myself is I looked for roles that I could do. So Scott talks about being the operations manager at PP and some of the other roles. I couldn't do those. It just wouldn't have worked with my family and my kids, that they needed me home at 5:00 so that I could take them to the sports and be there for the dinners. And we always had dinners together and everything. I just could not take some roles I would have liked to. Jennie Stults: But what I learned is that's okay. I had great roles. It just was different. So I think one thing I tell people when they come and ask me about advice for this, because they do know my story, is I tell them, "Look around and find the role that fits. Talk to your manager. Tell them your things, but tell him what you're willing to do." So me, I did a lot after my kids went to bed at 8:00, I'd log on the computer for an hour and a half and I'd work till 10:00 and catch up on those emails that Scott was doing at 5:00AM. I did them in 8:30 at night. Paul Casey: Sure. Jennie Stults: And I never missed deadlines. So sometimes I had to work Saturday nights when my kids were watching movies with their friends. I was working to get ahead. So I did what I needed to do, but I accepted the roles. And the other thing I did was, when I got asked to do some of these emergency roles, I would talk to the manager and say, "Look, I am a single mom. Here's my thing. But here's what I will do. I will work very hard. This is what I do, and I'll work with you." And after that, usually we can work something out. But you do have to realize I think when you do have family balance issues, but the other thing is it doesn't last forever. So my youngest just left for college. So I'm now free to go do whatever I want. And so, it's not permanent. You can work it out. So, I think people just need to try and learn that balance for them, whatever works for them. Paul Casey: Yeah. I love that. It's contentment with whatever situation you're in, and it's also being very clear with your boundaries, "Here's what I can do, here's what I can't do." And doing it with the utmost respect. Jennie Stults: Yeah, but you have to be prepared to work hard though if you do have some of those challenges. I mean I did when Saturday night and they had friends over eating pizza and everything, I would have loved to have just sat there and whatever. But, no. I was working. So it doesn't mean you don't have to work really hard, especially if I want to be a leader and go up. So... Paul Casey: Yeah. And if you want a special work arrangement, you got to almost work double hard to show that, "Hey, I'm on board." Jennie Stults: Yeah. Paul Casey: Well finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining new influence? Scott Sax: Well I think being a new leader, leading is different than doing, okay? And I think having a mentor to learn your leadership stuff is very important. Colin Powell's Rules on Leadership are really my Bible on leadership. And I know which leaders in my career gave me the most positive attributes to work on. I also know which ones gave me some of the negative attributes not to work on. And so I think get a philosophy that's not perfect, but you can sink your teeth into, and anchor yourself with that. And that's what Colin Powell did for me. Scott Sax: Second thing is I think always listen and learn. You talked about cross training at the beginning of this, and I think one thing cross training really does for you is it some people think that if you're cross training, you can do all of it, right? For me, cross training gave me the ability to notice when somebody was exceptional at it. So I just knew enough to watch somebody and say, "That's the person that needs to be doing this, not me. I just know enough to appreciate real quality." So listen, learn. When you're in doubt, go do something. Find something you can do that day to cause the project, the team, the company to move forward. That gets noticed. You might not think it's getting noticed, but it is getting noticed, and those people that are always causing stuff to happen seem to advance. So that's what I'd say. Cause things to happen, continue to learn, and listen. Find your own mentor. Paul Casey: Good stuff. Jennie Stults: So, I would want to echo what Scott says about finding a mentor, and I think you need to look around for mentors. I've had some mentors. I will tell you my best ones were not the ones that were like me at all, and they weren't necessarily even the ones that I said, "Oh, this needs to be my mentor." But looking back on it, I learned the most from them. So Scott is a great leader but someone who's a lot like Scott, might actually find a better mentor in someone who's totally not him. So I actually think personally, I learn the most from mentors and leaders who I wasn't drawn to, but they challenge me in a different way. I learn something from them. Maybe even appreciation for finding someone else who is like them to counter me. So I think that but there's a lot of great leaders at Hanford as elsewhere. You can find a leader to be with that isn't in your field. I think you can learn a lot. I've learned a lot from people that have nothing to do with Hanford, and really pushed me in different ways, opened my opportunities. Jennie Stults: Volunteer is another one that I like to do. I'm on a board, Scott is on boards. Personally I've got a lot out of that. You meet a lot of different kinds of leaders that way because they're usually from a whole different wide variety of industries and stuff. And usually that way you usually can find some passion about some things, and really get into things. And then the other advice that I found in my career for being a younger leader when I was younger, and then middle age, and starting to be older, is look around. And I've coached this lot for people when they've asked some tips for success is, look around for those items that are getting just dropped. They're just going anywhere. They're the thing on the schedule that keeps pushing to the right and whatever, the things that people just are not that excited about." And even if it's not your favorite, try and embrace that and go after that because that's usually the stuff that actually you can shine at. Because to Scott's point, they'll appreciate you. Jennie Stults: So for me, I went and did the Department of Ecology job and did the regulatory thing just as kind of so I could be at home at normal hours with my kids and have a normal 8:00 to 4:30 kind of job for a while when my kids were young. But it ended up leaning me to a lot of things, and so a lot of times I do a lot of the regulatory work because it wasn't as high a priority as some of the other work. And so it made me shine in my career in different things and take on some new projects. So, I think trying to look for some of those. And I don't know about you Scott, but I've seen a lot of people shine just picking up kind of the stuff that nobody is picking up, and then all of a sudden you're looking and you're, "Wow they took off. Look at that." Paul Casey: The team says, "Hurray." Jennie Stults: Yeah, exactly. Don't know how they made that happen, but great. Scott Sax: I agree. Paul Casey: Great stuff. Well how can our listeners best connect with you both? Scott Sax: Well I'm pretty good at responding to emails, and so my corporate email is scott.sax@amentum.com. And be happy to respond to an email. Paul Casey: Thank you. Jenny Stults: And so my email just like Scott is @amentum.com jennie.stults. And I also am on LinkedIn. So people can connect with me there. And then Scott did mention the brand new website that's going to be launching for his company. So you can probably catch him there too and find out how to get him there. Paul Casey: Cool. Well thanks for all you do to make the Tri-cities a great place, and keep leading well. Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend. From a gentleman I met last year at a National Speakers Association conference: Kevin McCarthy. He specializes in blind spots that leaders have. And you might say, "I don't have any." Well that's why it's called a blind spot. So you can go to www3.blindspot.com, and you can actually take a little survey, 14 quick questions to reveal your blind spots. It's a free assessment. It actually comes with an eight page PDF, and Kevin McCarthy is his name, blindspots.com. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guests today Jennie Stults and Scott Sax from Amentum for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to inspire leaders in our community. Paul Casey: Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road. To help me make a difference in your circle of influence. The secret to leadership is simple. Do what you believe in, paint a picture of the future, go there, people will follow. Until next time, KGF, Keep Growing Forward. Speaker 3: Thank you to our listeners for tuning into today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership, and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org for a consultation that could help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life, or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you his free Control My Calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool, or open a text message to 72000 and type the word growing. Paul Casey: Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.

Dust blowing onto high mountains in the western Himalayas is a bigger factor than previously thought in hastening the melting of snow there, researchers show in a study published Oct. 5 in Nature Climate Change. That’s because dust – lots of it in the Himalayas – absorbs sunlight, heating the snow that surrounds it. Qian and Chandan Sarangi, formerly a post-doctoral associate at PNNL and now at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in India, are corresponding authors of the study. More than 700 million people in southeast Asia, as well as parts of China and India, depend on melting snow in the Himalayas for much of their freshwater needs in summer and early fall, driving the urgency of scientists ferreting out the factors that influence earlier snowmelt in the region. In a study funded by NASA, scientists analyzed some of the most detailed satellite images ever taken of the Himalayas to measure aerosols, elevation, and surface characteristics such as the presence of dust or pollution on snow.

Brian S. Hooker, Ph.D., P.E. was formally a bio-engineer and the team leader for the High Throughput Biology Team and Operations Manager of the DOE Genomics: Genomes to Life (GTL) Center for Molecular and Cellular Systems at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Dr. Hooker also is credited as a co-inventor for five patents. In 1985, Dr. Hooker earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering, from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California. He earned his masters of science degree in 1988 and his doctorate in 1990, both in biochemical engineering, from Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington. Hooker formerly managed applied plant and fungal molecular biology research projects, including development of plant-based biosensors and transgenic production systems for human pharmaceutical proteins and industrial enzymes at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where systems biology researchers are focused on understanding gene and protein networks involved in individual cell signaling, communication between cells in communities, and cellular metabolic pathways. Dr. Hooker has also been involved in research on microbial kinetics and transport mathematical modeling, design, development, and support for biological destruction of chlorinated organic hydrocarbons, development of tP4 transgenic plant protein production platform technology, and development of the RT3D bioremediation/natural attenuation software package. He left PNNL in 2009, and was hired as an associate professor at Simpson University in Redding, CA where he specializes in biology and chemistry. Simpson University is a private Christian University of liberal arts and professional studies offering undergraduate, graduate and teaching credential programs. Dr. Hooker is well known for his concerns regarding vaccine safety and the conflicts of interest within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After his son, Steve, was vaccine-injured, he started investigating & researching vaccine science & safety which led him to Dr. William Thompson, who later became known as the CDC Whistleblower. We discuss the CDC coverup, his vaccinated vs unvaccinated study, & much more.

Ted Bowyer, a PNNL physicist, has spent much of his career developing new way to track a radioactive gas known as radioxenon. The capability helps scientists track nuclear explosions anywhere on Earth.

Cyber security data  in many ways mimics the behavior of organic systems. Individuals or groups compete for limited resources using a variety of strategies, the most effective of which are re-used and refined in later ‘generations'. Traditionally this behavior has made detection of malware very difficult because 1) recognition systems are often built on exact matching to a pattern that can only be ‘learned' after a malicious entity reveals itself and 2) the enormous volume and variation in benign code is an overwhelming source of previously unseen entities that often confound detectors.  In addition, the enormous volume of malware artifacts is overwhelming anyone trying to categorize and characterize new additions to the many malware repositories as so much of the processing is done by hand.To turn the tables of complexity on the attackers, we have developed a method for mapping the sequence of behaviors that make up a malicious artifact to strings of text and analyze these strings using modified bioinformatics algorithms. Bioinformatics algorithms optimize the alignment between text strings even in the presence of mismatches, insertions or deletions and do not require an a priori definition of the patterns one is seeking. Nor do they require any type of exact matching. This allows the data itself to suggest meaningful patterns that are conserved between binaries. These patterns can be used to identify zero-day malware and can help to automate the curation and characterization of large quantities of suspected malware.  I will talk about our MLSTONES capabilities as an innovative and effective way of detecting and characterizing most types of malware artifacts.  I'll also discuss how these capabilities can be used on other types of cyber security data.  About the speaker: Elena Peterson --Ms Peterson joined PNNL in 1990 after getting her BS in Computer and Information Sciences from the University of Oregon.  She is currently a Senior Cyber Security Researcher in the Computation and Analytics Division.  Ms. Peterson has led the research, development, and management of multiple cross-disciplinary, multi-laboratory projects focused in the fundamental sciences and national security sectors.  Her work has included research and development of integrated computational environments for bioinformatics, physics, computational chemistry, and cyber security.  She is currently the principal investigator for the MLSTONES and mMutant projects, which applies algorithms and tools from the biological sciences to create new and innovative solutions to relevant cyber security problems thus merging two of her main interests.

Listen into our in-depth conversation with Carl Imhoff who beyond his role with Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL) leads the Grid Modernization Lab Consortium, a partnership of the U.S. national labs. PNNL and other national labs are doing both basic and applied research to make the power grid more resilient, flexible and secure. Don't know much about dynamic contingency analysis or remedial action schemes for grid operational continuity? This is a great chance to get up to speed. Working on networked phasor measurement units, future grid architectures or grid scale storage? Get a sense for how our national resources are working to move them ahead. Listen into what PNNL and the national labs are doing to support industry. Produced by Grid Forward.

