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Berkeley Lab Director Witherell Retirement, June 2026

Dr. Michael S. Witherell announced his intention to retire in Spring 2026 from his position as director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory after nearly a decade of service. Witherell’s leadership has strengthened the Lab’s position as a world-leading institution for breakthrough science and energy solutions for the nation. Read more »

Congratulations to Our 2025 Retirees

Eleven people from the ALS community are retiring, with more than 220 combined years of service. Thank you all for your contributions to the ALS, and congratulations on your retirement!  Read more »

Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) STEM Fair

Berkeley Lab returned to the OUSD STEM Fair in Oakland, offering a hands-on activity where students and their parents learn about the electromagnetic spectrum. The Lab’s booth was staffed by ALS staff members, Gianna Fazioliu, Ian Lacey, and Ina Reichel. Read more »

2025 Winter Shutdown Recap

After another busy shutdown, the ALS is in the process of returning to user operation later this week. The ALS-U accomplishments of the Winter 2025 shutdown include the accumulator ring installation sectors 1-11, seismic upgrades, ALS-U cable routing and electrical installation, RF infrastructure installation, and the booster bend power supply commissioning. In addition, the teams were able to complete several projects for the current ALS. Read more »

CU*IP ALS Tours

The American Physical Society holds an annual Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics (CU*IP). This year’s Northern California edition was hosted at UC Berkeley with support from Berkeley Lab and LLNL. After the end of the conference on Sunday, January 26, about 60 participants visited the Lab and got to see NERSC and the ALS. Tour guides for the ALS were Hendrik Ohldag and Ina Reichel, who were also on the local organizing committee of the conference.

The ALS Releases New Version of Strategic Plan

The Advanced Light Source’s five-year strategic plan is now available, presenting our vision to be a premier synchrotron facility through team innovation and advanced technologies. Developed collaboratively with staff, partners, and users, the plan charts our course to deliver world-class capabilities with ALS-U and beyond, building on 2023 User Meeting science visioning workshops. Read more »

Summer 2024 Shutdown Recap

The ALS is back in user operation after more than two months of shutdown. By now, more than 80% of the Accumulator Ring (AR) has been installed, as well as both of its radio frequency (RF) cavities. A number of other tasks were also completed. Read more »

Mel Sibony Receives 2024 Tim Renner User Services Award

In celebration of his work, the ALS Users’ Executive Committee presented Mel Sibony with the 2024 Tim Renner User Services Award “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.”
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ATLAS Masterclass Visits the ALS

In late April, the Berkeley Lab Physics Division hosted an ATLAS masterclass for high school students where they could learn about high energy and particle physics and analyze real data from the ATLAS detector at the LHC at CERN. For on-site participants, the day included a tour of the ALS. Read more »