Laura Lewis

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

(Phone: 650/604-2162, 650/604-9000)

llewis@mail.arc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 00-70AR

NOTE TO EDITORS AND NEWS DIRECTORS:

Media representatives are invited to attend the “Quality Forum 2000” conference at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. The conference will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 17-18, 2000 in the ballroom of the Moffett Training and Conference Center (Bldg. 3). To get to Ames, take the Moffett Field exit from Highway 101. Bring press credentials and photo ID. Please allow time to obtain badges at the visitor badging office adjacent to the main Ames gate.

Lon Hatamiya, California Secretary of Trade and Commerce, is scheduled to address “Quality Forum 2000,” a unique quality improvement conference designed to provide organizations with the tools required to achieve performance excellence within their industry.

Mr. Hatamiya will discuss “Quality Issues and Work Force Development” from 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. on Oct 17, the first day of the Quality Forum 2000 conference, a workshop-format meeting to be held Oct. 17-18, 2000, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.

Other speakers addressing the conference include:

– Dr. Koichi Nishimura. Chairman, president and CEO of Solectron Corp., which has been a two-time winner of the Baldrige Award;

– Monica Lozano, President of the California State Board of Education.

– G. Thomas Houlihan. Former North Carolina “Superintendent of the

Year.” Currently, president/CEO of the North Carolina Partnership for Excellence, a group that brings together educators and business leaders to improve public education.

“The goal of the forum is to provide innovative and tailored skills that participants can take back to their organizations to improve performance,” explained Robert Navarro, conference organizer and deputy director of the Safety, Environmental and Mission Assurance Office at Ames, located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley.

NASA is collaborating with the American Society for Quality; the California Center for Quality, Education and Development; the Industry Education Council of California; and Solectron Corporation to organize the conference as part of National Quality Month.

For more information about Quality Forum 2000, go to http://qualityforum.arc.nasa.gov/