Tag: women in science

Diamond launches major recruitment campaign at AAAS

Diamond launches major recruitment campaign at AAAS

Coinciding with Women’s History Month, and in the lead up to International Women’s Day, four of Diamond’s STEM champions launch a new recruitment drive

Today, at the prestigious AAAS science conference in Washington DC, Diamond will unveil plans for its biggest recruitment campaign since its inception 20 years ago. Dozens of new roles will be available in the coming year and some examples of the variety of STEM careers will be showcased and celebrated by an all-women lineup from the Diamond team. This recruitment drive aims to ensure the facility has the knowledge and expertise required to help plan and deliver world leading science for the next decade and beyond.

In the lead-up to International Women’s Day (8th March), Diamond’s workshop will shine a light on career pathways in world-changing science. A panel of four women from Diamond will address how their work across science and engineering helps to address 21st century challenges from energy research to pandemic preparedness.  They will share their professional journeys and insights into their roles. Job roles range from scientists, engineers, software experts, technicians to professional roles all essential to enabling the most brilliant science performed by scientists at Diamond. 

Through part of the next decade, Diamond will deliver an upgrade programme called Diamond-II. To continue delivering the world-changing science that Diamond leads and enables, Diamond-II is a project that will deliver a new machine and new beamlines with a comprehensive series of upgrades to optics, detectors, sample environments, sample delivery capabilities and computing. 

Details on the panel:

The workshop panel will feature Dr Lorraine Bobb – Head of Diagnostics Group; Sarah Macdonell – Head of Beamline Systems Engineering; Dr Chidinma Okolo – Beamline Scientist at B24 and Dr Lucy Saunders – Beamline Scientist at I11. It will be chaired by Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke – Head of Impact, Communications and Engagement, with an interactive Q&A session facilitated by Molly Pekarik Fry – Web and Digital Content Manager.

Read more on the Diamond website

Image: L to R the Diamond Light Source Panel : Dr Chidinma Okolo – Beamline Scientist at B24; Molly Pekarik Fry – Web and Digital Content Manager, Sarah Macdonell – Head of Beamline Systems Engineering; Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke – Head of Impact, Communications and Engagement; Dr Lorraine Bobb – Head of Diagnostics Group; Dr Lucy Saunders – Beamline Scientist at I11

Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow

Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow

The theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2022 (IWD 2022) is, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, recognizing the contribution of women and girls around the world, who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all.

To mark the day and the theme, Lightsources.org brings you a special #LightSourceSelfie montage featuring just a few of the dedicated women who feature in our video campaign.

PREM students outfitting and upgrading CHESS x-ray beamlines

PREM students outfitting and upgrading CHESS x-ray beamlines

CHESS is fortunate to have three graduate students visiting from Puerto Rico. Supported by the NSF-PREM CiE2M – the Center for Interfacial Electrochemistry of Energy Materials – a partnership of The University of Puerto Rico, Rio PiedrasCampus (UPRRP), Universidad Metropolitana (UMET) and Universidad del Turabo (UT), and CHESS. 

This group forms an educational and innovative collaborative materials research effort to bring together a diverse and talented scientific community with experience and expertise in electro-chemistry, solid-state and inorganic chemistry, and synchrotron-based techniques to character energy materials in operando conditions at CHESS.  
The students have become an integral part of the team building out and commissioning new X-ray beamlines at the upgraded CHESS facility. New to them was learning good ultra-high vacuum (UHV) practices, using tools like torque wrenches to set vacuum seals, and using an RGA to find chemical contamination in optics boxes (“was really interesting!”). They have also studied the design of beamline components in each sector: apertures, safety bricks and power filters required to deliver X-rays to experimental hutches.
Melissa’s favorite activity was assembling components for Sector 4 X-ray monochromator. “It is like a puzzle to solve. There are many different plates and bolts and it is a real challenge to assemble based on the 3D CADmodel. There is a correct order to do things. It was fun to install water cooled components in the vacuum chamber,” she says.

>Read more on the CHESS website

Image: Brenda, Joesene, Melissa, and Alan Pauling (right) of CHESS proudly display their ultra-high vacuum assembly and installation in the Sector 2 cave of the new CHESS beamline. The students have worked hand-in-hand with CHESS staff to assemble, test and prepare the X-ray beampipes in three different sectors of CHESS. 

