The 2022 ALS User Meeting Awards were presented on Monday, August 15, 2022.
Shirley Award
The David A. Shirley Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement at the ALS went to Jinghua Guo, “for pioneering the development of in situ/operando soft x-ray spectroscopy for energy, catalysis, and chemical science.” Read more…
David Shirley was a Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and Director of LBNL from 1980 to 1989, and was instrumental in having the Advanced Light Source built.
Halbach Award
The Klaus Halbach Award for Innovative Instrumentation at the ALS was awarded to Valeriy Yashchuk, “for his contribution to the development of a precision surface measurement technology critical for advanced x-ray optical systems.”
Klaus Halbach was a senior staff scientist at LBNL who pioneered the development of undulators using permanent magnets, and other innovations in accelerator physics. Even though he retired from LBNL in 1991, he remained active in lab projects and student training until his death in 2000.
Renner Award
The Tim Renner User Services Award for Outstanding Support to the ALS User Community was awarded to Kevan Anderson on behalf of the Beamline Controls Group, “for broad expertise in control systems and software development, and professional judgment and decision-making, which have greatly contributed to the research and development program of the Advanced Light Source.”
Tim Renner was a beamline scientist at the ALS who died at an early age, and who during his career touched everyone that knew him with his caring attitude to others and his larger-than-life personality. This award recognizes the services of others across the ALS organization who, like Tim, have made outstanding contributions to the ALS User Community.
Student Poster Awards
The Neville Smith Student Poster Award, First Prize, went to Quinn Carvalho (Oregon State University) for “Relating selective electrochemical nitrate reduction to electronic structure by AP-XPS.” Second place went to Lindsey Mack (UC Davis) for “Analysis of the Aedes aegypti gonotrophic cycle using synchrotron x-ray microcomputed tomography” and third place went to Alauna Wheeler (UC Merced) for “Wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) to investigate effects of e-cigarette chemical additives on lung surfactant structure.”
Neville Smith was the Scientific Director for the ALS from 1994 until his death in 2006. He was known not only for his scientific expertise, particularly in photoemission spectroscopy, but also for his wicked wit. As a great supporter of young scientists, his contribution is acknowledged by the naming of the Student Poster Award in his honor, beginning in 2014.
