1. MOLECULAR FOUNDRY WORKSHOP DRAWS OVERFLOW CROWD
by Art Robinson
(Contact: MDAlper@lbl.gov)

Nanoscale science and technology is now one of the nation's top research priorities, so it is no surprise that an overflow crowd of more than 350 registrants for a two-day workshop at Berkeley Lab filled two auditoriums to hear about and contribute ideas for the new Molecular Foundry, which is scheduled to open for business in early 2006. (Photos taken at the workshop will soon be posted online at http://foundry.lbl.gov.) The Molecular Foundry is one of three Nanoscale Science Research Centers already selected to be established at Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories with funding by DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Two additional centers are in the proposal stage.

The workshop began with a welcome by Berkeley Lab Director Charles Shank and background talks by Patricia Dehmer, DOE Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences, and Daniel Chemla, who has twin duties as ALS Director and Director of Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division (MSD will be the home of the Molecular Foundry). After three plenary lectures by experts exploring selected applications of nanoscale technology, attendees heard a series of rather detailed presentations about the Foundry, which will be headed by Paul Alivisatos of MSD and the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Department of Chemistry.

As described by Alivisatos, the Molecular Foundry will be organized around six core facilities, each directed by a senior scientist: Inorganic Nanomaterials (Alivisatos); Organic, Polymer/Biopolymer Synthesis (Jean Frechet, MSD and UCB Department of Chemistry); Theory (Steve Louie, MSD and UCB Department of Physics); Nanofabrication (Jeff Bokor, MSD and UCB Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science); Biological Nanostructures (Carolyn Bertozzi, MSD and UCB Departments of Chemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology); and Imaging and Manipulation (Miquel Salmeron, MSD).

Each facility will be supported by a mixture of staff scientists, technicians, postdoctoral associates, students, and administrative personnel. To be operated as a national facility, the Molecular Foundry will welcome short- and long-term visitors (with various degrees of experience) as well as collaborators. Those submitting successful proposals will come to a six-level building to be sited between the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) and Building 66 (Center for Advanced Materials and MSD Division Offices). Synergy and cross-fertilization between facilities will be emphasized. In addition, core staff will maintain active research programs of their own to ensure they remain at the forefronts of their fields.

Reflecting a highly enthusiastic response to plans for the Molecular Foundry, Alivisatos reported at the workshop conclusion that the single-most-asked question was "Why aren't you starting sooner?" Dehmer noted that the same question arose at workshops held for the other nanoscience centers and affirmed DOE's commitment to work with facility directors to move as quickly as possible.

2. FIRST CALL: GENERAL SCIENCES PROPOSALS DUE JUNE 1

The User Services Office is now accepting proposals from scientists who wish to conduct research as independent investigators in the general sciences during the running period from December 2002 to May 2003. The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2002. (This information does not apply to protein crystallography proposals, which have a separate process and schedule.) Scientists wishing to renew a previous proposal must fill in a one-page Experiment Report/Beamtime Request and submit it to the User Services Office by the June 1 deadline. The numeric rating for each proposal will be communicated to the investigator along with comments from the Proposal Study Panel, where appropriate. The cutoff rating for each beamline in the previous proposal cycle is published on the Web (see below). The following resources are available for further information:

ALS User Services Administrator

alsuser@lbl.gov

Independent investigator process

http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/quickguide/independinvest.html

Beamline information

http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/als_users_bl/datasheets.html

http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/als_users_bl/bl_table.html

Proposal Study Panel (PSP) scores

http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/quickguide/pspscores.html

3. ALS AWARDS AND HONORS

The ALS is pleased to acknowledge those in its orbit whose achievements have been recognized through awards and honors. Congratulations on a job well done!

Keith Jackson (Berkeley Lab Materials Sciences Division), leader of the lithography programs at the Center for X-Ray Optics (Beamlines 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 at the ALS), has been named the new president of the National Society of Black Physicists, the country's largest organization devoted to the African-American physics community http://nsbp.org). Jackson is an expert in the deep-etch lithography technique known as LIGA, which uses a light beam to sculpt out material several hundred microns below the surface, allowing for the fashioning of truly three-dimensional micromachines. Jackson holds undergraduate degrees in both physics and electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He joined Berkeley Lab in 1992. The National Society for Black Physicists was established in 1977 at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. Jackson succeeded Charles McGruder of Western Kentucky University as head of the Society starting on March 13.

4. REMINDER: DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS
(Contact: KGreen@lbl.gov)

The application deadline for 2002-2003 ALS doctoral fellowships is May 1, 2002. The fellowships are awarded to qualified (generally third-year) Ph.D. students pursuing synchrotron-radiation-based research. Recipients will perform a major part of their thesis work at the ALS and will be matched with an on-site mentor. More detailed information, along with links to frequently asked questions and the application form, can be found at http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/fellowships/index.html.

5. OPERATIONS UPDATE
(Contact: Lampo@lbl.gov)

For the user run of March 26 - April 3, the beam reliability (time delivered/time scheduled) was 97%. Of the scheduled beam, 85% was delivered to completion without interruption. There were no significant outages. The ALS is currently in a planned shutdown for installations and maintenance. User operations are scheduled to resume at 12:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 9, 2002.

Long-term and weekly operations schedules are available on the Web (http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/accelinfo.html). Requests for special operations use of the "scrubbing" shift should be sent to Bruce Samuelson (BCSamuelson@lbl.gov, x4738) by 1:00 p.m. Friday. The Accelerator Status Hotline at (510) 486-6766 (ext. 6766 from Lab phones) features a recorded message giving up-to-date information on the operational status of the accelerator.

LBNL/PUB-863
Editors: lstamura@lbl.gov, alrobinson@lbl.gov, amgreiner@lbl.gov

This work was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098.