What's the process?

Look at the Beamline capabilities webpage.  Determine which beamline and technique best fits your experimental needs.  If you have questions contact a Staff Scientist to discuss your research (the CHESS User Office will also get you in touch with the appropriate Staff Scientist):

• What is the research problem?
• Which station(s) are appropriate?
• How mature is the research project (risk, size)? Has this been tried on a home source?
• What is the material - sample composition, form, size, availability?
• What are the experimental conditions (temperature, pressure, etc.)?
• What will be measured?
• Probability of success? Impact? Significance?
• How will results be presented and to whom?
• What is the timeline?

There is one proposal submission form in the CHESS user data base (BeamPASS) for two proposal types:

General User Proposals for FAST, QM2, PIPOXS, HPBioSAXS, FlexX.
Submission: Proposals and beam time requests (BTRs) submitted for three proposal cycles every year (see “Deadlines”)
Amount of beam time requested: Any amount of beam time (Allocations of 9-18 shifts are typical)
Proposed Research: Experiments aligned with the research focus of the beamlines
Review:   Scientific merit of proposals scored by external reviewers
                Feasibility and safety reviewed by CHESS staff
Beam time Allocation: By beamtime allocation committee based on proposal scores
Scheduling: Beam time scheduled for entire cycle before cycle starts

Rapid Access Proposals for BioSAXS, FlexX.
Submission: Proposals and beamtime requests (BTRs) submitted anytime
Amount of beam time requested: Short beam times, typically 3-6 shifts.
Proposed Research:   Samples available or can be made on short notice;
  Experiments aligned with the research focus of the beamlines
Review:   Scientific merit of proposals scored by external reviewers
                Feasibility and safety reviewed by CHESS staff
                Within 2 weeks of submission
Beam Time Allocation: By beam time allocation committee based on proposal scores
Scheduling: Continuous; Beam time available for Rapid Access Proposals every month

For Rapid Access Proposals the proposal title should start with “Rapid Access: …”

Once you have determined the details of your experiment and the beamline you wish to use you are ready to begin the proposal process:

• Go to the BeamPASS, register as a new user, and create a profile.
• You will now see the main dashboard of BeamPASS

• Upper left corner of your dashboard select "My Active Proposals"
• Then select "Create Proposal" on the right
• After you have entered the title of the proposal you will then see the 9 different sections of the proposal

• Please remember when filling out the proposal that this will be peer-reviewed by an outside group of reviewers and safety reviewed.  See guidethe lines for writing a successful proposal.  Step-by-step instructions can be found in the BeamPASS.

Submitting a proposal is the first step to accessing the CHEXS (Center for High Energy X-ray Sciences at CHESS), MacCHESS (Macromolecular X-ray science at CHESS), and MSN-C (Materials Solutions Network at CHESS) beamlines. Please read the details below for information about the proposal process. If you need assistance with any of these steps, please reach out to the CHESS User Office at CHESSUserOffice@cornell.edu.

Proposal deadlines can be found here.

NOTE: If you have an active proposal in our BeamPASS that has already received beam time OR your beam time was not able to be scheduled in a previous run, please submit a new Beam Time Request (BTR) from your existing proposal. Please verify that your proposal has not expired in BeamPASS.

CHEXS & MacCHESS

• To schedule in-person, remote, or mail-in access to a beamline you must first submit a proposal using the BeamPASS.

• Once your proposal has been reviewed by safety and peers, we will submit a Beam Time Request (BTR) to the beamline you have indicated in your proposal.

Available Beamlines (Beamline capabilities can be found on the CHESS Beamline Directory.)

• PIPOXS beamline (ID2A) - CHEXS

• FAST beamline (ID3A) - CHEXS †

• QM2 beamline (ID4B) - CHEXS

• HPBioSAXS and BioSAXS beamline (ID7A1) - CHEXS and MacCHESS

  • Rapid Access Submissions are available for BioSAXS

• HPBio-MX and FlexX beamline (ID7B2) - CHEXS and MacCHESS

  • Rapid Access Submissions are available for FlexX

MSN-C

If this is your first time submitting a proposal to an MSN-C beamline, please discuss your project prior to submission by contacting:

• SMB - Kelly Nygren (k.nygren@cornell.edu), Peter Ko (peter.ko@cornell.edu), or Arthur Woll (aw30@cornell.edu)

• FMB - Louisa Smieska (lmb327@cornell.edu) or Arthur Woll (aw30@cornell.edu)

Available Beamlines (Beamline capabilities can be found on the CHESS Beamline Directory.)

• SMB beamline (1A2,1A3) - MSN-C * †

• FMB beamline (3B) - MSN-C *

* These beamlines are prioritized for Department of Defense researchers and their affiliates.

