Melvin P. Klein (1921-2000) was a world renown biophysicist (link is external) at LBNL and the University of California Berkeley Chemistry Department. Mel applied experimental techniques to biological problems, and he was a long time EXAFS user of SSRL who devised the fluorescence detection technique for his group’s dilute samples. At the time of his death, Mel was actively pursuing research into the oxygen-evolving system in plants -- the source of the world's oxygen supply -- a field to which he had made fundamental contributions.

In 2006 with generous donations from Mel's friends and colleagues, SSRL and the SSRL Users' Executive Committee (SSRL UEC) established an award in memory of Mel. The Melvin P. Klein Scientific Development Award to honor Mel's pioneering accomplishments as well as recognize outstanding investigators and help them to disseminate their SSRL research results. 

The names of Klein award recipients are displayed on a plaque in the SSRL Building 120 lobby. From 2006 through 2023, the $1,000 Klein Award was presented to the following individuals:

• Ashley James, University of Saskatchewan (2023)
  • James' research on chronic and acute mercury exposure challenges conventional views
• Chengcheng Fan, California Institute of Technology (2022)
• Aisulu Aitbekova, Stanford Unviersity (2021)
• Kelly L. Summers,, University of Saskatchewan (2020)
• Xinru Wang, University of Arizona/Brown University (2019)
• Chuntian Cao, Stanford Unviersity (2018)
• Suhas Kumar, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (2017)
• Trevor Petach, Stanford University (2016)
• Roopali Kukreja, University of California San Diego (2015)
• Chris Pollock, Penn State University (2014)
• Gaurav Giri, Stanford/Cornell University (2013)
• Tim Miller, Stanford University (2012)
• Jonathan Rivnay, Stanford/Centre Microelectronique de Provence (2011)
• Diling Zhu, Stanford University (2010)
• Leslie Jimison, Stanford University (2009)
• Ajay Virkar, Stanford University (2008)
• Jessica Vey, MIT (2007)
• William Schlotter, SLAC (2006)

All funds donated for the Klein Award were expended, and the last Klein Award was presented in September 2023 at the joint SSRL/LCLS Annual Users' Conference held at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

The Farrel W. Lytle Award was established by the SSRL Users' Organization Executive Committee to promote important technical or scientific accomplishments in synchrotron radiation-based science and to foster collaboration and efficient use of beam time among users and staff at SSRL.

The Lytle Award consists of a certificate and $1,000. The Award is presented at the Annual Users' Meeting in September. Awardee names are displayed on a plaque in the SSRL Building 120 lobby.

• Jim Sebek, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (2023)
• Blaine Mooers, University of Oklahoma (2022)
• Ritimukta Sarangi, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (2021)
• Case van Genuchten, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (2020)
• Aina Cohen, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2019)
• Graham George, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2018)
• Matthew Latimer, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2017)
• Makoto Hashimoto, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2016)
• Paul Fuoss, Argonne National Laboratory (2015)
• Bart Johnson, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2014)
• Sean Brennan, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2013)
• Clyde Smith, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2012)
• Piero Pianetta, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2011)
• Sam Webb, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2010)
• Michael Toney, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2009)
• Robert Scott, University of Georgia (2008)
• Cathy Knotts, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2007)
• Mike Soltis, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2006)
• Donghui Lu, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2005)
• Hal Tompkins, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2004)
• James Penner-Hahn, University of Michigan (2003)
• Paul Phizackerley, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2002)
• Britt Hedman, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2001)
• Roger Prince, ExxonMobil (2000)
• Tom Hostetler (1999)
• Farrel W. Lytle (1998)

Selection Process

SSRL users and staff are eligible to be nominated for the Lytle Award, but only nominations for individuals will be considered (no group awards please). Self-nominations, nominations from staff or from the user community are all welcome. Letters of nominations should include the candidate's name, contact information, a summary of their contributions or accomplishments, and why they should be recognized through this award. Supporting letters are often helpful.

In 2016, the SSRL Users' Executive Committee (SSRL UEC) announced the creation of the Joe Wong Poster Awards.

The awards are made possible by support from long-time SSRL user Joe Wong, PhD, DSc, Fellow of the American Physical Society,  "The modest gift is really a show of my appreciation towards the wonderful facility of yours, which I benefited so much from in the course of my research career."

The Poster Awards are established to promote multi-disciplinary interactions among the lightsource user community, to recognize the best poster presentations at the Annual Users' Meeting specifically to help students in preparing for their science careers.

Competition

• Up to 3 awards will be given to the most exciting, novel and compelling science which utilized either SSRL or LCLS as presented during the poster session.
• The poster competition will be judged by a panel comprised of the Users' Conference Organizing Committee, SSRL Users' Executive Committee (SSRL UEC), LCLS Users' Executive Committee (LCLS UEC) and help from SSRL/LCLS scientists to ensure that broad research areas are covered.
• Judges may develop their own criteria, but in general it will consist of asking poster presenters to give a concise summary of their poster (3-4 minutes). Judges may confer and select a small group of ‘finalists’ that will be asked to also present to the other judges, typically for a shorter time.
• Awards will be announced at the conclusion of the poster session (certificates will be provided at a later date).

