I have been a user of the ALS since my postdoc in 2008. I have primarily used BL4 and BL7. My research involves the electronic properties of surfaces and interfaces, including solid-state physics and surface chemistry. Also, thanks to the experience I gained at the ALS, I am meanwhile the principal beamline scientist at the TEMPO beamline at Synchrotron SOLEIL in France.

I want to join the UEC to improve the conditions for the users. One issue bothered me recently: Recently, relatively complicated administrative procedures have been introduced for foreign users regarding on-site access to ALS. Isn’t there a better solution for the administrative process? However, other issues will surely come as the ALS-U proceeds, which I am unaware of now. So it will be very interesting for me to help to solve them constructively.

I’m an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of California, Davis (one hour’s drive north of the ALS) and hope to serve on the UEC during the 2024-2026 term.  I have been a User at synchrotron facilities since my first experiences at the Advanced Light Source as a Ph.D. student, where I collected soft X-ray absorption data (BL’s 7 & 8) to characterize materials for solar energy.  After this, as a postdoc I was a User at NSLS I & II, where a performed ambient pressure XPS experiments, which included the commissioning beamtimes for the X1A1 BL at NSLS II.  My group at UC Davis is a current User at the ALS for VUV photoionization mass spectrometry (BL 9) and at SSRL for hard X-ray EXAFS and XANES measurements. I have also worked at other User facilities at DOE labs, including for cyro STM and time-resolved optical absorption spectroscopy.  Especially through the new, recent work in photoionization at the ALS, which has been so educational for me and my group, I have come to appreciate the breadth of scope and impact of synchrotron science.

Writing this bio prompted me to reflect on those earliest experiments as a student and all the lifelong collaborations I made at that time.  It’s a privilege that I can now bring my own research group to the same beamlines where I worked as a student fifteen years ago. I’m interested in serving on the UEC to assist the team with outreach, so that I can share this kind of experience, and all the professional opportunities that accompany it, with a new generation of researchers.  On the technical side, my work in catalysis and energy conversion bridges the materials and chemical sciences approaches to research.  I believe I can bring an important perspective – at a pivotal time when synchrotron scientists are developing incredible new modes of characterization through operando spectroscopy.   I will use my experience as a User at facilities that enable both the materials and chemical sciences approaches, and as an educator at a large public university, to understand and communicate the differing needs of these communities with the ALS team.

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley National Lab and transitioning to be an assistant professor at the University of Alabama in January. Over the past five years, I have been a user of the ALS facilities, specifically using its one-of-a-kind photoelectron spectroscopy beamlines to study electronic band structure in materials. Some of my favorite memories at ALS include chatting with diverse users during ALS user meetings and giving ALS tours to my friends and family. I would love to continue my involvement with ALS and seek opportunities to serve the ALS community.

The upcoming UEC term (2024-2026) is poised to be a pivotal phase for ALS and its user communities, marked by the onset of the ALS-U dark time, which presents both challenges and opportunities, particularly in user communication, science advocacy and scientific visioning. Therefore, I am interested in participating in the UEC and working closely with the members and users, on the following key areas: 1) Strengthening user communication to ensure equitable access to beamtime, particularly in the context of reduced beamtimes and heightened competition under the ALS-U timeframe. 2) Promoting scientific advocacy for ALS by recruiting user delegates and facilitating visits to Capitol Hill to talk with congressional members and staff. 3) Establishing more casual but frequent avenues for users to engage in the ongoing scientific visioning for the future of ALS, building upon the successes of the past Visioning Workshops.

I began my synchrotron journey as a physics graduate student under Pupa Gilbert at the University of Wisconsin. As a part of my PhD we used x-ray photoemission electron microscopy (X-PEEM) to explore biomineral structures such as nacre (mother-of-pearl), sea urchin teeth, and sea urchin spicules. Since that time, I have continued using X-PEEM to examine how biomineral structure and composition relate to function and, now, how climate change impacts those properties. I have been a user at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), the Advanced Photon Source (APS), the Canadian Light Source (CLS), and the Synchrotron Radiation Center (SRC; decommissioned).

I am now (and have been for 13-years) a faculty member at Colgate University, a liberal arts college in Upstate New York. At Colgate, I do research with undergraduate students, including bringing them to the synchrotron to conduct X-PEEM experiments. As a member of the ALS User Executive Committee (UEC) I would hope to support the current user community, especially as the ALS prepares for the ALS upgrade, while also thinking about how to bring in new users, with a special focus on those from underrepresented communities.

I am an Associate Professor of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Utah, with an adjunct appointment in Material Science and Engineering. My primary research is understanding mechanical properties of materials under extreme conditions. This helps us to understand ongoing dynamic processes like plate tectonics and mantle convection as well as transient processes like meteor impacts.  My first synchrotron experiments were at the ALS in 2004. Since then, I have used the APS, the NSLS, the ESRF, and PETRA III.  The ALS remains a special place for me and I keep coming back to work at beamline 12.2.2. and have collaborated on projects at the 12.3.2. and 8.3.2. beamlines. I am currently a member of the ALS General Sciences Proposal Study Panel.  I also served on the facilities committee for the NSF-funded Consortium for Materials Properties Research in the Earth Sciences (COMPRES) which had an Approved Program at 12.2.2. for many years.  In that role I reviewed the effectiveness of the various COMPRES supported facilities, (including the AP program at 12.2.2)  in serving their user base.

