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May 19-21, 2003

2003 Annual NSLS Users' Meeting Highlights Scientific Successes, Exciting Future Plans

A spirit of optimism pervaded the 2003 annual meeting of National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) users, held at BNL May 19-21, 2003, with presentations on scientific successes and plans for new facilities.

"A lot of good things have happened at BNL in the last year," said Doon Gibbs, BNL's Interim Associate Laboratory Director for Basic Energy Sciences, as he welcomed NSLS users from around the country and the world to the Tuesday morning main meeting, chaired by Tony Lanzirotti of the University of Chicago, Chair-Elect of the Users' Executive Committee (UEC). Gibbs pointed out that BNL had made "great strides" toward establishing a new Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) and toward significantly upgrading the NSLS. He also noted that several highly qualified people had been brought into BNL leadership positions, including Praveen Chaudhari, the new Laboratory Director.

In introducing Peter Paul, Deputy Director for Science & Technology, Gibbs also took the opportunity to thank Paul for his steadfast leadership as Interim Director during the past two years.

Paul, whose task was to give an overview of BNL, echoed a statement made by Chaudhari at the previous week's RHIC & AGS Users' Meeting, that DOE program managers take a great risk when they build new facilities with the hope that users will come and do good science. "Fortunately it has always seemed to work out, but we can't take it for granted," Paul said, emphasizing how important it is to have an active user community, such as that at the NSLS, to keep a facility strong. With such involved users and the new leadership at the Lab - including Chaudhari, Gibbs, James Misewich as Materials Science Department Chair, Robert Hwang as CFN Director, and Alex Harris as Chemistry Department Chair - "We are all set to move forward," Paul said.

After describing improvements in support services, housing, and other facilities for users, Paul spoke of the CFN, recent findings at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, and the proposed NSLS-II, a third-generation light-source ring that would be the future center of synchrotron activity at BNL and in the Northeast. "The Laboratory will commit all the resources we can muster to make this a reality," he said.

Bob Hwang then presented details of the CFN, recognizing that "the current excitement in nanoscience is based on work that has been going on for decades at synchrotrons like the NSLS, and you, the users, are a big part of that." He asked NSLS users for help in shaping the new center, noting that the CFN, like DOE's four other nanoscience research centers, was co-located within an existing DOE research facility, in this case the NSLS, to build on existing strengths.

Like the NSLS, the CFN will be a user facility, with a similar process for reviewing proposals. With a range of complementary facilities focused on six scientific areas, the CFN will address the goal of tailoring materials' responses to achieve specific functionality based on an understanding of nanoscale phenomena.

Offering one example of what nanoscience might yield, Phaedon Avouris of IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center then gave the meeting's keynote address on "Carbon Nanotube Electronics."

With a break from science to focus on funding, UOP's Simon Bare, lobbying coordinator for the UEC, then urged all NSLS users to learn about the federal funding process and to get involved.

Users could help to "educate" their own legislators and the congressional committee members vital to science funding - via letters, phone calls, office visits, and even op-ed articles in newspapers - about the importance of research sponsored by DOE's Office of Science. Several bills that propose increased funding for the Office of Science are pending, he said, so to take action now is vital. For more information, see: http://www.nslsuec.org.

The meeting's next session was chaired by Ron Pindak, Head of Science Program Support for the NSLS. Patricia Dehmer, Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences (BES) within DOE's Office of Science, started the session. "After hearing this morning's talks," she said, "it strikes me that this is the beginning of a transition period for the Lab, and I'm very optimistic about the future of this institution."

Long-range planning within BES has resulted in a recommendation for a general upgrade to provide a full return on capital investments at existing light sources, Dehmer explained. Another recommendation was for the NSLS II upgrade. "This rated very high," she said, encouraging the spontaneous applause that erupted, adding, "You can thank Steve [Dierker, NSLS Chair] for doing such a good job at the presentation."

Referring to the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers, she said, "We are extremely happy that one of those is at Brookhaven. These [nanocenters] are going to be a very, very important component of the BES family of facilities."

Dehmer then gave her "Totally Unsanctioned Safety Seminar," drawing partly from her own lab experience. The bottom line: "It is possible - and required - to run your laboratory safely, and Pat will become a pest [with investigations and possible cuts in funding] if you mess up."

Following Dehmer, Steve Dierker gave an overview of recent NSLS successes, including Roderick MacKinnon's "spectacular piece of work" on voltage-dependent potassium ion channels, featured on the cover of the May 1 issue of Nature; studies of materials that expand under pressure; and a paper on cell membrane fusion that explains "one of the most basic processes" of cell division. "This has been an action-packed year, with a lot of exciting developments," he said.

Dierker gave credit to the NSLS's support staff, saying, "None of these advances would have been possible if we could not deliver the photons to the end of the beamline. It takes a dedicated and talented staff and a determined effort to keep both rings running reliably."

Dierker then reviewed the many beamline and instrumentation improvements of the past year, and talked about the proposed NSLS II.

This $350 million upgrade, featuring a new x-ray storage ring three times larger than the current NSLS, would be constructed on Brookhaven Avenue, across from the existing structure, featuring 21 superconducting undulator beamlines and providing the highest brightness of any existing light source, with much shorter pulses.

"Our goal is to build the ultimate medium-energy storage ring," Dierker said. "We would see a huge impact from these enhanced capabilities, especially in the areas of nanoscience and protein crystallography, as larger cells and smaller crystals could be analyzed."

The meeting continued with scientific talks on nanoscience, thin films, x-ray crystallography, and new x-ray sources. During the afternoon session chaired by Lisa Miller, Coordinator of the NSLS's Information & Outreach Office, the UEC Community Service Award was presented to Michael Sullivan, Chief Beam Line Engineer for Albert Einstein College of Medicine, for service, innovation and dedication to NSLS users. The winners of the Student/Post Doc Poster Contest - V.G. Alexandratos, Stony Brook University (SBU); Ally S.-Y. Chan, Rutgers University; Daisuke Kawakami, SBU; David Linkous, George Mason University; Henrik Loos, BNL; and Hidenori Tashiro, University of Florida - were also announced.

Users were then invited to hear more about the BNL nanocenter and encouraged to meet with CFN scientific and facility leaders before adjourning for the meeting's Western-theme banquet in Berkner Hall.

Workshop Summaries

In addition to a full Main Meeting schedule, six workshops were also held during the Users' Meeting. See the links below for highlights and photos from these workshops.

SCIENCE WRITER: Karen McNulty Walsh

PHOTOS BY: Roger Stoutenburgh