During this time of lockdown, the centre for quantum software and information (QSI) at the University of Technology Sydney has launched an online seminar series. With talks once or twice a week from leading researchers in the field, meQuanics is supporting this series by mirroring the audio from each talk with an exclusive 10min interview with each of our presenters. I would encourage if you listen to this episode, to visit and subscribe to the UTS:QSI YouTube page to see each of these talks with the associated slides to help it make more sense. Click the link below to see the talk uploaded to the meQuanics podcast from Nathan Wiebe of the University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1NU9DBh2t8

In this episode of Nano Matters, Mike Hochella, University DistinguishedProfessor Emeritus at Virginia Tech, and Laboratory Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, discusses naturally occurring nanomaterials and how nanoscience plays a role in Earth’s natural processes. If you would like to learn more about nanotechnology, go to nano.gov or email us at info@nnco.nano.gov. Closed captioning is provided on our YouTube channel. For this episode, go to: https://youtu.be/aJCA0yGRrCI CREDITS Special thanks to:  Mike HochellaVirginia TechPNNL Music:  Inspirational Outlook by Scott Holmes  https://www.freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes/Inspiring__Upbeat_Music/Scott_Holmes_-_Inspirational_Outlookhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode Produced by:  Mallory Hinks, Ph.D.  AAAS S&T Policy Fellow at NNCO Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this podcast are those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office or United States Government. Additionally, mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by any of the aforementioned parties. Any mention of commercial products, processes, or services cannot be construed as an endorsement or recommendation.

This webinar features presenters and material from the November 2019 FRTR Meeting held in Reston, VA. The session will include two presentations: Developing Conceptual Site Models of Contaminated Fractured Rocks to Support In-Situ Remediation (Presented by USGS) Conceptual site models (CSMs) were developed to support in-situ remediation of fractured sedimentary rocks contaminated with trichloroethene (TCE) in two areas at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) site near Trenton NJ. The understanding of heterogeneity and groundwater flow represented in these CSMs is critical to designing remediation strategies that involve spreading injected amendments to contaminant locations. In one area at NAWC, hydraulic testing, tracer testing, and flow and transport modeling were conducted to develop a CSM for designing in-situ bioremediation of TCE, involving injection of emulsified vegetable oil and bacteria. The CSM showed that injection will spread amendments widely over a zone of lower-permeability fractures, with long residence times expected because of small velocities after injection and sorption of the oil onto solids. However, amendments transported out of this zone will be diluted by groundwater flux from other directions, limiting bioremediation effectiveness downgradient. In another area of the site, hydraulic tomography (HT) was conducted to develop a high-resolution hydrogeologic CSM that depicts the extreme heterogeneity of hydraulic properties. This CSM includes an estimate of the most-hydraulically-active fracture network, which is a key component of designing in-situ remediation because amendments are spread along this network during injection. Results of these studies emphasize that for in-situ remediation of heterogeneous flow systems such as fractured rocks, the extent of injected amendments cannot be conceptualized using simple homogeneous models. Instead, it is important to develop CSMs that use characterization data and modeling to represent the heterogeneous features and simulate the spatially variable groundwater fluxes that strongly control in-situ remediation effectiveness. Using Remedy Implementation Information to Guide Remedy Optimization (Presented by PNNL, DOE, & EPA) During groundwater remedy implementation, data and information are collected about remedy performance and the site contaminant and hydrogeology conditions. This information can be used to refine the conceptual site model and evaluate progress toward remedial action objectives. Consistent with recent guidance for adaptive site management, it is important to consider this information with respect to remedy optimization opportunities. Groundwater remediation of carbon tetrachloride at the Department of Energy Hanford Site has followed this approach and is currently conducting an optimization study using EPA's guidance on remediation optimization. The optimization study will evaluate changes to the treatment configuration and provide information to support future decisions to improve remedy protectiveness, effectiveness, and cost efficiency, and to facilitate progress toward completion of site work. To view this archive online or download the slides associated with this seminar, please visit http://www.clu-in.org/conf/tio/FRTRPresents9_040120/

This webinar features presenters and material from the November 2019 FRTR Meeting held in Reston, VA. The session will include two presentations: Developing Conceptual Site Models of Contaminated Fractured Rocks to Support In-Situ Remediation (Presented by USGS) Conceptual site models (CSMs) were developed to support in-situ remediation of fractured sedimentary rocks contaminated with trichloroethene (TCE) in two areas at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) site near Trenton NJ. The understanding of heterogeneity and groundwater flow represented in these CSMs is critical to designing remediation strategies that involve spreading injected amendments to contaminant locations. In one area at NAWC, hydraulic testing, tracer testing, and flow and transport modeling were conducted to develop a CSM for designing in-situ bioremediation of TCE, involving injection of emulsified vegetable oil and bacteria. The CSM showed that injection will spread amendments widely over a zone of lower-permeability fractures, with long residence times expected because of small velocities after injection and sorption of the oil onto solids. However, amendments transported out of this zone will be diluted by groundwater flux from other directions, limiting bioremediation effectiveness downgradient. In another area of the site, hydraulic tomography (HT) was conducted to develop a high-resolution hydrogeologic CSM that depicts the extreme heterogeneity of hydraulic properties. This CSM includes an estimate of the most-hydraulically-active fracture network, which is a key component of designing in-situ remediation because amendments are spread along this network during injection. Results of these studies emphasize that for in-situ remediation of heterogeneous flow systems such as fractured rocks, the extent of injected amendments cannot be conceptualized using simple homogeneous models. Instead, it is important to develop CSMs that use characterization data and modeling to represent the heterogeneous features and simulate the spatially variable groundwater fluxes that strongly control in-situ remediation effectiveness. Using Remedy Implementation Information to Guide Remedy Optimization (Presented by PNNL, DOE, & EPA) During groundwater remedy implementation, data and information are collected about remedy performance and the site contaminant and hydrogeology conditions. This information can be used to refine the conceptual site model and evaluate progress toward remedial action objectives. Consistent with recent guidance for adaptive site management, it is important to consider this information with respect to remedy optimization opportunities. Groundwater remediation of carbon tetrachloride at the Department of Energy Hanford Site has followed this approach and is currently conducting an optimization study using EPA's guidance on remediation optimization. The optimization study will evaluate changes to the treatment configuration and provide information to support future decisions to improve remedy protectiveness, effectiveness, and cost efficiency, and to facilitate progress toward completion of site work. To view this archive online or download the slides associated with this seminar, please visit http://www.clu-in.org/conf/tio/FRTRPresents9_040120/

