Chi-Chang's Corner

Preparations Underway for NSLS Triennial DOE Review

April 1, 2008

Chi-Chang Kao
NSLS Department Chair
kao@bnl.gov

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We're working hard to prepare for the Department of Energy's triennial NSLS review, which will be held at the end of this month. Reviewers will visit the facility from April 30-May 2 to hear about NSLS science highlights, take tours of the experimental floor, and talk to staff and members of the Users' Executive Committee and Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). Among other things, the review will examine productivity, user satisfaction, facility operation, and plans for future development. I'm asking for your continued cooperation as we approach this important assessment.

We'll also discuss our preparations for the DOE review with members of the SAC at their spring meeting on April 3-4. Other agenda items include: finishing the NSLS beamline reviews; approving new contributing user proposals; and reviewing the white papers produced from the recent NSLS strategic planning workshops. These papers will play an important role in updating the NSLS 5-Year Plan.

Based on the recent cryogenics accident at beamline X1, we've established guidelines for personnel working alone in the NSLS complex. The best way to provide oversight for this potentially risky situation is to establish a contact arrangement with a supervisor, a colleague, a BNL security officer, or the NSLS Control Room staff if you're working by yourself. If you're ever in doubt about something while working alone, please don't hesitate to get help. You can read more about these safety recommendations in this issue of eNews.

As we continue to make upgrades to beamlines, their stability must improve as well. This is exemplified by beamline X25, which now has a smaller beam and is therefore much more sensitive to movement. An effort to measure and ensure the performance of NSLS beamlines is being coordinated by the newest member of the Experimental Systems Division, Joe Dvorak. Joe will focus his attention on understanding the source of beamline instability problems and will work with beamline and accelerator staff to solve them.

A group of professors from our newly created Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) User Consortium met at the NSLS last month. In addition to planning for the second annual HBCU-NSLS workshop, they developed a National Science Foundation proposal to create a new curriculum with emphasis on synchrotron research and instrumentation for HBCUs. They also heard about a related graduate program that will host students at the NSLS while they work toward a master's degree in instrumentation at Stony Brook University. I look forward to watching this exciting program grow.

There's some sad news to share. Joe Sheehan - who joined BNL in 1965 and retired from the NSLS in 2001 - passed away on March 26. As an NSLS electrical engineer, Joe made significant contributions to the Linac and magnet systems as well as at the Accelerator Test Facility. Many remember Joe for his enthusiastic tours of the experimental floor and his overall love for this facility. He'll be greatly missed.

Congratulations to Al Boerner and Michael Buckley, who received a 2007 team Sitewide Safety Stewart (S3) Award on March 27. Al and Mike were the main drivers behind a major improvement to the Integrated Safety Management flowdown to suppliers using the web requisition process. The project helped assure that the work performed by contractors coming to Brookhaven is managed through Lab work planning and controls requirements.

I'd also like to honor Conrad Foerster, who retired at the end of March after 29 years of dedicated service at the Laboratory. Conrad joined BNL's Accelerator Department in 1979 to work on the ISABELLE project and moved to the NSLS in 1984. Conrad led the NSLS vacuum group for many years and made significant contributions to the design of accelerators around the world. Thank you, Conrad, for your valuable work at the NSLS and the Laboratory as a whole.

Finally, three research groups collaborated with NSLS scientists to use resonant x-ray scattering for measuring orientational order in layered liquid crystal phases. The orientational order of these molecules has played a large role in applications ranging from high-resolution camera viewfinders to large-area monitors, and is an important field of study. You can read more about their research in this edition of eNews.