This award from the Division of Materials Research to Cornell University supports a renewal of the operation of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). The award also includes funds to operate the Cornell High Energy Storage Source (CESR) as an accelerator fully dedicated for supporting photon science. CHESS will operate as a national user facility providing open access to users on the basis of a competitive proposal process. With the availability of CESR as a dedicated X-ray light source CHESS will provide better quality of X-ray light for users and increased beamtime allocated to user service. CHESS will serve a variety of users in science and engineering disciplines from academe, industry and government for studies encompassing the atomic structure, properties, and time-resolved behavior of electronic, structural, polymeric and biological materials. In addition, CHESS will continue studies of protein and virus crystallography, environmental science, radiography, art and archaeology, and micro-elemental analysis. In addition, the staff at the CHESS facility will pursue advances in synchrotron radiation instrumentation and techniques development in: (1) high-pressure science, (2) X-ray fluorescence imaging, (3) low X-ray energy (2-7 KeV) studies, (4) time-resolved science and detector development, (5) soft matter and nanostructures, (6) X-ray optics developments, (7) biological macromolecules and biological chemistry. In the education and training plan, CHESS will provide unique education and training programs for undergraduate and graduate students. Training of undergraduate students provides apprenticeship programs via summer internships and REU. CHESS performs K-12 outreach to students and public school teachers by collaborating with other campus centers and local schools to offer classroom science activities, by creating and sponsoring neighborhood after-school science programs, and by hosting tours and demonstrations for the public. CHESS has specific initiatives aimed at increasing participation of under- represented groups in science with goals to improve science literacy in the local and national workforce.
