February 1, 2012
Attending: Serena DeBeer, Beth Wurzburg, Cathy Knotts, Lisa Dunn, Joe Kline, Chi-Chang Kao, Juana Rudati, Eva Murdock, Rodrigo Noriega, Sarah Hayes
The meeting agenda follows: 11:45 pm Introductions/Refreshments (SSRL Bldg. 137, large 3rd Floor Conference Room) 12:00 pm SSRL Update: AC follow up, budget, strategic planning (Chi Chang Kao) 12:20 pm User Advocacy (NUFO exhibit tentatively planned for March 28-29th in DC) 12:40 pm USA Science and Engineering Festival, April 27-29, 2012 in DC (Cathy Knotts) 1:00 pm Users' conference & workshops (feedback from 2011 conference and suggested workshops, topics, speakers & plans for Oct 3-5, 2012 conference) 1:20 pm Walk in topics? 1:30 pm Adjourn
SSRL Update: Chi-Chang Kao gave updates from the SSRL Scientific Advisory Committee which met in early January. He also discussed budgets and strategic planning. Parts of the strategic plan will be discussed in the monthly SSRL newsletter and users are asked to confirm that they are receiving the newsletter by email. The last newsletter, which is also available on the web, discussed 'Frontiers of Materials Science'. As we continue to refine the SSRL strategic plan, our materials science goals are becoming increasingly clear. Advanced materials are at the heart of our technically driven society, and recent advances in theory, computation power, materials synthesis, and characterization tools have brought the goal of "materials by design" within reach, see http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/newsletters/headlines/cck_01-12
Stay tuned for the next newsletters which will discuss opportunities in chemistry, catalysis, and structural molecular biology. Chi Chang discussed opportunities and plans around end stations for undulator-based advanced spectroscopy. BL6-2 which supports XES, XRS, TXM and XRF experiments is currently the most oversubscribed beam line at SSRL. SSRL hopes to build new end stations to alleviate some of this demand. SSRL needs to move forward with beamline projects despite a relatively flat budget outlook over the next few years. Over the next few months we will prepare a document that summarizes the strategic plans. The users agreed that they have an important role in communicating the science being done at the light sources. ACTION: Users are encouraged to help clarify priorities and plans in the strategic areas discussed. Users will be encouraged to help disseminate the strategic opportunities once the strategic plan document is available.
SSRL will need to build strategic partnerships involving both academia and industry, and Collaborative Access Proposals (CAPs) will be one mechanism used to promote such partnerships. Scientific proposals must still be written. Serena suggested looking at various ESRCs as a possible resource where key PI's could be asked to help identify major groups or centers to brainstorm and bring together scientists with similar interests to possibly form partnerships. ACTION: The UEC was asked to help compile of list of major centers and groups (forward these to Cathy).
We are working to grow the user community to include more interaction with industry and to help bridge the gap for users during the transition to NSLS II. We are working with other synchrotron and neutron sources on an industry portal that describes the collection of tools that could help bridge the gap and facilitate interactions between industry and expertise at user facilities or academia. We will need good stories that demonstrate the benefits of these interactions and metrics that demonstrate productivity such as high impact papers. Currently have ~400 SSRL peer-reviews papers published annually, ~100 of which have an impact factor of 6-7. Several questions were discussed: Can we do better than this? Can this be done by decreasing the amount of time it takes to get publishable data? Need to find ways to make beam time usage more efficient. Can SSRL do a better job of training new users through tutorials and workshops.
Since we anticipate increased demand for experimental stations, we need to work to improve efficiency during the steps related to user experiments. Some tools may be best developed by academic users, capitalizing on their expertise and ability to communicate with students. Examples could include tools for data analysis, sample data repository, web applications, etc.
LCLS II: Preparations for LCLS II are a high priority for all of SLAC. The workshops on March 19-22, 2012 serve to define scientific needs and instrumentation priorities for LCLS-II. ACTION: Users are encouraged to participate in the LCLS-II New Instrument Workshops in March.
