July 23-25, 2008

NSLS Hosts 2nd Annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities Workshop

Expanded in both attendance and duration, the 2nd annual NSLS Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Workshop focused on strengthening existing research ties between Brookhaven and minority-serving schools as well as establishing new relationships. Held July 23-25, the workshop attracted 17 participants from nine institutions to learn how to transform themselves and their students into successful synchrotron users. Also participating were representatives from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program.

Participants in the workshop, which was organized by the NSLS and Brookhaven’s Office of Educational Programs (OEP), were welcomed by Laboratory Director Sam Aronson, who stressed the importance of reaching out to potential minority scientists early in their careers.

Participants in the 2008 NSLS HBCU Workshop

“If you just start at the level of finished scientists, those who already have their Ph.Ds, the competition is so great that it’s hard to build a diverse workforce,” he said. “It’s much better to develop the scientists of the next generation when they’re undergraduates, or even earlier. It’s programs like these that are able to do that.”

Brookhaven’s Diversity Office Manager Shirley Kendall told the participants that she’s aware that a fair number of HBCU faculty and minority scientists have been exposed to Brookhaven National Laboratory through the user community, fellowships, internships, or visiting research programs.

Participants get a taste of the NSLS experimental floor during the HBCU Workshop

“What we need to do is exactly what you’re already doing – bring the graduate and undergraduate students to BNL,” she said, adding that “We won’t stop trying to make a difference in having you as a part of our community, because, without you, we can’t be certain we have the best talent. If we don’t have a scientific community that’s diverse in every way, we probably are not offering the world the best science.”

During the three-day workshop, the participants – about half of whom had never been to the NSLS – received basic information about synchrotron mechanics, specific NSLS beamlines and techniques, and future plans for science at NSLS-II. In addition, NSLS staff members led a session on writing successful beam time proposals, and Sarah Lawrence College physicist Scott Calvin discussed possible avenues for developing a synchrotron curriculum for students.

At the end of the first day, the professors gave 10-minute presentations about their specific area of interest, ranging from antibiotic resistance in aquatic environments to the intricate details of advanced x-ray detectors. They were then matched up with Brookhaven scientists with similar research backgrounds, who gave focused tours of the experimental floor, helped identify what beamlines and techniques would best fit their research needs, and assisted in writing beam time proposals related to their project. The professors presented their proposals on the last day of the workshop.

“After last year’s workshop, many of the professors commented that there wasn’t enough time to build a long-term research collaboration with our staff,” said NSLS Chair Chi-Chang Kao. “This year, we added an extra day, and built in time for participants to present their research proposals for feedback. The idea is to have them leave here with a near-final proposal in their hands.”

In addition, the group participated in a videoconference with NSF program directors, and a teleconference with representatives from DOE’s EPSCoR. Both discussions touched upon scientific program information, administration, and the grants, awards, postdoctoral fellowships, and undergraduate research opportunities available to the professors and their students.

The professors also discussed business related to the HBCU user consortium, now called the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Research and Educational Access in Science and Engineering (INCREASE), which was created during last year’s workshop. Some of the group’s short-term goals include: placing at least one user at the NSLS from each school in the Consortium; setting up a mentoring program with NSLS staff; creating a two-course undergraduate sequence to teach synchrotron basics; and reaching out to other minority-serving institutions.

HBCU Workshop participants tour the NSLS beamlines

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity that Brookhaven provided because before coming here, I didn’t really know what a synchrotron was,” said Delaware State University chemistry professor Qiquan (Joshua) Wang. “Now I realize that it’s something I can use to increase the value of my research. I’d love to bring some of my experiments to the NSLS in the future.”

Cyril Broderick, an agriculture and natural resources professor at Delaware State University, agreed that the workshop was extremely beneficial.

“Synchrotrons, beamlines, particle accelerators, and details of their significant scientific outputs were mere theoretical concepts and major conceptual gaps in my scientific experience,” he said. “The workshop grounded my thinking and made the whole research framework of a synchrotron light source a living, functional, and understandable phenomenon that has great potential to enhance my research. I am now fashioning my research experiments to secure advantages through the use of beamline analyses in producing some stellar results in answering questions to research objectives of several projects that we are pursuing.”