Sakura Pascarelli appointed scientific director at European XFEL

Sakura Pascarelli appointed scientific director at European XFEL

Italian physicist will be responsible for scientific development of hard X-ray instruments

The Italian physicist Dr. Sakura Pascarelli will be the new scientific director at European XFEL. Pascarelli will join European XFEL on 1 September from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, ESRF in Grenoble, France. She succeeds Andreas Schwarz who retired at the end of 2018. As one of three scientific directors, Pascarelli will be responsible for the four short-waved hard X-ray instruments at European XFEL: FXE for studying extremely fast processes, SPB/SFX for investigating biomolecules and biological samples, HED for studying matter under extreme pressures and temperatures, and MID for investigating nanostructures or irregularly ordered materials such as glass, liquids and biological substances. In addition, Pascarelli will also be responsible for developing the scientific research program for these experiment stations.

>Read more on the European XFEL website

Image: Sakura Pascarelli
Credit: Chantal Argoud (ESRF)

Women in science, or welcome to everyday life at the ESRF

Women in science, or welcome to everyday life at the ESRF

The 11th February, it is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Today, like every other day at the ESRF, women participate in enabling the scientific progress that takes place in our institute. Meet Isabelle, Sandrine, Marie, Anne-Lise and Blanka, five of our women engineers.

Today, their work is closely related to the Extremely Brilliant Source, or EBS, the world’s first high-energy 4th generation synchrotron under construction at the ESRF. The inside of the storage ring tunnel is unrecognisable. In the short space of time since dismantling started in January, cables and cooling circuits have been disconnected and removed, and the girders and vacuum chambers lifted out. It’s a busy scene and the hundreds of different tasks involved in the dismantling is organised with almost military precision. The woman conducting the troops is Isabelle Leconte, a job she shares with colleague Pascal Renaud.

Isabelle was originally trained in chemical engineering before specialising in vacuum and cryogenic techniques. She joined the ESRF vacuum group in 1991. After 20 years developing her skills in this area, she moved to the operation group to coordinate the maintenance works during shutdown periods and follow-up machine operation and reliability. Since October last year, she has been assigned 100% to the dismantling of EBS.

>Read more on the ESRF website

Image: Marie Spitoni prepares the alignment tools on the pre-mounted girders for EBS.
Credit: ESRF/S. Candé

From Pakistan to Barcelona, from scientists to friends

From Pakistan to Barcelona, from scientists to friends

Shamila Imtiaz and Sidra Ibadat happily describe their experience during their research internship at ALBA within the framework of the Open Sesame European project.

Shamila Imtiaz (31 years old, PhD candidate and Chemistry junior scientist at PINSTECH Islamabad) and Sidra Ibadat (25 years old, MS Physics Student at the International Islamic University Islamabad) happily describe their experience during their research internship at ALBA. They come from Pakistan and have been granted by the H2020 Open Sesame project to spend 8 weeks at our facility in order to widen their expertise in synchrotron-based Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy SR-FTIRM at the infrared beamline MIRAS. For both of them, this is their first experience in Europe and, apart from their scientific activity, they are enjoying their walks, their talks and taking care of Shamila’s 9-month old baby. Additionally, ALBA is “proud to help in the development of the scientific careers of young mothers here and elsewhere”, says Miguel Ángel García Aranda, ALBA Scientific Director

“The situation in Pakistan has greatly changed in the past years, there are more women than men in science studies but it’s not easy to find funding opportunities to continue with the studies”, says Sidra. “The Open Sesame project has been a great opportunity for us for visiting and seeing how a synchrotron light source works and bring back all this knowledge to our country”, according to Shamila. “Having access to more sophisticated tools that those in Pakistan can boost our research projects”, continues Sidra.

>Read more on the ALBA website

Industrial collaboration

Industrial collaboration

Fabia Gozzo made a beamline at the Swiss Light Source SLS of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI into one of the world’s leading facilities and today she is making her knowledge available to industry with her spin-off.

In spring 2012 Fabia Gozzo faced an important decision: security or risk? After 12 years, she had resigned from her job at the Paul Scherrer Institute to move to Brussels with her family. Her husband had taken a post as vice president of a company. The two had previously agreed to emigrate if one of them got such a one-of-a-kind offer.

