Do you participate in cross-facility collaborations? Are you interested in cross-facility collaborations, but encountering some roadblocks? Hear from staff at light sources around the world about how they work together on MLExchange, SciCat, PaNOSC, LEAPS, and more. Then, we’ll learn about existing resources and brainstorm ways to collaborate in the future.
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Time: 16:00 UK/BST or 17:00 Germany/CEST or 8:00 California/PDT
In-person:Diamond Light Source (Room: MR G59), Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK
Virtually: Zoom
Contact cindylee@lbl.gov and events@diamond.ac.uk with any questions.
Share your collaboration experiences with the panel in advance of the discussion by filling out this survey.
Panelists and Collaborations:
- Sharif Ahmed, Diamond Light Source: Sharif Ahmed is the Principal Beamline Scientist for the DIAD beamline. His software collaborations focus on developing user-centric capabilities that enable novel measurement methods and easy “results” generation. Collaborations include MLExchange with Dylan McReynolds and the ALS Computing Group, the Ada Lovelace Centre, and The Faraday Institute.
- Andy Gotz, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF): Andy Gotz is the coordinator of the Photon and Neutron Open Science Cluster (PaNOSC) collaboration which developed out of the PaNOSC and ESCAPE projects. He also chairs the Tango Controls collaboration for control systems (similar to EPICS) used by a number of synchrotrons and laser facilities.
- Collaboration requires constant effort by a dedicated few to ensure it grows and is nurtured
- Collaborations are often set up to achieve a higher purpose goal like “Open Science” but require concrete measurable outcomes with impact on the ground to be really useful
- Collaborations can be strengthened through strong support from top management and being part of the facility objectives
- Collaborations help facilities to achieve more with less resources and to learn from experience of other facilities
- Cara Laasch, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL): Cara Laasch is the User Research Administration Manager at SSRL. Previously, she moderated the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Light & Neutron Sources Remote Access Forum. This was organized by the Remote Access Working Group, providing a connection point for the five DOE light sources.
- Dylan McReynolds, Advanced Light Source (ALS): Dylan McReynolds is the Data Infrastructure Lead at the ALS. His collaborations include MLExchange with Sharif Ahmed, SciCat, ILLUMINE and Bluesky. Dylan sits on the Bluesky Technical Steering Committee. He is a co-creator of the Tiled data service project, a multi-facility Bluesky collaboration.
- Elke Plönjes, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY): Elke Plönjes is the Group Leader for Beamlines and Optics at the FLASH free electron laser. She is the Scientific Coordinator of the LEAPS-INNOV project, where League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources (LEAPS) institutes are working with companies to develop new technologies.
- Tim Snow, Diamond Light Source: Tim Snow is the Data Analysis Scientist working alongside the I22 beamline. His collaborations include MLExchange and SciCat.
- Nick Terrill, Diamond Light Source: Nick Terrill is the Principal Beamline Scientist responsible for the SAXS instruments I22 and labSAXS as well as the SAXS Sample Environment Development Lab (SEDL). His work on sample environments and sample holders has facilitated collaboration across light sources.
- Moderator: Cindy Lee, Senior Communications Specialist, Advanced Light Source (ALS)
Co-organizer: Silvana Westbury, Project Manager, Lightsources.org