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The Society for Science at User Research Facilities welcomes you to a series of online sessions over three days with insights and updates on the nation’s federal scientific research facilities! Topics include highlights from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, National Science Foundation and university researchers, laboratory communications projects, research security, facility updates, advocacy and legislative themes, DEI in user facilities and other issues shaping the opportunities for scientists and researchers in user facilities.
The entire day’s schedule was free and open to all, using the same Zoom link for every session. Tune in as you choose throughout the day.
The sessions from the Annual Meeting will be uploaded soon, and audio files made available too.
(All times are Eastern Time Zone)
Presenter: Lily Troia, Board Chair, Society for Science at User Research FacilitiesLily Troia is a scholarly communication librarian and research services expert with a background in digital solutions, multi-level research enterprise development, metrics and copyright, open access, and data preservation/digital archiving. She currently works at Digital Science, connecting research organizations in the US with actionable, sustainable tools and processes focused on innovation, translational impact, and cross-organizational collaboration. Lily provides consultative support to key leadership and stakeholders to strategize around technology and data that align with mission, actionable use, increased efficiency, and decision-making. She has worked in the research sphere for years, with previous positions at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (College of William and Mary and Harvard University’s Office of Scholarly Communication, as well as extensive engagement with global funders, universities, policy organizations, national labs, publishers, and more.
Presenter: Dr. Asmeret Berhe, Director, Office of ScienceHear an update on the 2023 outlook for key Office of Science priorities including the recently announced “Energy Earthshots” and Dr. Berhe’s personal story with DOE and the National Laboratories that begins with a wonderful mentor and access to a User Facility.
Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is the Director of the Office of Science for the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Berhe was most recently a Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry; the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology; and Interim Associate Dean for Graduate Education at the University of California, Merced. Her research was at the intersection of soil science, global change science, and political ecology with an emphasis on how the soil system regulates the earth’s climate and the dynamic two-way relationship between the natural environment and human communities.
She previously served as the Chair of the US National Committee on Soil Science at the National Academies; was a Leadership board member for the Earth Science Women’s Network; and is currently a co-principal investigator in the ADVANCEGeo Partnership – a National Science Foundation funded effort to empower (geo)scientists to respond to and prevent harassment, discrimination, bullying and other exclusionary behaviors in research environments. Her scholarship on how physical processes such as erosion, fire, and changes in climate affect the biogeochemical cycling of essential elements in the earth system and her efforts to ensure equity and inclusion of people from all walks of life in the scientific enterprise have received numerous awards and honors. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America, and a member of the inaugural class of the US National Academies New Voices in Science, Engineering, and Medicine.
Berhe was born and raised in Asmara, Eritrea. She received a B.Sc. in Soil and Water Conservation from the University of Asmara, an M.Sc. in Political Ecology from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. in Biogeochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2020 she was named a Great Immigrant, Great American by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Dan will review SSURF’s strategic activities from the previous year and highlights of plans for site visits, advocacy and digital communications for 2023.
Presenter: Andrew Wiedlea, PhD., Computer Systems Engineer, Science Engagement Group, ESnetThe recently launched ESnet6 provides over 46 Terabits per second of bandwidth and intelligent network services to support unique data-intensive needs of scientific research: Learn how scientists can more quickly process, analyze, visualize, share, and store the mountains of research data produced by experiments, modeling, and simulations.
Andrew is with the Science Engagement Group, supporting ESnet’s users and mission through any means necessary. He is especially interested in sensor network, science user platform applications, and wired/wireless mixed mode science requirements, but any day spent solving science use-case problems is a good day.
In previous roles, Andrew served with all aspects of IT support to science users as Head of User Support and the Science IT program at LBL. He has also been a DoD program manager/operations research systems analyst, supporting the development and deployment of CWMD sensor systems and analytics, and was a technical staff member with Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Statistical Sciences Group.
His Ph.D. is from the Goldman School of Public Policy, where he did fieldwork at the Los Alamos Plutonium Fabrication Facility. He has worked on science projects at almost all of the NNSA and DOE Office of Science laboratories.
