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SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

SSRLUO 2008 Executive Committee Members

Past Committee Members: SSRLUO Home | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995



Joy Andrews


California State University East Bay, Chemistry, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., Hayward, CA 94542

Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University, East Bay, where she has taught since 1996. Her B.A. degree is in biochemistry from Barnard College, and Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from UC Berkeley. Her research is on the detection, speciation and remediation of heavy metal contamination at various environmental sites, using atomic absorption spectroscopy, ion chromatography, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. She is also conducting continuous monitoring of water quality parameters in SF Bay, funded by CICORE/NOAA. She was Chair, Executive Committee, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource User's Organization Oct 2005-Oct 2006; and Chair, Synchrotron and Neutron User's Group Advocacy Committee since October 2005.  

email: joy.andrews@csueastbay.edu
ph: 510-885-3492
fax: 510-885-4675

Yuji Arai


Clemson University, Department of Entomology, Soils and Plant Science, Clemson, S. Carolina, 29634-0315
Assistant Professor of Environmental Soil Chemistry at Clemson University in Clemson, SC. Since 1997, he has been conducting molecular environmental soil chemistry research using bulk- and microfocused(µ)-XAS, µ-XRF and µ-XRD techniques at ALS, APS, NSLS, and SSRL. His major research interest is to understand the molecular scale chemical reactions of nutrients, metal(loid)s, and radionuclides at the soil mineral-water interface that is responsible for the field-scale transport processes. He is interested in developing an interdisciplinary molecular environmental soil chemical research program through academia. He would like to represent the voice of users to further improve the BL capabilities and the accommodation of SSRL user facilities.
email: yarai@clemson.edu ph: 864-656-2607

Rebecca Fenn


Stanford University, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 279 Campus Dr., Stanford, CA 94305

Doctoral student in Dr. Pehr Harbury's Research Group in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Stanford University. Rebecca's research involves the development of an x-ray scattering method that is capable of characterizing the conformational ensembles of biological macromolecules in solution. She has frequently used the SSRL SAXS beam lines for her research during te past three years, and looks forward to continued involvement in the synchrotron community.  

email: becks@stanford.edu
ph: 650-723-6719

Jesse Guzman


University of California at Santa Cruz, Physics, 1313 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060
  Second year UCSC graduate student doing EXAFS studies with the Bud Bridges group. His undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan with a BS in physics allowed him close access to APS. Working at APS sector 7 from 2001 until 2004 exposed him to a variety of x-ray science techniques such as time-resolved x-ray diffraction, coherent Bragg rod x-ray diffraction of thin films, and beam-line studies. Time resolved EXAFS, EXAFS on single crystals (including transmission through manganite single crystals), and developing new x-ray techniques currently dominate his research interests.
email: guzman@physics.ucsc.edu ph: 531-459-3646

Katherine A. Kantardjieff


CSU Fullerton/Keck Center for Molecular Structure
Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University Fullerton, is Director of the W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Molecular Structure. She completed Ph.D and postdoctoral work in physical chemistry and structural biology at UCLA with David Eisenberg. Kantardjieff's laboratory is the only member of the Tuberculosis Structural Genomics Consortium from a non-PhD granting institution. CMolS is comprised of comprehensive X-ray diffraction and computational laboratories supporting research and education as a core facility in the 23-campus CSU, as well as the STaRBURSTT-CyberDiffraction Consortium, a nationwide virtual organization of predominantly undergraduate institutions. CMolS pioneered the use of remote instrumentation access at PUIs and, since 2006, CMolS is a research partner with SSRL. Kantardjieff's own research investigates protein structure and function, employing combined experimental and in silico approaches of crystallography, biophysical methods, computation and informatics. The knowledge gained is applied to the engineering of molecules with specific properties, and to structure-guided drug design. Systems of current interest include bacterial cytochromes c', carbonyl reductases, cholinesterases and several tuberculosis proteins. Kantardjieff and collaborators at Fullerton have established a research computing cluster for computational biochemistry and crystallography, which is part of a larger CSU system-wide, distributed computing resource. Kantardjieff has developed and deployed crystallography and computational courses and workshops, including some delivered entirely online, at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. She has led national and international efforts in crystallography education and training. Kantardjieff's activities led to her election to the United States National Committee for Crystallography, of which she is currently Vice Chair.
email: kkantardjieff@fullerton.edu ph: 714-278-3752
fax: 714-449-5316
 
Christopher S. Kim (Ex-Officio)


Chapman University, Physical Sciences, One University Ave., Orange, CA 92866
Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Sciences at Chapman University in Southern California. He conducted his graduate work at Stanford University under Gordon Brown and continued his research as a post-doc at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with Glenn Waychunas. He has been a user at SSRL since 1996 and has also conducted research at the ALS and APS. Currently, he is studying trends in the speciation, concentration, and distribution of heavy metals in mine wastes as well as the mechanisms and extent of metal uptake and (co-)precipitation with iron oxyhydroxide nanoparticles. Chris is also involved in increasing opportunities for undergraduate students to conduct research at national synchrotron facilities.
email: cskim@chapman.edu ph: 714-628-7363
fax: 723-532-6048

