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May 16-19, 2004

2004 NSLS Annual Users’ Meeting Caps Off Another Successful Year

Almost 400 participants at the 2004 NSLS Annual Users’ Meeting, held May 17-20 at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), came together for a successful event full of interesting talks and important messages for the future. The meeting affirmed that the NSLS continues to be a facility that produces important science.

In his welcoming remarks at the main meeting on May 18, the new Users’ Executive Committee (UEC) Chair, Larry Shapiro, discussed the continuing excellence of NSLS research, such as the cellular ion channel structures determined by user Roderick MacKinnon, performed at the NSLS and the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source. This work earned MacKinnon the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Steve Dierker, NSLS Chairman and Associate Laboratory Director for Light Sources, described another important crystal structure, a cellular protein channel, recently determined here and featured on the cover of Nature in January 2004.

He also described other research highlights – a new liquid crystal phase in polar ordered materials, featured on the cover of Science in August 2003; a new material texture type, appearing in Nature in December 2003; and a new way to store hydrogen in molecular compounds, published January 2004 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“These give you a flavor of the diversity and quality of science that continues at this facility,” he said. “The NSLS has a well-deserved reputation for outstanding productivity.”

The main meeting’s scientific talks focused on user research from a more in-depth perspective. Chris Jacobsen, of Stony Brook University (SBU), gave an overview of the many x-ray and infrared imaging techniques available to users at the NSLS. Mark Croft, from Rutgers University, described his research on strain fields in macroscopic materials, in which he uses an energy dispersive x-ray diffraction method.

Simon Billinge, of Michigan State University, presented his work on the structures of complex materials that display order on the nanoscale, using the rapid acquisition pair distribution function technique he developed with his group. Brookhaven Lab’s John Hill discussed how he uses soft x-ray scattering to probe the behavior of electrons in solids.

Another speaker, Cornell University’s Lois Pollack, described an apparatus designed by her research group, which allows them to observe, using small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), how an RNA chain molecule compacts and folds into a three-dimensional structure. Following this, Yvonne Akpalu, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, presented her work, which investigates how to solve the crystal structure of a copolymer using SAXS.

On the days before and after the main meeting, users divided up to listen to additional talks on specific topics. These talks were organized into the following workshops: “Better Ways to See the Light: Advanced Detectors for Synchrotron Radiation,” organized by Peter Siddons (BNL) and Gianluigi De Geronimo (BNL); “Anatomy of a Virus,” organized by Marc Allaire (BNL) and Paul Freimuth (BNL); “Grazing Incidence Small Angle Scattering,” organized by Ben Ocko (BNL) and Detlef Smilgies (Cornell University); “Pharmaceutical Applications of Synchrotron Radiation,” organized by Evgenyi Shalaev (Pfizer Inc.), Raj G. Suryanarayanan (College of Pharmacy), and Peter Stephens (SBU); “Advanced Optical Systems and Metrology for High Power and Coherent Beamlines,” organized by Peter Takacs (BNL) and Steve Hulbert (BNL); “Applications of Synchrotron Based Methods to Hydrogen Storage Materials,” organized by Trevor Tyson (New Jersey Institute of Technology) and Wolfgang Caliebe (BNL); “Nanoprobes for Nanoscience,” organized by Cecilia Sanchez-Hanke (BNL) and Peter Sutter (BNL); and “Crystallization, Membrane Proteins,” organized by Naomi Chayen (Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine) and Vivian Stojanoff (BNL).

Now and Ahead

On the performance front, Dierker said the facility did well overall in the last year, with the VUV ring achieving 98 percent reliability and 108 percent availability. The x-ray ring didn’t perform quite as well, operating at 89 percent reliability and 99 percent availability. He noted that more than 60% of the downtime on the x-ray ring was due to three unusual major events, including the Northeast electrical power blackout last August.

In a message users are very familiar with, he stressed that the NSLS, designed 30 years ago and the only remaining second-generation DOE light source, is now performing at the limits of its capabilities. Pedro Montano, manager of the X-ray and Neutron Scattering Facilities program within the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences, acknowledged this in his talk, referring to the NSLS as the “working horse” of the DOE light sources.

Dierker and Montano repeated the need and excitement for NSLS-II, the proposed third-generation light source that would replace the NSLS.

Currently, Montano said, an international panel of scientists is reviewing the proposal – the first step in the process. He urged the current and prospective users of NSLS-II to contact their representatives in Congress and tell them how vital the facility is.

“I think NSLS-II is necessary,” Montano said. “There are a huge number of scientists in the Northeast that would benefit from it.”

All of the day’s speakers affirmed this idea – that NSLS-II is needed to broaden and enrich their research.

BNL and the NSLS

In his “CFN Update” talk, Robert Hwang, director of the upcoming Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) facility, discussed how the CFN will be “an interdisciplinary environment for nanoscience research,” performed in conjunction with several BNL departments, including the current NSLS and NSLS-II.

In this way, the research the CFN will enable promises to be very exciting. “The Northeast is becoming a hotbed for nanoscience,” said Dierker. “Brookhaven is becoming a focal point for much of that research.”

The future of Brookhaven Lab was the subject of Lab Director Praveen Chaudhari’s talk. In his vision for the Laboratory in the next 20 years, Chaudhari said NSLS-II plays a significant part in his desire to see more integration between departments, and the emergence of a new culture and way of thinking at the Lab.

“In a research lab, departmentalizing can be a hindrance,” he said. “To reach the frontiers in the life, physical, and environmental sciences, we need to find the major challenges at these interfaces between disciplines, and begin to address them.”

Another Lab-wide initiative – safety – was discussed by Bob Casey, the NSLS Associate Chair for Environment, Health, Safety, and Quality. While the NSLS safety record hovers around the DOE average, “We’re being asked to really improve,” Casey said. “We want to be best in class.”

The types of accidents that occur at the NSLS are sometimes considered routine, such as slips and muscle strains, but as Dierker said in his talk, “Accidents have consequences.” Additionally, there have been near misses at BNL in the special-hazard category, which include more serious electrical, radiation, and laser accidents. Casey made it clear that these must also be avoided, ending his talk with a series of photographs showing obvious safety violations in several areas of the NSLS. The pictures made it clear that safety really is an issue everybody must take seriously.

Honorable Mentions

Numerous honors and awards were presented at the close of the meeting. Outgoing UEC chair Tony Lanzirotti presented the UEC Community Service Award to Sue Wirick of Stony Brook University. Additionally, Lisa Miller, the meeting’s poster session and publicity chair, gave out awards for the best posters. The winners were Dario Arena (BNL-NSLS), Mehmet Aslantas (BNL-NSLS), Alexei Grigoriev (Harvard University), Marianna Kissell (SBU), Meghan Ruppel (SBU), and Xianqin Wang (BNL-Chemistry).

At the evening banquet, Shapiro presented the meeting’s organizers – Mary Anne Corwin, Liz Flynn, Gretchen Cisco, and Melissa Abramowitz – with framed letters of appreciation. This year’s banquet was reggae-themed, complete with a reggae band, colorful hats, and island fare.

[Cover Image: Outgoing UEC chair Tony Lanzirotti (Univ Chicago) presents the 2004 UEC Community Service Award to Sue Wirick (SBU). For more, see: http://www.nsls.bnl.gov/newsroom/news/2004/05-UEC_award.htm.]

Workshop Summaries

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

ARTICLE BY: Laura Mgrdichian

PHOTOS BY: Roger Stoutenburgh