Tuesday	10:00am-4:00pm		Waste Management Inc.
	8:00am-11:00am		Exxon Refining and Chemical
	8:00am-11:00am		Southwestern Bell
	1:00–5:00pm		NASA/Johnson Space Center
	1:00–4:00pm		Virtual Environment Technology Lab
Wednesday	9:00am-2:00pm		Compaq Computers
	9:00am-3:00pm		The Texas Medical Center
	12:00pm-4:00pm		The Dow Chemical Company
	1:00pm-4:00pm		Texas Instruments
Thursday	9:00am-1:00pm		American Productivity and Quality Center
	1:00pm-4:00pm		Houston Transtar - Greater Houston Transportation & Emergency Management Centers
Friday	9:00am-5:00pm		Marine Vessel & Port of Houston
	9:00am–1:00pm		NASA/Johnson Space Center
	1:30pm-4:00pm		Houston Advanced Research Center
	1:00pm-5:00pm		Wastewater Treatment Complex and Water Purification Plant

WASTE MANAGEMENT INC.
$15 • limit: 24
Tuesday, 10:00am–4:00pm

This tour will visit two different facilities. We will start with a tour of the state-of-the-art Port Arthur, Texas, hazardous waste incinerator (one of the largest in the world and one of only nine such facilities in the US), a fully permitted RCRA and TOSCA incinerator that accepts bulk solid, drum and some direct burn materials. We will then proceed to the second facility, a RCRA-permitted landfill in Carlyss, Louisiana. This facility offers a variety of treatment processes that reduce the concentrations of chemical constituents to below regulatory levels prior to final disposal in the landfill.

The tour includes lunch. Flat shoes and slacks are recommended. The tour is handicapped-accessible. Must be 18 or older. Total travel time on the bus will be approximately 3.5 hours.

EXXON REFINERY AND CHEMICAL PLANT
$15 • limit: 48
Tuesday, 8:00–11:00am

Our tour of Exxon's world-class Baytown facility comprises both the refinery and chemical plant. The tour will begin with a video entitled "Humble Beginnings," and a presentation on "Products from the World of Chemicals." We will then take a driving tour of the facilities, stopping at a control room and a lab along the way.

Exxon is encouraging students to sign up for this tour. Flat shoes and slacks are recommended. Cameras are not allowed. Most of the tour is handicapped-accessible. Must be 18 or older. Travel time is approximately 30 minutes each way.

SOUTHWESTERN BELL
$25 • limit: 20
Tuesday, 8:00–11:00am

Southwestern Bell's Communications Technology Center is a "Telecommunications Adventure" where visitors can see advanced telecommunications in action and even explore ways of using it. This tour will include the Telecommunity, where visitors can compare ISDN technology to analog technology via demonstrations of remote LAN access, the Internet, work-at-home applications and desktop video conferencing; the Applications Laboratory, where customers can preview how their hardware will work once Southwestern Bell establishes actual service to their business; and the Presentation Area, a room equipped with sophisticated audio-visual capabilities.

The tour is handicapped-accessible. Must be 18 or older. Travel time is approximately 20 minutes each way.

NASA/JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
$25 • limit: 20 each
Tuesday, 1:00–5:00pm or Friday, 9:00am–1:00pm

Our "behind-the-scenes" technical tour of NASA will visit Mission Control, a training mock-up of the International Space Station, and the off-site Neutral Buoyancy Lab.

Flat shoes and slacks are recommended. The tour is handicapped-accessible except for the Space Station. Must be 18 or older. Travel time is approximately 45 minutes each way.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY
$25 • limit: 24
Tuesday, 1:00–4:00pm

The Virtual Environment Technology Laboratory (VETL) is a joint enterprise of the University of Houston and NASA/Johnson Space Center. The laboratory performs research and development focused on virtual environments for training, education and scientific/engineering data visualization. Our tour will break into three smaller groups with each group spending time experiencing the CAVE (a ten-foot cube with four display surfaces for total immersion), observing 3-dimensional images rising from the tabletop, and a hands-on opportunity to play with the virtual reality workbench.

The tour is handicapped-accessible. Must be 18 years or older. Travel time is approximately 15 minutes each way.

COMPAQ COMPUTERS
$25 • limit: 55
Wednesday, 9:00am–2:00pm

Compaq Computer Corporation, the largest personal computer supplier in the world, is headquartered in Houston. The specific content of our tour of the Compaq campus was not available at press time; however, the tour is likely to include a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, an environmental testing lab and the newly opened Executive Briefing Center which features Compaq hardware and software running in conjunction with other vendor hardware and software. The tour will conclude with a reception and lunch where you'll have a chance to meet and visit with some of Compaq's women engineers and managers.

Compaq is encouraging students to sign up for this tour. Flat shoes and slacks are recommended. This tour is handicapped-accessible. Must be 18 or older. Travel time is approximately 30 minutes each way.

THE TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER
$25 • limit: 20
Wednesday, 9:00am–3:00pm

The Texas Medical Center in Houston is the world's largest medical center. It comprises 40 member institutions including two medical schools, four nursing schools and 14 hospitals. Our tour will be hosted by the Assistance Center and will include the following stops: the Gate Lab at Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children where children are taught to use their muscles again through electrical stimulation; the radiation oncology department at MD Anderson Cancer Center where we will learn about the origins of pinpoint radiation or dosimetry; and Hermann Hospital's hyperbaric chamber and a demonstration of the gamma knife, which is used in place of a scalpel on brain surgery patients. The tour will stop for lunch at a hospital's cafeteria (lunch is not included in the tour price) and conclude with a wrap-up at the Assistance Center.

