2002 NSLS Users' Meeting

The Environmental Sciences: Synchrotrons Providing Powerful Tools for a New Science

Biology Dept. Bldg. 463, Large Seminar Room

Monday, May 20, 2002

Organizer: Douglas Hunter, Savannah River Technology Center, 803-725-3339

The past decade has witnessed the rise of a new inter-disciplinary branch of science broadly named the Environmental Sciences. The environmental sciences encompass all the traditional branches of science in the study of man's impact on this planet. This same decade has seen the emergence of significant advances in synchrotron technologies. This workshop will highlight ways in which a wide variety of synchrotron based spectroscopies are being applied to a wide range of problems in the environmental sciences. Talks will span the spectrum ranging from the infrared, soft x-rays to hard x-rays. Techniques will include SR-FTIR, diffraction, spectro-microscopy, x-ray fluorescence, x-ray absorption spectroscopy and others. Applications will range from the geological, soil, biological sciences and more. The workshop promises to be an exciting blend of demonstrations showing the many diverse ways that NSLS can be used to study the complex research problems faced by environmental scientists.

9:00 a.m.	Douglas Hunter, Savannah River Technology Center, "Introductory Remarks"
9:10 a.m.	Juergen Thieme, Institut fuer Roentgenphysik, Georg-August-Universitaet, "Soft X-ray Spectromicroscopy - A Tool for the Study of Geochemical and Environmental Processes"
9:50 a.m.	Satish Myneni, Princeton University, "Probing H-bonding Interactions of H₂O with Soft X-rays"
10:30 a.m.	Coffee Break
10:45 a.m.	Jeffery Post, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, "Real-time Synchrotron Powder Diffraction Studies of the Dehydration Behaviors of Manganese Oxides"
11:30 a.m.	Peter J. Heaney, Penn State Uni., "A Synchrotron X-ray Powder Diffraction Study of Cation Exchange in Anionic Clays"
12:00 noon	Lunch
1:10 p.m.	Hoi-Ying Holman, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, "SR-FTIR Spectromicroscopy to Study the Effect of Humic Acids on Biodegradation of Pyrene on Mineral Surfaces"
1:50 p.m.	Lisa Axe, New Jersey Institute of Technology, "XAS Studies on Metal Sorption and Attenuation in Amorphous Fe and Mn Oxides"
2:30 p.m.	Coffee Break
2:50 p.m.	Martine C. Duff, Savannah River Technology Center, "Actinide XAFS Studies in Support of High-level Waste Treatment and Characterization"
3:30 p.m.	Mark Fuhrmann, BNL, "Applications of Synchrotron Techniques to Phytoremediation"
4:10 p.m.	Roundtable Discussion: "Environmental Science Research at NSLS"