News

August 2009
NUFO Elections. We are pleased to announce that Simon Bare (UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company) and Cathy Knotts [Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)] have been elected to the NUFO Steering Committee. They will serve three-year terms, the first year as Chair-/Coordinator-Elect, the second as Chair/Coordinator, and the third as Past Chair/Past Coordinator.

NUFO Charter. The revisions to the NUFO Charter were approved by the membership. The current version can be found at: http://www.nufo.org/charter.aspx.

Industrial Workshop White Paper. The presentations and discussion held during the Industrial Workshop on June 11, 2009, were compiled and submitted to Harriet Kung (Director of Office of Basic Energy Sciences, DOE). This report identifies five key issues that impact industrial participation at user facilities and lists recommendations for each issue. The report can be found at: http://www.nufo.org.

DOE Order 142.3 (Unclassified Foreign Visits & Assignments): NUFO conducted a benchmarking exercise on the DOE Foreign Visits & Assignments Program at DOE Facilities prior to the annual meeting, and the findings were presented at the meeting. National laboratories were recently asked for input on DOE Order 142.3. NUFO User Administrators have worked together to formulate a unified response, which is now under discussion with the managements of their laboratories. The NUFO Steering Committee plans to correspond with DOE and the Office of Science on this issue.

User Facility Exhibition. The exhibition will be held in the Caucus Room in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C. on October 15, 2009. The Exhibit Organizing Committee has sent requests to User Organization Representatives and User Administrators for posters to display at this event and has sent requests to facility management for financial contributions to support this event. Formal invitations to all members of the House and Senate, Office of Management and Budget, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Laboratory and facility managements will be send in September.

The goal of this Exhibition is to provide an educational forum for our Washington officials that will highlight the significance and importance of the science being done at national user facilities. The day's activities will be divided into two parts: a poster session with posters from each of the 30 user facilities represented in NUFO, as well as four NUFO-specific posters highlighting four pillars of national user facilities: science education, fundamental knowledge, scientific achievements, and economic competitiveness. Invited keynote speakers will kick off the event. A reception with complimentary beverages and appetizers will follow in the early evening.

NUFO Initiatives Planned for the Upcoming Year. A long list of action items resulting from the annual meeting discussions includes industrial participation, site access, and other administrative issues. The Steering Committee plans to address all concerns raised at the meeting over the course of the next year.

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