Cathy Knotts (SSRL Liaison)


SSRL, User Research Administration, 2575 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025
Manager of User Research Administration since November 2000. Prior to that time, Cathy managed administrative operations and corporate communications in the biotechnology industry. She was a management analyst for National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health before moving to North ern California in 1994. Cathy received a B.S. from the University of Maryland majoring in Health Science and Policy.
email: knotts@slac.stanford.edu ph: 650-926-3191
fax: 926-926-3600

Richard Lee


Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave., Li vermore, CA 94550
Senior Scientist in the Physics and Advanced Technologies Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory responsible for developing scientific efforts in high and moderate energy density science. Dick has been a member of the LCLS Science Advisory Committee since its inception and was the team leader for the Plasma and Warm Dense Matter experiment that was one of the five 'First Experiments for LCLS'. He is currently actively involved in both experiment and theory related to ultra fast x-ray scattering studies of laser-excited solids.
email: dicklee@llnl.gov ph: 92-422-7209
fax: 925-423-2463

Wayne Lukens


Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chemical Sciences, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley, CA 94720
Staff scientist in the Actinide Chemistry Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research focuses mainly on the behavior of technetium in nuclear waste and nuclear wasteforms. In addition, his research examines electronic structure and bonding in actinide complexes. He has carried out EXAFS experiments at SSRL since 1992. Currently, he is using EXAFS and XANES to characterize the speciation of technetium in different nuclear wasteforms.
email: wwlukens@lbl.gov ph: 510-486-4305
fax: 510-486-5596

Karen McFarlane Holman


Willamette University, Chemistry Department, 900 State St, Salem, OR 97301
Associate Professor of Chemistry at Willamette University in Salem, OR. She has been a user at SSRL and the ALS since 1998. As a postdoc at LBNL (1998-2000), she worked with Mel Klein and VIttal Yachandra on SSRL Beam Lines 6-2, 7-3 and 9-3 in projects related to chloride in Photosystem II and sulfur in proteins. Another postdoctoral project in the Klein group involved designing and building the EXAFS endstation on Beam Line 9.3.1 at the ALS. Her current research projects use XANES to investigate fundamental mechanisms related to in vivo reactions of ruthenium-based anti-cancer drugs. Coming from Willamette University which is a liberal arts college, another goal of hers is to give undergraduate students the opportunity to travel to a national laboratory and collect their own data at a synchrotron source.
email: kholman@willamette.edu ph: 503-370-6417

Art Nelson


Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave, Livermore, CA 94550
Scientific Capability Leader in the Materials Science and Technology Division, Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is responsible for research activities on novel materials and the reaction chemistry of materials in high-temperature and high-pressure environments. Art began performing experiments at SSRL in 1979 as a researcher at the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, CA. He continued experiments at SSRL on manganese speciation in exhaust particulates, energetic materials, and non-linear optical materials. Art represented LLNL in the SPPS collaboration and continues to be involved in experimental planning for the LCLS.
email: nelson63@llnl.gov ph: 925-422-6488
fax: 925-422-6892

Stephane Richard


The Salk Institute, Biological Studies, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037-1099
Stephane Richard graduated from the University Joseph Fourier in Grenoble (France) where he completed his Ph.D. studying the principles underlying adaptation to extreme saline environments using X-ray protein crystallography as a tool. He then joined the team of Prof. Joseph P. Noel in the Structural Biology laboratory of the Salk Institute to study the biosynthesis of terpenoid natural products. Now part of the Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics, his interests concerns the biosynthesis of active polyketide/terpenoids hybrid natural products using a structure guided chemo-enzymatic approach for natural product derivatization to develop novel therapeutically relevant compounds.
email: richard@salk.edu ph: 858-453-4100 1380

Monika Sommerhalter


California State University East Bay, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Hayward, CA 94542
Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University, East Bay. She has been a user at SSRL since 2002 and was trained as a protein crystallographer in the laboratory of Dr. Amy C. Rosenzweig at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Her research interest is located at the interface of bioinorganic chemistry and structural biology.
email: monika.sommerhalter@csueastbay.edu ph: 510-885-3427
fax: 510-885-4675

Robert Szilagyi (Chair)


Montana State University, Chemistry and Biochemistry, 223 Gaines Hall, Bozeman, MT 59715
Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Montana State University-Bozeman. His research interest focuses on bioinorganic, organometallic, and computational application of synchrotron radiation. He has five years of experience in XAS at various beamlines of SSRL and ALS. He uses NEXAS and EXAFS techniques in close correlation with theoretical calculations to investigate the relationships between chemical reactivity and electronic and geometric structures of bioinorganic active sites and biomimetic compounds, such as iron-sulfur clusters, S-nitrosated thiolates, as well as, tungsten, molybdenum, and palladium containing homogeneous catalysts. His motivation to be part of the SSRLUOEC is to provide a representation for junior faculty, to increase graduate and undergraduate student training, and to develop a spectral database for the community of synchrotron radiation users.
email: szilagyi@montana.edu ph: 406-994-4263
fax: 406-994-5407


2575 Sand Hill Road, MS: 99, Menlo Park, California, 94025, USA Tel: 650-926-4000 | Fax: 650-926-4100