Pods of Science | Episode 7 | How to Stay Safe from Biothreats JW: Welcome. I’m your host, Jess Wisse. Today I want to share something a little different with you.Let me introduce you to my friend Nick Hennen. He’ll be co-hosting of Pods of Science for us today. This episode was recorded live at the 2020 AAAS meeting. Take it away, Nick.NH: I’m Nick Hennen, Media Relations Advisor for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. And I’m here today with Katrina Waters who represents the Biological Division of our laboratory and Kristin Omberg, representing Chemical and Biosignatures Science at PNNL. Today we’ll talk about how increasing globalization is fueling the spread of novel natural biological threats, and advances in biotechnology that could be used to engineer new threats are constantly emerging. Frameworks for assessing unknown biological agents can enable rapid risk profiling and mitigation. This includes applying novel data analysis methods to host-pathogen interaction data to help predict, at early exposure times, whether a patient can be expected to recover from a disease such as Ebola without major interventions.Please introduce yourself and describe what you do at PNNL and why you do it.KW: Hi. So I’m Katrina Waters. I’m a Biochemist and Laboratory Fellow at PNNL. I manage the basic science organization for biology at the lab and work as a researcher in the area of infectious disease and public health. So the reason that I do it is that I get to work with really awesome people who contribute in a lot of different ways and it’s just been a lot of fun. KO: I’m Kristin Omberg. I am the manager of the Chemical and Biological Signatures Group at PNNL which is in the National Security Directorate. I’m a chemist by training and in 1999 I was doing a post-doc at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is a sister laboratory. And my post-doc didn’t go very well so I started looking for jobs and I got a couple of offers. One was in accelerator production of Tritium and one was in biothreats—so, looking at preparing a system to detect a biological threat in the future. And I talked to my father who happens to be a Nuclear Engineer at PNNL and he said, “I feel kind of good about that counter terrorism stuff.” So I took the job and I started the job in December of 2000. NH: Oh, wow. That’s wonderful. KO: And since then, the 2001 anthrax attacks on the United States, it’s just been a constant sprint. NH: Thanks, Dad.KO: Yeah, thanks, Dad. NH: Tell us briefly about the nature of biothreats and what does that word mean?KO: That is a really interesting question because the way we use biothreat has actually changed in all of our lifetimes. A lot of people don’t realize that up until 1969, the United States had a bioweapons program. So they weaponized Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis and other human pathogens for use in war. The former Soviet Union also had a biological weapons program and they weaponized many of the same pathogens. So at that time biothreat was used to describe a deliberate act of war by a state program using a weaponized pathogen. In 1975, the Biological Weapons Convention came into force and we became less concerned about a state program, both the Soviet Union and the United States ratified that convention. In the 1990s though, we started becoming concerned about terrorist groups. We started worrying about terrorist groups overseas who started using biological agents, and then we saw that in 2001. So we started being concerned about the biothreat by a state actor, terrorist, or a lone actor. But since 2001, we’ve so many outbreaks of diseases that are zoonotic diseases that jump from animals to humans. We’ve had avian influenza, we’ve seen a couple of rounds of Ebola, SARS, MERS and the current coronavirus. And they’ve all demonstrated that they can really be equally devastating in a globalized world. So, in the last decade we’ve started to worry about emerging disease, as well as the health of other populations, so the populations of animals and plants that share our world. Because the health of those populations also impact human health. And we’ve also become more concerned about lab accidents. If we had an accident and if a pathogen were to escape from a laboratory, it could potentially become disruptive. So, in 2018, the U.S. government released the biodefense strategy and they define biological threats as natural, accidental, or deliberate outbreaks of disease, whether in the human, animal, or plant population. So it’s a much more broad definition that we have today that incorporates natural, accidental events and deliberate events, as well as all the populations of the world. NH: Thank you. So I want to talk about outbreaks. What makes an outbreak happen, anyway? Is there a typical timeline that happens with an outbreak? Do most pretty much die off eventually? Or are they here to stay?KW: Yeah, that’s a really great question. So predicting when an outbreak will emerge, or what will emerge is a really complicated task. There are a lot of different factors that play into that, dozens of factors as we heard at one of the sessions yesterday at AAAS on infectious disease forecasting. Pathogens adapt to their changing environment. So right now we have climate change, we have changes in farming practices, migrations of populations closer to animal species, migrations of species closer to humans. And all of this human to other species, or animal vector contact increases the chances for the emergence of a pathogen to jump from their host species to a new host species. So when an outbreak happens, typically what that means is that not only does a primary human host get infected, but that pathogen changes to become human to human transmissible. So as we’ve seen with the current coronavirus, once that happened it spread pretty rapidly, that human to human transmission. The timelines can really vary. So one of the things we saw in our session yesterday was the Dengue virus outbreaks that happen in Puerto Rico tend to be very seasonal based on weather changes, whereas Ebola outbreaks that came from local animal populations tend to have really irregular frequency but they’ve been increasing in frequency since the 1970s. So I think outbreaks will continue to happen but predicting them is really more of a challenge of us understanding where they come from, what is causing that transmission and then how quickly they die off is influenced by a lot of different factors. Some of those things could be the nature of the pathogen itself, how infectious it is or how lethal it is to the human host. How we as a community or response agencies respond to that in terms of medications available, or vaccines, quarantine efforts. And then finally, the other thing is really is the natural reservoir of the pathogen. Is it existing in a reservoir where people are going to continue to get reinfected no matter what we do? All of those things will influence the timeline for an outbreak. NH: That’s quite complex, isn’t it? Is there anything very different or surprising about the current outbreak compared to these past outbreaks?KO: The thing I’ve been surprised about, and there’s been a nice focus on it at this meeting, is that we’re getting data in a lot faster than what we typically see. AAAS pulled together a nice session at the beginning of the meeting where they discussed, in part, some of the genomic sequence data that’s been collected and disseminated. And they’ve done a nice analysis of what that tells us about animal to human vs human to human transmission. I don’t ever remember having this many sequences available in such a short time following the identification of a disease. It really speaks to how ubiquitous sequencing machines have become. They have sequencers that can actually plug into a laptop and we’re deploying those all over the world. So people can sequence more than they ever could before. The other thing that I’m seeing that’s really remarkable is really the international effort to control the spread has been a lot more proactive and thorough that we’ve seen in the past. I was astonished, although in a good way, for example when Starbucks shut down stores in China. One of the big things that drives person to person transmission is the number of contacts a person has throughout the day. So a place like a Starbucks, a place like a school that's why you often see these public spaces, like a market for example in the current one, that's why you often see these public spaces associated with epidemics. It's because that's where people get together and that's where they end up sharing germs. NH: What’s tricky about identifying patients quickly during an outbreak? Walk us through what typically happens.KW: One of the things that's really tricky about these, about many of these outbreaks, is that the symptoms that people come down with sound a lot like the flu. Or a common cold, right? So even during the Ebola outbreak, some of the initial symptoms were fever, fatigue, body aches, chills, things that would normally be seen during any kind of similar endemic infection that people are accustomed to. And so right now, for example with coronavirus outbreak in the middle flu season, the symptoms are very similar to influenza. And so it's hard for the doctors to really notice, or for even the patients themselves to notice there's something different going on with them from what they would see in a typical flu season. So in the case of a doctor’s office or emergency room, really what's going to happen is somebody's going to walk in, they're going to say I have these symptoms, I have breathing problems, and the doctors are really going to be looking at the symptoms to try to determine what is there, but it could take hours if not days for the results of the tests that they need to find out if they're infected with something, if they have asthma, do they have COPD? Do they have pneumonia? What is it really that you're trying to treat? And many times what happens is that in the middle of the identification process, they're still focusing on getting that patient to breathe. And that will often include the administration of bronchodilators, steroids, or in really severe cases, putting people on a ventilator. And all of those treatments can drive the viral infection much deeper into the lung and make it worse. And so really, the need is for rapid diagnosis that can provide clues to physicians about how to treat a patient based on their physiology and the symptoms. While in the process we're trying to identify what caused it, but really be able to treat them appropriately right out of the gate.NH: I want to talk about biological threats. Tell me a little bit, about I definitely want to talk about biological agents. Can you tell me a bit about how are emerging biological agents or potential threats identified today?KO: In the strict deliberate threat space, we identify them based on a list that currently stands at 67 agents that were defined back in 1997 originally as a list of things that we wanted to keep out of the hands of terrorists or lone actors.NH: So 67?KO: 67 today. It was actually 47 when they originally defined it, but there have been diseases that have been added to it like pandemic influenza. So we have that list of things and in many cases we identify it through either an environmental sample if we can get a sample of it or a clinical case. And the clinical cases are the same problem that Katrina described. I actually had a friend when I lived in New Mexico who got plague. He got it golfing. Plague is endemic in the southwest part of the United States. When he first came in, plague manifests as a respiratory problem, so he came in and they thought he had a bad cold. It wasn't flu season fortunately, but they sent him home to rest. And it progressively got worse, so then they started testing him for other respiratory pathogens. But it took about two weeks before they got around to using the tests for plague because plague looks a lot like a lot of other respiratory diseases. So in many cases what we do is we try our diagnostics to see if we can find something in a clinical case. If we can't identify what it is based on things we've already identified, we can do DNA sequencing and that is one of the things we're seeing coming out of the current outbreak is a lot of sequences of this corona virus. If we have sequences available we can also do something called real-time polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR, which is a DNA matching technique. Unfortunately, whether you're sequencing or whether you're doing RT-PCR, both of those techniques rely on matching the nucleic acid sequence to a known database of sequences. So we are really primarily looking for things that we've already seen before. When we have something that hasn't been seen before, if it hasn't been entered into the database, we can say that it's close to something in many cases, but we can't say exactly what it is. And even when you can't identify that sequence the nucleic acid tells you what the microbe is capable of doing. But it doesn't always tell you what it is doing.Microbes adapt to their environment. I like to actually think of them like my cats. My cats have a lot of functions they could do, but they choose not to because they don't have to. And so microbes adapt and they use the functions that they need to survive and they turn off the ones that they don't. So when you have a sequence, it may not tell you, for example what antibiotics you would use to treat something, it won't tell you often times how lethal it might be. It only will have limited applicability to determining person-to-person transmissibility and usually you just tell that by how quickly it mutates. So for example, with the current outbreak of corona virus the first DNA sequences didn't tell us if it was transmitting from human to human. It was only when we got enough clinical cases and enough sequences that we were able to compare the similarity and say it was human to human transmission. And that's true of all new diseases. And in 2020 we have all these data sharing techniques, we have a lot more data gathering techniques but in a lot of cases we still just wait and watch a disease play out in a human population. NH: What are some of the tools you're using to address these challenges?KW: So one of the things we're trying to do at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is to focus more on the host response and the actual biological response of the pathogen when it gets into a human host. And we can use the gene sequencing and we can use the transcribed RNA that comes out of those systems to study them. But we're also focusing at PNNL on the development of advanced mass spectrometry measurement approaches so that we can look at the proteins and the small molecules and the lipids within a biological system and see how are they functionally responding, these pathogens in their new environment and how is the host responding to that pathogen so that we can get a better sense of what is the severity of that infection. What does the disease actually look like physiologically within the human? And even give us clues for how to treat that. If we know that there's a specific kind of metabolic shutdown is there a drug, or a specific kind of treatment that can focus on the treatment of that while we went through the process that Kristin just described for identifying, developing a vaccine—figuring out what antibiotics or antivirals might be effective—we can really focus more on that treatment of the physiological condition of the human.NH: That's great. Are such measurements brand new? Or have they been used before?KW: So they have been used before and at PNNL we've been developing these technologies for several decades, but it's really only been in the recent history that they've become more and more sensitive. Now we can identify more molecules in smaller samples with greater quantitative precision to know what is there, how much of it is there, and whether it's really specific for one condition or another. And so in addition to the mass spectrometry for the identification, we also are developing a lot of computational approaches to make sense of all of that data so that we know with what precision we've done the identification and made that quantitative measurement. And so really it's the advances in the past few years that have given us the ability to get much better precision. And one of the things we talked about at our AAAS session on Friday was how we've applied this to the Ebola outbreak from 2014 and we could identify a set of biomolecules that were really indicative of the survival of patients that came down with the infections. And we've applied similar approaches to study cancer from military populations to get a sense of early cancer diagnosis and treatment, as well as to study the human microbiome and its influence on human health. NH: Is this as simple as measuring one or two things in a patient's blood?KW: That would be great, but it's really unlikely. So the reality is that there are hundreds of factors that contribute to disease and they might vary from person to person. So the genetic makeup of our population is so diverse that our individual susceptibilities to things is very different, and how they express physiologically. So we're working to get the needed measurements down to just a handful so that it could be used realistically in a clinical diagnostic. And at the same time, allow for an accurate prediction of somebody's risk or how you would want to treat them. And one of the really key tools that we have that we're applying to this is machine learning. So machine learning really helps us apply that to the big data problem, the complexity of the data that we collect and the huge amounts of data that we accumulate to use machine learning to help us identify those factors that are the most predictive in combination to be used in a clinical assay.NH: And what would you say is the biggest need right now in our response to an emerging bio threat? KO: I think there are two needs right now and one is an immediate need and one's a longer-term need. Right now, we need clear information and we need it as early as possible. That was one of the subjects that was brought up at the AAAS meeting in the session on coronavirus was the difficulty of getting clear, high-quality information out. Particularly when there is a lot of information coming out that is sensationalist, or only partially true. But in the longer run, I think what we really need is better science. And we're working on that science but it's going to take a little while to get there.What we really need is we need to apply the science techniques that we have developed over the last ten years, like the ones that Katrina talked about, like artificial intelligence, to try to figure out if we can do something while we're waiting around to identify a disease. So instead of asking, as was the case with my friend with plague, what does he have and then how will we treat it can we really get the right treatment first while we're figuring out what someone has. So can we understand what's going on with the host? Can we understand more about the pathogen without having to be able to match the DNA sequence? I think we can. I think it's not very far away right now. I think we couldn't have done it back in the 1970s when we stopped our biological weapons programs, but I think that we have the science now that in the next couple of decades we will be able to really be proactive in treating the disease as well as identifying it.NH: It's exciting. What can people listening to this podcast right now do to protect themselves from bio threats? I mean or do they even need to protect themselves? Should they be concerned? KW: So I think for the general population they don't need to be concerned about bio threats from a deliberate release. But when we think about these natural emerging agents that will continue to come up, the single most important thing people can do on a day-to-day basis is washing their hands. It is the most effective way of preventing people catching, as well as spreading, infections of any kind. The second thing people can do is get vaccines when they are available. People have forgotten that at the turn of the century 6,000 people died every year from measles. And vaccines really are a miracle of modern medicine as they’ve been applied, and childhood mortality rates have dropped from greater than 20% when before childhood vaccines were available in the 60s, to less than 5% today. And deaths attributed to childhood diseases have dropped by 99%. And so what people can do is get those vaccines that are available, including the influenza vaccine because even if they get the strains wrong it will often result in a less severe infection for the people who've had the vaccine. And particularly for the young, or for the older and compromised immune systems, getting influenza can be very, very serious or deadly. And so getting the vaccines where available is very important. KO: I think there's an interesting risk perception issue when we have something spectacular in the news, and there's an interesting risk perception for issue with the biological threat. While I personally believe that those are all very important, I believe that we lose perspective on the fact that between thirty and forty thousand people every single year die of flu in the United States. I was very proud of that recently, I tell my daughter that every single year when I'm trying to convince her that the flu vaccine is worth it and when some of her friends got upset the other day about coronavirus in her class my daughter's spouted up with, “Every year 30 to 40 thousand people in the U.S. die from the flu!”NH: She remembered it! KO: So proud. But we tend to think that these things or measles because they're more commonplace are not as serious, but they are. And in many cases the things that we use to protect ourselves against influenza, like handwashing, and really good sanitation, and hygiene practices. And I always tell my family to make sure you get a good night's sleep and you're eating your vegetables and you have a generally good health system.NH: Yeah and that's definitely an important thing to take care of your body, to eat right, wash your hands. It’s a defense against everything. Right well this has been really interesting. Thank you both so much for being a part of Pods of Science!KW: You're very welcome.MusicJW:Thanks for listening to Pods of Science. Want to learn more? Follow us on social media at PNNLab. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also visit our website at pnnl.gov. Thanks for listening. 

