29 November 1995 Nova Experiments Program Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories P.O. Box 808 Livermore, CA 94551 Mr. Keith Shillito Schafer Corporation 303 Lindberg Ave Livermore, CA 64550 Dear Mr. Shillito, I am writing an unsolicited letter of support for Craig Rivers because I believe he deserves recognition for his work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I am a target physicist in the Nova Laser Experiments Program and am supported by the Mr. Rivers group. In doing experiments, I have worked with the many people involved in target fabrication as well as the technical support crew for the laser. My targets are fairly complicated and require precision machining to accuracies of 25 µm. Due to the complexity of my targets, I have discussed different aspects of their fabrication with many people. Craig Rivers is an extremely knowledgeable and competent individual. He not only does an excellent job, but is also able to grasp the overalll context of his projects. For instance, in the beginning he primarily machined the ~2mm long Au targets. However, as he became more familiar with how his task fits into building the targets, he looked at the overall process and instituted the use of "kits" which allow all the parts of the target to be manchined and kept together so that the assembler was able to grab one "kit" and have all the necessary components. It is refresshing to find an individual that cares about doing his job. I am not directly invoved in managing his activities, but I know that since joining the group, Mr. Rivers has taken on more responsibilities. To my knowledge he now coordinates the micromachining and has been given the job of testing and filling targets with different gases. Mr. Rivers shows creativity and takes the time and effort to improve the project he works on. As a person who is supported by his activities, he contributes to the success of my experiments and I very much appreciate his work. Sincerely, Dr. Christina Black Target Physics Experiments