Presenter: Will Fox, Research Physicist, Princeton Plasma Physics LaboratoryI will discuss our campaign of experiments at the National Ignition Facility to study magnetized plasma astrophysics. An essential process in space and astrophysical plasmas is magnetic reconnection, where magnetic field lines re-organize and magnetic energy is converted to plasma energy, which heats the plasma and accelerates high-energy particle populations. While magnetic reconnection is believed to underly many energetic processes such as solar flares and magnetospheric substorms, a grand challenge for experiments has been to understand how magnetic reconnection proceeds rapidly in large-scale, high-temperature plasmas. Laser produced plasmas provide a new technique to study magnetic reconnection in the laboratory, where laser-heating allows generation of high-temperature, magnetized plasmas which have many ideal properties. The large number of lasers and available energy at NIF allows the creation of highly-extended reconnection current sheets with geometry and parameters much closer to space and astrophysical plasmas than previously available in the laboratory. I will present our results so far which leverage the large number of available plasma measurement diagnostics at NIF.
Dr. Fox is a staff research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, having joined the laboratory in 2013. He received a BA in Physics from Princeton University in 2001 and a Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009. After his Ph.D. he worked as a Research Scientist at the University of New Hampshire Space Science Center.
His research interests include plasma physics with applications to space and astrophysical plasmas, fusion energy, and high energy density plasmas. Primary among these are magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process which allows the fast conversion of magnetic energy into plasma kinetic energy, including the acceleration of particles to very high energy. It underlies the explosive energy release in solar flares and substorms in the earth’s magnetosphere. A second topic is the physics of shocks waves driven by enormous astrophysical explosions, which is the site of the acceleration of cosmic rays, the highest energy particles detected in the cosmos.
He is a primary developer of the PSC first-principles particle-in-cell code, which is used to simulate these processes. Dr. Fox and collaborators have developed new theories for the generation and dynamics of magnetic fields in high-energy-density plasmas with applications both to designing new laboratory astrophysics experiments and to inertial fusion energy. He also conducts experiments on the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment at PPPL regarding the fundamental physics of magnetic reconnection.
Dr. Fox was awarded the APS Division of Plasma Physics Thomas H. Stix Award in 2019 for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research, and Shared the 2020 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research.
Presenter: Zachary Hood, Materials Scientist, Applied Materials Division, Argonne National LaboratoryDr. Zachary Hood is a materials scientist in the Applied Materials Division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Hood was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At Argonne National Laboratory he works on emergent electrochemical materials. Zachary develops innovative synthetic methods to produce new solid-state materials and leverages a number of characterization techniques to understand their properties and performance from the nano-to-macro scale.
Education
Post-Doctoral, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology
B.S., Wake Forest University
Presenter: Meyer SeligmanAs the SSURF Annual Meeting starts on December 7, 2022 the federal government is technically only funded for another nine days. By December 16 the House of Representatives and the Senate must agree on a government funding plan or various agencies and activities of the government will close. What is the process for the immediate and the longer term funding mechanisms for federal research laboratories and related agencies? What is the outlook for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, with the new political dynamic following the November 2022 election? Meyer has an insider Appropriations Committee staff perspective on what could, and must happen to keep funding flowing to user facilities.
Meyer Seligman leads the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s government relations office and previously was on staff for seven years for the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, where she was responsible for congressional oversight and providing funding for a variety of Department of Energy programs, including the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Office of Science.
Presenter: Dr. Richard Oram, Research Infrastructure Advisor, Large Facilities Office, National Science FoundationThe National Science Foundation’s Large Facilities Office supports outreach activities towards the NSF’s Major and Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure community and other complex scientific facilities and organizations. This presentation will summarize the Research Infrastructure Workshops/Webinars (RIW) events hosted by Large Facilities Office, the Research Infrastructure Communities of Interest Forum (RICOI) which is a web-based collaborative forum and NSF’s Research Infrastructure Knowledge Gateway which serves as a portal connecting the Research Infrastructure community to shared management best practices and lessons learned presentations which are a critical part of LFO’s support to the agency and NSF’s Research Infrastructure community.
Presenter: Dr. Richard Oram joined NSF LFO in April 2021 as an IPA rotator from Caltech, Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy Division.
Richard is a Scientist, Engineering Manager and Educator with extensive experience with operations management of very large and complex facilities. He brings practical experience in program and project management, team building and leadership of engineering teams in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment in world class organizations.
Richard joined Caltech and LIGO Livingston Observatory as Operations Manager in 2013 and led the Observatory Operations team that completed the Advanced LIGO upgrade and the engineering and observing runs On September 14, 2015, the LIGO detectors in Livingston, LA and Hanford, WA made the world’s first direct detection of gravitational waves, heralding a new era in astronomical exploration which supported the Nobel Prize for Physics 2017.