Welcome. I’m your host, Jess Wisse. On today’s episode we’ll talking about how scientists are taking a new approach to better understand and fight cancer. Stay tuned to learn more.   JW: New research published in Cellshows a never-before look the steps that happen when a woman develops endometrial cancer. This type of cancer affects the uterine lining and it can be deadly. PNNL researchers are using their expertise in mass spectrometry and cancer biology to better target this disease. Meet one of them: Karin RodlandKR: I’m Karin Rodland. I am a PNNL laboratory fellow and I'm one of the lead cancer biologists at PNNL. The main thing that I do is provide expertise about cancer biology to the mass spectrometry group that does proteomics and metabolomics measurements of lots of different tumors.As I got into my 30s and I started really doing this, it's like got my PhD and I thought “Where am I going to postdoc? And what am I going to do in my own research lab?” The number of people I knew who were friends who had cancer—it was just mind-boggling. And I would go to Lions Clubs and Rotary Clubs to do this kind of lay outreach and I would start by saying, “If you or someone you know has had cancer raise your hand.” And every single arm in the room would go up. That's why I do this.JW: Karin has studied cancer biology since the 80s and she’s one of the top experts in the field. KR: KR: I ended up at Oregon Health & Science University as an assistant professor in the mid 80s and I was there for 17 years. And I earned the right to go on sabbatical and I came to Pacific Northwest National Lab to learn proteomics because they were the world's best at proteomics and I thought I was going to need that technology for my research. And I came on sabbatical for a year and I really enjoyed the team research philosophy and culture that they do at PNNL. I was totally impressed with the mass spectrometry technologies and the computational biology expertise and I saw a great opportunity to apply all these capabilities to biomedical research and particularly to cancer.JW: For years doctors and scientists have known that cancer is a genetic disease. Our genes control much of what happens in our bodies, including the way our cells function, grow, and divide. Because of this, cancer researchers have spent a lot of time studying the DNA and RNA of cancer cells. But Karin and her team looked one step closer. They studied the proteins synthesized by these cells. KR: What we call the central dogma of molecular biology, is you have the genes and they're the blueprint. And they send out kind of a Xerox copy and that's the messenger RNA. And then the message gets made into proteins and the proteins actually do the work. And the way that they do the work is by being modified with phosphorylation which turns them on and off, or by acetylation which opens them up or closes them down. So it's easy to measure DNA and it's easy to measure RNA. The technology has been very well developed, it's inexpensive, and it's easy. So scientists and doctors measure what is easy and convenient to measure. So we can measure genes and that's the only tool that most doctors have for doing precision medicine. It's the genes and maybe they can do the RNA. And so all these models have been built up trying to predict disease outcome based on the genes and the RNA. What we found is that when you add the proteins you get much, much more information. And sometimes the information from the RNA is a little bit misleading. It's a little bit different than the information that you get from the proteins, but if we correlate the proteins with the known clinical features we find that the protein modifications are more powerful in this study.JW: In this most recent study, Karin and her team studied nearly 150 uterine tissue samples. And they did so by using a tool called a mass spectrometer. This is an incredibly sensitive instrument that can measure the smallest parts of a sample. Using the mass spectrometer, the team took many different types of measurements—so many, that they actually took more than 12 million measurements – the most ever taken of proteins for cancer research. They tried to measure everything that they possibly could. KR: For cancer research, the type of research that we do at PNNL with our great mass spec is discovery research. We're not trying to test the hypothesis. We're trying to study what it is and describe it in in great detail. And then we hand that information off to the basic scientists at OHSU say, and they tease out parts of it and they do a very specific experiment to see what the relationship is. And so that's how the science grows and grows and grows. JW: This type of research was only possible with an amazing team of collaborators. Like much of the research done at PNNL, this research was done by a multidisciplinary team where each team member is an expert in something unique. KR: We have a great team at PNNL Tao Lu runs the mass spec and he runs it very well. He knows how to design experiments to make things work on the mass spec. And he just knows how to get people to work together and work well in everything. There's a very large mass spec team that's very great. There's Paul Piehowski who works on the sample processing. And Marina Gritsenko who solves the problems in sample processing. She's a very prominent author on this paper because doing the sample processing was so important. There's Ron Moore who keeps the instruments running well. Then there are the people who help us interpret the data. Jason McDermott and his team, they take all that mass spec data and they start to make sense out of it and build the pieces of the mass spec machinery. Sam Payne is on our team he was at PNNL he's now at Brigham Young University. Bing Zhang is the lead of the Baylor team and he's been a collaborator with us for ten years. And then the consortium, the CPTAC consortium has brought together a number of high-power labs that do nothing but genomic analysis. PNNL is not as strong in genomic analysis as we are in proteomic analysis, so we've been teaming with the folks at Washington University in the lab of Li Ding and the folks at New York University in the lab of David Fenyo.JW: Obviously, it’s bad to get cancer. But there are different types of cancer. And the type of cancer a patient has will determine how aggressively is spreads. Karin describes the differences as “bad actors” vs “good actors.” By doing their in-depth protein analysis, her team can now better identify if a cancer is a bad actor or good actor.KR: When somebody has a tumor the first things that the doctor does is to sample the tumor by a biopsy or removing the tumor if it's small and localized. And then you give it to a specialized kind of doctor called a pathologist who looks at it under the microscope. And for over a hundred years we have a lot of observational data about if the tumor looks like this it's going to behave bad. If it looks like this it's likely to behave well, but we don't know why. We just know that there's an association between what it looks like and how it behaves. And then there are tumors that we know behave badly when they look like they should be tame tumors. Okay, so there's a type of appearance that we call serous endometrial cancer and it's a bad actor because it doesn't look like a well-developed uterus. And there's a type of cancer that we call endometrioid endometrial cancer and it's a good actor. It's pretty much doing what it's supposed to do—it’s just growing faster than it's supposed to and you can whip it into shape pretty easily. But there's a small percentage of those endometrioid endometrial cancers that become bad actors and that metastasize and kill the woman. And you can't tell it by looking under the microscope. And you can't really tell it by looking at the DNA. And so what we found was the protein behaviors in those bad actors that look like the proteins in the serous type that we know are going to be bad actors. So, we can look for the common features that define a tumor that's going to be aggressive and nasty and a bad actor. So not only does that allow us to make a prediction about, you know, “You can rest assured you can be comfortable the surgery is going to cure you.” But then if you're not in that nice reassuring category, we can start to do a better job of attacking the problem, of developing targeted therapeutics that are going to attack precisely what is broken in those tumors that are the bad actors. No matter what they look like, it's whether proteins are good or bad.JW: Not only did the team find protein data to be so rich, they were able to use this information to learn more about immune cells. Tumors attract immune cells. They are a big part of the problem when it comes to the spread of cancer because they can trick the body into thinking tumor cells aren’t dangerous. Think of an intruder wearing a disguise to mask their true identity. KR: When we look at the tumor, we're not just looking at the tumor cells themselves. We're also looking at the immune cells that have been attracted to the tumor. And immune cells, their job is to kill anything that's foreign. And a tumor cell is a foreign cell—it has changed and mutated. So, it should look foreign to your immune system and the immune system should attack it and kill it. But many tumors make immunosuppressive molecules that tone down the immune system. So we can actually measure how much of the immunosuppressive nature is there. So one of the hottest therapies in cancer these days is immunotherapy where we stimulate the immune cells to kill the cancer cell. We remove the suppressive factors and we stimulate the aggressive factors and they kill the tumor cells. So with the proteins we can identify how much tumor suppression is there and whether the immunotherapy will work. But even when we stimulate the tumor cells, the immune cells to be active—they have to have certain machinery that allows them to actually reach out and touch the tumor cell and recognize that it's a tumor cell. And so we can also tell whether the tumor cells that are there have enough of this machinery to actually do their job. So this is going to help us determine whether immunotherapy will work for that patient or not. Because immunotherapy right now is only working in 40 to 60 percent of people. We don't know why it works in some and not in others, but when it does work it's practically a cure. When it doesn't work it can also make you very sick it can stimulate your immune system to attack your healthy cells. So we don't want to tune up your immune system if it's not going to work against the cancer. So this allows us to be more precise in how we use immunotherapy. JW: There’s one huge benefit to learning more about the proteins of immune cells. With this knowledge, doctors might be able to spare patients unnecessary side effects. KR: Well most immune therapies make you feel like if you've had the worst flu you've ever had. The early days of immunotherapy used the same molecule that your immune cells make when you have the flu. And patients that I've worked with said we don't want you to research immunotherapy because it makes you feel really horrible and it's not working often enough to be worthwhile. So, we had to understand the biology enough that we could make immunotherapy successful and that we could also use different strategies that didn't make you quite so sick. Almost everybody who gets immunotherapy feels like they have a really crappy flu. But you know, I'll go through the flu if it will cure my cancer. Some people get what's called an immune storm and the whole immune system just flares up like a thunderstorm and it can attack the heart muscle and that's obviously very dangerous. JW: But Karin didn’t just find a better way to do immunotherapy. She and her team almost accidentally discovered something that could be a live-safer for patients in the future. With the protein data they were able to identify an alternative use for a pre-existing, FDA approved drug. This other use? Cancer treatment.KR: Going back to the genome data that was available: So we had a p53 mutant cancer. A lot of endometrial cancers have a mutation or a fault in the p53 gene. That is a gene that normally suppresses growth. So it's what we call a tumor suppressor, so if it's broken it doesn't work—the break is off and the cells grow. But there's no drug that treats p53. Because it does so many different things. It's just difficult to drug. So by using the studying the protein data instead of just the gene mutation we can see the proteins downstream of p53 that are activated. Their activity is increased when p53 is broken. Okay, so it's like a Rube Goldberg machine, you know. And if you drop the ball into the bucket the chute kicks the mouse. And so if we can't stop the ball from dropping in the bucket, maybe we can inhibit the shoe from kicking the mouse. So by doing the proteins, we can outline the whole Rube Goldberg machine. And so in this case we identified that a protein downstream of the p53 that was activated when p53 is broken is called cyclin dependent kinase 12. And there is a drug out for that that has been approved by the FDA. Now without our data you would never have thought of using that drug and endometrial cancer, but now that we can see the whole Rube Goldberg machine we can see that maybe the drug against cdk 12 will work in endometrial cancer.JW: This is exciting because this means that a clinical trial could begin soon. All of this is because of the advanced protein measurements done at PNNL.KR: To me the big advantage of doing the protein measurements and the phosphoprotein measurements is that we're actually able to track the flow of information in a cancer cell from the external environment that is supporting the growth of the tumor cell to the DNA in the nucleus. So that we're making more cancer cells, and more cancer cells, and more cancer cells so that whole pathway of information is very important. We can't get that from the gene mutations. We can only get that for measuring the proteins and the phosphoproteins so that's the big takeaway. The second big takeaway is that when you add in information about the phosphorylated proteins it really tells you not only what roads are there, but which roads have the most cars, which are having the most traffic, which is really driving the disease. And that's the information that you need to have to do the targeted therapies that people are working. JW: Now with improved insight into what the proteins are doing, how they are behaving, and changing over time, patients can receive life-saving medicine, that’s tailored to them, before it’s too late. KR: Nothing happens overnight, but you know we licked infectious diseases. Maybe we can lick cancer. You know as Brian Druker says, “We want cancer to be something you die with, not of.” JW: A big thanks to Karin and other researchers like her who are a part of the Precision Medicine Innovation Collaboratory led by PNNL and Oregon Health State University. And with that I’ll let Karin wrap up our latest episode of Pods of Science:KR: And we’re done! MusicJW:Thanks for listening to Pods of Science. Want to learn more? Follow us on social media at PNNLab. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also visit our website at pnnl.gov. Thanks for listening.

