For detailed descriptions of each award, eligibility and judging criteria, and links to nomination forms, see the main User Meeting Awards page.
Shirley Award
The David A. Shirley Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement at the ALS went to Kevin Wilson, “for the development of innovative vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and x-ray aerosol measurement techniques for the study of chemical interactions at the gas–aerosol interface.” 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.
Early Career Award
The Early Career Award went to Swarup China, “for advancing the understanding of atmospheric aerosols and biological particles through micro-spectroscopic analyses and chemical imaging at the ALS.” Read more…
The ALS Early Career Award was established in 2024 to recognize significant scientific contributions from early-career investigators who have performed original and independent research at the ALS.
Halbach Award
The Klaus Halbach Award for Innovative Instrumentation at the ALS was awarded to the COSMIC Scattering team, “for the development of x-ray imaging and x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy instrumentation for investigating the spatiotemporal dynamics of functional magnetic and quantum materials at ALS Beamline 7.0.1.1.” Read more…
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 Mel Sibony, “for outstanding support of the ALS user community through the development and maintenance of the 4D software system and database and computer hardware at the ALS.” Read more…
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 was awarded to Harlan Heilman (Washington State University) for “Combining DFT-Based Optical Models with Resonant X-Ray Reflectivity to Measure Orientation at Buried Interfaces.” Second prize went to Yucheng Guo (Rice University) for “Spin Excitations from Flat Electronic Bands in a Cr-Based Kagome Superconductor,” and third prize went to Andrew Sugarman (Pennsylvania State University) for “High-Resolution Wide-Field 3D Histopathology for the Morphological Characterization of Prostate Cancer.”
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.
For detailed descriptions of each award, eligibility and judging criteria, and links to nomination forms, see the main User Meeting Awards page.