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Updates & Announcements

In Memoriam: Alan Jackson, Retired Accelerator Physicist

Alan Jackson led the accelerator physics group of the ALS through its design, construction, and early years of operation. He took an active role in building synchrotrons around the world, and the accelerator physics community will miss both his expertise and joie de vivre. Read more »

ALS Shutdown Schedule for 2021

The ALS will be shut down for the holidays and maintenance beginning Dec. 24; user operations are scheduled to resume on Mar. 30. The summer shutdown is expected to begin in early July and last approximately three months. Over the next few years, shutdowns will likely be longer than in recent years to allow preparation and installation associated with the ALS-U Project. Read more »

ALS Beam Status App

Ed Rim, ALS accelerator and floor operator, has written an app for you to access the ALS beam status from your iOS device (iPhones and iPads). We have step-by-step instructions for downloading the app. Read more »

In Memoriam: Al Thompson, Retired Berkeley Lab Senior Scientist

With sadness we announce the recent passing of our retired colleague Al Thompson on May 30, 2020, after several years of medical challenges. At the Lab, he worked on x-ray detectors and applications in energy dispersive x-ray analysis before transitioning into synchrotron applications. He will be missed by his colleagues at the ALS who will remember him as a capable scientist and diligent worker. Read more »

Members of ALS Community Honored

Several members of the ALS community have recently been recognized for their work. Congratulations to Sihai Yang, Martin Schröder, Jeffrey Long, and James Holton! Read more »

Register for the 2020 User Meeting

For the first time, the ALS User Meeting will be held virtually—all the science you come for, from the comfort of your own home! Register for free by 7:00 PM (PDT) on Monday, August 24, to receive all the Zoom details. Read more »

User Town Hall to Address Access and Beamtime

The ALS is planning a town hall for users in July to address the facility’s strategy moving forward for access and beamtime allocation. We’d like to provide you the information we have at this time, as well as hear from you. Details for the town hall will be announced soon in a separate email. In the meantime, please let us know your questions by submitting them to this anonymous form.

May 2020 Message from the User Office

Berkeley Lab is planning to gradually bring staff back onsite, consistent with federal, state, and local guidance. These plans will begin on June 1 with a small on-site pilot group. We expect a few limited activities at the ALS to be part of this pilot. Once the ALS schedule for the 2020-2 cycle has been published, we will develop a detailed plan for allocating beamtime to proposals. We are exploring how each beamline can set up remote operations to support user experiments while staff maintain social distancing. Read more »

May 2020 Message from the UEC

We are working on making the 2020 User Meeting, which will now take place as an online meeting on August 25–28, as rich and productive as our user meetings normally are. We will announce more details over the next few months. If you wish to nominate someone for one of the awards below, please remember the deadline is June 1. Read more »