Intro: Welcome. I’m your host, Jess Wisse. On today’s episode we’ll talking about how something that may surprise you. Here are a few hints: the holidays, online shopping, and parking. Stay tuned to learn more.   JW: If you’re anything like me, I’m sure you’ve been busy preparing for the holidays. This includes wrapping gifts, RSVPing to parties, and online shopping. LOTS of online shopping. But have you ever considered all of the hands who’ve touched your latest shipment before it arrives on your doorstep? PNNL user experience scientist, Lyndsey Franklin thinks about this daily.LF: Maybe I should set out, you know, Gatorade and some snack bars. No, forget giving milk and cookies to Santa. Give Gatorade and snack bars to your poor delivery drivers because they are hustling. It's insane!JW: Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are using their expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and app development to ease challenges with urban freight delivery, an experience especially difficult during the holidays.Meet one of the researchers at PNNL working on this. LF: I am a User Experience Research Scientist in the Visual Analytics Group at PNNL. I try to make computers better playmates for people. I kind of take the philosophy that if something goes wrong, it's the computers fault. It wasn't designed well. Or people didn't think about it well, and it's really not the person's fault. Somebody needs to make the machine play better.JW: Lyndsey is working on a project that’s funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office. The project is led by the University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab. Lyndsey’s goal: to develop, test, and improve technologies aimed at cutting time spent by delivery drivers at the curb. Think of your average UPS or FedEx delivery driver. Lyndsey’s job is to increase their productivity and reduce the time and fuel spent searching for available parking.LF: What if you could make something like parking in downtown Seattle smarter? The particular problem that they were trying to address was, ‘How do we make that delivery process more fuel efficient in crazy environments like Seattle?’ So, they came to us in two capacities. They were looking for some expertise in the modeling aspect. John Feo here at PNNL is leading up that part of the of the effort. The other thing that was important to them, and very insightful of them, was to realize that this wasn't going to be something they were designing for a typical desktop environment. This this wasn't build a model, have it run on a big heavy machine, and spit out an answer, and give it to drivers. Downtown Seattle and the parking in downtown Seattle is ever-changing and always chaotic. And so, there's this noisy busy environment and you're supposed to be giving information to drivers who aren't sitting at a computer. So, what is that whole experience that the drivers are going to have. What's that going to look like?JW: Finding parking can be a major headache for freight delivery drivers. Especially in cities like Seattle. Restaurants need a constant cycle of fresh produce. Retail stores depend on delivered products to maintain a steady flow of sales. People living in a city’s apartment buildings expect their Amazon purchases delivered on time, without fail. That’s why PNNL is working with the University of Washington to develop an app that helps drivers identify open parking closest to a delivery location. The Urban Freight Lab calls this sweet spot for a delivery the “final 50 feet”—where a delivery driver stops to deliver their freight.LF: So, the focus of the app is trying to help increase awareness for when parking might be available. In the case of newer drivers who maybe are seasonal, they've been added to routes to deliver Christmas packages and things like that. They're not as familiar with the area. They don't really have that internal map in their head of: ‘Well, if I can't park here, I can park here. Or I could park in the super-secret spot that, you know I discovered by accident one day.’ They just don't have that list in their head. So hopefully what the app can do then is bring more of an awareness of well, this is what's available to you.JW: But Lyndsey isn’t only trying to improve Seattle’s parking situation. Her primary objective is to create a tool that would actually help delivery drivers. Sounds simple enough, right? But to create an app that’s actually useful, an app developer must first understand the people the app will help.LF: The part that I get most passionate about is, you know, being able to help people realize that: no, you should question that. If you have to jump through all these crazy hoops to get your job done, there's somebody in that chain who built those tools that didn't finish the job. There’s more to be done. You don't have to accept that. You know technology is this weird unfriendly thing that's just kind of foisted upon you and like you're told, ‘Here. This is the tool you get to use. Use it or, I don't know, do it by hand on paper or something.’ So, I like seeing when people realize that, ‘Oh, hey, I am the master of this strange beast we call technology and it's supposed to work for me!’ So, I'm the people pleaser by heart I think.JW: She needed to walk a mile (or two) in their shoes, climb a few flights of stairs, and drive all  around downtown Seattle for a day. How did she do it? She went undercover.LF: I got to actually you know dress up like a UPS driver, hang out in the truck with them and that experience was just wild. So the user experience I have it is once you have the information, and assuming you have data and a model, how do you present that to a driver in a way that's going to actually help them and, you know, not interfere with a job that's already crazy busy? JW: We asked Lyndsey if she was surprised by anything during her ride along. Her response? LF: So much! So much surprised us! We did two sets of ride-alongs. One was with a produce delivery company and the other was with UPS. So everybody's pretty familiar with what UPS does, but I think maybe they are not as familiar with the absolute speed at which these drivers operate. They are flying. I cannot begin to describe just how fast they are sprinting from building to building particularly in Seattle.JW: And the most surprising part actually had very little to do with delivery routes. LF: For me one, of the surprising things was just how much building navigation there was, and some of it was really non-intuitive. I mean he would he would look at a box, read a label, and be like, ‘Okay, well, this is supposed to go to this this business. And you know, the address is this particular suite.’ But just based on having done this route for, you know, seven/eight years think he had been delivering. And so, one of the surprising things for me was, if you are a new driver in some of these environments you can't actually trust the label because they're technically correct, but they're also very wrong. And so for a new driver some, of the difficulty comes in just knowing where am I actually supposed to hand this box off to? These buildings that they're delivering to are just—they’re mazes! And that's on top of the parking issue. I mean there's not a lot of parking, there's construction happening everywhere, you have inconsiderate personal vehicles who will, you know, park because, ‘Oh they're just going to be in there for five minutes. And, you know, why shouldn't they get to use that parking space too?’ But it's like no, no, you've got people who really need those commercial loading zones. Stay out of the commercial loading zones!JW: Another thing that surprised Lyndsey? The people side of the equation. It can sometimes be easy to forget that an actual human is responsible for delivering your packages. LF: The produce folks had their own set of quirks. That one was amazing! They started at like three four o'clock in the morning to deliver to all of these commercial kitchens. And the gentleman that I was riding with had been on that particular route long enough. He knew everyone's name from, you know, the back door to the front door. We'd be delivering produce and he'd be asking about how somebody's mother enjoyed her vacation to Puerto Rico and they're having, you know, full friendly conversations because they just they see each other day in day out. There was an amazing amount of interpersonal skill required for these jobs that I'm sure most people probably don't even think about. But they are expert problem solvers. They are expert navigators, and they are sprinting all day.You know I run marathons. I consider myself to be in semi-decent shape, and I was wishing I had brought like water bottles and Gatorade to keep up with some of these folks because not only are they just kind of sprinting around up and down stairs (because elevators take too long), but they're carrying lots of packages while they do it. So, it's just—this it's not a job for the faint of heart.JW:  After getting a glimpse into what these drivers are up against on a daily basis, Lyndsey was inspired. Even more than before, she wanted to create an app that could truly be useful to delivery drivers. The invaluable insights she gained from her ride alongs opened her eyes to just how powerful this app could be. LF: Inspiration is probably a good word for it - because once you've done that process of actually kind of embedding yourself with them (I mean, like I said for UPS we had to actually wear the uniform) it's a very different job from the one that I have and there is no substitute for actually experiencing it like that like we did with the ride along. So you come away from that going, ‘oh, you know, every expectation I had about what this thing might look like what it might do—toss those aside.’ JW: It was only after her ride alongs that Lindsey could envision a practical design for the app. She quickly learned that drivers wouldn’t have time to enter information into the app, an assumption she held before her ride alongs. And so, she adapted. LF: They're not going to have time to stop and input, you know, what their next stop and their route is going to be. We had originally had some thoughts of well, maybe we'll recommend some parking spaces based on, you know, what their next stop is going to be—give them like a top three. They don't have time for that. Even something as simple as, you know, move to the next stop on my manifest because sometimes there is no parking available. And so rather than sitting and waiting they'll just skip and go to the next stop and come back to it later. And so, the inspiration that we kind of started tapping into is: this isn't going to be like getting directions from Google Maps. It's more video game-like, in that you you've got kind of this, you know, the whole world is at play at once and you've got a player who is trying to, you know, make as many stops as they can in a short amount of time as possible. So, how do you lay out that information so that they can start to optimize in their own heads? With this additional information, and see what's where's my biggest value going to be? Because they just they don't have time to input. It's much more real time. You know, they are really working that hard. So, think less Google Maps, more like a video game. But it's the it's the sort of inspiration that you only get from experiencing it. JW: Lyndsey also quickly learned that these drivers aren’t just master navigators. They are also excellent negotiators and teammates. All for the sake of getting the right stuff to the right people at the right time. LF: There are, you know, chefs in the Seattle area who are very particular about their produce. So now you got to find parking. Now you got to carry packages around. And now you may have a chef or two in the mix who is unhappy with the quality of their mushrooms. And so the gentleman that I was riding with, like I said, there was a tremendous amount of interpersonal skill. He actually knew when certain stalls in Pike Place Market were open, when staff were likely to be there. But well before the market was open, he even had strategies for where he could go to find the same item and a high enough quality that he could come back to this kitchen so that they can get up and running at four o'clock in the morning so that they can start serving customers. And, you know, I don't want to call it like an unofficial barter system, but there was there was a tremendous amount of negotiation that's just once they get out of there their vehicle. There's actually a surprising amount of camaraderie between drivers even of other companies and so what you find is the drivers actually start cooperating with each other to help protect the parking Our UPS driver would pull out into traffic in a certain way that it would block traffic so that this FedEx truck could come in and take the parking space right after him.JW: The app that will help reduce double parking, blocked traffic, and parking fines takes all of this information, and more, into account. But for now, Lyndsey and her team are taking the time to focus on the prototype’s backend to make it as fast as possible. LF: Not only do we have to present a lot of information, but it has to be fast. It really has to be fast. And so, we're taking the time our main developer Amelia is doing an amazing job of very carefully deciding what the best services are for uploading and shifting data around in this platform. People look at this this mobile app that just appears on their device and they think all the all of the hard work goes into what you see. And really what you see is a dumb pretty window on top of some really sophisticated algorithms and technology in the backend. So right now we're kind of working on making sure that back-end is feature complete and fast. And It may not look like much at the moment. That'll come later because the hard work is in just supporting that pretty dumb window in the front end.JW: So, while the app is still currently in the prototype phase, the Urban Freight Lab & PNNL have big plans for its future. Including installing sensors in an eight-block study area in downtown Seattle. These sensors will collect data about parking spots and occupancy. PNNL will process and analyze the data and then feed it to the algorithmic model. Historical data like truck size, type of delivery, and how long a vehicle stays in a location, combined with real-time data from the sensors will allow scientists to ‘train’ the model. All of this information combined will allow the app to tell delivery drivers when there’s a high probability that a parking space will open up. LF: One of the things that we would like to do in the future then, is start understanding when drivers park in a particular space how many times do they go in and out of their truck? Is this a stop where people are likely to stay a really long time? So, there are actually some more delivery-specific behaviors that we would like to maybe think about how do we how do we fit that in?JW: The need for packages to arrive quickly and reliably is only increasing; especially when we’re getting more and more accustomed to ordering everything online. That’s why PNNL is excited to do research like this. Research that will researchers that will increase efficiencies and reduce fuel consumption. Research that will make people’s lives less stressful. Research that will make people happier. LF: Hopefully we can make it less stressful for them to be, you know, bringing us the things that we've all gotten so spoiled that I can, you know, order with one click on Amazon and it's supposed to be here the next day. And if it's not, that's tremendously inconvenient to me but you know that's actually somebody's job who's hustling, and if we can make it so that, you know, not such an onerous grind to them then everybody's happy.JW: And with that we end this episode by wishing you a Happy Holidays, happy online shopping, and please, please do not forget to thank your local delivery drivers this holiday season.MusicJW: Thanks for listening to Pods of Science. Want to learn more? Follow us on social media at PNNLab. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also visit our website at pnnl.gov. Thanks for listening. 

