Elke Arenholz
Director, National Synchrotron Light Source II Facility, National Synchrotron Light Source II
Brookhaven National Laboratory
National Synchrotron Light Source II
Bldg. 745, Room 5L129
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-8245
(631) 344-8245
earenholz@bnl.gov
Elke Arenholz is the Director of the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility. NSLS-II provides researchers with ultra-bright synchrotron radiation and advanced experimental tools that enable discoveries across materials science, condensed matter physics, chemistry, life sciences, and earth and planetary sciences.
Arenholz leads a team of more than 400 staff with broad and diverse expertise in science, engineering, and professional disciplines. Together, they ensure the safe and efficient operations of the facility while driving the continued development and further optimization of the 29 beamlines currently serving a dynamic and growing user community. These beamlines provide state-of-the-art capabilities to probe electronic, chemical, and atomic structures and are continually enhanced with advanced optics, detectors, and sample environments. Additional beamlines are being added to the NSLS-II portfolio through the NSLS-II Experimental Tools II and III projects (NEXT-II and NEXT-III).
Under Arenholz’s leadership, NSLS-II delivers world-class performance, supporting over 2,300 visiting researchers and producing more than 650 publications annually, with more than half appearing in high-impact journals.
Expertise | Education | Appointments | Awards
Expertise
Magnetism, magnetic materials, spintronics
Phenomena in ordered phases such as ferroelectrics, and multiferroics
X-ray spectroscopy, resonant X-ray scattering, X-ray microscopy
Development of new instruments for X-ray characterization
Education
Ph.D. in Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
M.S. and B.S. in Physics, University of Regensburg, Germany
Professional Appointments
Before joining Brookhaven, Elke Arenholz directed the Physical Sciences Division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, managing a broad research portfolio in catalysis, chemical physics, geochemistry, and materials science. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, she co-led the Interconnected Science Ecosystem initiative to advance computational and experimental capabilities for autonomous experimentation. She also served as Associate Director of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source and held an adjunct faculty appointment at Cornell University. Earlier in her career, she advanced from postdoctoral researcher to Photon Sciences Operations Deputy at the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, while also serving as adjunct faculty in materials science at the University of California, Berkeley.
Awards & Recognition
Fellow, American Physical Society (APS)
Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Outstanding Performance Award
Klaus Halbach Award for Innovative Instrumentation, Advanced Light Source
Tim Renner Award for User Support Excellence, Advanced Light Source
Miller Research Fellowship, Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, UC Berkeley
Ernst Eckhart Koch Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis in Synchrotron Radiation Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin
Brookhaven National Laboratory
National Synchrotron Light Source II
Bldg. 745, Room 5L129
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-8245
(631) 344-8245
earenholz@bnl.gov
