Updates for the User Community
inputs from the CFN User Office
January 30, 2024
Grace Webster
Greetings from the User Office! We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday; we send our best wishes to you all for a healthy and prosperous New Year!
Events
- NSLS-II & CFN Users’ Meeting: The 2024 Users’ Meeting will be held May 13-17. This year, the Users’ Meeting will be in person for the first three days and virtual for the last two days. The Workshop Subcommittee is inviting CFN staff and users to submit their workshop proposals by Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. The Committee is also encouraging education or outreach workshops for introducing new communities to synchrotron and nanoscience, as well as workshops from diverse fields such as clean energy conversion and storage, microelectronics, quantum information/materials, AI/ML for energy, environmental and climate sciences, life sciences and biopreparedness, soft matter physics, and geosciences research.
- User proposal deadline: The CFN is currently accepting new proposals and additional time requests for the May to August 2024 cycle by the submission deadline of Wednesday, Jan. 31.
- Users who already have an active project must submit an additional time request for access to the CFN.
- For general user and rapid access projects that are expiring after the September to December 2023 cycle, PIs must submit a new general user proposal by the upcoming deadline for work to continue.
Resource/instrument update
The High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope, JEOL 2100F, is no longer available to users. If you wish to discuss what TEM options are best for your user project, contact Lihua Zhang, email: lhzhang@bnl.gov, 631-344-3512.
Safety approval forms
All user projects must have an approved Safety Approval Form. SAFs must be submitted through the CFN proposal portal and approved two weeks prior to the start of an experiment, whether the work is on site or remote. We continue to see a large number of user projects without a valid SAF, which is causing a delay or cancellation of experiments.
Reminders for on-site or remote users
Before starting your experiment at CFN, users must complete the following steps:
- Registration: Every experimenter listed on the proposal, participating on site or remotely, must have a valid Brookhaven Lab appointment. To obtain or renew a guest appointment, go to https://guest.bnl.gov. Users who mail in or receive samples from CFN must also have a valid guest appointment.
- Submit a Safety Approval Form
- Training: All experimenters must complete online training prior to a scheduled experiment. For a list of training requirements, please go to https://training.bnl.gov.
- CFN will continue to support user projects remotely by assisting with data analysis and other activities that can be done away from the lab. For more information, contact the User Office at cfnuser@bnl.gov or at 631-344-NANO (6266).
Publications and awards
- Send us high-resolution copies of publication covers that feature your papers or articles so that we can display them at the CFN.
- Keep us informed of your awards, honors, and publications. Publicizing your discoveries and professional achievements helps us raise the profile of the CFN, attract top scientists from around the world, and secure ongoing funding.
- The following acknowledgement must be used in publications when referencing work performed in whole or in part at the CFN: “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, please do not hesitate to contact the CFN User Office or any of the CFN staff. We are here to help and ensure you are safe when conducting your work.
On behalf of the entire CFN family, we thank you for your continued support of and engagement with the CFN. We hope to see you all soon!
— Grace Webster
User Program Administrator and Outreach Coordinator
2024-21702 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