Pods of Science | Episode 4 | How to Predict Your Next Doctor’s Appointment Intro:Welcome. I’m your host, Jess Wisse. On today’s episode we’ll talking about how artificial intelligence could take your doctor’s care to the next level. Stay tuned to learn more.   MusicJW: PNNL scientists have found a way to improve the accuracy of patient diagnosis by up to 20 percent! How? By using artificial intelligence. A PNNL project, called DeepCare, looked at ways to use AI to improve medical outcomes for patients. Meet the project lead, Robert Rallo. RR: I joined the lab three years ago, coming from Barcelona. My background is chemistry, but I was a professor in computer science for more than 20 years before joining the lab. My main area of expertise is machine learning and applications of machine learning in different areas, one of them being computational toxicology. The team working on this is different computer science scientists from PNNL, Khushbu Agarwal and Sutanay Choudhury. They are two computer scientists in the data sciences group at PNNL. We have strong collaborations also with the University Virginia Tech and Stanford and some of the students who have been summer students here at PNNL have been involved also in this type of biomedical work.JW: We asked Robert why he got into the field of computer science. And here’s what he had to say:RR: The fact that a computer is able to learn by itself from data is something that is really interesting for me, really intriguing, and what triggered my interest in this for me.JW: Robert and his team at PNNL created a new embedding approach. The approach seeks to capture and re-create the types of connections physicians do naturally, in their heads, when they apply a lifetime of learning and knowledge to the patient standing before them in the exam room.What’s embedding? Basically, it’s translation for computers. Using embeddings, computer scientists can take a piece of information that only humans can understand and then transform it into something a computer can use. RR: Medical concepts is, for instance, when you have a specific diagnose this is a concept. You have fever, you have high blood pressure; these are concepts. And then, the way in which a machine learning algorithm or a computer can process these concepts requires them to be codified in a certain numerical way. So one of the ways in which we are making this coding is by developing a continuous numeric representation of these concepts that somehow captures the similarities, the relationships between each one of these individual concepts. So this idea of somehow transforming this textual set of concepts information into a representation which is suitable for machine learning is the embedding process. And what we want is that, this numeric representation will convey the same semantics, the same information, than the original concepts.JW: One of the hardest parts about using AI in the medical field is the inability to combine multiple types of data. Think of all the information that’s captured when you go to the doctor. Now think of all the different forms it comes in. Computer-friendly data like blood work numbers or diagnosis codes are easier than unstructured data like chart notes or images from X-rays and MRIs.RR: Well everybody knows that it’s a known fact that understanding hand-written doctors’ notes is like impossible. (laughing) And I say this because my sister is a medical doctor. But no, I'm joking now. But essentially if we are looking at different types of information, you have structural information in which everything is well classified, well cataloged, and it’s very easy to use. And then you have all this unstructured information in which you have maybe recordings of the patients in an interview for something related to mental health. You can have the notesof doctor that can be written in different narrative styles. You can have different types of imaging data from x-rays to MRI. And each one of these modalities of data is complex and hasits own complexities. And again, the challenge is understanding being able to process in the proper way all this data. But the important thing is finding the ways on how we can combine all this information in the proper way to develop our models.JW: OK. Doctors have been known to have less than ideal handwriting. But deciphering handwritten notes is not the end goal for computer scientists like Robert. The goal is to create models that can take multiple pieces of data, in many forms, and make connections between them. The models can even detect connections that a doctor may not consider.   RR: What we are trying to do, is we try to go beyond these single concepts and capture these in the context of binning. We have different concepts, different entities, and the relationship between all of them. And this representation is richer than the single concept because it contains the relationships between all the concepts that produce something. And the way in which we are extracting this from the clinical notes is by using natural language processing techniques and by identifying what are the elements in these clinical notes that correspond to specific concepts, and while which have the elements in these clinical notes that corresponds to a specific relationship. So, for instance, if in the clinical note we say we say that the patient has fever and I'm diagnosing six milligrams of Advil, whatever, for this patient. So, we are extracting all this information and saying, you know, this is one of the diagnostics for this patient, and we were we are administering this drug, we are giving this dose of drug, and all this process together is a medication event for a specific symptom. JW: All of this work is to create one thing: a knowledge graph. A Robert describes these knowledge graphs as what’s naturally happening inside your doctor’s head when they see patients. Their medical knowledge and experience allows doctors to quickly make connections between symptoms and diseases. RR: This knowledge graphs is what medical doctors have in their mind when they are diagnosing you, right? They have all these relationships and based on years of experience and training they are able to make these connections because they have this mental model of the relationships between symptoms, diseases, and everything. So this is what we are capturing with these knowledge graphs and what we are feeding to the machine learning algorithm together with the dataJW: But artificial intelligence will never replace a doctor. Robert and his team envision new AI models, like the one developed at PNNL, will be a powerful tools for physicians. RR: We are trying to help the doctors with tools that can provide more information to them. Because these tools will have access to larger databases and larger amounts of information that the amount of information that we can store in our brain. And probably, these systems can provide clues of things that maybe a medical doctor, based on a given set of symptoms, could not initially consider but maybe is that the answer of what is happening. As the amount of information that we have on patients increases, not just in quantity but also in complexity, it will be more common to have all the omics analyses for the patients when they are treating a disease. All this information, and understanding the relationships between all this information, is going to be to become more and more complex, and this type of tools can help doctors in order to establish all these connections. JW: Having a tool like this could literally save lives. Doctors are humans. Which means they can make mistakes. Think of their heavy work loads, the high stress environments, and long hours—all of these things combined could cause your doctor to unintentionally miss something. You could chalk this up to having “off day.” RR: Professionals, they may make mistakes. And these mistakes can be for a number of reasons: stress at a given point in time, it could be because the information that they have been provided is not complete enough, maybe is because at a given point in time they are tired and they do not see something which could be evident. So hopefully these systems will help in this in this space. But probably the perception and the experience that a human, and the things that a human can sense when is interacting with a patient, perhaps cannot be captured properly by just, you know, some analytical methods or things like that. So what I am trying to say is maybe that the doctor can have some perception and see something in the patient that the machine learning, together with all the lab analysis or whatever we are doing, we cannot see. I think this is the power of this combination, right? Having this human/machine teaming in which we have these two components playing together is when we have this win-win situation. JW: This allows doctors to give even better care than they do now and has the potential to completely change the way we receive care as patients.   RR: Probably in the future this technology, as I said, the first step will be like medical assistance. Where in which the system will help the doctor in the reasoning process in order to establish a diagnostic and will provide indications, probably quantitative indications, in terms of probabilities of the different types of diagnostics and also recommendations regarding what is the best course of treatment. As this progresses the systems will be more and more intelligent and probably the systems will be able to forecast in the longer term what is going to happen for a patient. And maybe in the future, even with all these biometric devices that we have, maybe if this is connected with some medical system the medical system itself can alert the doctor for a patient saying, “you know these vitals for this patient are going in this direction, and we have seen in other patients with the same characteristics and maybe the same genetic profile that they are prone to have this type of this. And also it's good to be proactive.” And so this probably is the what is going to have more impact in the patient side right this moving from this medicine which is much more diagnostic to something which is much more predictive medicine in which we are looking at the longer term and trying to forecast what is going to happen to the patient before it happens instead of curing what is happening right now.JW: The benefits of using AI for medical care are far reaching. Not only will these models give doctors a look into a patient’s medical future, they could also gain insight into solving current medical mysteries.RR: I'm hopeful that by doing the analysis on the large database that the VA has for all theveterans and focusing on specific diseases we are going to gain an incredible amount of novel insight on some of these diseases. I'm sure that we are going to be discovering things aboutcardiovascular diseases or prostate cancer that we didn't know just fewyears ago . And this will open, for sure, windows to this combination of artificial intelligence and medicine and the applications for the health of the of the veterans and for mitigating some of the diseases which are specifically targeting this population. JW: What’s next for this research? A new dataset that’s part of a collaboration between the Department of Energy and the Veterans Administration. The VA-DOE Big Data Science Initiative includes investigating better ways of predicting suicide, cardiovascular disease and approaches to treatment of prostate cancer. These are important issues. Someday in the future we hope to use AI to increase people’s length and quality of life, all thanks to artificial intelligence. MusicJW: Thanks for listening to Pods of Science. Want to learn more? Follow us on social media at PNNLab. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also visit our website at pnnl.gov. Thanks for listening.

Pods of Science | Episode 3 | How to Do Science Faster with Artificial Intelligence Intro: Welcome. I’m your host, Jess Wisse. On today’s episode we’ll talking about a new research center created by the U.S. Department of Energy. Stay tuned to learn more. Music JW: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories. Georgia Institute of Technology. What do these have in common? They are three powerhouses in the realm of artificial intelligence, and now they are working together. Want to know who the man is at the helm of this new collaboration? Meet, Roberto. RG: My name is Roberto Gioiosa. I'm a senior computer scientist at PNNL in the high-performance computing group. My background is in hardware and software core design and mostly focus on the design of operating systems, runtimes, and programming model in particularly looking at emerging a future architecture both for processing, memory, and networking. I came to PNNL in 2012 after years of other experiences in both academia and industry. Ever since I joined PNNL, I've been trying to lead efforts on software and novel hardware for computational scientists to speed up the solution to their problem and therefore solve scientific challenges. JW: Artificial intelligence and machine learning seems to be cropping up everywhere these days. From self driving cars to your new smart phone, its everywhere. Even Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, is getting smarter with each passing day. Soon, she will be able to guess what you might be thinking with a new feature called Alexa Hunches. Originally called thinking machines in the 1950s, artificial intelligence is a sub-field of computer science where machines develop the ability to think and learn on their own. Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, allows computers to perform tasks that historically could only be done by humans; think of things like visual perception, speech recognition, language translation. And that’s just the beginning. RG: Artificial intelligence and machine learning is something that is helping us revolutionize the way we do research. Rather than starting from the top and using first principle to solve a problem, we are trying to see what the data tells us about the problem. This is something that you see every day— look at natural phenomenon and you're trying to find a correlation between what you observe and what are the reasons for that the causal relationships that are in there. In some cases, you know this naturally is complicated and it's not easy to go and have a complete understanding of what is happening without knowing anything about the entire process. What AI is doing for us is helping us do reverse engineering of natural phenomenon. You have probably seen tons of movies about AI and how that can help, but the fundamental thing is we are looking at the data and we are trying to infer the structure of the phenomenon from the data. JW: Roberto is the director of a new co-design center, known as the Center for Artificial Intelligence-focused Architectures and Algorithms, or (ARIAA). ARIAA is taking AI & machine learning to the next level. RG: ARIAA is essentially a tool, a means, in which we are trying to understand what are the requirements from our application domains. In this case, are power grid, cybersecurity, graph analytics, and chemistry, and how artificial intelligence and machine learning can support these domains to allow novel discoveries. JW: AARIA will explore how AI and machine learning can support four areas that touch virtually every American’s life. Whether we’re aware of it or not we encounter power grid, cybersecurity, graph analytics, and computational chemistry almost every day. These are the disciplines where new medicines are created, where the fate of our online identity lies, it’s how masses of information is analyzed, and where our lights magically turn on with a flip of the switch. RG: AI is revolutionizing our world. You see that from your mobile phone to self-driving cars and all of this. Under the umbrella of AI there is a lot— a lot of activities, a lot of different kind of AIs. I think the U.S. government recognized the importance of a coordinated strategy to solve these problems. JW: Earlier this year the Department of Energy made a commitment to accelerate AI. Programs like AARIA are in line with President Trump’s call for a national strategy to assure AI technologies are developed to positively impact the lives of the American public. RG: Artificial intelligence is also revolutionizing the way we do science and the way we tackle important problems being at the national security, chemistry level, and new materials. DOE and Secretary Perry have recognized the importance of this moment and they are putting together strategy. The DOE Artificial Intelligence Technology Office is the first step, but there are also other activities including ARIAA that will support DOE strategies. We are really looking into what would science look like in the future where we have infrastructure and tools that can use AI to help us. JW: ARIAA is centered around a concept known as “co-design.” This concept, of co-design, takes into account both the capabilities of computing hardware and software. Roberto and his team must determine what types of applications will run best on a given hardware set-up, while also considering the type of hardware that will be needed when new software is created. It’s a balancing act that is never resolved and requires Roberto to constantly imagine the future of computing. RG: If you go from the bottom up, at the hard level we are looking to understand what kind of hardware accelerator will be necessary in the future to support AI workloads, but also scientific workloads that leverage AI. At the software level, we are trying to understand without the obstruction that needs to be put in place so that the way scientists can use our software and hardware without having to be hardware experts. At the application level, we are trying to identify the opportunities for using AI models to either replace first principle computation or to support other computation that we have in place like the economic in a simulation producing some data in a AI framework next to it to try and understand what's happening and then having a closed loop where you can actually modify the next round of simulation. The crosscut research is how to put all of this together to make sure that the hardware we're building, the software we are building, and the application algorithm that we are developing all make sense and they are impactful to the DOE mission, PNNL, and the society at large. JW: Not only do all of these components have to work seamlessly together they also have to be portable, so that anybody in the world can use the design. RG: And so what this will allow us, is to solve current problems in a much faster way. But especially it will allow us to tackle problems that today cannot be solved because they are too complex. To do that is not just one part of the hardware/software stuff that you need to address – you need to go from the top down. What ARIAA will look at is identify these places in our application domains that may require AI machine learning support and develop the proper hardware that needs to be put in place so that this model can be accelerated and speed up. We would do that in a way that can be portable. And of course we plan to release our products, both software, hardware design, and application, as open source to the community, so any other person in the world can go and download our models, our software stack, or our architecture designs. JW: How is Roberto going to pull off such a huge task? He’s not going to do it alone. He’s confident in his team. RG: I think one of the strengths of this project is the people, the team we have together. Our partners in ARIAA are Sandia National Laboratories and Georgia Tech. I firmly believe that one of the strengths of this project and one of the reasons why it was selected is because of the team we have together. JW: And it’s not just the fact that Roberto has some of the brightest minds in computing working at ARIAA, he credits the ability to do this to those who came before him. RG: This is a very large problem that we are trying to solve, and it wouldn't be possible if we didn't have experience in doing similar form of activities, and in artificial intelligence in particular. A lot of the credit for having this project started that goes to the fact that PNNL, Sandia, and Georgia Tech and have invested in the past on developing infrastructures, people, and knowledge. JW: Thanks to Roberto’s tireless efforts and the newly developed ARIAA scientists across disciplines will have the ability to do carry out their research even faster. Roberto likes to call it the science of the future. Music JW: Thanks for listening to Pods of Science. Want to learn more? Follow us on social media at PNNLab. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also visit our website at pnnl.gov. Thanks for listening.

