Summer undergraduate research students at CLASSE have been actively influencing the sphere of science education across campus and the community. During their brief time at CLASSE, these students are shaping the research that occurs in laboratory spaces, showcasing their efforts and understanding in conference rooms, and driving the conversations and questions that occur in communal areas. In the laboratory, student devote hours of their time combing through the literature, contributing to the investigation, collecting data, and compiling their results.

What did the Scientists Discover?

Materials were as varied as conjugated small molecules [5,10,18], pharmaceutical molecules [16], metal-organic frameworks [19], cellulose nanocrystals [7], and hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites [2,3,8,9,13] (all in GIWAXS mode) as well as monodisperse nanoparticles [1,14,17],  and block copolymers, polymer membranes, and polymer brushes [4,6,11,12,15] in GISAXS mode. In GIWAXS mode length scales probed are 1-3 nm, in the GISAXS modes 2-20 nm for nanoparticles and 20-80 nm for block copolymers.

CHESS is a high-intensity X-ray source, primarily supported by the National Science Foundation, that provides users with state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation facilities for research in physics, chemistry, biology and environmental and materials sciences.

Encompassing both didactic lectures and tutorials as well as “hands-on” experiment time at C-line, the workshop focused on giving participants a thorough background in both the practical and theoretical aspects of x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and high energy resolution fluorescence detected x-ray absorption spectroscopy (HERFD XAS).

Following through on intentions outlined in our 2012 NSF proposal, our team sowed the seeds and fanned the flames that ultimately led to the founding of a dedicated drop-in space where kids can build and cultivate an identity in science. Opened last October at a new low-income housing facility, Ithaca’s Free Science Workshop is providing self-directed exploration, experimentation, and engineering to these families.

Our 8^th BioSAXS Essentials training workshop drew a wide-ranging and enthusiastic crowd of 36 students, including 6 from University of Puerto Rico, 1 from Korea, 2 from Estonia and 1 from Canada. About half of the students had never collected data at a synchrotron before!

Participants from 23 institutions and companies joined the meeting in person on the Cornell campus and online via YouTube live.