News

CHESS celebrated its annual User Meeting with the theme "Cultivating Community," emphasizing the integral role of CHESS users, researchers, technical staff, and scientific staff. The 2024 User Meeting attracted over 150 attendees who gathered for a day of scientific talks, facility updates, awards, and a vibrant poster session. See the Photo Gallery here!  

In a new paper appearing in Communications Biology, prof. Daniel Keedy's group from the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center used x-ray crystallography at CHESS to investigate the conformation changes of a medically-important biomolecule (the protein tyrosine phosphatase enzyme STEP) when perturbed by pressure and temperature.

The Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education (CLASSE) funds summer research opportunities in the areas of x-ray and accelerator sciences, materials science, chemistry, and mechanical engineering for pre-selected undergraduate students from primarily undergraduate institutions and minority serving institutions. This summer, twenty REU students are hosted by CLASSE. Ten students from the CHESS summer programs -- SERCCS, PREM, and SUNRiSE -- are jumping into their rigorous summer undergraduate research experience.

Now, in a new paper appearing in the journal “Chemistry of Materials”, a group of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and CHEXS use high-energy x-ray spectroscopy to gain fundamental insights into the redox processes and migration tendencies of transition metals in the cathode material 0.7(Li2MnO3)·0.3(LiFeO2).

The Open House was a chance for science enthusiasts of all ages to come and see what we do behind the scenes at CHESS and CLASSE! This event was first and foremost about community, from our staff and students, to the local Ithaca and Cornell communities – we hope to inspire dozens of young new scientists! ⁠

The HEXT workshop equips students to actively participate in the CHESS user community through a blend of educational lectures, interactive demonstrations, and proposal writing training. Focused on diversity and practical skills, HEXT aims to cultivate a more inclusive and vibrant environment for synchrotron research.

Working alongside users, a new operating mode for CESR has been developed, allowing researchers to image processes on time scales ranging from nanoseconds to microseconds. With exquisite temporal resolution, this capability empowers researchers to investigate phenomena such as chemical reactions, shock waves, phase transitions, and biological processes.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) nearly $20 million to build a new precision X-ray beamline for research on biological and environmental systems.