April 15, 2005

CFN Site Dedication Draws Special Guests to the NSLS

Several distinguished guests visited the NSLS on April 15 as part of activities for the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) site dedication ceremony. The guests included Congressman David Hobson, Chairman of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee in the House of Representatives; Congressman Tim Bishop; DOE Office of Science Director Raymond Orbach, and Patricia Dehmer, Associate Director of the Office of Basic Energy Sciences within the Office of Science.

From left, NSLS Chairman Steve Dierker, Congressman Tim Bishop, Congressman David Hobson, DOE Office of Science Director Raymond Orbach, and BNL Director Praveen Chaudhari.

After a welcome by Steve Dierker, Associate Laboratory Director for Light Sources, the group gathered in front of the lobby viewing window, which gives an impressive view of the VUV experimental floor. Dierker then gave an overview of the NSLS and its research. He also discussed the bright, new light source proposed at Brookhaven Lab, NSLS-II, and how the new synchrotron would act as a sister facility to the CFN, complementing and enhancing the nanoscience research to be done there.

On this key theme, Hobson mentioned the cutting-edge, third-generation synchrotrons that exist or are under construction is several other countries. "Nanoscience is a whole new era," he said, that requires advanced machinery. In response, Dierker discussed how NSLS-II would take the U.S. to the forefront of synchrotron science and nanoscience. Using CFN instrumentation, NSLS-II will create the advanced optics needed to focus NSLS-II beams down to very small sizes. For example, this will enable studies of nanowires, which are the basis for a new class of electronic circuits that are faster and cheaper, and consume less power than present technology based on silicon.

"Experiments using x-rays from existing synchrotrons can't get down to the nanoscale," said Dierker. "We need NSLS-II, a powerful new photon microscope, to enable the basic science to be done that will form the basis for new technologies and whole new industries."

He continued, "Developing clean and affordable energy technologies is the global challenge of the century. It is the remarkable behavior of materials at the nanoscale that is thought to hold the key to meeting United States energy needs. NSLS-II will give U.S. researchers the tools they need to regain world leadership in this area."

Later, at the site dedication ceremony, the CFN site sign was unveiled by several of the invited dignitaries and BNL leaders. A crowd of BNL employees came out to participate in the event and, after a welcome by Lab Director Praveen Chaudhari, heard remarks by Hobson, Bishop, and Orbach.

In his talk, Orbach touched on NSLS-II and its planned relationship to the CFN. "Think of the two as a team," he said. "Without both, we will be robbed of opportunities that they uniquely can bring. NSLS-II will give us a leg up on every other laboratory in the world."

He also had an important message: "We need to convey to the public what science can and will do, to convey to everyone the nature of scientific enterprise and scientific discovery," he said. "What we're doing here today is conveying that message in a whole new era of opportunity. No one knows the dimensions of discoveries that are present."

"Research into nanomaterials is one of the most exciting things since the microchip," said Hobson. "Right here at Brookhaven, you're getting to be in the middle of that."

Hobson also praised BNL for its status as a basic-energy research lab, stressing that basic research is an essential, but waning, component of U.S. science. "The [DOE] labs are the last areas of basic research in our country," he said. "You should all be very proud of what you're doing."

Bishop was equally supportive. "We have on this site some of the world's best minds. The CFN will bring more of the best minds here, and Long Island will benefit from that."

Among other distinguished guests invited to the Lab were Dennis Kovar, Associate Director for Nuclear Physics, who is also DOE landlord of the BNL site; Michael Holland, Manager of DOE's Brookhaven Site Office; Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, who is Vice President for Strategic Planning for Battelle; and Robert McGrath, SBU Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, who also serves as SBU Vice President for Brookhaven Affairs.

Earlier in the day, the special guests also toured BNL's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Positron Emission Tomography facility to learn about the research performed at each. The keynote speaker at the luncheon preceding the event was Shirley Strum Kenny, Stony Brook University (SBU) President and also Vice President of Brookhaven Science Associates, an institution formed of SBU and Battelle, that manages BNL for DOE.

ARTICLE BY: Laura Mgrdichian

PHOTO BY: Roger Stoutenburgh