A Message from Donald DiMarzio
information from the Users' Executive Committee
December 7, 2017
Dear fellow CFN users:
On behalf of the CFN Users’ Executive Committee (UEC), I am pleased to report recent happenings since our last newsletter.
Our UEC town hall meeting in October had great participation, with attendees generating lots of good ideas. We discussed making better use of online tools for promoting CFN user science and building a professional network of “CFN-affiliated” people. For the CFN network suggestion, we developed the idea of establishing “CFN ambassadors” at universities and institutions, who could organize local CFN user alumni gatherings and coordinate periodic visits by CFN staff. We are working to see how this idea can be implemented. If you are interested in being the head of your local CFN user alumni group, please let the UEC know. Another topic we discussed at the town hall meeting was the community benefit of creating a CFN social presence at major annual conferences. We made a first try at the Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting just held in Boston by organizing a dinner for CFN user alumni, staff, and friends—and we plan to continue these get-togethers at other major conferences in 2018. We will keep the community posted about when and where they are happening.
We would like to thank everyone who responded to the CFN 2017 end-of-year user satisfaction survey. Many of us participated in the survey, and the CFN will digest our responses to understand how to provide better support for our research.
The UEC has continued participating in planning and co-chairing the annual NSLS-II & CFN Joint Users’ Meeting. We are currently planning the 2018 workshops, which will cover many timely topics, and we look forward to seeing everyone at the meeting in the spring.
We also look forward to the work you will be doing in the coming New Year. Longtime users, please keep your proposals coming in. If you have not been to CFN in a while, I encourage you to check out the latest facility upgrades and additions—you may be pleasantly surprised. Also, please spread the word and tell your colleagues about CFN and its capabilities.
The UEC is always interested in hearing from you, and sincerely hopes you can join us in our efforts to improve the user experience at CFN. Please feel free to send me any thoughts on how the UEC can help make such improvements. I am a locally based user, and I would be more than happy to meet with you the next time you are at CFN—just send me a note at the email address listed below before you arrive.
—Donald DiMarzio
2017–18 CFN UEC Chair (chair@cfnuec.org)
2017-12653 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
