Awards

We encourage our user community to reflect on accomplishments over the past year and submit nominations to recognize outstanding achievements of your colleagues, postdocs, students (or yourself). Learn more about these awards by clicking on these tabs. Submit award nominations by email to ssrl-user-office@slac.stanford.edu by the posted deadlines.

William E. and Diane M. Spicer Young Investigator Award

William E. Spicer (1929-2004) was an esteemed member of the international scientific community as a teacher and researcher in electrical engineering, applied physics and materials science. Bill spent 40 years as a professor at Stanford where he pioneered the technique of ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy and its subsequent expansion into the use of synchrotron radiation. In 1972, Bill together with Sebastian Doniach founded the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Project which evolved into today's SSRL. He was a prolific author with over 700 works and the recipient of many honors and awards including the Lifetime Mentor Award by the AAAS in 2000, reflecting his tireless effort on the behalf of under-represented minorities and women. Though retired for some years, Bill continued to actively advise students at SSRL up until his death.

In honor of his many professional and personal contributions to our community, SSRL and the SSRL Users' Organization established the William E. Spicer Young Investigator Award in 2004. The award was modified in 2009 to accept additional donations to acknowledge and honor Diane M. Spicer, who passed away in April 2009.

Award

The Spicer Young Investigator Award is presented to a new investigator who has made important technical or scientific contributions that benefit from or are beneficial to SSRL or to the lightsource community overall. The $1,000 award is open to senior graduate students and those within seven years of entry into their professional scientific field at the time of nomination.

The Award is presented at the Annual Users' Meeting in September.

Nomination Deadline

Submit Nominations by July 1.

Selection Process

SSRL users and staff are eligible for this award (joint or group awards are not encouraged).

Nomination packages should summarize the technical or scientific contributions of the candidate, including the candidate's curriculum vitae, publications, and a letter of nomination (supporting letters are also encouraged).

Nominations received by the July 1 deadline will be reviewed by the selection committee. In situations where the selection committee identifies more than one exceptional candidate, they may elect to hold on to nomination packages for consideration in the subsequent year (upon confirmation from the nominators who have the option to update the package or keep the existing letters).

List of Awardees

Angel Garcia-Esparza received the 2023 Spicer Award for studying catalysts in action. His research offers unique insights into catalysts relevant to renewable energy generation and emerging materials for microelectronics. He points out that this work, which involves carrying out complicated experiments at the SSRL end-stations and developing theoretical frameworks to interpret unprecedented data, is only possible with the close collaboration of his community at SLAC. "It's like a symphony. Everybody is helping each other and doing their part to make the whole thing work in harmony."

Saket Bagde received the 2022 Spicer  Award for deciphering how nature produces some antibiotics. Bagde is being recognized for his successful efforts to describe the structures and mechanisms of several biologically important enzymes. “I’m very excited to receive this award,” says Bagde, a graduate student in Cornell University's Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. “Recognitions like this remind me to take a pause and appreciate all the amazing people I’ve worked with. Together, our skills have led to the development of something that is going to help people.” 

The 2021 Spicer Award was presented to Ilya Belopolski, Princeton University, for his seminal contributions in innovatively utilizing synchrotron light and ARPES technology leading to the discovery and understanding of Weyl semimetals and Weyl magnets and a wider range of topological material and quantum phenomena. "It's such an honor to be recognized thsi way," Belopolski said, noting that much of his research draws directly on early versions of the synchrotron techniques pioneered by the award's namesake, Stanford University Professor William Spicer, one of the founders of SSRL. "I'm proud to be part of this great scientific tradition."

The 2020 Spicer Award was presented to Peter Chung, the Kadanoff-Rice Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago, for his pathbreaking contributions to the study of proteins involved in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and for mentoring the next generation of synchrotron scientists. Chung said SSRL was the ideal place to work on a problem that spans everything from polymer physics to neurobiology. “SSRL is unique because it really fosters people from different disciplines to come in and work together to do science,” Chung said. “I was fortunate to actually get a career started at SSRL.”