Jess Wisse (JW): What's behind the science and inventions that impact our daily lives? Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Pods of Science are the stories of what happens before the breakthrough. Before a technology becomes a house-hold name, before the life-saving drug his pharmacy shelves, before the paper's published - see what happens when great minds meet great challenges. Music Welcome. I’m your host, Jess Wisse. On today’s episode we’ll talking about new technology that may give dogs a run for their money. Wondering what we’re talking about? Stay tuned to learn more. Music JW: Floppy-eared sniffer dogs made the news earlier this year as the latest change to security procedures in airports. But in the not-too-distant future, they could be replaced. The replacement is a technology that doesn’t require a scratch behind the ear and a treat to its job. Meet the man behind the tech: Robert Ewing. Robert Ewing (RE): I like discovering things. I like solving puzzles. I like doing things that I don't think are possible, or challenging. And learning. JW: Robert Ewing is a scientist at PNNL. And he’s made a discovery that could potentially save lives. RE: I'm Robert Ewing. I'm a research chemist at the Pacific Northwest National Lab. I've been here for about 13 years. I've studied various analytical techniques for detecting trace of stances explosives and drugs, or some of those compounds. Ionization chemistry as a part of that. The instrumentation that goes along with that. Those are some of the things that I do for fun. JW: So, what did Robert discover? He and his team at PNNL developed a technology that’s ultrasensitive. It detects explosive vapors, deadly chemicals, and drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl with unparalleled accuracy. And it works in seconds. RE: The technology really stems from using the detector of a mass spectrometer. And that's a way to look at different molecules, to understand what mass is there. And from that you can sort of determine the analyte. Here you're looking at what we did, or one of the challenges, was is the ionization. So, for the mass spec to see a molecule you've got to put a charge on there so it can manipulate that charge, create an electric field, and separate it. And so the ionization process is a way of getting that charge, that electrical charge, onto an individual molecule. And that's really where I've spent a lot of my time—understanding the chemistry around how that ionization process works and how to improve upon it. With the commercial mass specs that are out there that are pretty sensitive (parts per billion range and stuff) work pretty well. What we did is, we discovered that if you increase the amount of time that the ionization process can occur you can increase the sensitivity. And so the mass spec has a pinhole bringing the ions in from outside. What we do is, we took the ionization source and moved that away from the mass spec, and instead of having a few milliseconds of reaction time we give it two or three seconds and that gave us several orders of magnitude increase in sensitivity. JW: This technology could be a game-changer for transportation hubs, mail facilities, and other safety and security screening applications, like the ones you see in airports. Thanks to Robert’s tireless efforts, the system can detect a whole slew of things. Including explosive vapors, like TNT, toxic chemicals similar to nerve agents, and even illicit drugs, like fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine. The most surprising part? Robert thought this was a problem that was un-solvable. But he kept mulling on the idea, and that got him to think about none other than man’s best friend. RE: Probably one of the driving force—the ah-hah moments—I always thought that explosive vapor was a challenge that we probably wouldn't overcome. And yet, dogs go out and sniff explosives all the time. Well, I've always wondered what dogs really smell? You know, are they smelling the explosive? Are they smelling the other things that surround that are that are higher vapor pressure, more volatile? And I remember I went to a conference on explosives detection and they had a guy who had a detector dog and showed the detection of RDX. But he talked about his process of how he purified it, cleaned it, then trained his dog and showed it. And I watched it, you know, I watched the video. That dog has really seen. And I was like, “why can't we do that?” And so it was really about a month later when I was in the lab and said, “well, okay I got all the right tools.” I put it all together and on a Friday afternoon, I made it work. I mean so at some point it just happened. JW: So how did Robert train this technology to sniff out specific vapors? The answer: Selective ionization chemistry. RE: We talked about selective ionization chemistry. When you're detecting vapor at low parts per trillion parts per quadrillion levels there's a lot other things in the room. So we try to find selective ionization, so it's kind of like finding a needle in a haystack. You know how you do that? You use a magnet, right? The magnet is selective to the needle. It finds the metal and it ignores the straw. This is the same kind of thing. And that's where we spend a lot of our time is in that chemistry. Pick the right reactant ions, the ions that you want to has will analyze your analyte, and with that will analyze the materials we are looking for, and be kind of be invisible to the other species. So some examples there, you asked what chemicals we look at. You know explosives was one example. You want to see explosives, but maybe you don't want to see the various hydrocarbons and diesel fuel or gasoline or perfumes or colognes—things like that. And so that's the selectivity part. JW: But for the longest time, detection of certain explosive vapors, like TNT, wasn’t possible. The instrumentation just wasn’t sensitive enough. Typical instrumentation can see chemical levels in the parts per million and billion range. But many of the explosives out there in the world have very low vapor pressures—they’re more like in the low parts per trillion or below. RE: So, an air you've got molecules and stuff floating around. They're always bumping into each other. I mean there's like 10 to the 11th collisions per second for a molecule, and air that's occurring. And so to bring those two together, you've got lots of lots of collisions that are probably going to occur. And so more time just gives you a higher probability that interactions going to happen. JW: So now that we can detect things like explosives, what’s the future look like? RE: So, one of the aspects of this this equipment. By being able to see vapor detection, that allows you to have non-contact detection. So, when you go through an airport nowadays, they usually swipe your bag and run it through an instrument looking for explosive residue. This ability to see vapor kind of helps remove that contact, so it's a little less invasive. So, you can do maybe baggage screening or cargo screening, or you know even people when you walk through the imagers there to have a look for vapor at the same time. And so really, it's taking the next step of non-contact. Hopefully increasing screening speed, getting people through the airports quicker, and also maybe a little more thorough in your searches. It's sort of that vision what we hope to do is be able to take this instrument and work with a smaller mass spec so then you can you get it in a footprint that's similar to stuff that's in the airport. Or you can integrate it to x-ray machines, or so forth. So, that's kind of what our hope is—to you know, take this to the next level. Get it into a smaller more portable size, and be able to test it and evaluate it, and see what other challenges need to be fixed. JW: We asked Robert how it feels to know that he’s responsible for a technology that could potentially save lives. And he said, “it’s pretty cool.” RE: It's challenging too because what we do doesn't happen overnight. I mean there every now then you have really good days and there's sometimes months where you struggle to get make things. So, it's a mix of, it takes a lot of determination to find those good breakthroughs. JW: So, while it may not be in your local airport yet, PNNL’s vapor detection technology has a bright future. And that’s exciting. [Music] JW: Thanks for listening to Pods of Science. Want to learn more? Follow us on social media at PNNLab. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also visit our website at pnnl.gov. Thanks for listening. [Music]

Jess Wisse: What's behind the science and inventions that impact our daily lives? Pacific Northwest National Laboratories Pods of Science are the stories of what happens before the breakthrough. Before a technology becomes a house-hold name, before the life-saving drug his pharmacy shelves, before the paper's published. See what happens when great minds meet great challenges. Music Welcome, I'm your host Jess Wisse. On today's episode we'll be unveiling new research coming out of PNNL’s Data Sciences and Analytics Group, but before we unpack that here's a bit more information from our co-host Jessica Bernsen. Music Jessica Bernsen: Humans are social animals. Nowhere is that more apparent in today's modern world than on social media. Log in to your favorite social media platforms and you'll find a slew of conversations, debates, news, and more. PNNL researchers took all of this data and built a quantitative framework to better understand communication patterns and how information spreads online. Meet Svitlana. Svitlana Volkova: My name is Svitlana Volkova and I am a senior scientist at PNNL. I've been here for three years, and my work involves machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and computational social science. I work a lot with social data. Jess Wisse: Findings gathered by Svitlana and her colleagues Maria Glensky and Emily Saldana shed led light on to how cryptocurrency discussions spread and they also could inform artificial intelligence applications used to forecast things like cryptocurrency prices. Svitlana Volkova: So in this paper we analyzed almost three years worth of data; a lot of discussions, millions of posts, and comments and that’s what makes this research interesting that like we have access to this vast amount of data that we have the techniques and methodology to analyze really fast and draw some insights and scientific conclusions from this data that can in turn inform machine learning and deep learning models to predict the future. Jessica Bernsen: Nobody really looked into how information about cryptocurrency spreads on reddit specifically and that's what Svitlana and her team did. Svitlana Volkova: The current data set included the historical rise of the Bitcoin price and we specifically wanted to look into social signals around this historical event when the price is increasing and then decreasing we wanted to see how social environments are reflecting this change. We found that across of three coins, the discussion spread is very different. We know that Bitcoin is the most popular coin, and that was reflected in our analysis. We found that comments on a Bitcoin post about was the fastest—on average people responded in 11 minutes to discussions about Bitcoin versus Monero and Ethereum. In Ethereum threads, it takes people at least 30 minutes to follow up on a on a post, but interestingly we found that Monero has really long, ongoing conversations compared to Bitcoin conversations that have a very short life time. They don’t live long. And Bitcoin conversation focus on a specific audience, which on average is between 2 and 6 people. Monero conversations involve more people, and more diverse audiences. And structurally the discussions are very different. The Monero discussions are like chains. They go deep. And at each level they have a specific size of the audience. Bitcoin discussions are more diverse, and they form trees, and they go more viral compared to Monero. Jess Wisse: Svitlana and her team looked in to reddit, but their research can also be applied to a variety of platforms. For example, the framework they designed for measuring information spread can be also be extended to measure the spread of other types of information. Such as images on Instagram, videos on YouTube, hashtags on Twitter. Svitlana Volkova: This analysis would be very helpful for a different predictive analytics so for example you can look how discussions spread around different cryptocurrencies and social platforms and more specifically across social platforms that involved that goes beyond Reddit and actually try to predict cryptocurrency prices. Music Jessica Bernsen: We share a lot of information on social media everyday this information can be used in a variety of ways not only to predict cryptocurrency prices. Svitlana Volkova: So this work is specifically focusing on one type of information - cryptocurrencies in one social environments, but you can think about more general applications and implications of this work. So for example you would like to know how this information and false narrative spread or one might want to measure how different discussions about software vulnerabilities spread. Other people might be interested in how negative language spreads across social environments so all of this is applicable. The evaluation framework and the measurements that we use that are targeting specific social phenomena. Ideally we would like to take any piece of information whether it's text or image or video and see how it spreads and measure how many people it reaches how my like what is the size of the audience how fast it spreads and what is the actual impact on it the society so this is the main goal of the whole project. Jess Wisse: So how did Svitlana even get into this line of work and why does it all matter? Svitlana Volkova: It's very interesting to understand people. I love measuring how people act and interact and respond in social environments that's what we do daily right we go to social media and we respond to posts we comment and we spread the information we are the people who are spreading the information and we actually influence the rate of spread and the impact right? So I think it's very fascinating to see what people can do and measure it actually not like talk about it and like and have a rate we can actually measure it quantitatively and maybe we can change something if we want to change something Jessica Bernsen: In a nutshell Svitlana Volkova: We build machine learning models that can predict the future. Jessica Bernsen: And that’s powerful. Jess Wisse: Thanks for listening to our first episode of Pods of Science. Want to learn more? Follow us on social media at PNNLab. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also visit our website at pnnl.gov. Thanks for listening. Music.