I am interested in serving on the UEC because of the ongoing and upcoming changes to the ALS and its users.  The current shutdown of the APS for the APS-U upgrades provides a challenge in terms of increased user demand. This is also an opportunity to expand the ALS user base and has great potential to bring new science to the ALS community.  Moving forward as the ALS-U closure begins it will be important to maintain close connections with the ALS user base, both old and new, and to ensure that the new ALS-U provides not only increased scientific and technical capability but also an enhanced user experience. I am also excited to get involved in the ALS User’s meeting. In that role I bring the experience of having served on the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting Program Committee. In short, I hope to serve on the UEC to help ensure the smoothest transition for the user community during the period starting with the ongoing APS-U shutdown and upgrade through the ALS-U completion and beyond.

I am an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at Navajo Technical University (NTU), Crownpoint, NM. I received M.S degrees in Manufacturing and Engineering & Management and Industrial Engineering from the University of Birmingham, Birmingham-United Kingdom, and Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, respectively. I received my Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University, Lubbock. I was part of the faculty team that secured ABET accreditation for NTU, making NTU the first Tribal University to have ABET accreditation for its engineering degree. I have received funding from NASA, NNSA, and DOE for research on additive manufacturing and engineering education to increase the number of Native Americans with engineering degrees. I am a new ALS user through a recent DOE BES Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) project with LBNL, “Controlling Additive Manufacturing Properties of Surfaces (CAMPS).” This will be the first time NTU faculty and students leverage the ALS, and I am excited about this partnership. This project aims to understand how to control the structure and properties of 3D-printed metal alloys and build a collaboration between the ALS and NTU through internships and education. We are working with the ALS to characterize these alloys, for example, with x-ray diffraction and x-ray computed tomography (beamlines 12.3.2 and 8.3.2), and train Native American students in material characterization and analysis. 

My goal in joining the ALS UEC is to increase ALS’s awareness of Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) and connections with TCU students and faculty, for example, through targeted outreach and education. As a member of the UEC, I hope to build and sustain collaborations between TCUs and the ALS. I will advocate means to help tribal communities learn about ALS and become an integral part of its users, especially as the ALS transitions through ALS-U and seeks to grow its partnerships to serve a diverse scientific community.

I am a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA in structural biology and my research focuses on therapeutic development for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. I fell in love with synchrotron science as a graduate student when data collection meant marathon 48-hour shifts at the beam, and it’s incredibly exciting that new high-brilliance sources and automation have reduced collection times to just minutes. As a UEC member I’m hoping to help users get the most out of instrument time at ALS and maximize the potential of this incredible resource. I have written successful proposals and performed experiments at every major synchrotron facility in the country, including ALS (beamline 8.3.1), APS (17-ID-C/E), SSRL (12-1/2), CHESS (7B2), and NSLS-II (AMX and FMX).  This background has provided a broad perspective on what makes a great experience for synchrotron users and how we can best help users succeed at ALS.

I am an assistant professor in the physics department at Santa Clara University. ALS plays a pivotal role in my research on quantum materials. Prior to my current position, I was a postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and University of California Berkeley. In my research, I leverage the diverse capabilities of the ALS, including hard X-ray diffraction under high-pressure, magnetic spectroscopy and scattering, and the photoemission technique.  Additionally, I am a public user across other national facilities with neutron and muon sources, and an executive committee member for the American Physics Society’s Topical Group on instrument and measurement science.

With over a decade of experience as a user of public facilities, I am motivated to contribute to the UEC to better serve our community. I’d like to promote the impact of our community via cross-disciplinary research and collaborative experimental techniques. The forthcoming enhancements brought about by the ALS-U project including high coherence and brightness present an exciting opportunity to joint quantum materials research that complements other spectroscopy and microscopy techniques. I hope to increase the general accessibility to a broader user community. Moreover, as an early-career faculty member at an institute in the San Francisco Bay Area with a focus on Research Experiences for Undergraduates, I will also advocate more REU summer research opportunities to inspire and nurture the involvement of young generations in our dynamic community.

Professor Pushkar obtained her master's degree in Physical Chemistry from Moscow State University in 1999 and PhD in Experimental Biophysics from Free University Berlin in 2003. She was a postdoc at Berkeley in 2004-2008 and used ALS facility at that time. In 2008 she started her research group in experimental biophysics and spectroscopy at the Department of Physics Purdue University. She has ~20 years of experimental experience in application of synchrotron X-ray absorption, emission and diffraction methods for analysis of molecular structures; crystal structures; structure and function of active sites in metalloproteins; electronic structures of organic/inorganic compounds. Optical pump-probe and time resolved studies using lasers and X-rays.  

Professor Pushkar goals as a UEC member are to increase a versatility and technical capabilities available to users, increase the throughput of data collection and streamline the data acquisition and analysis. Increase the number of users and diversity of user base at ALS. Professor Pushkar key initiative will be to increase the access of students underrepresented in STEM to beamlines and conduct outreach activities to  historically black colleges and colleges with high content of students underrepresented in STEM.