General User Proposals
New Proposals
General users are invited to submit requests for beam time
at the Advanced Light Source by completing a proposal and
request for beam time
form for the general
sciences or for protein
crystallography. Guidelines for completing this form, contact
information, and a description of the review process are detailed below.
Active Proposals
Users interested in maintaining a proposal that has been submitted for
a previous beam time cycle will be notified by the User Services
Office if their proposal is eligible for renewal.
See Maintaining
an Active Proposal for additional information.
Safety
Safety is a critical function for all research performed at at the ALS.
All users and staff are expected to know and follow applicable safety
requirements at all times. For information about user and experiment
safety, please see the ALS User Advisories and
the Safety at the ALS Web pages.
Beam time
Cycles and Submission Deadlines
| General Sciences | Protein Crystallography and SAXS |
Beam time
in the general sciences runs in two annual cycles:
|
Rapid access protein crystallography beam time requests must be submitted by the 15th of the month for a two-month run cycle beginning one-and-half months later. |
|
Next Submission Deadline July 15, 2008 for beam time from January through June 2009. ALS General Sciences Proposal and Request for Beam time Form
|
Next Submission Deadlines
ALS Protein Crystallography Proposal and SAXS Proposal and Request for Beam time Form |
Guidelines
Proposals may be for experimental programs or single experiments on existing beamlines.
If a proposal specifies a particular beamline, the general user must contact the appropriate beamline scientist or the local contact (named in the individual ALS Beamline Tables) before submitting the proposal. In addition, investigators must contact the ALS User Services Office permission to use any beamline endstations that are either independently owned or whose use is restricted. Special procedures must be followed to conduct proprietary research at the ALS. For more information, contact the ALS User Services Office (see below).
Before submitting a General User Proposal, it is recommended that principal investigators:
- review the ALS Beamline Tables to learn about ALS beamlines' capabilities
- contact ALS User Services Group Leader (see below) for information about beamlines available to general users
- contact the beamline scientist or local contact listed in the individual ALS Beamline Tables to ask about individual beamlines
- read Writing a General User Proposal for the ALS: Guidelines from the Proposal Study Panels
Proposal Review Process
All submitted proposals are reviewed by:- ALS personnel for technical feasibility and safety
- external reviewers
- the Proposal Study Panel (PSP), which rates the proposals following the criteria endorsed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) in the IUPAP Recommendations for the Use of Major Physics Users Facilities (pdf), and makes recommendations on the requisite beam time
For an overview of the review process, see the Experiment Proposal and Review Path for General Users flowchart. Additional information about proposal procedures and policies is available in User Policy at the Advanced Light Source.
Responses to the proposals are given about three months after the submission deadline. Each proposal is given a numeric rating that is then communicated to the investigator along with comments from the PSP. In some cases, a cutoff score, below which no beam time is allocated, is determined for oversubscribed beamlines. This score will be published on the Web so that general users may decide whether to rewrite their proposal, remove it, or keep it in the active pool. The most recent proposal scores for all beamlines and cutoff scores (where applicable) can be viewed at:
-
General Users: Scoring
Information and Results
(General Sciences)
Allocating Beam time for General Users
Once all proposals have been reviewed and assigned a score, beam time for general users is scheduled by the ALS User Services Office in consultation with the beamline scientist. This process is overseen by the ALS Scientific Advisor. The available beam time is allocated according to the rank order of score, i.e., beginning with the best score and continuing until the beam time allotment for general users has been met. (Cutoff scores, below which no beam time is allocated, vary by beamline.) A summary of the final beam time allocations is sent to the relevant PSP, and the beam time scheduling dates are finalized by the beamline scientist in consultation with users.
Score Normalization
On highly oversubscribed beamlines, proposals that receive similar scores close to the cutoff score are subject to "bumping" procedure that is maintained at the discretion of the PSP. For additional information and an example of this process, see Score Normalization in Beam time Allocation.
Approved Programs
An Approved Program enables an investigator or a group of investigators to receive an assured percentage of beam time for a period of a few years to carry out an extended program of research. It is generally expected that the investigator(s) will bring in some resources that enhance the capability of the facility. Details about Approved Programs can be found in the ALS User Policy, Section 3 .
Maintaining an Active Proposal
All proposals for beam time will have the option to remain active for two years (i.e., four six-month cycles). Users with proposals eligible for renewal will be notified by the User Services Office during the regular proposal submission cycle.
For information about beamlines available to general users or PRTs, contact
User Services Group Leader
Advanced Light Source, MS 6-2100
Berkeley Lab
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel: 510-486-7727
Fax: 510-486-4773
For
information on proprietary research, contact
ALS User Services Office
Advanced Light Source, MS 6-2100
Berkeley Lab
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel: 510-486-7745
Fax: 510-486-4773