From the initial planning phases in 1994 to the approval of the final design in 1996, Professor Philip Coppens played a key role in the development of the crystallographic component of the ChemMatCARS beamline. He was the ideal candidate to lead the project, given his cutting-edge crystallographic research and his early advocacy of synchrotron-based techniques that arose from his involvement with the SUNY beamline at the NSLS in Brookhaven.  Thanks to his leadership as co-PI and his service on the scientific advice committee, the ChemMatCARS advanced crystallography program at the Advanced Photon Source remains a premier global facility for experiments involving time-resolved X-ray diffraction and high-accuracy charge density measurements. In honor of his retirement, a symposium titled, Advancing Structural Science: Pushing the Limits of X-ray Crystallography” will be held on October 22, 2016 at The University at Buffalo, SUNY campus in Buffalo, New York.  

Professor Philip Coppens