Awards

• $500 award for the best poster presentation by an undergraduate or graduate student (BS, MS or PhD student user). It is hoped that the peer recognition of the student's outstanding accomplishments will help the recipient’s application for either graduate school, postdoctoral position or employment in their chosen scientific field.
• $250 awards for up to two selected poster presenters at any stage of their research career and in any field.

Congratulations to the recipients of the Joe Wong Outstanding Poster Award which are presented at the Annual Users' Meeting.

2023

• Jenna Vesey, Ramapo College of New Jersey:  BIO-8:  Separating Single-particle XFEL Data by Machine Learning(link is external)
• Mukul Sonker, Arizona State University:  BIO-4: Time-Resolved Structure Elucidation Enabled by 3D-Printed Droplet Microfluidics for Reduced Sample Consumption during Serial Femtosecond Crystallography(link is external)
• Alfred Zong, UC Berkeley/Stanford University:  MAT-1:  Spin-shear Coupling in 2D Antiferromagnets: Amplified Oscillators and Dynamical Criticality

2022

• Fatma Betul Ertem, Koc University,  A-3:  X-ray Crystallography and AlphaFold Reveal the structure of Acetyl-CoA carboxylase from N. maritimus  (link is external)
• Maya Engel, Stanford University, C-3:  Unique Fe-rich Colloids from Slate River Floodplain  (link is external)
• Anudeep Mangu, Stanford University, D-3:  Dynamics of a Light-Induced Phase Transformation Probed by Single-Shot X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy at LCLS  (link is external)

2021

• Lindsey Backman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. A-14: Structural Characterization of a Hydroxyproline Dehydratase from Clostridioides difficile (link is external)
• Lorena Shannon Grundy, University of California Berkeley, USA. D-8:  Distortion of Lamellae in a Block Copolymer Electrolyte under Polarization (link is external)   (link is external)
• Ebru Destan, KOC University, Turkey.  A-2: (link is external) Bifunctional Thaumarchaeal Crotonyl-CoA Hydratase and 3-Hydroxypropionyl-CoA Dehydratase from Nitrosopumilus maritimus (link is external)

2020

• Tiffany Slater, University College Cork, Ireland. D-5: Fossil feathers: testing their biochemical fidelity using a spectroscopic approach
• Adrien Descamps, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA. D-12: Direct temperature measurement of shock compressed Argon using the LCLS
• Mia Lahey-Rudolph, Lübeck University, Germany. A-16: Fixed-target serial femtosecond crystallography using micro crystals grown in living insect cells

2019

• Elyse Schriber, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Advances in Structure and Property Determination or High-throughput Materials Discovery Using XFELs
• Aditya Sood, Stanford University: Time-resolved Dynamics of the Electrically-triggered Phase Transition in VO2 Probed Using MeV-UED
• Kelly Summers, University of Saskatchewan: 8-Hydroxyquinolines in the Treatment of Cancer: A Key Role for Copper in Their Mechanism of Action

2018

• Bor-Rong Chen, Stanford University/SLAC SSRL: Understanding Crystallization Pathways of Manganese Oxide Polymorphs Formation by Using in-situ X-ray Scattering
• Valentina Rossi, University College Cork, Ireland: Synchrotron-X-ray Fluorescence of Melanosomes Reveals Soft Tissue Anatomy of Fossil Vertebrates
• Kelly Summers, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada: 8-Hydroxyquinolines in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease: Direct Interactions with the Amyloid Beta Peptide

2017

• Gauthier Deblonde, LBNL: Shedding Light on the Transplutonium Element (Am, Cm, Bk, Cf) Solution Chemistry Using EXAFS - Beam Line 11-2
• Izumi Ishigami, Albert Einstein College of Medicine: Crystal Structure of CO-bound Cytochrome c Oxidase Determined by Serial Femtosecond X-ray Crystallography at Room Temperature
• Ariana Peck, Stanford University: Intermolecular Correlations are Necessary to Explain Diffuse Scattering from Protein Crystals

2016

• Camila Bacellar, Graduate Student, University of California Berkeley/LBNL: Imaging Anisotropic Nanoplasma Dynamics in Superfluid Helium Droplets
• Fang Ren, Stanford University/SSRL Material Science Division: Identify Phases in Materials - Human or Robot?
• Anna Wise, Stanford University/SSRL Material Science Division: High Resolution Chemical Mapping of Energy-related Materials: Development of Soft X-ray Ptychography at SSRL

The NSF supported BioXFEL Science and Technology Center (weblink to bioxfel.org) sponsored student poster awards for presentations at the LCLS/SSRL users meeting from 2020 to 2023. BioXFEL brought students to the joint users meeting to experience the diverse nature of the research performed at XFELs and Synchrotrons and to provide an introduction to the facilities themselves. The awards encourage all students to participate and are open to all students that attend the Annual Users' Meeting and present posters with work using XFEL or synchrotron facilities, or developing research that may lead to applications that make use of these facilities. BioXFEL expects to sponsor these awards for the duration of the BioXFEL program which is directed by Dr. Edward Snell at the SUNY University at Buffalo and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (weblink to hwi.buffalo.edu).