Fabia Gozzo was looking for a job too. Soon she had an offer for a position as laboratory head at a Brussels-based institute for nano- and microelectronics. The position would have been a comparable to the one she had held up to that point at PSI. Then I asked myself: For that, do I want to burden myself with the trouble of this big relocation?, Gozzo says today. She found the answer was no. And instead, she founded her own firm: Excelsus Structural Solutions.

She had long had the idea of offering her experience in the analysis of material structures, which she had gained at the Swiss Light Source SLS, to the pharmaceutical industry. With the synchrotron light, the smallest devation from the desired solid structure in drugs can be detected – so their effectiveness can be improved. Gozzo and PSI signed an agreement for regular commercial use of a beamline at SLS. Now all Gozzo needed was customers. She gave herself two years to see if it would all work out.

>Read more on the Swiss Light Source at PSI website

Image: Fabia Gozzo is CEO and founder of Excelsus Structural Solutions. 
Credit: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography

Brookhaven Lab scientist receives Early Career Research Program Funding

Brookhaven Lab scientist receives Early Career Research Program Funding

Valentina Bisogni, an associate physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been selected by DOE’s Office of Science to receive significant research funding as part of DOE’s Early Career Research Program.

The effort, now in its ninth year, is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work. Bisogni is among a total of 84 recipients selected this year after a competitive review of proposals. Thirty winners come from DOE national laboratories and 54 from U.S. universities.

“Supporting talented researchers early in their career is key to building and maintaining a skilled and effective scientific workforce for the nation. By investing in the next generation of scientific researchers, we are supporting lifelong discovery science to fuel the nation’s innovation system,” said Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. “We are proud of the accomplishments these young scientists have already made, and look forward to following their achievements in years to come.”

Each researcher will receive a grant of up to $2.5 million over five years to cover their salary and research expenses. A list of the 84 awardees, their institutions, and titles of their research projects is available on DOE’s Early Career Research Program webpage.

>Read more on the NSLS-II at Brookhaven Lab website

Image: Valentina Bisogni is shown preparing samples at NSLS-II’s Soft Inelastic X-ray Scattering beamline, where she will conduct her research funded through DOE’s Early Career Research Program.

Takeuchi Receives European Inventor Award 2018

Takeuchi Receives European Inventor Award 2018

Prolific patent-holder won for inventing battery that increases the lifespan of implantable defibrillators fivefold, greatly reducing need for reoccurring surgery.

Esther Sans Takeuchi, PhD, has won the 2018 European Inventor Award in the “Non-EPO countries”, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced today. The award was given to her by the EPO at a ceremony held today in Paris, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Of the four U.S. scientists nominated for the award, Takeuchi is the only American to bring home Europe’s most prestigious prize of innovation.

Takeuchi is the Chief Scientist of the Energy Sciences Directorate at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University’s (SBU) William and Jane Knapp Endowed Chair in Energy and the Environment, and a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences and in Materials Science and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at SBU. She was honored for developing the compact batteries that power tiny, implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs)—devices that detect and correct irregular, potentially fatal, heart rhythms. Her lithium silver vanadium oxide (“Li/SVO”) battery extended the power-source lifetime for ICDs to around five years, considerably longer than its predecessors, thus reducing the number of surgeries patients needed to undergo to replace them. Her invention led not only to an advance in battery chemistry, but also enabled the production and widespread adoption of ICDs and significantly improved patient well-being.

>Read more on the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) website

Image: Esther Sans Takeuchi, a joint appointee of Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University, has won the 2018 European Inventor Award in the category “Non-EPO countries.”

 

 

Marianne Liebi winner of Swedish L’Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science 2018

Marianne Liebi winner of Swedish L’Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science 2018

L’Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science Prize is awarded in Sweden for the third time. The purpose of the prize is to pay attention to and reward young women who have shown great potential in science, while offering positive female role-models. Researchers Marianne Liebi, Chalmers, and Ruth Pöttgen, Lund University, get L’Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science Award, supported by Sweden’s young academy 2018.

