Notices
ALS to Participate in DOE Energy Frontier Research Centers
On April 27, the Department of Energy's Office of Science announced 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) that will share $777 million to bring groups of leading scientists together to confront the energy challenges of the 21st century. The EFRCs will be funded for five years with grants between two and five million that will support research with the aim of accelerating scientific breakthroughs in the fields of solar energy, electricity storage, materials sciences, advanced nuclear systems and carbon capture and sequestration.
The ALS will be used by three of the EFRCs. The Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2, run out of Berkeley Lab, with collaborators from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California, Davis, will look at scientific foundations for the geological storage of carbon dioxide and how they are related to reducing greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere from stationary power sources. Developing computational tools to accurately model catalytic reactions and thereby provide the basis for the design of new catalysts will be the focus of a second EFRC to be established at Louisiana State University. Finally, the EFRC for Combustion Science will focus on the science underlying the development of non-petroleum-based fuels, including carbon-neutral biofuels, and their optimal use in transportation. This collaboration comprises 15 members from seven universities, and Sandia and Argonne National Laboratories. This group will address the goal to develop a "validated, predictive, multi-scale, combustion modeling capability to optimize the design and operation of evolving fuels in advanced engines for transportation applications." As part of this Center, Nils Hansen of Sandia National Laboratories will perform experiments at the "Flame- Sampling Endstation" of the Chemical Dynamics Beamline (Beamline 9.0.2). The Center will take full advantage of the unique capabilities of the ALS to provide an unprecedented detailed data set to test combustion chemistry models and to determine key reaction pathways in real combustion environments. Synopses of all the EFRCs are available in PDF format.
Four-Lab White Paper, "Science and Technology of Future Light Sources," Available Online
A white paper titled "Science and Technology of Fugure Light Sources," a collaboration between scientists from Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is now available in PDF format. This 87-page document envisions the scientific challenges that can be met by future x-ray sources and instrumentation and summarizes the research and development required to achieve that vision. Scientific challenges, or "drivers," such as understanding and controlling dynamic phenomena, chemical reactivity, complex materials, novel materials design and behavior under extreme conditions, and life science and soft condensed matter are covered, with a discussion of "What Is Needed?" for each of these areas. Closing chapters discuss types of x-ray sources, their capabilities and trade-offs, and other considerations.
New ALS Users' Executive Committee Members Elected; Chair for 2009 Announced
Congratulations go to David Osborn (Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories), Chris Jacobsen (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University), and Yayoi Takamura (Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, UC Davis), who were elected to represent ALS users on the UEC for the next three years, starting in January 2009. This moment is also an excellent opportunity to thank Elke Arenholz, Alessandra Lanzara and Tony van Buuren, the three UEC members who are leaving the committee after their term expires at the end of 2008. Their contributions, ideas, and hard work have made a significant impact on the UEC over the past three years. More information about the election, new members' biographies, and a list of continuing UEC members is available on the ALS UEC Election Web site.
Kenneth Goldberg of the Center for X-Ray Optics has been selected to Chair the UEC for 2009; go to the UEC Web page to view a complete roster of new and continuing members.
National Center for X-Ray Tomography (NCXT) Proposals Due Novevmber 15
Friday, November 15 is the last day to submit proposals for beamtime on the NCXT beamline. This is the first proposal cycle for the beamline; information about submitting proposals is available on the general proposals page; the actual proposal form can be accessed on the ALS User Services Online Forms page. Description of the beamline, research areas, and contact information can be found on the NCXT Web pages.
ALS Spectrum Debuts October 13
A new publication from the ALS debuted at this week's ALS Users' Meeting and is now available online. "ALS Spectrum" encapsulates the same type of information contained in the ALS Activity Report but in a short, readable, newsletter-like format. Featured scientific and facility developments are front-paged, and a roundup of science highlights is provided in easily browsable summaries with Web links. Contents also include brief reports from ALS staff and user groups, articles about ALS people and events, and facility updates.
Editor Lori Tamura of the ALS Communications group spearheaded the project, and Berkeley Lab's Creative Services Office designed the layout.
Let the ALS Know about Your Success: Working with Press Releases
Support for the ALS and other synchrotron light sources is highly dependent on communicating their innovative and forefront science. News articles in the media based on press releases issued by users' research institutions is one way to accomplish this, provided that there is some mention of synchrotron radiation in general and the ALS in particular in the press release and, we hope, the news article that results. Whenever a user's home institution prepares a press release based on research that was conducted at the ALS, it is very helpful if both the ALS and synchrotron radiation are mentioned.
All ALS users are asked to notify Lori Tamura (510-486-6172) at the ALS when they become aware of an impending press release based on their research, it would also help us in promoting users' achievements and, in the process, ours as well.