Episode Content: Ron's start with General Electric working on the D-Replacement Reactor.   How thermohydraulics are used to raise exit temperatures and prevent a boiling coolant.   The significance of plutonium-recycle test reactors and challenges of the program.   An explanation of the physics behind the Fast Flux Test Facility.   The advantages of a fast reactor.    The definition of breeding.   Why it is important to establish mutual and meaningful international partnerships.   Russia and its closed cities.   A discussion on the best way to embark designing new nuclear technology.   Present advances in the nuclear technology sector and its implications for the future.  

Episode Content: Brady's start as a chemical engineer.   An explanation of re-processing.   Dry Storage: in theory and in practice.   An in-depth look at the process and consequences of oxidizing spent fuel.   The formation of the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative.   A discussion about Yucca Mountain's effectiveness in disposing used fuel.   Political obstacles that inhibit disposal solutions.   A look at whether nuclear technology is safe and a comparison to other forms of energy.   What's on the horizon for nuclear energy.  

Episode Content: Tara's start as an archaeologist at Hanford Cultural Resources Laboratory.   An explanation of the National Environmental Policy Act.   A breakdown of environmental assessments and impact statements.   The process of acquiring permits and the necessity of mitigating environmental impact.   The Nuclear Renaissance and whether there is a second Renaissance emerging.   The types of licenses and the renewal process.   Likes, dislikes, and improvements that need to be done in the system.   What the world will look like moving forward.  

Episode Content: Steve's start working on Probabilistic Risk Assessment with the UK Energy Authority.    Sizewell B and the significance of the Wash 1400 safety study.    Risk assessment v. risk perception.   The definition of risk and why it is important to analyze it.   The industry's transition to utilizing a risk-informed approach in design.   A breakdown of the categorization of nuclear facilities.   The viability, benefits, and challenges of extracting uranium from seawater.   PNNL's relationship with the Hanford Site.   A discussion of reprocessing through a risk assessment perspective.   The Golden Age of Nuclear and when it will happen.  

Jim's start as an extraterrestrial scientist and coordinator of shuttle activities.   Transition to nuclear waste as he moved to PNNL as a geology pair with his wife, Judith.   3 styles of decision making in science policy: ignore science, make it the basis of the decision, retroactively justify the decision with science.    Yucca Mountain is the wrong rock, dripping wet and corrosive.   WIPP Carlsbad, New Mexico, Permian Basin has perfect salt chemistry.    A comparison between the future of China and the US' nuclear industries.   Dilution as a waste mitigation strategy, discussion of Fukishima and Tritium.    A discussion of how the media sources portrays expertise.    A discussion of grout v. glass vitrification processes.   Waste disposal methods, political contentions, and the power of the Constitution.  

Join us as we chat with Tammy Taylor, the Chief Operating Officer at PNNL. We talk about mentors she had, ideas on integrity, listening and so much more!  BIO: Tammy P. Taylor is the Chief Operating Officer of the National Security Directorate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Tammy leads the mission execution, capability development, and project management of the directorate of three divisions and four project management offices representing 1,200 staff. Prior to joining PNNL in the summer of 2013, Tammy served in a number of positions over fourteen years at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). She served in positions as the Deputy Associate Director of Chemistry, Life and Earth Sciences, the Division Leader of Nuclear Engineering and Nonproliferation, a group leader, project leader, staff member and Director’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow. From early 2007 to mid 2010 she was an Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignee from LANL in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President. She managed the national science and technology portfolio on nuclear defense issues within the National Security and International Affairs Directorate of OSTP for Dr. John Holdren and Dr. Jack Marburger, Science Advisors to President Obama and President Bush, respectively.  Tammy has a Master’s of Science and Doctorate of Philosophy in Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering is from New Mexico State University.

Some conditions are too dangerous, or just too mundane, for people.For decades, humanoid robots have been stepping in to take tasks off our hands. One named Manny spent a lot of the 80s being shot with a flamethrower. Another, R2, is currently doing chores in space.In this episode, we look at how humanoid robots have evolved, and why we have the need for robots that look, act, and even think like humans.Episode highlights include:In 1988, a team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) created a mannequin robot named, well, "Manny." Manny’s job was test the shielding clothing used in hazardous environments. Gordon Anderson, one of the original engineers, talks about his time making Manny.NASA's Dr. Julia Badger is one of the original developers of the Robonaut 2 – the first humanoid robot in space. She talks about expectation versus reality when dealing with a 330-lb robotic assistant.Dr. Scholtz, a computer scientist at PNNL, evaluates how humans interact with computers. Dr. Leslie Blaha, a PNNL mathematical psychologist, leverages cognitive human-behavior models to add a more “life-like” intelligence to robots. The two share their insights in robot-human interaction.Read the full-length interviews and related stories below.A Look Back at the Trailblazing "Manny" Robot – A Firefighter's FriendA Role for Boston Dynamics’ Back-Flipping Robots: Is Space the Place?How to Understand Humanity Through Humanoids See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This podcast features two key members of the ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1 Lighting Subcommittee that establishes lighting power density levels for this foundational standard.  The discussion reveals and explains to our lighting community a new project that is funded by ASHRAE, IALD, BC Hydro and the IES.  Project tasks will support the work of the 90.1 standard by providing AGI32 modeling runs by application.  These models will improve the accuracy of and strengthen the effectiveness of this and the other standards affected by 90.1.  It is a concern especially because LED luminaires are now being used as the primary baseline to establish LPD’s instead of traditional sources.  This has resulted in significant energy savings but there is an end game.  The partners want to verify that the quality of lighting is not impacted in future versions of 90.1 and the other standards that reference it. Michael Myer has been with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for 11 years. Prior to coming to PNNL Michael was a practicing lighting designer with Naomi Miller Lighting Design and before that Hayden McKay Lighting Design. Michael’s work at PNNL includes energy codes and appliance standards as well as market transformation related to parking and interior lighting. Michael has been an active member of the IES and is current co-chair working on the revised version of DG-18, a member of the Energy Management Committee, and has participated in a task group related to parking lighting. Marty Salzberg worked as an architectural lighting consultant for more than thirty years. Her work was honored with multiple industry awards for design and energy efficiency. As a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society, Marty has been a member of the Library Lighting Committee since 2003 and is currently the committee Chair. Marty is a Professional Member of the IALD, where she contributes to the work of the Energy & Sustainability Committee by serving as the IALD representative to the ASHRAE/IES 90.1 energy standard development committee. She recently served on the IALD committee to edit the Guidelines for Specification Integrity, teaches about the NYC Energy Code at BEEx and is teaching lighting design at the New York School of Interior Design. Kelly Seeger is Technical Policy Manager for Signify where she leads building codes and standards activities for North America, advising company business groups, market teams, and researchers on implications for products and systems from pre-development through installation. She serves as Lighting Subcommittee Chair of ASHRAE SSPC 90.1 and is also active in the development of CA T24 and IECC and is involved with key organizations relevant to building efficiency, green building standards & codes, energy rating and benchmarking, and smart buildings. Kelly has worked in lighting and energy efficiency in the U.S. for nearly twenty years; her experience includes lighting design and application, strategic planning, a voice of customer and market analysis, presentation and training, and energy efficiency & transformative market consulting. She holds M.S. Lighting and B.S. Building Sciences degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. She is Lighting Certified by the NCQLP, a LEED Accredited Professional, and is Past President of the New York City Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's rich data sciences capability has produced novel solutions in numerous research areas including image analysis, statistical modeling, and social media (and many more!). See how PNNL software engineers utilize AWS to enable better collaboration between researchers and engineers, and to power the data processing systems required to facilitate this work, with a focus on Lambda, EC2, S3, Apache Nifi and other technologies. Several approaches will be covered including lessons learned.

Brian S. Hooker, PhD, PE, was formerly a bioengineer and the team leader for the High Throughput Biology Team and Operations Manager of the DOE Genomics: Genomes to Life (GTL) Center for Molecular and Cellular Systems at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Hooker also is credited as a co-inventor for five patents. In 1985, Dr. Hooker earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering, from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California. He earned his masters of science degree in 1988 and his doctorate in 1990, both in biochemical engineering, from Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington. Hooker formerly managed applied plant and fungal molecular biology research projects, including development of plant-based biosensors and transgenic production systems for human pharmaceutical proteins and industrial enzymes at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where systems biology researchers are focused on understanding gene and protein networks involved in individual cell signaling, communication between cells in communities, and cellular metabolic pathways. Hooker has also been involved in research on microbial kinetics and transport mathematical modeling, design, development, and support for biological destruction of chlorinated organic hydrocarbons, development of tP4 transgenic plant protein production platform technology, and development of the RT3D bioremediation/natural attenuation software package. He left PNNL in 2009, and was hired as an associate professor at Simpson University in Redding, CA where he specializes in biology and chemistry. Simpson University is a private Christian University of liberal arts and professional studies offering undergraduate, graduate and teaching credential programs. Hooker is well known for his concerns regarding vaccine safety and the conflicts of interest within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His son, Steve, is vaccine-injured. Hooker is a board member at Focus Autism, an organization which believes in the “ongoing cover-up of the vaccine/autism link.” In 2013, biologist Dr. Brian Hooker received a call from a Senior Scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who led the agency’s 2004 study on the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine and its link to autism. The scientist, Dr. William Thompson, confessed that the CDC had omitted crucial data in their final report that revealed a causal relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. Over several months, Dr. Hooker records the phone calls made to him by Dr. Thompson who provides the confidential data destroyed by his colleagues at the CDC. This information is featured in the film, VaxXed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe.

Today we talk with Pam Cole, Building Energy Scientist and technical support guru with the Department of Energy's Building Energy Codes Program at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Energy Codes (the new International Energy Conservation Code 2012 being the most famous) are gaining ground across the country, and Pam's organization assists in their research, development, and implementation.

Developers of the Grid Friendly Appliance Controller talk about how the technology helps the grids highs and lows (pun intended).