User Training & Outreach

The primary goals of the GM/CA@APS Training and Outreach Core are to train users about the advanced technologies offered by the GM/CA macromolecular crystallography resource, to reach out to the scientific community with information about GM/CA technologies, to promote and disseminate advances, and to increase diverse perspectives in a broadened scientific user base. Dr. Janet Smith (PI) leads the Training and Outreach Core; most GM/CA staff have roles in one or more aspects of training and outreach. Training of both remote and on-site users is achieved through personal interactions with GM/CA staff hosts, as well as through videos and documentation available at the GM/CA website. The on-line materials are updated frequently to keep pace with the growing sophistication of the PyBluIce user interface and the associated data processing pipelines. An important goal is to reach out to the user community with information and training about the new capabilities that will be available with the orders- of-magnitude brighter X-ray beam of the upgraded APS. To provide in-depth training on these major advances to our existing user community in ways that also engage the rich diversity of the potential user base, we will host on-site, reverse-site, and remote (virtual) Mini-Workshops in which GM/CA staff engage with several user groups simultaneously to provide detailed training. We will continue to host the successful annual CCP4/APS School for Macromolecular Crystallography, now in its sixteenth year, which has been demonstrably effective in training users. We will continue general outreach to the scientific community through staff attendance and presentations at scientific conferences and publications, and will seek to lead workshops and sessions associated with various meetings and venues. Advances will be disseminated further via publications and sharing of software and technologies. A proactive outreach effort will seek to engage, train and enable scientists with diverse perspectives. We will also promote the GM/CA Resource and user science by highlighting significant user results through our website and the APS and Argonne communications offices. 1