Bringing Our Science Further in 2024

NSLS-II Interim Director Erik Johnson shares updates on summer outreach activities, new beamlines, our upcoming 10-year anniversary of first light, new user proposal criteria, and more

May 24, 2024

The summer cycle will be here sooner than we think, and while it’s a busy time for our users and staff, it’s also a busy time for education, outreach, and workforce development. This year, the Lab anticipates 400 interns onsite from the Office of Educational Programs, a majority of whom are undergraduate students. There will also be a few high school programs coming through NSLS-II. These programs provide invaluable mentorship and experience to not only the students visiting the Lab, but those that volunteer as mentors. There are staff members currently working at NSLS-II that started their careers through some of these programs and can attest to their impact. NSLS-II will also host a high school teacher research workshop, the Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) course, and over 40 summer undergraduate interns.

This summer, we will also have the opportunity to share our work with the local community. On Saturday, June 1^st, we will be returning to the Vanderbilt Museum and Reichert Planetarium for a day of hands-on science and on Sunday, July 21, we will be hosting our annual Open House event, formerly known as “Summer Sunday.” There are so many people in our local community that are unaware of the amazing facility and fascinating science happening right around the corner. These events do so much to raise our public profile, encourage interest in science, and create meaningful connections within our community.

Thank You to all NSLS-II and CFN Users’ Meeting attendees and staff

During the week of May 13^th, we hosted our annual NSLS-II and CFN Users’ Meeting. This year’s hybrid format embraced the best of both worlds, bringing current and prospective users onsite to meet in person and extending out virtually to those who were unable to travel to Brookhaven. We had 531 registrants from 140 different institutions or companies (and 32 different countries!) engaged in workshops, talks, poster sessions, tours, and more.

It was encouraging to see users, students, and staff broaden their networks and meet one another in these sessions. Events that draw in scientists from a broad variety of techniques, fields, and institutions present the opportunity to share ideas and perspectives that we may not typically consider. They can even form unique collaborations that produce some very interesting science.

I would like to thank everyone who attended and participated and congratulate all of this year’s award winners. I would also like to give a big thank you to the Users Executive Committees and organizers for all their hard work making this meeting happen.

10-year first light anniversary celebrations

On October 23^rd, we will be celebrating 10 years since NSLS-II achieved first light on the experimental floor. Five months from now seems like a long time on paper, but if there is anything we’ve learned about the last decade it’s that time seems to fly by quickly here. We are currently planning celebratory events, educational opportunities, and commemorative media pieces to mark this milestone. This is your celebration, and we want your voices to come through during the events leading up to and marking the occasion. If you have any ideas you’d like to propose, please contact Denise Yazak.

Updated proposal review criteria

Recent changes were made to our proposal review criteria for all NSLS-II users. These changes address the evolving needs of the user community and the mission to increase the societal impact of research done at NSLS-II. The Proposal Review Panels will make their evaluations using the following criteria and weighting percentages: scientific, technological, industrial, and/or national security importance (45%), quality of the experimental plan (40%), and societal impact (15%). These categories are fairly nuanced, and I encourage you to review the new proposal templates with updated proposal questions that address these new criteria in the Users’ Guide.

Maintenance period update

This spring maintenance period brought about a wide range of repairs and upgrades, including work on the accelerator and our new beamlines. On the accelerator, work included the replacement of two linac diagnostic assemblies, implementation of next-generation beam position monitor receivers in the linac, and a new klystron was installed, tested, and conditioned.

On the beamlines, installation preparation work continued in the accelerator tunnel for the new CDI, ARI, and SXN beamlines, the front-end fixed mask at HEX was modified to improve beamline images, and the safety systems at the TES beamline were updated to accommodate the new beamline endstation.

NEXT-II and NEXT-III project updates

Construction for the NEXT-II project has been moving along well. We should have beneficial occupancy of the CDI satellite building by the end of May and we expect the photon delivery system vendor will be on-site in June. The first optical enclosure of ARI/SXN is expected to be finished in June as well.

NEXT-III Subproject A is progressing rapidly. Subproject A includes the construction of the High-Resolution Powder Diffraction (HRD) and Quantitative Cellular Tomography (QCT) beamlines, as well as the design of the Advanced Nanoscale Imaging (ANI) and Tender X-ray Nanoprobe (TXN) beamlines. The project will also include the development of new software infrastructure (N3XTware) aimed at enhancing the user experience and improving scientific productivity and impact. 

The project teams are busy preparing their sections of the Conceptual Design Report, which is a key document for the CD-1 reviews scheduled for the summer. Internal reviews of these conceptual designs were completed recently and the feedback from the review committees will help the project teams improve their designs and write-ups. In parallel, the project management team is busy working on the cost and schedules, project execution and management plans, and a myriad of other documents required for the project. We aim to achieve CD-1 approval near the end of FY24.

Director search

The search for the next director of NSLS-II has moved into its next phase. Throughout the winter, a number of candidates were screened by a search panel that, based on its interviews and discussions, delivered recommendations for candidates to consider to Jim Misewich, the Associate Lab Director for Energy and Photon Sciences. Hopefully the next Director of NSLS-II will be announced soon!

— Erik Johnson
Interim NSLS-II Director