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Andrea Jones, ALS Proposal Coordinator

Andi Jones joined the ALS User Services Office as proposal coordinator last April and has taken over the processing and tracking of General User, RAPIDD, and Approved Program proposals. She also maintains the ALS publications database and serves as a point of contact for users who have beamtime or proposal questions. Read more »

2016-17 ALS Doctoral Fellows

The ALS Doctoral Fellowship program allows early-career researchers to spend a year in residence at the ALS acquiring hands-on scientific training and developing professional skills to complement their doctoral research. This year’s program is one of the largest groups to date, with 21 fellows. Read more »

GE Aviation Delves into Advanced Materials at the ALS

Developing ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) to replace the metal alloys traditionally used in jet engines has been a goal for the aviation industry for decades. For more than a year, GE Aviation has used the tomography capabilities at ALS Beamline 8.3.2 to gain insight into their CMC materials, guiding their engineering and design efforts. Read more »PPT-icon-35

For Better Batteries, Open the Voltage Window

Electrochemical (battery) cells with aqueous electrolytes can be safe, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly, but they are limited by a narrow voltage window. X-ray absorption spectroscopy helps explain why an aqueous Na-ion system with Mn5O8 electrodes has a large voltage window and performs comparably to Li-ion batteries. Read more »

Testing the Limits of Superhard Rhenium/Tungsten Diboride

Superhard materials such as metal borides are in demand as structural and engineering compounds and for next-generation cutting tools. Researchers have now synthesized a “solid solution” of two different metal borides, demonstrating the accuracy of theoretical predictions and opening the door to more targeted tuning of desirable characteristics. Read more »

New ALS Scheduler Tool to Access Beamline Schedules

As part of the ongoing effort to provide users and staff improved tools to track their proposals, safety, and beam time, the ALS has rolled out the ALS Scheduler. For cycle 2017-1 and future cycles, ALS beamline schedules will be displayed through this new software tool designed to provide centralized access to all beamline schedules. Read more »

Mapping the Migration of Genetic Material

A powerful soft x-ray microscope captures tomographic images of the genetic material in the nuclei of nerve cells at different stages of maturity. The detailed 3D visualizations show an unexpected connectivity in the genetic material and provide a new understanding of a cell’s evolving architecture. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

When Rocket Science Meets X-Ray Science

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and NASA are using x-rays to explore, via 3D visualizations, how the microscopic structures of spacecraft heat shield and parachute materials survive extreme temperatures and pressures, including simulated atmospheric entry conditions on Mars. Read more »

Self-Assembly of a Programmable DNA Lattice

The use of DNA for nanotechnology has gained interest because it is a highly “programmable” polymer with “sticky ends,” allowing the self-assembly of molecular scaffolds for other proteins and molecules. Their high-resolution structures will help map new routes toward the rational design of self-assembling 3D DNA crystals. Read more »