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Spring will be here in less than a month, even though as I write this, most of our weather forecasts include the word “flurries.” There’s also been a flurry of activity at the Regional Support Office. (Sorry, it’s tough to come up with opening “hooks” sometimes). Updated Midwest Region Points of Contact Lists are now available, as are the DVDs of the training sessions in Chicago. Laboratory Representatives will be receiving a few copies of each shortly and, as always, you can contact Ken if you’d like copies, too. As I mentioned in the last newsletter, we’ll be exhibiting at SAE in Detroit during the first week of April. There are still free passes to the exhibit hall available, so if you’d like to use them, contact Ken.

As always, the national meeting will be held during the first week of May. It’s in Minneapolis this year, so I expect a strong presence from our region. Please be sure to spread the word about the federal labs Tech Fair, where your innovations and technologies can be showcased to an audience looking to build partnerships. The Fair will be held on Wednesday, May 3, and space is still available. If you’d like to exhibit, contact Rachel at the national Management Support Office. As you know, this is an election year for the Midwest Region. We’ll be voting for the Regional and Deputy Regional Coordinator positions. If you will not be in Minneapolis, you can request an absentee ballot from Ken. Please vote!

Of course, the national FLC will also offer high-quality training sessions and its annual awards program. This year, Midwest Region laboratories will take home five of the prestigious Excellence in Technology Transfer Awards and one equally prestigious Lab Director of the Year Award. Congratulations on their wins to:

• Orange Marshall, Michael McInerney, Sean Morefield, and Vincent Hock of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, for their work on Electro-Osmotic Pulse (EOP) Control of Moisture in Below-Grade Concrete Structures.
• John Hall and his team from the Air Force Research Laboratory – Human Effectiveness Directorate for their work on the Attenuating Custom Communications Earpiece System (ACCES®).
• Robert Crane, Byron Edmonds, Walter Johnson, and Charles Lovett of the Air Force Research Laboratory – Materials and Manufacturing Directorate for their work on the Vascular Viewer TM (see the article in this newsletter for more information).
• Dr. James Scofield of the Air Force Research Laboratory – Propulsion Directorate for his work on Silicon Carbide Schottky Diodes.
• Orlando Auciello and John Carlisle of Argonne National Laboratory for their work on the UltraNanoCrystalline Diamond (UNCD) Coating Technology for Advanced Multifunctional Devices.
• Dr. Hendrick W. Ruck of the Air Force Research Laboratory – Human Effectiveness Directorate for his accomplishments as Laboratory Director.

We’re continuing to work on the agenda for our joint regional meeting with the Southeast Region in Nashville, Tennessee, October 25 to 27, and we’re still looking for ideas to make the sessions as useful as possible. If there are specific training topics you’d like to see at our regional meeting, please let me, Kristen, or Ken know as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Cindy