Every year since 2014, ChemMatCARS has participated in teaching for the APS Neutron and X-ray School. This year, 8 graduate students from various institutions within the US attended ChemMatCARS school and participated in two-day hands-on Liquid Surface Scattering experiments and analyses. Lectures were presented on the “Scientific Scope of Liquid Surface Scattering Program at ChemMatCARS”, “Geometry of Liquid Surface Scattering”, and “Experimental Methods of Liquid Surface Scattering”.
ChemMatCARS staff with 2016 Neutron X-ray School participants
(Binhua Lin, left, presenting Sector 15’s agenda for the 2016 Neutron X-ray School)
On day one, students were presented the various lectures and then split to into 2 groups of four. The first group analyzed Isotherm measurements with Wei Bu and Binhua Lin, and the second group conducted, hands-on GID and XR experiments with assistance from Sean Griesemer and Peiyu Quan. After an hour, the groups switched and had a chance to observe the other end of the spectrum. During the last hours Wei Bu and Mati Meron showed students how to retrieve data.
On day two, students were given a brief lecture concerning Liquid Surface Scattering Techniques, Data Analysis, and Isotherm plotting. Afterwards, the students were given the opportunity to analyze the XR and GID data that they produced the day before.
The students were very excited about the program and enjoyed it tremendously. Whitney Fies, a graduate student from The University of Texas at Austin exclaimed, “Thank you all for the time and effort you put in to make a fantastic NXS school experiment. I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 days at beam line 15. Plus, my experience cultivated a few experimental ideas for someone in my research group. If any of my ideas are good, you might be hearing from her in the near future”. Many students left stating that they were very interested in coming back to 15ID in the near future.
Hadi Fares, a graduate student from Florida State University stated, “The school was very informative and organized. It was a pleasure coming to ChemMatCARS. I learned so much”. Students expressed the same sentiments and stated that this was their favorite session of the Neutron X-ray School.
ChemMatCARS focuses on providing a great experience for the students that attend these schools by incorporating interesting lectures and experiments. It is ChemMatCARS goal to capture the interest of these students and encourage them to come back and conduct research in the future.
(2016 NX students conducting hands-on experiments)
(NX students analyzing and retrieving data)