A Message from Petra Reinke, NSLS-II Users' Executive Committee Chair
May 22, 2026
Petra Reinke
It has only been a few weeks since the NSLS-II and CFN Users’ Meeting and we are already moving into the next cycle with fresh ideas and plans. For me, this new cycle comes with a new role: Chair of the Users Executive Committee (UEC). I’m honored by the trust placed in me to represent our community. It is humbling and exciting to work with all of you, the user community, NSLS-II and Brookhaven Lab staff and management, and all those who are engaged in advancing our deep understanding of science to find solutions for real-life challenges.
The UEC’s mission is focused on improving the user experience, building and supporting the community at NSLS II, and fostering collaborations. We cannot do this without your input, ideas, and even complaints. What would you like to see? What would have helped you as a new user? What scientists or beamlines do you want to know more about? Please reach out to me at chair@nsls2uec.org or pr6e@virginia.edu to share any of your ideas, questions, or suggestions.
Community Spotlight
One of my favorite parts of each Users’ Meeting is recognizing the hard work, dedication, and innovation that sustain this vibrant and dynamic research community. This year, we would like to highlight a few outstanding contributions that have had an impact on the facility and its user community.
Community Service Award
Past UEC Chair Matthew Whitaker (right) presents Erik Johnson (left) with the NSLS-II UEC Community Service Award. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory)
Erik Johnson, NSLS-II Deputy Director for Construction and Acting Deputy Director for Operations, has been a cornerstone of the NSLS and NSLS-II community for more than 40 years. His leadership, insight, and oversight have been instrumental to the success of NSLS-II’s beamline portfolio and the continued growth of its scientific capabilities. Beyond his many operational and technical contributions, Erik has been a steadfast advocate for users, their science, and their evolving needs.
Throughout his career, Erik has repeatedly stepped into critical roles whenever and wherever he was needed, consistently demonstrating exceptional dedication, leadership, and commitment to the facility and its community. Yet perhaps the clearest reflection of his character is the way he describes his role as Deputy Director for Construction: he sees his job as helping make people’s dreams a reality. At the center of that mission are the users and the science they pursue. This award was a meaningful opportunity to recognize and thank him for a lifetime of extraordinary service, advocacy, and dedication to the users of NSLS and NSLS-II.
Outstanding Beamline Scientist Award
Past UEC Chair Matthew Whitaker (right) presents Lukas Wehmeier (left) with the NSLS-II UEC Outstanding Beamline Scientist Award. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory)
Lukas Wehmeier, a beamline scientist at NSLS-II’s Magnetospectroscopy, Ellipsometry, and Time-resolved Optical Spectroscopies (MET) 22-IR-2 beamline, consistently enhances both the user experience and the scientific impact of the community through exceptional experimental support and a strong commitment to user training. He goes beyond routine operations to ensure that users begin their shifts with stable, optimized instrumentation and the confidence needed to carry out successful experiments. Users frequently note his patience, clarity, and willingness to explain complex procedures, particularly for new users and trainees.
Lukas’s impact is grounded in deep scientific expertise. He is a leading authority in IR-to-THz near-field nanoscopy and has advanced the field through innovations in both methodology and instrumentation. His work has produced landmark results that are widely regarded as benchmark demonstrations of what near-field methods can achieve under extreme experimental conditions.
For these reasons, Lukas is highly deserving of the Outstanding Beamline Scientist Award. He takes personal ownership of user success, consistently prioritizes the needs of the scientific community, and performs the critical behind-the-scenes work that enables groundbreaking science at NSLS-II.
The Julian D. Baumert Ph.D. Thesis Award
Shengsong Yang, a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry at the University of Chicago who earned his Ph.D. in 2024 from the University of Pennsylvania, was honored with the Julian D. Baumert PH.D. Thesis Award this year. The award was established in memory of Julian David Baumert, a young Brookhaven physicist who was working on X-ray studies of soft-matter interfaces at the National Synchrotron Light Source. This recognition highlights a researcher who has recently conducted a thesis project that included significant measurements at NSLS-II. Yang’s dissertation, “Chemical Design of Dynamic Nanocrystal Superlattices,” explores the synthesis, assembly, and transformation of functional nanocrystals. His work included advanced scattering studies at multiple NSLS-II beamlines and characterization at CFN.