Previously, Richard was Head of Engineering Operations, Gemini South Observatory, Chile and Optical Systems Group Manager Gemini North Observatory Hilo, Hawaii. The Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8-meter optical/infrared telescopes located on two of the best sites on our planet for observing the universe. Together these telescopes can access the entire sky.
Richard is currently responsible for NSF LFO’s internal and external education and outreach activities, including the Program Officer’s Forum and LFO’s Research Infrastructure workshops and webinars, which are a critical part of LFO’s support to the agency and NSF’s Research Infrastructure community. Richard’s other responsibilities include NSF LFO’s Program Management Improvement Accountability Act (PMIAA) internal workforce development, PMIAA interagency collaboration working group and Facility Condition Assessment.
Presenter: Stacy Baker, Outreach Coordinator, Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MPA-CINTThe complete redesign and launch of a User Facility website can be a daunting project – yet with strategic planning, brainstorming and a vision for the ultimate outcomes to serve users, staff and site visitors the results can be transformational as a vehicle for engaging site visitors across the stakeholder spectrum. Learn how the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies framed their website update project, starting with budgeting, branding and audience assessments, timeline planning, finding the skilled team and technical options, and how they discerned design issues such as image and video content and incorporating multiple institutional branding standards and policies (including Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs). Plus learn about their launching logistics and ongoing site traffic, content and engagement assessments, and much more to consider.
Presenter: Stacy Baker is the Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT). She has an extensive background in communications, marketing, operations, and event management. She joined Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2008 and has worked with the National Security Education Center’s Engineering Institute and the Bradbury Science Museum, where she engaged with Lab researchers to promote the exciting work done at Los Alamos.
Presenter: Adam Rondinone, Co-Director for the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT)The Nanoscale Science Research Center (NSRC) Program operates a system of five coordinated Centers strategically located in DOE national laboratories across the United States. Each center showcases particular expertise and capabilities in selected theme areas, such as the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials; catalysis; theory, modelling and simulation; electronic materials; nanoscale photonics; soft and biological materials; imaging and spectroscopy; and nanoscale integration. Each center enables users to conduct comprehensive high-impact nanoscience research.
Presenter: Adam Rondinone is the Co-Director for the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) as well as the group leader for MPA-CINT. He received his doctorate in chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2001 and immediately joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a Wigner Fellow, where his research interests included clean energy, nanotechnology based electrocatalysis, and advanced materials. From 2008-2010 he was a Legislative Fellow in the U.S. Senate offering advice on energy and technology issues. He joined CINT and Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2020.
Presenter: Jim Kerby, Project Director, APS Upgrade, Argonne National LaboratoryThe future of the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory, is about to get a lot brighter: The APS is already a powerful scientific facility, and the ultrabright X-rays it generates are used by more than 5,500 scientists each year to create stronger materials, build more efficient batteries and help develop vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases. A comprehensive upgrade to the facility’s electron storage ring, scheduled to begin in April 2023, will increase the brightness of those X-rays by up to 500 times and will enable new discoveries and innovations we cannot yet imagine. New beamlines and enhancements will further expand the capabilities of the APS, and keep it at the forefront of global X-ray science. Learn the latest on the project’s status and get insight to technical capabilities your research could access and shape the path of your discoveries!
Presenter: Jim Kerby is the Project Director for the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade (APS-U) project at Argonne. Kerby oversees the planning, construction, and implementation of the upgrade. The APS is a DOE Office of Science user facility.
Kerby joined Argonne in 2012 as the principal project manager of APS-U and later transitioned to Chief Project Officer of the APS-U. He has over 30 years of engineering and technical management experience. Prior to joining Argonne, Kerby worked at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, including leadership of the $200 million US-LHC Accelerator Project, which helped construct the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. He is currently a member of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) Technical Advisory Council at Michigan State University and the ALS Upgrade Project Management Advisory Committee at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He typically serves on several national and international review committees each year.
Kerby holds bachelor’s (1984) and master’s (1986) degrees in mechanical engineering from Purdue University as well as an MBA (2006) from Purdue’s Krannert School of Management. He is a member of Argonne’s Project Management Advisory Council, mentors early career staff and collaborates with other U.S. Department of Energy laboratories, universities and industry partners.
Presenter: Shawna Sadler, Engagement Manager, Outreach and Partnerships, ORCIDHow is your research appropriately credited to your identity? One resource to help secure your ORCID, which stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID, strives to enable transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their contributions, and their affiliations by providing a unique, persistent identifier for individuals to use as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. Learn about ORAC, a diverse group of researchers who provide valuable perspectives and advice to ORCID staff and the ORCID Board to ensure that ORCID provides value and utility to researchers and facilitates research and innovation. Learn from Shawna the Persistent Identifiers the SSURF community should know about and how the SSURF community get involved to leverage this resource.
