This week is the week when Louisiana invades Washington, DC for “Washington Mardi Gras.” Approximately 3000 business, community, and political leaders made the trek north to the nation’s capital this year. Kathy and I traveled up on Tuesday and were joined by our son, Kyle, and his wife, Ginger, later that day. Kathy, Kyle and Ginger spent the week touring museums and other sites in the DC area while I was in meetings. This week turned out to be a very productive one for me as I met with most of our Louisiana congressional delegation and was able to lay out some of our plans for the future. With the recent changes in our delegation, it is important that we help these congressional leaders better understand some of the needs and opportunities that impact the State of Louisiana, particularly in areas related to education and economic development. Craig Spohn, Director of the Cyber Innovation Center, and I met with several companies and federal government entities who are partnering with us in some of our cyber initiatives. We particularly enjoyed our meetings with senior personnel from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), the global IT company that is expanding operations through its new Integrated Technology Center in Bossier City. The partnership with CSC is already returning great benefits for our students, faculty and region. I was also able to meet with a lot of state and local political and business leaders as well as Tech alumni throughout the week. The connections that we were able to make in just a few days during WMG made this a prime opportunity to keep our institution and community on the radar of key decision makers. One of the week’s special events was the Economic Development luncheon on Thursday. Each of our congressional delegates made remarks about their goals and activities. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret gave an outstanding presentation on the recent growth of businesses in Louisiana. Governor and national statesman John Huntsman gave an excellent talk about the global political landscape. Kathy and I enjoyed spending the evenings with Kyle and Ginger hitting local restaurants and other events related to WMG activities. We also took advantage of a free evening on Wednesday to go to the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts to enjoy the classical musical adaptation of Gigi. All in all, it has been a great and very productive week!