Scientific Strategic Planning Workshops

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Agenda

Location: Berkner Hall

Tuesday, January 22
8:30 am - 9:00 am Check In
9:00 am - 9:20 am NSLS transition to NSLS-II and the grand vision for Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Light Sources Directorate - Lisa Miller (NSLS)
9:20 am - 10:00 am NSLS-II Overview and Beamline Developm - John Hill (NSLS-II)
10:00 am WORKSHOP PHOTO
10:00 am - 10:20 am COFFEE BREAK
10:20 am - 10:50 am Overview of trends in environmental and geoscience synchrotron research, what are the capabilities required that will open new avenues of research for the community - Richard Reeder (Stony Brook U.)
10:50 am - 11:10 am Mid and Hard X-ray Microprobes, potential new directions for enviro/geo microprobes at NSLS-II, technical possibilities and considerations - Steve Sutton (Univ. of Chicago)
11:10 am - 11:30 am New scientific directions and technical innovations in molecular environmental science and geochemistry EXAFS studies, instrumentation, optics and computing trends, new technologies and scientific possibilities for EXAFS at low concentration and small size - Bruce Ravel (NIST)
11:30 am - 11:50 am New scientific directions and possibilities for environmental and geosciences scattering research (PDF, surface scattering, microdiffraction), technical requirements to achieve next generation capabilities, instrumentation and detector trends - John Parise (Stony Brook U.)
11:50 am - 12:10 pm Scientific possibilities for low energy studies (STXM) in molecular environmental studies and geochemistry at NSLS-II and future research opportunities. Technical innovations in STXM optics and detectors, possibilities for next generation STXM at NSLS-II sources (soft bends and undulators) - Holger Fleckenstein (Stony Brook U.)
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm Future directions and needs for High Pressure/High Energy geoscience research at NSLS-II - Lars Ehm (Stony Brook U.)
12:30 pm - 1:10 pm LUNCH
1:10 pm - 1:25 pm Open discussion of beamline transition from NSLS to NSLS-II, identification of beamlines likely to benefit from transition as high quality intruments
1:25 pm - 1:45 pm Presentation of Straw-Man beamline chart and discussion - Tony Lanzirotti (Univ. of Chicago)
1:45 pm - 2:05 pm Open discussion of what working groups are needed to represent given beamlines and self-organization, discussion of BAT membership on project beamlines and recommendations for member participation
2:05 pm COFFEE AND COOKIES
2:10 pm - 5:30 pm Charge to working groups (see below), discussion of additional items that should be included as part of the charge and then break into working groups
5:30 pm Adjourn for the day and dinner. We will arrange a group dinner at a local restaurant for those wishing to attend (please inform Tony Lanzirotti).
Wednesday, January 23
9:00 am - 9:15 am Overview of past days accomplishments - Jeff Fitts (BNL Env. Sci.)
9:15 am - 11:15 am Present outlines for individual sections that will be included in the white paper, say 15 min presentations from each, assuming 5 total breakouts - Working Group Leaders
11:15 am - 11:30 am Discussion of necessary ancillary laboratory requirements at NSLS-II for Earth and Environmental Science focused beamlines - Satish Myneni (Princeton Univ.)
11:30 am - 11:45 am Discussion of potential synergy of the Earth and Environmental Sciences synchrotron community with other NSLS-II user communities, overview of similar efforts from other groups, discussion of how best to coalesce these efforts - Lisa Miller (NSLS)
11:45 am - 12:30 pm Working Groups meet to work revise section outline for white paper
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm WORKING LUNCH
12:30 pm - 12:50 pm Review of July '07 White Paper (as a template on which we will build the next version) - Tony Lanzirotti (U. Chicago)
12:50 pm - 2:00 pm Presentation of revised Straw-Man beamline chart, open discussion of overall format of the white paper - Paul Northrup (BNL Environmental Sciences)
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm Assignment of tasks to working groups and timetable for submitting parts to be incorporated into the white paper
2:30 pm Closeout discussion


Potential Breakout Sessions:

  • Hard and Mid X-Ray Microprobes - (Steve Sutton, Univ. of Chicago)
  • Bulk and Surface Scattering - (John Parise, Stony Brook U.)
  • EXAFS - (Jeff Fitts, BNL Env. Sci.)
  • STXM and FTIR - (Jay Brandes, Skidaway Institution of Oceanography)
  • High Pressure/High Energy - (Lars Ehm, Stony Brook U.)

Guildelines for Scientific Strategic Planning White Paper (10 Page limit) - Final Drafts due March 28, 2008:

  1. Provide an overview of the research communities that are covered by the white paper and for each research community, list the scientific challenges that drive the need for a high brightness synchrotron facility as well as their potential impact.
  2. Describe how on-going NSLS scientific programs can be strengthened and transitioned to the NSLS-II facility and identify new research opportunities that should be developed in preparation for the new facility.
  3. Provide an overview of the proposed suite of beamlines that will be required to meet the scientific challenges confronting the research communities. How many sources are required by our community, what would their characteristics be. This should include a discussion of performance and high level parameters (TPW, bends, MGU, energy range, resolutions, etc)
  4. Estimate the community usage (% of time we will use on a given endstation) for each endstation and consider a list of supporters/potential users.
  5. Provide recommendations for the phased construction of the new NSLS-II beamlines and the decommissioning and transitioning of new or existing NSLS beamlines.
  6. Provide recommendations for BAT membership. Ultimately we will need a summary of team members and their expertise. Brief description of what each member brings to the team.
  7. Provide recommendations for beamline upgrades of existing beamlines at the NSLS so that they will be of the highest quality when transitioned.
  8. What is the key instrumentation needed and its technical requirements (what type of monochromators, detectors, optics, software, sample environments, etc.), what R&D efforts are needed, what R&D must be initiated now to ensure that the proposed beamlines, whether new or transitioned, are world-leading?
  9. What are the ancillary lab requirements for this working group? What are the anticipated needs of the research community for office space, wet and dry lab facilities, large-scale computing facilities, and other extraordinary requirements such as for biohazards or toxic gases?
  10. What are the staffing requirements for these end-stations?