Brian Crane named Howard Hughes professor
Each will receive $1 million over five years to create activities that integrate their research with student learning in ways that enhance undergraduate students’ understanding of science.
Crane’s HHMI project will build on Cornell’s successful prefreshman summer program (PSP) that prepares students for freshman chemistry. He and chemistry professor Stephen Lee, who recently revamped the PSP, will extend the program to prepare the students for more advanced chemistry and then initiate them into research experiences.
From the InSitμ school...
This school is part of the new Insitμ (Integrated Simulation and Interrogation Tools and Training for μmechanics) center at CHESS. The first day began with CHESS workshop I entitled Structural Materials Opportunities for Combining Polycrystal Modeling and High Energy X-rays http://meetings.chess.cornell.edu/UserMeeting2014/workshops.html#Workshop1.
CHESS Users' Meeting 2014 recap
The international user base was represented by 174 attendants who congregated to discuss this year's theme, "Exploring the Art and Science of Synchrotron X-ray Research". The plenary session on June 10 included a morning facility update session with the CHESS and MacCHESS directors, where exciting upgrade plans were presented, along with a summary of updates to the beam time proposal system. The invited user science sessions featured a cross-section of cutting edge user research, spanning the range from virology to superconductivity to art conservation.
Summer down projects are in full swing here at Wilson Lab
One of the most ambitious is the installation of new undulators for the upcoming Fall 2014 run, which means the removal of the Finkelstein Wiggler. This was a precision move over a large distance and many thanks to our "Riggers" for their expertise in gently guiding the 9,000+ pound wiggler out of the synchrotron.
Group invents materials to improve particle accelerators
The photocathode is the source of electrons that become the x-ray source in the case of a light source like a free-electron laser or an energy recovery linac. Karkare, with faculty advisor Ivan Bazarov (Cornell Physics Department), has been using a variety of tools to simulate, design and fabricate novel materials needed to make state-of-the-art photocathode sources. This publication presents new simulation tools that will help design better materials for future applications.
Lynden Archer receives chemical engineering award
Established in 2005, the award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of nanoscale science and engineering in the field of chemical engineering.
Archer was recognized “for pioneering and sustained research on nanoparticle-polymer hybrid materials and their applications in electrochemical energy storage technologies,” according to his award citation.
Archer will give a lecture during the NSEF plenary session Nov. 19 at the 2014 AICHE annual meeting in Atlanta.
Undergrads behind the shield this summer at CHESS
But for Gabrielle Long and Yuexia ‘Luna’ Lin, two research students working at CHESS this summer, the opportunity arose midway through their third week on the job. It is rare for students to have the chance to dismantle and build a beamline, and is definitely worth putting their personal research on hold for a weekend, reflected Richard Gillilan, one of Luna and Gabrielle’s advisers. The students worked with Richard and staff members Mike Cook, Scott Smith, and Bill Miller to transition the F1 hutch from a crystallography station to a BioSAXS station.
GERLS Camp-Encouraging young women in STEM
GERLS is an acronym developed by the program’s leaders Lora Hine, director of outreach at Xraise, and Claire Fox, education coordinator at IG. The acronym stands for “Girl Engineers Really Love Science!”
The camp had 11 girls participate from a number of area schools in Tompkins County. Additionally, several female mentors* from Cornell University, Ithaca College, and downtown institutions worked with the girls throughout the week.
THE FACTS ON WOMEN IN STEM
New high energy beamline as state-of-the-art grain mapping facility
HE synchrotron x-rays are well suited to in-situ and operandostudies of energy and engineering materials, due to their short wavelength and narrow bandpass, adjustable energy and beam size, high flux and ability to interrogate samples in complex environments by penetrating electrochemical cells or bulk polycrystalline samples up to centimeters in thickness.