Updates for the User Community

inputs from the CFN User Office

September 23, 2024

Grace Webster

Grace Webster

Greetings from the User Office! It’s starting to feel like fall here. We hope that you all had a great summer. And although we do not want summer to end yet, we are extremely excited to start a new cycle of user projects at CFN.   

User Proposal Submission 

  • The next proposal deadline is Sept. 30, 2024. User proposals and additional time requests submitted during this call will be considered for the January-April 2025 cycle. Reminders to existing users were sent after Labor Day. If you didn’t get the email, please let the User Office know so that we can add you to the mailing list. 
  • Users who already have an active project must submit an additional time request for access to CFN. 
  • For General User and Rapid Access projects that are expiring after the September-December 2024 cycle, principal investigators must submit a new General User Proposal for work to continue. 

Safety Approval Forms 

We continue to see a large number of user projects without a valid Safety Approval Form (SAF), which is causing a delay or cancellation of experiments. All user projects must have an approved SAF. 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.   

User Survey 

Remember to complete the 2024 User Satisfaction Survey. Your feedback is very important to us. We rely on your input to improve our performance and processes. We also report the results of the survey to DOE. 

Reminders for On-site or Remote-Access Users 

Before starting your experiment at CFN, users must complete the following steps: 

  • Registration: Every experimenter listed on the proposal, participating onsite 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
  • Submit an SAF at https://cpp.bnl.gov.
  • 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 CFN. 
  • Keep us informed of your awards, honors, and publications. Publicizing your discoveries and professional achievements helps us raise the profile of 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 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, thank you for supporting CFN and for continuing to leverage our advanced, complementary capabilities and expertise for your research needs. 

— Grace Webster  
User Program Administrator and Outreach Coordinator 

2024-22094  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom