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Department of Physics and Astronomy Collins Research Group

Devin Grabner – 2023 ALS User Meeting Invited Speaker & Planning Committee Member

Devin Grabner played a dual role at this year’s Advanced Light Source (ALS) User Meeting & Visioning Workshops. As a member of the Users’ Executive Committee, he helped organize the week’s plenary talks, events, and workshops, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of the first light and discussed the future of the ALS. In addition, Devin was invited to present his cutting-edge research on the development of a Liquid In-Situ Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering technique during the “X-Ray Scattering for Complex Materials and Interfaces at the ALS: Data Acquisition and Analysis” tutorial on the first day of the User Meeting. The meeting tutorials and visioning workshops were valuable opportunities to exchange ideas and insights on the latest developments in the field.

One of the highlights of the event was a lunch meeting with Dr. Dava Keavney, the Program Manager for X-ray Light Sources at the U.S. Department of Energy – Scientific User Facilities. Devin was among the group of researchers invited to discuss current U.S. Department of Energy policies and positions related to X-ray Light Sources such as the ALS. The photo below pictures the group, including Devin, and Dr. Dava Keavney (far right).

Devin Grabner Awarded Advanced Light Source Doctoral Fellowship

As a 5th-year Physics Ph.D. Candidate in our group, Devin Grabner has been awarded a prestigious doctoral fellowship at Berkeley National Laboratory – Advanced Light Source (LBNL – ALS).

An ALS Doctoral Fellowship allows student researchers to work at the frontier of synchrotron radiation research and to help advance state-of-the-art techniques and applications. Students who have passed their Ph.D. qualifying or comprehensive exams and advanced to candidacy can apply to spend a year in residence at LBNL, working closely with an ALS staff member. Fellows acquire hands-on scientific training and develop professional maturity to complement their doctoral research. Applicants must be full-time students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the science or engineering disciplines and pursuing research that will benefit from ALS capabilities.

 

Devin Grabner Elected to Advanced Light Source User Executive Committee (ALS-UEC)

Devin Grabner was nominated and elected to a two-year term as a student member of the Lawerence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) – Advanced Light Source (ALS) – User Executive Committee (UEC)

The ALS Users’ Executive Committee is established by the ALS Users’ Association Charter. It serves and represents the interests of over 6000 scientists from all over the world, students, post-docs and scientists, who perform research at the ALS. It provides a channel of communication between the ALS user community and ALS management, conveying the concerns and needs of the user community to management, and providing a means for management to update users on current and future plans for the facility. The UEC also facilitates communication between the ALS and other synchrotrons, and between users and federal funding agencies. With the support of the ALS staff, the UEC organizes and runs the annual ALS Users’ Meeting, including award ceremonies, held in October at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

We meet monthly for 2 hours, and 3 times a year for a half-day meeting during which we discuss topics relevant to the ALS user community. Members are elected annually by ALS users and serve three-year terms. Further information about the UEC can be found here.

Devin Grabner & Dr. Brian Collins Present at the 2022 Polymer Physics Gordon Research Conference (GRC)

Devin Grabner and Dr. Brian Collins both attended and presented at the 2022 Polymer Physics GRC held at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. The Polymer Physics GRC is designed to highlight new unpublished developments in core areas of polymer physics, including macromolecular self-assembly, networks and characterization tools. This conference is held every other year with limited attendance, and this year only 200 out of over 300 applicants were accepted to attend and present.

Devin Grabner presented his poster on “Label-Free Anionic Polysoap Characterization & Dynamics via In-Situ Liquid Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering.”

Dr. Brian Collins was an invited speaker, and the title of his talk was “Resonant X-rays for Label-Free Spatiochemical Analyses of Polymer Nanostructures and Devices.”

While in Massachusetts, Dr. Collins and Devin also had the opportunity to visit Xenocs and see their assembly facility, including the SAXS/WAXS instrument currently being built for Washington State University.