Competition

• Up to 4 $250 awards will be given to undergraduate or graduate students (BS, MS or PhD student) with the most exciting, promising, and compelling science that has made use of XFELs or synchrotrons, or leads to their eventual use. The awards are not limited to those that are part of the BioXFEL program.
• The poster competition will be judged by a panel comprised of the Users' Conference Organizing Committee, SSRL Users' Executive Committee (SSRL UEC), LCLS Users' Executive Committee (LCLS UEC) and help from the BioXFEL education committee and SSRL/LCLS scientists to ensure that broad research areas are covered.
• Judges may develop their own criteria, but in general it will consist of asking poster presenters to give a concise summary of their poster (3-4 minutes). Judges may confer and select a small group of ‘finalists’ that will be asked to also present to the other judges, typically for a shorter time.
• Awards will be announced in conjunction with the poster session (certificates will be provided at a later date).

Awards

It is hoped that this award will help encourage students to articulate their research at an early stage and that the peer recognition of the student's outstanding accomplishments will help the recipient’s application for either graduate school, postdoctoral position or employment in their chosen scientific field.

Congratulations to the recipients of the Outstanding Poster Award Competition which are announced at the Annual Users' Meeting.

• Moritz Kretschmar, LBNL:  BIO-5:  Time-resolved Structural Measurements on Trimeric Photosystem I from Thermosynechococcus vestitus(link is external)
• Ryan Lamb, University of Michigan:  C&C-1:  Toolkit for Time-Resolved X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy: Using Polarized Spectroscopy and Multiple Atomic Perspectives to Explore Photochemical Dynamics of Model 3d Transition Metal Complexes(link is external)
• Wenxin Li, Yale University:  Mat-2:  Role of Fe Intercalation on Antiferromagnet FexNbS2(link is external)
• Lizzie Paulus, Stanford University:  ENV-1: Does Manganese Control Organic Carbon Stability on a Hawaiian Grassland Gradient(link is external)
• Doris Mai, California Institute of Technology:  C&C-2: Multi-crystal Data Reduction in a Bayesian Framework

2022

• Margaret Doyle, LBNL, A-2: Molecular-dynamics simulations of Photosystem II crystals combined with time-resolved XFEL serial crystallography  (link is external)
• Kenneth Shui, Monta Vista High School, B-2:  2D Phase Retrieval for X-ray Free Electron Laser Diffraction Data with Improved Iterative Algorithms  (link is external)

2021

• Gabriela Diaz-Figueroa, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez. Puerto Rico.  A-10: From Alignment Laser to 3D Structures: Determining Structures of GPCRs in a Compact X-ray Light Source (link is external)
• AlecPitter, University ofBuffalo, USA. B-1: Monodisperse liposomal formation via Microfluidic Hydrodynamic Focusing (link is external)
• Jacob Spies, Yale University, USA.  C-11:  Synergy Between Time-Resolved X-ray and Terahertz Spectroscopy: Electron Transfer in Metal Oxides  (link is external)
• Christian Tannert, University of California Berkeley, USA.  C-10: In situ X-ray scattering of strongly coupled nanocrystal superlattice self-assembly in electrolytic environments  (link is external)

2020

• Isabel Bogacz, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: "Molecular movie" of the S2 to S3 transition of Photosystem II using X-ray crystallography and spectroscopy
• Ebru Destan, Koç University, Turkey: Near-Physiological-Temperature Serial Femtosecond X-ray Crystallography structure of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease
• Ethan Hollema, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute: Polo: A GUI For High-Throughput Crystallization
• Samantha Muellers, Boston University: Deconvolution of structure-activity relationships of peptide inhibitors of the KEAP1/Nrf2 protein-protein

The Panofsky Fellowship honors SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s founder and first Director, Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky. It is intended to recognize exceptional and promising early career scientists who would most benefit from the unique opportunity to conduct their research at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. While the scientific direction of the candidates is expected to have some overlap with existing programs, an emphasis will also be placed on the potential for innovation and growth of new opportunities, aligned with the overall mission and values of the laboratory, as their career develops. The intent is to foster the creativity and high achievement to which W.K.H. Panofsky devoted himself both as a researcher and as a visionary leader in enabling fundamental science research.

Applicants are encouraged to contact the indicated program leads to find out more details about the individual SLAC research activities and the context for developing their proposed research plan as a Panofsky Fellow.

Fellowship appointments are awarded by the SLAC Director following a lab-wide selection process. Candidates should be early in their career but have demonstrated significant experience at the postdoctoral level and be widely recognized as having potential for exceptional scholarship, breadth, innovation, and leadership. The appointment carries a five-year term at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, with salary and benefits commensurate with the experience of the candidate and generous research support including funding for a postdoctoral researcher. Since the Fellowship's inception in 1989, Panofsky Fellows have gone on to play important roles in their fields as members of the Faculty and Staff at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory or other prominent research institutions.

Read more on the SLAC website.