† The Forming and Shaping Technologies (FAST) beamline at CHEXS also services the structural materials community and has an open, peer review proposal system. Depending on demand and proposal scores, we often honor a “hutch swap” with FAST to give users full access to the suite of experiments possible across both beamlines.

You can find more information for prospective and current users on our website.

• Prospective User Handbook

• User Guide

• Proposal Deadlines

• X-Ray Run Schedule

For questions, please contact the CHESS User Office at CHESSUserOffice@cornell.edu.

"We are planning to welcome in-person users during this run and will continue to provide and expand remote and mail-in capabilities at our facility. Please indicate in your proposal how you plan to access your experiment (remote, in-person, mail-in, or joint venture). As always, we will update users on our current Covid-related restrictions. "

Depending on the funding stakeholder associated with specific beamlines, proposals for the following beamlines will undergo a peer review process: PIPOXS (2A) , FAST (3A), QM2 (4B), HPBioSAXS and BioSAXS (7A1), and HPBio-MX and FlexX (7B2).

However, proposals for Beamlines SMB beamline (1A2,1A3) and FMB beamline (3B) are exempt from peer review. 

How is my proposal peer-reviewed?

• A peer review is conducted on your proposal by outside reviewers (2-3) and an average final score will be assigned to the proposal upon completion of the review(s). Your average score will be on a scale of 1-4, 1 being excellent and 4 being poor. The areas in which your proposal will be scored are:
• Scientific and or Technical Merit
• Need for CHESS Capabilities
• Experimental Plan Details
• Expertise of Group (in both x-ray methods and science subject areas)

Please use the below as a rubric for writing proposals: 

Scientific and/or Technical Merit

1. Excellent - Results will be considered impactful and important - ambitious and innovative
2. Very Good - Will advance scientific knowledge, methods, and/or address critical questions
3. Good - Research contributes to scientific and/or technical knowledge base
4. Poor - Proposed research has no clear importance or originality

Need for CHESS Capabilities

1. Excellent - CHESS facilities and capabilities essential to obtain experimental results
2. Very Good - Well documented need for existing facilities and capabilities
3. Good - Appropriate use of existing facilities and capabilities
4. Poor - Routine use of existing facilities and methods or poorly demonstrated need

Experimental Plan Details

1. Thorough - Uses established facilities/methods or addresses all phases of a successful experiment (preparation, data collection/analysis, theory/calculations, etc.)
2. Detailed - Provides a detailed description of most aspects of the experiment
3. Adequate - Reasonable outline of experimental needs provided
4. Insufficient - Too little detail to evaluate needs and/or predict successful completion

Expertise of Group (in both x-ray methods and science subject area)

1. Extensive - Very experienced group with extensive history of successful outcomes
2. Experienced - Group with proven track record of successes
3. Gaining - Group has experience and demonstrated competence
4. Novice - Group lacks experience or did not provide evidence of outcomes

If your proposal was rated poorly, please review the criteria above to ensure you included all the necessary details and the selected beamline(s) are the best fit. 1 is the best and 4 being the worst. Please reach out to the CHESS User Office to request comments reviewers may have left and reach out to the beamline scientist to discuss possible improvements or capabilities. Proposals ranked poorly will not receive beamtime. BTRs are not peer reviewed and keep the same ranking as the proposal. In the event that your proposal was rated poorly, we recommend making improvements and submitting a new proposal for review.

To initiate a beam time request (BTR), a valid proposal is necessary. The validity of all accepted proposals extends for a duration of two years from the date of original submission. The first BTR is automatically generated when the proposal is submitted. Users are responsible for creating BTRs for subsequent run cycles (BTR#-b, BTR#-C, etc. Consequently, we request that you thoroughly review and update pertinent details such as sample information, buffers, solutions, and equipment needs. It is important to note that these updates will be subject to safety review.

Secondly, and as important, is the experimental plan section.  In your proposal, your experimental plan may have discussed the 2-year plan but the BTR wants to explicitly know what are you planning to do this run.

To submit a beam time request log into the BeamPASS.

• Look for "My Beamtime Requests"
• Within "My Beamtime Requests" box there is a button "Start a New Beam Time Request"

The total amount of beam time available on a beamline each cycle is a combination of the time required for commissioning, maintaining, and upgrading the beamlines and the time available for user experiments.  

Each cycle, beamlines may designate a fraction of their time for specific technique experiments and schedulers allocate appropriate proposals for this purpose.  

Beam Time Allocation and Scheduling

Once the deadline has passed for proposal and BTR submission scheduling begins in earnest by the Beamline Scientist and schedulers.  Each beamline scientist is responsible for scheduling their beamline.  Users are notified of scheduling confirmation through BeamPASS and emails from the CHESS User Office and/or Beamline Scientists.