National User Facility Organization Meeting: Focus on Industry

Eleven BNL facility users and user administrators were among about 100 representatives from across the U.S. who attended the 2009 National User Facility Organization (NUFO) annual meeting, held this year at Argonne National Laboratory June 10-12.

2009 NUFO meeting participants enlarge

Participants at the 2009 National User Facility Organization meeting

NUFO brings together users, user administrators and other interested stakeholders at its annual meetings to discuss and implement two main goals: to exchange and streamline administrative tools to optimize user access and productivity at scientific user facilities, and to formulate and activate an outreach and education agenda on behalf of users in the U.S. and abroad.

Harriet Kung, DOE’s Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences, gave the keynote address at the meeting, speaking about the important role of user facilities in tackling the nation’s energy challenges. DOE owns many of the largest user facilities in the U.S., including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, and facilities for studying the nano-world, the environment, and the atmosphere.

Wayne State University’s Rene Bellwied, one of three elected co-chairs of NUFO’s Steering Committee, gave a talk on how NUFO fits into the national science agenda. He noted that more than 27,000 researchers use 30 of the largest user facilities, which are all represented by NUFO, and more than 7,000 students annually receive their college degrees based on work at user facilities. The health and vitality of U.S. science and technology depends on these facilities and the researchers who use them to facilitate advances in numerous fields of science.

Brant Johnson from BNL’s Physics Department, also a co-chair of NUFO’s Steering Committee, gave a talk on “Expectations for Users and User Facilities.” His main message was that user administrators and user institutions should strive for uniformity of rules and procedures for users.

“The key to mutual success is clear communication among facilities and users,” Johnson said.

“We currently have about 4,500 facility users at BNL,” said Susan White-DePace, manager of BNL’s Guests, Users and Visitors Center and one of three elected co-coordinators for NUFO, which she helped to found in 1990. “The annual NUFO meetings are important to discuss administrative topics, such as visa issues, master user agreements, and cyber security, and to formulate a uniform standard for best practices in all areas that affect users. This year, the meeting focused on the special needs of users from industry.”

Amy Flatten, Director of International Affairs for the American Physical Society (APS), spoke about the events that have affected visa processing and foreign national entry into the U.S. since 9/11. She encouraged foreign nationals who experience difficulty in obtaining a U.S. visa to complete a visa questionnaire through the Board of International Scientific Organizations.

The second day of the meeting centered on industrial access to user facilities, starting with a presentation from Mike Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs, whose talk covered 15 years of science policy lessons. John Palafoutas, Co-Chair, Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, followed with a presentation on lobbying for American innovation.

The remainder of the workshop focused on industrial stories from small and large businesses that outlined what works well at national laboratories and where improvements can be made. The meeting ended the following day with a discussion of administrative issues.

Posters highlighting user facilities were displayed throughout the meeting. These posters will ultimately be displayed at the User Facility Exhibition on October 15 in Washington, DC.

Next June, BNL will host the annual NUFO meeting, in which the focus will be education and outreach.

2009-1350  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom