The 2023 ALS User Meeting Awards were presented on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.
Shirley Award
The David A. Shirley Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement at the ALS went to Will Chueh, “for pioneering operando soft x-ray spectromicroscopy for imaging electrochemical redox phenomena through the intersection of liquid electrochemistry with scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM) and ptychography at the ALS.” 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 Slavo Nemsak, “for the development of the state-of-the-art combined scattering and spectroscopy setup at ALS Beamline 11.0.2.” 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 Lori Tamura, “for her exceptional work communicating the scientific achievements conducted at the ALS to the general public through her writing.” 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 Aleksandr Razumtcev (Purdue University) for “Broadband Chemical Imaging by Synchrotron Photothermal Microscopy.” Second prize went to Isaac Zakaria (UC Berkeley) for “Unprecedented Stability of a Novel Cobalt(IV)-Nitride Complex: Insights from X-Ray Spectroscopies,” and third prize went to Andrew Lee (Stanford University) for “Dynamic Fracture Processes in Hydrogen Embrittled Iron.” Alaina Hartnett (Harvard University) was selected as a runner up, for “Mixed-Metal Cobalt Oxides: Origins of Activity Promotion for Oxygen Electrocatalysis in Acid.”
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.
