Congratulations to Lance and Valerie McLean, the proud parents of Elliot Orion McLean, 8 pounds 11 ounces.

Chris Gould has been elected vice-chair of the Executive Committee of the Users Group of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. He serves with current chair Anna Hayes of Los Alamos National Laboratory, and will become chair the following year. The LANSCE users group community total about 450 scientists, one third from academia, one third from LANL and one third from industry and other national laboratories. LUG awards the Rosen thesis prize each year. Past winners have included Sharon Stephenson (who worked with Gary Mitchell on parity violation studies) and Chen -yu Lu (who worked with Albert Young on UCN production in solid oxygen and deuterium).

SPA/EPA Awards for Excellence Program. The College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences has the opportunity to select one SPA and one EPA recipient for the Awards for Excellence Program. This program is designed to recognize accomplishments of full-time, permanent SPA and EPA employees.

Eligibility guidelines and the nomination form can be found at: www.pams.ncsu.edu/welcome_center/award.html

Nominations are due by 3:00 p.m. on March 3rd. The Physical and Mathematical Sciences' nominees will be honored at a reception on April 7 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Witherspoon Student Center, Room 126. All nominees will receive a copy of their nomination letters after the awards reception.

The Physical and Mathematical Sciences EPA and SPA winners will receive a plaque, a $250 check and eight hours of leave. These two employees will be honored along with the winners from other units at the University Awards Luncheon scheduled for Wednesday, May 26, 2004, at the McKimmon Center. At this luncheon the University Awards for Excellence winners will be announced

Employee Appreciation Night :

Attention all NC State employees! Please join us on Thursday, February 12th at 7 p.m. in Reynolds Coliseum for Employee Appreciation Night at the Wolfpack Women's Basketball game vs. Clemson [sponsored by Cingular Wireless and Human Resources]. The game is free of charge to all NC State employees with a valid Campus ID card. Guest tickets are $7.00 each and children 17 years and under receive free admission to the game.

Employee Appreciation Night will feature free pizza, drinks, and snacks for faculty/staff and their families while supplies last.

A special suite located in the North End zone sponsored by Cingular Wireless, has been reserved for NC State employees to mingle prior to tip-off and during half time. In order to enter the suite, you must have your faculty/staff ID card with you. Cingular Wireless will be giving away a free Motorola T 720 phone and 3 months of service. To view the employee and family discounts through Cingular Wireless go to the WolfPerks website: www.ncsu.edu/hr/wolfperks.

For information about the game, please go to: www.ncsu.edu/hr/events/womenball.html .

Chris Gould and Franklin Dubose, to Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., for recruiting at the National Conference of Black Physics Students.

John Hubisz, to Miami Beach, Florida, to attend the AAPT meeting and present an invited talk, and to Durham, NC, to present an invited talk to Durham prospective teachers of Middle School Science.