ALS User Meeting and Workshops

Abstract

The 2013 ALS User Meeting, held from October 7–9, began with a welcome from Users' Executive Committee chair Corie Ralston and Berkeley Lab director Paul Alivisatos. ALS director Roger Falcone followed with a “state of the ALS” presentation that reminded everyone of the ALS mission: “Supporting users in doing outstanding science in a safe environment.” Falcone gave the 400-plus meeting attendees an update on ALS beamlines, which included good news about increased user numbers thanks to the new RAPIDD access system, enhanced robotics, and remote capabilities. Falcone reflected that ALS metrics continue to represent the highly productive users—the number of journal articles and papers per user based on ALS research has continued to grow in the past year. Looking forward, Falcone touched on how a proposed ALS upgrade to a diffraction-limited light source would increase scientific capabilities. The Lab's government relations representative, Don Medley, followed with a presentation on how to talk about science with elected representatives. Medley spoke about framing discussions in terms of the “value of our country's science ecosystem.”