A Message from Trishelle Copeland-Johnson
information from the Users' Executive Committee
September 15, 2021
Hello! My name is Trishelle Copeland-Johnson, and I am the chair of the 2021–2022 CFN Users’ Executive Committee (UEC). Alongside my colleague Andreas Liapis, UEC vice-chair, I am excited to serve the CFN user community, fostering connection and support during these challenging times. Following our successful CFN and NSLS-II Joint Users’ Meeting in May, I hope to carry the experiences and connections I made during my tenure as vice-chair into my new position as chair.
The CFN UEC is working toward fostering innovative strategies and tools to expand the inclusivity of access to CFN resources and staff to those outside of the Long Island area. One aspect of this effort is revamping the UEC website with more interactive tools for sharing information about the status of CFN facilities, fostering networking, providing job opportunities, and much more. We are also working on strengthening our presence on social media. Our goal is to connect a wider demographic of users with timely information and highlights of your successes thanks to CFN support while providing avenues for potential collaborations within the community. We also would like to increase access to our community for the RHIC and NSLS-II user communities to foster further collaborations among the three user facilities.
Furthermore, I am excited to lead the UEC toward enhanced communication between users and CFN staff. We recently reinstated UEC town hall meetings to inform the user community about important information and provide a forum to ask questions. On August 17, we held our first town hall for the incoming UEC. In this meeting, Chuck Black provided an update on the CFN facility; Priscilla Antunez discussed communications and engagement efforts; Essala Lowe reviewed workplace safety practices for controlling the COVID-19 hazard; and Kevin Yager gave an overview of Remote@CFN, an initiative to enhance remote engagement with the CFN. Remote@CFN is one of the new programs that the UEC is engaging with CFN staff to promote. More information about Remote@CFN is available in the Updates for the User Community section of the newsletter.
The last CFN UEC town hall meeting was held on August 17, 2021.
If you were unable to attend the town hall, you can watch the recording. We plan to schedule these meetings quarterly as a reminder of the UEC's tenure and hope to establish a precedent for future UECs.
Another example is related to increasing the visibility of your work while promoting the CFN. Please consider preparing a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research highlight for work you’ve performed at the CFN or NSLS-II/CFN partner user beamlines. The highlight is a single slide in which you summarize your research and its impact. You can find the template here. Every month, the CFN sends two highlights to the DOE. The CFN also shares these highlights on social media. Be sure that the publication you’re basing the research highlight on has the appropriate CFN acknowledgment:
“This research used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), which is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility, at Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-SC0012704.”
If you have any questions about research highlights, contact Priscilla Antunez.
I would also like to invite you to express more of your artistic side by participating in the Annual CFN Image Contest! You can submit one entry per category. The two categories are Scientific and Technical (images relating to research performed at the CFN) and Life at the CFN (images of the facility). Please send your entries by October 9, National Nanotechnology Day, to ciufo@bnl.gov, including the image file (as a high-resolution PDF and JPG, TIF, or PNG); your name, institution, and address; and a brief description of the image and the CFN instrument used (if applicable). First-place images in each category will be framed and hung in the main corridor of the CFN. Selected images will be shared on social media and in the CFN calendar.
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CFN user Chonghang Zhao from Stony Brook University won first place in the Scientific and Technical and Life at the CFN categories in the 2020 CFN Image Contest for his images titled "Multilayer thin films on substrate" and "CFN reflected in water," respectively.
Thank you for allowing us to serve you into the upcoming year. We hope you join us in our efforts to improve the user experience at the CFN.
— Trishelle Copeland-Johnson
CFN UEC Chair
2021-19129 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
