Workshop on High Energy X-ray Techniques 2023, HEXT-2023

This project will provide participant support for a workshop on High Energy X-ray techniques, HEXT, which will take place at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) on the campus of Cornell University. The HEXT-2023 workshop aims to bring students from institutions in the Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM), Partnership for Research and Education in Physics (PREP), and Partnership in Research and Education in Chemistry (PREC) programs to CHESS for a multi-day program designed to introduce students to synchrotron methods. Specifically, participants will be familiarized with how synchrotron methods — including diffraction, spectroscopy, and imaging — that can be applied to address problems in materials research, engineering, and biology. The workshop will consist of three main components: 1) Didactic lectures by CHESS staff scientists that cover the fundamentals of synchrotron methods and how these can be applied to diverse research problems; 2) Hands-on demonstrations where participants collect and process data on CHESS beamlines; and 3) Instruction and coaching on how to write a successful proposal for beamtime, with the opportunity for personalized feedback from CHESS scientists. At the conclusion of the workshop, participants should have the knowledge and demonstrated skills to be productive members of the CHESS user community. To provide the students the dedicated focus and attention of CHESS scientists, the HEXT-2023 workshop will be held on May 15 – 17, 2023. By hosting the workshop without the conflict of another event, CHESS scientists will be able to provide uninterrupted mentorship to the students. To recruit the students for the HEXT-2023 workshop, institutions in the PREM, PREP, and PREC programs will be contacted, and the PIs/Directors of the programs will be encouraged to nominate two students each to attend the workshop. Announcements will be made on the CHESS web sites and email lists as well as the Cornell events web site. In case of sufficient interest from the community, the meeting presentations will be simulcast over the internet using standard transmission modes for participants (either presenters or viewers) who cannot travel to the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca. In person participation will be a priority, but it has proven useful to have remote participation possible in case of travel or personal difficulties that make travel to Ithaca impossible. Remote viewers and participants will have to register for the workshop as do all other participants, thereby facilitating record keeping and reporting. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.