May 11, 2011

UEC Represents NSLS, NSLS-II in Washington, DC Exhibition

On April 7, 2011, representatives from the NSLS Users' Executive Committee (UEC) went to Washington, DC to participate in a User Science Exhibition hosted by the National User Facility Organization (NUFO). The event, held in the foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building, was organized to highlight the significant and important role that scientific user facilities such as NSLS and NSLS-II play nationally in advancing fundamental scientific knowledge, promoting science education, and improving economic competitiveness.

Plans for the exhibition were initiated at the request of congressional representatives Rush Holt (NJ), Judy Biggert (IL) and former representatives Vernon Ehlers (MI) and Bill Foster (IL), who felt it was important to educate their colleagues about the research being done by facility users and how that work benefits the United States.

Despite the looming April 8 deadline for resolution of the FY 2010 budget impasse and the potential for a next-day government shutdown, the event drew a large audience. Senators, congressional representatives, and their staff made time out of their busy day to learn about our facilities and the exciting science that you are doing here, a clear indication of the importance they place on supporting and highlighting our scientific achievements.

Attendees at this public exhibit included Congressional leaders (including senators, representatives, and their staff members), management from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, four national laboratory directors (including Brookhaven Lab's Sam Aronson), a representative from the National Science Foundation, and representatives from a number of science agencies or societies such as the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Physics Today, Coalition for National Science Funding, the Alliance for Science & Technology Research in America, and the American Astronomical Society, among others.

I helped represent the NSLS along with Jen Bohon from Case Western Reserve University, and NSLS User Administrator Kathy Nasta. More than 60 representatives from 39 national user facilities came to the event, presenting posters from each of their respective facilities.

There were also brief presentations from Rene Bellwied, NUFO Chair and physics professor at Wayne State University, Thom Mason, Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Congressman Charles Fleischmann (TN) and Stephen Wasserman from Eli Lilly and Company. They all stressed the key role that national user facilities play in facilitating science by providing the capabilities for key discoveries that advance new technologies and stimulate economic growth.