Global Notebook
Baldrige Winners
Two manufacturers and two service companies have been named the recipients of the 1999 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award: STMicroelectronics Inc.–Region Americas, Carrollton, Texas (manufacturing category); BI, Minneapolis, Minn. (service); the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. LLC., Atlanta, Ga. (service); and Sunny Fresh Foods, Monticello, Minn. (small business/manufacturing). Sunny Fresh Foods is the first food manufacturer to be honored. The Ritz-Carlton previously won in the service category in 1992, making it only the second company to receive two Baldrige Awards. Solectron Corp. won in 1991 and 1997.
New Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology
The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced that Cheryl L. Shavers, Ph.D., has been sworn-in as undersecretary of Commerce for technology. She will oversee the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration, which includes the Office of Technology Policy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Technical Information Service, and the Office of Space Commercialization. Shavers has worked as a product engineer with Motorola and as a process development engineer with Hewlett-Packard. After serving as a patent agent in Hewlett-Packard’s technical legal department, Shavers joined Wiltron Company as a Microelectronics Manufacturing Section manager. Later, Shavers served as Thin Films Applications manager at Varian Associates, a semiconductor equipment supplier. Before being nominated by President Clinton to be undersecretary for technology, Shavers served as a sector manager for the Microprocessor Division within Intel’s Corporate Business Development Division.
Metrology and Modeling of Color and Appearance
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Md., will host a two-day multidisciplinary workshop on measurement and modeling of color and appearance of materials, March 29-30. The purpose of this workshop is to provide attendees an opportunity to learn about current and anticipated needs for improved appearance measurements, new measurement and modeling developments, research aimed at improving the fundamental understanding of factors affecting appearance of materials, and predictive computer rendering based on optical scattering of objects. This workshop will also explore common needs of industry for improved measurements, modeling, and prediction of appearance parameters through panel discussions. Panel recommendations will be used to guide the direction of future color and appearance research programs at NIST. The technical program (see http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/confpage) should appeal to everyone involved in color and appearance research. Contact: Mary McKnight (301/975-6714) or Maria Nadal (301/975-4632).
Valuable Steel and Nickel Reference
The CASTI Handbook of Stainless Steels and Nickel Alloys is available. Written by 30 authors and peer reviewers with over 700 years of combined industrial experience (many of whom are ASTM members), this handbook provides the latest stainless steels and nickel alloys information. Chapters include information on cast corrosion and heat resistant alloys; martensitic, ferritic, austenitic, duplex, and superaustenitic stainless steels; nickel-based alloys; and welding stainless steels and nickel alloys; along with an Alloy Index listing each alloy by its ASTM specification, UNS number, common name, trade name, and page number references. The book is available in print and as an Acrobat PDF e-book on CD-ROM. Contact: CASTI Publishing, 10566 114th St., Edmonton, AB T5H 3J7 Canada (780/424-2552; fax: 780/421-1308); Web site.
Decision-Making in Urban and Civil Engineering
The Second International Conference on Decision-Making in Urban and Civil Engineering will be held Nov. 20-22, 2000, in Lyon, France. The purpose of the conference is to promote discussion and mutual interaction between members of the urban and civil engineering community, who are interested in the possibilities, but also in the problems generated by new decision-making tools and methods. Various domains of urban and civil engineering are concerned such as construction, building, architecture, public works, infrastructure, urban planning, transportation, water management, environment, and so on. Contact Chairmen: Pr Marcel Miramond, INSA – URGC-Hydrologie Urbaine, Bâtiment 304, 20, avenue Albert Einstein, 69621 Villeurbanne Cedex (33 4 72 43 82 09; fax : 33 4 72 43 85 21); or Pr Jean-Claude Mangin, ESIGEC–Université de Savoie, Laboratoire Génie Civil et Habitat, Campus Savoie Technolac, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, Cedex, (33 4 79 75 88 23 or 21; fax: 33 4 79 75 81 12). //