The 2019 Spicer Award was presented to Hans-Georg Steinrück. “This award is a reflection of my wonderful coworkers and collaborators at SSRL including Chuntian Cao, Christopher Takacs and Michael Toney. I also want to acknowledge the support at SSRL, as well as sector 8 at APS where we did our ion velocity measurements. I’ve been very fortunate to have collaborated with people from various backgrounds. Input from these scientists can really help solve some of the energy science-related problems,” said Steinrück.

In 2018, Ming Yi, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University, received the Spicer Award in recognition of her foundational superconductor research. Ming said the award was of special significance to her because she thinks of Bill Spicer as her academic grandfather. A Stanford professor of 40 years and researcher in electrical engineering, applied physics and materials science, Spicer mentored students until his death in 2004. “This is a very humbling honor for my scientific endeavors as I continue my academic career, and I deeply appreciate SSRL’s commitment to nurturing young researchers in the frontiers of scientific exploration,” Yi said. “I am very grateful to all the mentors who have given me advice, support and encouragement, and who have inspired me and still inspire me every day.”

Donations

Donations towards the William E. and Diane M. Spicer Award fund can be sent by check, made payable to "Stanford University" (noting "Spicer Award" on the memo line), to SSRL c/o Cathy Knotts, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road MS 99, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Alternatively, if you would like to make a gift by credit card, please phone 866-543-0243 (toll free) Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST to reach a customer service representative who can help you. Please specify that your gift is designated for "The SSRL Spicer Award." Callers from outside the US, please phone 650-724-0627 (not toll free).

SSRL Scientific Development Award

The SSRL Scientific Development Award carries on the tradition of the Melvin P. Klein Scientific Development Award, which honored Klein's pioneering accomplishments as well as recognize outstanding investigators and help them to disseminate their SSRL research results.

In 2006 with generous donations from Klein's friends and colleagues, SSRL and the SSRL Users' Executive Committee (SSRL UEC) established an award in memory of Mel. 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.

As of 2024 SSRL continues sponsoring the awards tradition through facility funding under the name SSRL Scientific Development Award

Award

The award recognizes outstanding research accomplishments by new investigators and to promotes dissemination of research results based on work performed at SSRL. Nominations are limited to undergraduate or graduate students, or postdoctoral fellows within three years of receiving their Ph.D. at the time of nomination.

The awardee will receive a certificate and $1,000 to further disseminate scientific results based on their work performed at SSRL.

The Award is presented at the Annual Users' Meeting in September.

Nomination Deadline

Submission Deadline: July 1.

Selection Process

The SSRL Scientific Development Award Selection Committee shall be composed of at least five SSRL UEC members (including graduate students) and at least one representative from SSRL. The Committee will evaluate and rank the candidates and select an awardee based on the science described in the nomination package. If one of the SSRL UEC representatives is nominated, that individual will excuse her/himself from the selection deliberations.

List of Awardees

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

Farrel Lytle Award

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.

Award

The Lytle Award recognizes important technical or scientific accomplishments in synchrotron radiation-based science at the SSRL. The award consists of a certificate and $1,000.

The Award is presented at the Annual Users' Meeting in September.

Nomination Deadline

Submission Deadline: July 1.

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.

List of Awardees

Joe Wong Poster Awards

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.

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.

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).

List of Awardees

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

2024

  • Aria Duncan, poster #15 Stanford University, "Protecting future rice production from climate change and soil arsenic"
  • Kejun Xu, poster #78 Stanford University, "Anomalous normal state gap in underdoped n-type cuprates"
  • Hannah Holmes, poster #26 Stanford University, "Investigating the Mechanisms Driving Selective Phosphate Recovery from Wastewater using Hybrid Anion Exchange Resins"

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

Student Poster Awards Sponsored by BioXFEL

The NSF supported BioXFEL Science and Technology Center 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).

Poster Award

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.

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).

List of Awardees

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

2024

  • Jay Shenoy, poster #57 Stanford University, "X-RAI: Scalable 3D Reconstruction for X-Ray Single Particle Imaging Based on Online Machine Learning"
  • Amanda Chen, poster #12 Stanford University, "Laser Shock Compression of Hematite (Fe2O3) Coupled with in-situ X-ray Probes"
  • Natasha Forrand, poster #19SSan Jose State University, "Creating an Active Feedback System for Synchronized Droplets in Vacuum"

2023

2022

2021

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