Chi-Chang's Corner

NSLS-CFN Users' Meeting Quickly Approaching

May 5, 2008

Chi-Chang Kao
NSLS Department Chair
kao@bnl.gov

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Our annual NSLS Users’ Meeting, held jointly with the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, is just weeks away, and many of you have already signed up for the associated talks, workshops, and social events. If you haven’t registered, please pay attention to the upcoming deadlines, which are outlined in this edition of eNews. Also note that voting is now open for the 2008-10 Users’ Executive Committee (UEC) members. The winners will be announced as part of the main meeting, which also will feature facility updates and talks related to this year’s theme, "Lighting Our Way to a Renewable/Sustainable Energy Future." Hope to see you there!

The Department of Energy’s triennial NSLS review was held on April 30-May 2. Reviewers heard presentations about our performance for the last three years, as well as scientific highlights and future scientific directions. They also took tours of the experimental floor and talked to staff and members of the UEC and Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). While we won’t have results from this review for a while, the initial feedback from the reviewers was very positive. Extensive preparation went into this important assessment, and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their efforts.

The SAC played an instrumental role in this preparation. During their April meeting, in addition to completing the beamline reviews, SAC members heard summaries of the white papers produced from our recent NSLS strategic planning workshops. These white papers, which will be used to guide the future development of the NSLS and the transition to NSLS-II, are now available online.

On that note, several NSLS and NSLS-II staff members and users recently attended a meeting hosted by the National Institutes of Health to discuss our vision of life sciences research at NSLS-II. This meeting, also attended by representatives from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, laid out the scientific opportunities presented by NSLS-II and set our long-term life sciences plan in motion.

The effort to clean up labs and workspaces continues, led by NSLS Safety Engineer Keith Klaus and Building Manager Bob Kiss. A group has been formed to work with the Laboratory Stewards and has started by clearing out unnecessary equipment and materials from each laboratory. I ask for your cooperation as they continue this effort.

We had more than 50 children participate in our annual Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day. I’d like to thank Abdel Isakovic for organizing this year’s detective-themed activities, which gave the children a chance to explore the experimental floor.

Four NSLS users were recently honored for scientific achievement. They include: University of Delaware professor Jingguang Chen, who received the 2008 Award for Excellence in Catalysis from the Catalysis Society of Metropolitan New York; Florida State University researcher Linda Hirst, recipient of a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development grant for research involving cell membranes; Carnegie Institution of Washington researcher Ho-kwang (Dave) Mao, winner of the American Geophysical Union’s Inge Lehmann Medal; and Brookhaven chemist José Rodriguez, who received the Outstanding Technical Achievement Award from HENAAC, a nonprofit organization that honors the outstanding contributions of Hispanic American professionals in science, engineering, technology and mathematics. Congratulations to you all.

Finally, a group of users from the University of Minnesota demonstrated a one-step technique for producing a class of magnetic nanoparticles with potential applications ranging from drug delivery in the body to data storage. The nanoparticles, which consist of an iron and cobalt core with a gold shell, were characterized using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the NSLS. You can read more about their research in this edition of eNews.