Flat shoes are recommended and the Assistance Center's tour bus is not wheelchair-accessible. Must be 16 or older. Travel time is approximately 10 minutes each way.

THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY
$15 • limit: 35
Wednesday, 12:00noon–4:00pm

The Dow Chemical Company's Freeport complex is a world-scale facility consisting of several chemical plants. The tour will begin with a short video on the history of Dow and some of the products produced at the Freeport facility. The driving tour of the complex will include the chlorine, glycol, polycarbonate, epoxy, styrene and glycerin plants. We also will be touring the state-of-the-art Control Room (featuring Mod V process automation technology) for Dow's newest light hydrocarbons plant. Participants will have the opportunity to play "The Dow Consumer Product Game" on the ride down to Freeport. Prizes for the game will be awarded on the ride back to Houston, and light refreshments also will be provided on the return trip.

Dow is encouraging students to sign up for this tour. Flat shoes and slacks are recommended and this tour is not wheelchair accessible. Must be 18 or older. Travel time is approximately 50 minutes each way.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
$15 • limit: 30
Wednesday, 1:00–4:00pm

Texas Instruments is the world leader in DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology. Their Houston semiconductor facility is where the TMS320C6x, the world's fastest (1600 MIPS) and most powerful processor, is built. Join us as we look into what a networked society—where personal electronics are connected via DSP driven networks, all sharing and communicating digital information—could look like in the future. On this tour we will visit the applications engineering, design, software development and marketing areas, get a "window tour" of a clean room, and view some products (wireless phones, hard disk drives, etc.) that use DSP as a core technology. You'll have the opportunity to meet the engineers and programmers who've made DSP technology a reality, so bring lots of questions.

Flat shoes are recommended. This tour is handicapped-accessible. Travel time is approximately 30 minutes each way.

AMERICAN PRODUCTIVITY & QUALITY CENTER (APQC)
Thursday, 9:00am–1:00pm

HOUSTON TRANSTAR - GREATER HOUSTON TRANSPORTATION & EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CENTER
Thursday, 1:00–4:00pm

MARINE VESSEL AND THE PORT OF HOUSTON
$15 • limit: 35
Friday, 9:00am–4:00pm

Chevron Chemical will host and coordinate at a Houston terminal with an international vessel owner a special tour of a very large marine vessel. As tour participants will see first hand, contemporary marine vessels are much more than mere cargo containers with engines, these vessels are an entire "city at sea." The tour will include the bridge (with state-of-the-art navigational and communications equipment), cargo tanks, the pump control room and the engine room. After we conclude the vessel tour, Chevron will provide a box lunch to all participants before we move on to our second stop on the tour, the Port of Houston, the second largest port in the US. The "M.V. Sam Houston" will take us on a 90 minute cruise of the Port and the Houston Ship Channel, providing a close-up view of the Turning Basin, the Container Terminals, Bulk Handling Plant and Elevator.

Flat walking shoes (with anti-slip soles for maneuvering the steel floors aboard ship) and slacks are required. This tour is not wheelchair- accessible. Must be 18 or older. Travel time is approximately 20 minutes each way.

HOUSTON ADVANCED RESEARCH CENTER (HARC)
$25 • limit: 30
Friday, 1:30–4:00pm

The Houston Advanced Research Center is a non-profit, university-linked organization promoting economic development through scientific discovery and technology transfer. Approximately 120 scientists, engineers, technicians, analysts and support staff focus on research in fields such as energy, the environment, biotechnology and policy. Our tour of HARC will begin with an introduction and overview of the Center and then a tour of all the labs and facilities—Geotechnology Research Institute, Center for Global Studies, Environmental Information Systems Lab, Technology Development Lab, DNA Technology Lab, Fondren Telemedicine Technology Lab, Astroparticle Physics Group, and the Texas Laser Lab, concluding with a Q&A session. Be sure to ask about the mechanisms for collaboration with HARC, such as graduate and post doctoral laboratory experiences and the summer intern/employment program.

The tour is wheelchair-accessible. Must be 18 or older. Travel time is approximately 30 minutes each way.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT COMPLEX & WATER PURIFICATION PLANT
$25 • limit: 30
Friday, 1:00–5:00pm

This tour showcases both ends of the water treatment spectrum: wastewater treatment and drinking water purification. Our first stop will be the 69th Street Wastewater Treatment Complex, which is the largest wastewater treatment facility in the City of Houston, consisting of a 200 MGD, two-stage, pure oxygen activated sludge, advanced wastewater treatment plant and a 125 dry ton/day sludge processing and disposal plant. This complex is one of the most advanced of its kind in the world. Our second stop will be at the East Water Purification Plant, a 190 acre complex consisting of three surface water treatment plants with a nominal capacity of 235 MGD. The water treatment process involves chemical coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection, fluoridation, pH/stability control, storage and pumping to the distribution system. Fully equipped microbiology, process and quality control labs provide immediate response to process problems.

Flat shoes and slacks are required. This tour has limited handicapped access. Total travel time is approximately 45 minutes.