A symposium and exhibition is being held Oct. 18 by the Greater Baton Rouge Clean Cities Coalition and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources in conjunction with the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium’s AFV Odyssey Day.
The event will be held 12:30-6:30 p.m. at the Capital Park Welcome Center in downtown Baton Rouge at 702 North River Road.
Experts will make presentations on the current political and economic landscape of the alternative fuels industry. A panel will discuss a city in Louisiana that is transitioning to alternative fuels. Alternative fuel vehicles and exhibitors will be on-site.
More than 150 sites across the U.S. will be promoting these technologies on Oct. 18. For more information or to register, go to http://gbrccc.org/alternative-fuel-vehicle-odyssey-day/
A proposal from LSU is among 26 that NASA has selected from academia and industry for contract and grant negotiations for advanced development of the nation’s next heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.
NASA sought proposals in a variety of areas, including concept development, trades and analyses, propulsion, structures, materials, manufacturing, avionics and software.
The LSU proposal is titled “Challenges Towards Improved Friction Stir Welds Using On-line Sensing of Weld Quality.”
“Engaging with academia and industry gives us the opportunity to take advantage of the ingenuity and expertise beyond NASA,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.
Individual awards will vary with a total government investment of as much as $48 million. Initial fiscal year 2012 awards are worth as much as $8 million for industry and $2.5 million for academia. Awards depend on successful negotiation and the stability of appropriated funds.
The first flight test of NASA’s SLS, which will feature a configuration for a 77-ton lift capacity, is scheduled for 2017 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Baton Rouge chapter of the American Society for Training and Development will hold its annual professional development workshop Thursday at the Louisiana Resource Center for Educators at 5550 Florida Blvd. in Baton Rouge.
The workshop is titled “Change Anything: Overcoming Career Limiting Habits.”
The program is aimed at helping individuals become more successful and productive employees by identifying and overcoming challenges in individual behavior.
The program is open to the public for $235. Registration and more information is available at www.br.astd.org.
Louisiana is receiving $850,000 from the U.S. Small Business Administration in a second round of funding to support efforts to increase exporting by small businesses.
The funds are among $30 million being distributed to 47 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia by the SBA program.
“With 95 percent of the world’s consumers living outside of the United States, exporting gives small businesses the opportunity to reach new markets, increase sales and create jobs,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills.
The State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) initiative, launched last year under the Small Business Jobs Act, is aimed at increasing the number of small businesses that export and increase the value of exports for those small businesses that currently export.
STEP services are locally designed to meet specific international trade development needs of state and local small business communities. In general, services include support for participation in foreign trade missions, foreign market sales trips, subscription to services provided by the Department of Commerce, website translation fees, design of international marketing media, trade show exhibitions and participation in training workshops.
For more information, go to http://www.sba.gov/step.
NEW ORLEANS — Jensen Maritime Consultants Inc., a naval architecture and marine engineering firm owned by Crowley Maritime Corp., has opened at 1515 Poydras St., Suite 2030.
Jensen, which is headquartered in Seattle and also has an East Coast office in Jacksonville, Fla., said it plans to hire about eight to 10 executives for a variety of positions in the New Orleans office.
The company said the office places Jensen in close proximity to customers in the U.S. Gulf, including regional shipyards and local operators, as well as clients in the offshore oil and gas, energy, fishing, workboat and brown-water industries.
The state has implemented a Vessel Monitoring System pilot program in an effort to better manage the more than 1.6 million acres of public oyster beds.
The program requires oyster vessels fishing on the public seed grounds to have a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries-provided vessel monitoring system.
The department said it worked closely with oyster industry leaders to create a program that will not be burdensome to harvesters. Currently, over 700 vessels are permitted to harvest on public oyster beds.
VMS units will be provided to all oyster permit holders by LDWF.
Participants in the VMS Pilot Program will only be required to minimally maintain care for the units.
LDWF has a contract with Pole Star Space Applications to provide the data collection services. All information collected by LDWF will be considered privileged and confidential and will not be made public.
To schedule a VMS installation, contact Sam Boyd, with Radio Holland USA, at LDWF@radiohollandusa.com or (713) 378-2145.
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints has opened a Saints store at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport as part of the airport’s revamp of its concessions program.
The 1,522-square-foot store is located pre-security in the East Lobby near the entrance to Concourse B. The store features licensed Saints merchandise, apparel and collectibles currently only found in its team store located in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The store will employ nine workers. Hours are 5 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.
Other store additions at the airport will come online in the next several months, with a full concessions revamp complete by early 2013.
“Our New Orleans Saints have a huge fan base across the country, even around the world. We are excited to be able to offer fans of the Saints that travel through Armstrong International a first-class retail outlet in an airport environment,” said Nolan V. Rollins, New Orleans Aviation Board chairman.
NEW ORLEANS — Greater New Orleans Inc. has re-launched WorkNOLA.com, a professional job board highlighting employment opportunities in the Greater New Orleans region.
The job board is a project of GNO Inc. and 504ward, a collaborative effort dedicated to retaining young talent in New Orleans.
“Greater New Orleans has been named the top growing metro area for employment,” said Michael Hecht, president and CEO of GNO Inc. “WorkNOLA.com will be a key tool to help companies and people connect and take advantage of this fertile job environment.”
“The enhancements GNO Inc. has made to the site will improve the experience for not only job seekers but also employers,” said Jessica Shahien, executive director of 504ward. “WorkNOLA.com now encourages matching job seekers’ skills to current job openings, a new feature of the site similar to how some dating sites operate. And the best part of all — it’s still completely free.”
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