Marianne Liebi gets the award “for the constructive use of advanced imaging methods for biomaterials with the aim of understanding the connection between molecular and mechanical properties”. Marianne Liebi uses powerful X-ray technology to study how, for example, the smallest building blocks, collagen fibrils, the bone tissue, look and are organised. The goal is to develop a mimicking, biomimetic material, where nature’s own design principles are imitated and applied to develop artificial bone and cartilage.
“It’s important to show that in research, it does not matter where you come from or who you are – what matters is passion and dedication. At best, this kind of award will not be needed in the future, it would be aimed at all young researchers. It would not matter who you were, says Marianne Liebi.

>Read more on the MAXIV Laboratory website

Photo: Researchers Ruth Pöttgen (left), Lund University, and Marianne Liebi (right), Chalmers, get L’Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science Award 2018, supported by Young Academy Sweden.
Credit: Emma Burendahl

Promoting gender equality in Science and Technology

Promoting gender equality in Science and Technology

More than 150 high school students from Barcelona have visited the ALBA Synchrotron

The event aimed at fighting against stereotypes and prejudices linked to research environments. The event, which had the support of the Barcelona City Council, has been open by the first Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Mr. Gerardo Pisarello.

The near future will demand more professionals with skills in science and technology. However, women in STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) only represent 15% of all the university undergraduates, according to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport for the period 2015-2016.

With the aim of stimulating scientific vocations, guaranteeing gender equality and opportunities and avoiding clichés that separate women from scientific and technological environments, the ALBA Synchrotron has launched the STEM Preparades project. It consisted of a series of workshops where women scientists and engineers from ALBA came to the classrooms, complemented by a visit where students had the opportunity to know in first-hand the job and workspace of the ALBA staff, as well as doing hands-on activities related to synchrotron light

>Read more on the ALBA website

2017 ANSTO, Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Medal awarded

2017 ANSTO, Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Medal awarded

Leonie van ‘t Hag has been awarded the Australian Synchrotron S. Wilkins Medal for her PhD thesis

The award recognises her research to improve the method to crystallise proteins and peptides in order to study their structure, using a technique called crystallography. “Leonie’s insights into crystallisation processes could significantly help the development of treatments for a variety of illnesses,” said Australian Synchrotron Director, Professor Andrew Peele.

Most solid material in the world is made of crystalline structures. Crystals are made up of rows and rows of atoms or molecules stacked up like boxes in a warehouse, in different arrangements.

The science of determining these atomic or molecular structures from crystalline materials is called crystallography.

>Read more on the Australian Synchrotron website

A gem of an activity

A gem of an activity

The girl scouts build their radios under the guidance and tutelage of the Cornell students.

“Who wants to see if they are a Zombie?” asks Professor Carl Franck, causing all twelve Girl Scouts in the room to look up from their work and stare in bewilderment.  “Let’s go outside and see if you are really alive by using a TV satellite dish to measure your body heat!”  Still doubtful, a handful of girls get out of their seats and walk excitedly towards the door, following Professor Franck outside. The dish, which picks up microwave frequencies around 12GHz, will be used to measure the amount of thermal radiation being emitted from a girl standing in front of it against the cold sky. This amounts to a microwave thermometer test that allow the girls to see if their bodies radiate heat in the way that a Zombie’s cannot.  Happily, all the scouts who try pass this test and the program moves along without fear except that they now know that at least some of them are a source of microwave radiation.

>Read more on the CHESS website

Image: Betul Pamuk oversees two girl scouts soldering the taps to their coil.

 

Natalie Larson awarded

Natalie Larson awarded

She received the Neville B. Smith Student Poster Prize

Natalie Larson, a current ALS doctoral fellow from UC Santa Barbara, won the first prize Neville B. Smith Student Poster Award at the 2017 ALS User Meeting. Larson’s winning poster—”In-situ x-ray computed tomography of defect evolution during polymer impregnation and pyrolysis processing of ceramic matrix composites”—featured the first two big in situ experiments she performed at Beamline 8.3.2.

Larson has been an ALS user since 2014 and became a doctoral fellow in 2016. She’ll continue at the ALS for about another year through a National Science Foundation fellowship that will see her through the end of her PhD. The primary focus of her work is developing high-temperature ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) for more efficient jet engines. Larson works with Beamline Scientists Dula Parkinson and Alastair MacDowell and Project Scientist Harold Barnard on developing experiments for in situ x-ray computed tomography experiments to observe 3D real-time defect formation in CMCs.

 

>Read more on the ALS website