User Outreach and Advocacy: SSRL needs to move forward with beamline projects despite a relatively flat budget outlook over the next few years. The users agreed that they have an important role in communicating the science being done at the light sources. Users who are interested in participating in outreach or advocacy are encouraged to let us know. A group of UEC chairs from synchrotron and neutron user facilities (SNUG) are discussing a visit to Washington within the next few months. SSRL is part of the National User Facility Organization (NUFO) which is planning to exhibit in Washington DC at the end of March to increase awareness about the importance and benefits of science. NUFO also exhibits at professional scientific meetings and encourages users to volunteer at the NUFO exhibit booth and to suggest additional meetings where a NUFO presence might be desirable. NUFO will exhibit at the APS in Boston, and AAAS in Vancouver. The 2nd USA Science and Engineering Festival will be held in Washington DC April 27-29, 2012. The annual NUFO meeting is being organized by Los Alamos National Lab in June. See additional details at http://nufo.org/ ACTION: Users interested in volunteering to help with outreach and advocacy, suggesting interactive or engaging demonstrations for future exhibits, or suggesting topics for discussion at the annual NUFO meeting should contact Cathy Knotts.
Users' Conference: Users are encouraged to provide feedback from the 2011 conference. User feedback indicated a very successful 2011 conference with interesting speakers and discussions. For the 2012 conference, we discussed ideas to engage more user participation, particularly from students who would benefit by honing their presentation skills by participating in the poster session or contributed talks. Parallel science sessions (limited to 3-4) with time available for contributed talks by students were suggested in these areas:
• Atomic Molecular & Optical Physics;
• Chemistry & Catalysis;
• Materials Sciences (Energy Storage, Correlated Materials);
• Structural Biology & Crystallography.
For this year, we plan a slightly earlier meeting from October 3 -6, scheduled in conjunction the ALS users' meeting on October 8-10. The general planning is: -Wednesday (Oct 3) is reserved for parallel workshops; -Thursday (Oct 4) -users' meeting sessions and parallel science sessions; -Friday (Oct 5) -morning talks from SLAC, LCLS, SSRL, DOE; afternoon workshops -Saturday (Oct 6) -parallel workshops
We welcome suggestions for key note speakers and possible workshop topics. Suggestions ideas to date include:
• Beyond Blowing Things Up (Soft Xray Science@ FELS);
• De-Mystifying the Lightsource Experience (with afternoon focus on soft x-ray science);
• Advanced Crystallography & Nano Crystallography;
• Surface Science and Chemistry of Geomaterials;
• Non Linear Optics;
• Science Case for PEP-X;
• Future Opportunities with XFELS? Role of lasers, complexity of gun, synergy with NGLS? Soft xray science opportunities? LCLS II? • Opportunities with Synchrotron Radiation at the Meso Scale (extending size regime, where classical, microscale and nanoscale science meet to solve societal challenges);
• Opportunities in Imaging – STXM, TXM, CXI, Soft x-ray imaging;
• Solar Energy Conversion and Energy Storage;
• Time Resolved Opportunities/High Rep rate follow up/strategy;
• Translating Your Science for the Public.
Save the Dates October 3-6, 2012 and help us kick off plans for the Annual Users' Conference by suggesting other workshop topics, organizers, or possible speakers that would draw in the larger photon sciences community to explore new opportunities for SSRL and LCLS. We look forward to working with you to organize an outstanding users' conference. ACTION: Contact Serena DeBeer, Sarah Hayes, Tsu Chein Weng, Jan Luening, Bill Schlotter, Cathy Knotts or Lisa Dunn to share your feedback or suggestions.
Walk in: Users commented about difficulty in securing accommodations at the Guest House and requested that representatives from the Guest House be invited to the next UEC meeting to discuss how this might be improved. ACTION: Schedule the Guest House manager to meet with the UEC.
