The User Office is accepting new General User Proposals (GUPs) from scientists who wish to conduct research at the ALS in the 2025-2 (August–December) cycle.
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: March 5, 2025
Please log in to ALSHub to submit a new GUP or to make a beamtime request (BTR) on an existing active proposal. BTRs may be submitted now, and new GUPs may be submitted beginning February 5.
Users are reminded that they need to have an ALSHub account to submit proposals, and that creating an account may take 1–2 business days. We encourage all users to check their account well before the proposal deadline. If your PI does not have an ALSHub account, please have your PI create an ALSHub account as well.
New Proposal Guidelines!
Last cycle, we published new proposal writing guidelines that requested that content be divided into three separate sections. In response to feedback provided in surveys sent to proposal submitters and reviewers, we have revised the guidelines and added details about proposal review criteria on our web pages. Please read the updated guidelines (apply for beamtime and prepare a competitive proposal) before submitting.
Maintaining an Active Proposal
Proposals for general sciences beamlines are considered active for two years, or until the total shifts requested in the proposal have been used. Users may decide whether to submit a new proposal or make a BTR on an active proposal based on the cutoff score from previous cycles for that beamline. Users are reminded that their proposal score will be improved by 0.2 if they didn’t receive beamtime in the first cycle, as described in the GUP section. Users must make a BTR each cycle to continue to get beamtime on an active proposal.
The ALS-U project is reviewing and revising its schedule. As of now, the planning assumption is that the start of dark time will be delayed by one year, to the summer of 2027. This means that additional beamtime cycles will be run before the dark time, and proposals calls will be adjusted accordingly. We will share more information as it becomes available.
Molecular Foundry Joint Access
Users can request joint access to facilities at the Molecular Foundry, a nanoscience user facility at Berkeley Lab, to support their ALS activities. Available resources include sample preparation and complementary characterization techniques. We recommend exploring the expertise and instrumentation available and contacting the scientists directly to discuss the feasibility of your research plans. You may also reach out to the Foundry User Office directly with your questions. Users should review these guidelines before submitting a proposal.
Report Publications
All proposal forms include a productivity section with publications from previous ALS work. Please make sure your publications are entered into the ALS publication database before preparing your proposal. The database will be automatically searched for publications with the principal investigator’s name, which the proposal submitter may then add to the proposal by clicking all those that apply.
RAPIDD Proposals
Users requiring limited but rapid access to ALS beamtime may prefer to submit a RAPIDD proposal rather than a GUP. RAPIDD proposals may be submitted at any time starting March 10.
Contact: alsproposals@lbl.gov