Presenter: Shawna Sadler heads up Outreach & Partnerships at ORCID, building strategic relationships worldwide and exploring new opportunities for adoption and growth. Previously, Shawna was ORCID’s Engagement Manager for the Americas continuing the adoption and integration of ORCID in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Shawna joined ORCID in 2019 with a long history of introducing ORCID to research communities in Canada, Australia and the United States. In her spare time, Shawna can be found snowboarding, mountain biking, and trying to keep up with her quickly growing children.
This session will feature a roundtable of users of Dept. of Energy facilities sharing experiences, perspectives and insights relevant to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion within communities of scientific research and within the user facilities especially.
Dr. Tabbetha Dobbins is an associate professor of Physics & Astronomy at Rowan University, where she also serves as the vice president for research. Her research investigates the relationship between structure and dynamics in composite materials using neutron and X-ray scattering with applications to modern engineering problems in carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles, the hydrogen fuel economy and polymer self-assembly. She is currently serving by appointment, on the Department of Energy’s Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC)
Dr. Sumanjeet Kaur, a Research Scientist and Group Leader at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, performs research on thermal energy storage. She is a material scientist and has background in material synthesis and characterization, as well as in various thermal metrologies. Her current research projects include development of dynamically tunable thermal energy storage, thermal switches and standalone thermal batteries using thermochemical materials for low to medium temperature applications.
Dr. Melissa Sims is a Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University with a visiting scientist appointment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She completed bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Geophysics at the College of Charleston and University of South Carolina, respectively. Melissa completed her master’s degree through a diversity program funded through INCREASE, the NSF GEO diversity initiative, at Stony Brook University. During her PhD, she examined deformation and phase transformation during meteor impacts at strain rates relevant to cratering. During her postdoc, she won an NSF EAR postdoctoral fellowship to expand her work into the shock regime using multiple in-situ techniques.
Presenter: Ricarda (Cara) Laasch, Senior Public Affairs Rep, Brookhaven National LaboratoryHow can User Facilities design user engagement activities – both on site and virtual – to create alignment with stakeholders? Consistent, compelling and credible stories and the research that inspire such stories are behind building a laboratory’s brand, and there is a spectrum of ways to work on that goal. Learn about the ways some facilities such as the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) and the Laboratory for BioMolecular Structures (LBMS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory design programs to keep users connecting with the latest technologies and aware of opportunities at their facilities.
Presenter: Ricarda (Cara) Laasch is the Senior Public Affairs Rep, Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Synchrotron Light Source II. Her duties include the creation and management of various external communication materials such as articles, website content, brochures, posters, stakeholder communications, and social media. Together, with NSLS-II and LBMS management, Cara creates and executes the strategic communication plan for both facilities, including the branding and marketing. She also assists in the various outreach programs for the facility and the Lab, such as Summer Sundays and other tour programs.
Beyond her role as external communication specialist for these two facilities, Cara also works on several internal communication matters, such as the NSLS-II specialized intranet, event management, and other communication support. As a representative for NSLS-II and a communication expert, Cara has been part of the overall Brookhaven Lab branding effort.
Superfacilities: the next evolution of collaborations and impactThis discussion will be the theme of a webinar series in 2023, with numerous facility speakers.
Presenter: Edwin Kindler, Legislative Assistant to Science and National Labs Caucus co-chair U.S. Representative Bill Foster (IL-11)The upcoming leadership changes across committees in the U.S. Congress and the investments into our national research lab ecosystem from legislation like the CHIPs and Science Act are going to shape the budgets, projects and activities of federal agencies’ scientific programs in 2023. Come hear insight from Edwin regarding the priorities of the bipartisan House Science and National Lab Caucus, co-chaired by US Representative Bill Foster. Edwin is on his staff; Rep. Foster is the only PhD physicist in Congress and an employee of a Department of Energy national laboratory for over 20 years.
We’ll discuss what’s coming up in the next year/next Congress for the National Labs Caucus, likely major points of focus for energy policy in the new Congress, and some of Rep. Foster’s perspectives on amendments within the CHIPS and Science Act directing activities on topics like University Nuclear Infrastructure Reinvestments, Modernization of our National Labs and Advanced Computing.