It was a Saturday, in the final stretch of winter in late February, and the temperature peaked to a pleasant 66 degrees. Many people were outside enjoying the spring-like weather; however, the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Deployment Team was hard at work at Industry Lane. The team of 10 was installing the new voice-only network, including deploying 145 phones, switching and testing the 911 feature, connecting wall mounts, and verifying each phone to ensure that when Clinical Monitoring Research Program (CMRP) staff members returned to work on the following Monday, there would be minimal impact to their daily operations.

Imagine traveling the globe, sampling cuisines from countries as disparate as Russia, Switzerland, India, and Ethiopia. Sounds like a dream vacation, doesn’t it? Thanks to the Employee Diversity Team (EDT) and its group of gastronomic volunteers, the NCI at Frederick community was taken on this culinary journey, gratis, at the second annual Ethnic Food Cook-off.

“How long until the next Take Your Child to Work Day?” is a question Randy Johnson hears multiple times throughout the year from his five children, who range in age from 7 to 14. “It’s really fun and you get to experiment with things,” said Johnson’s 10-year-old daughter, Mary Joy. Be a part of the annual event that kids look forward to all year long and help foster the next generation of scientists. The 20th annual Take Your Child to Work Day (TYCTWD) at NCI at Frederick is coming up on June 29, and registration for hub and program activities ends May 16.

Parents of special-needs children do their best to help their kids thrive in typical society, but at times this can be challenging. For instance, I want my son, Harrison, to be able to participate in as many activities as he would like—but this can involve more than just signing him up and paying the registration fee. Fortunately, with a flexible approach and some simple tools, we have found that Harrison can still enjoy “normal” activities. Sometimes, all it takes is an honest conversation.

When aiming to publish a scientific work, every writer should consider the following questions: Do you know the best way to structure a scientific paper? Have you identified the most appropriate journal? Do you understand the peer-review process? Answering these three questions is a critical step toward getting your work published.