We Had a Great Summer at NSLS-II!
September 17, 2018
Welcome to the latest edition of News@NSLS-II!
I am excited to announce that we had a very eventful summer cycle at NSLS-II. The accelerator is now running with an operating current of 400 mA. More beamlines have transitioned from science commissioning into general user operations, bringing us up to a total count of 22 beamlines in general user operation. We have another four beamlines in science commissioning and two more under construction. Among the recent beamlines that reached general user operations is the Beamline for Materials Measurements (BMM), one of our partner beamlines with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Beyond new beamlines coming online, a number of the beamlines have commissioned new capabilities, which you can learn about in the newly redesigned beamline guide and proposal guide. And users will also be happy to hear that TLDs are no longer required when working on the experimental floor.
I would also like to mention the success of this year’s Joint CFN and NSLS-II User’s Meeting. I personally enjoyed welcoming all our users during the plenary sessions and sharing the excitement for the new and fascinating science being carried out at NSLS-II. If you missed the meeting, you can read our summary to learn about all the exciting talks that took place. I personally particularly enjoy meeting with the users and hearing directly about their research, their experiences at NSLS-II and their ideas for the future of our facility. It is always a stimulating few days and this year was no exception!
Earlier this month, NSLS-II also hosted the lightsources.org collaboration for its biannual meeting. NSLS-II is a proud member of lightsources.org, a collaboration between communicators from light source facilities around the world. Lightsources.org is a platform for users and scientists to find news, career opportunities, and information about 21 synchrotron radiation member facilities and six free-electron laser (FEL) member facilities. During the meeting, professional science communicators from member facilities exchanged best practices, knowledge, and ideas to better promote the importance of light sciences. It was a pleasure to host this lively exchange at our facility.
As a final note, construction is beginning on a new cryo-electron microscope (cryo-EM) facility right next to NSLS-II. This new facility will be the home of two new microscopes and will offer complementary tools for NSLS-II’s vibrant structural biology community. I am looking forward to reporting more about the facility in the next issue of this newsletter.
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter and I hope to see you at NSLS-II in the near future!
John Hill, NSLS-II Director
2018-13132 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
