SER/-CAT MOU/CNS Workshop

Summer 1999
SER-CAT and APS Sign Memorandum of Understanding for Synchrotron X-ray Beamline Construction
The Southeast Regional Collaborative Access Team (SER-CAT) held its first organizational meeting in May 1997. At this meeting, and in numerous subsequent meetings, representatives from several Southeastern Universities met to discuss the feasibility of and the need for a synchrotron X-ray beamline for use by scientists in the region. These initial discussions were organized and led by B.-C. Wang (UGA), John Rose (UGA), Larry DeLucas (UAB) and Craig Smith (UAB). The SER-CAT organization now encompasses nineteen institutions including the intramural research group of the National Institutes of Health.

Initial plans have now been completed and approved for construction of beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. The Univ. of Georgia is the Lead Univ. for the project; B.-C. Wang is Chairman and Director of SER-CAT. A memorandum of understanding between APS and representatives of the SER-CAT members was signed on March 12, 1999. The participating institutions were:

Clemson Univ.
Duke Univ.
Emory Univ.
Florida State Univ.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Research Alliance
Medical Univ. of South Carolina
National Institutes of Health Intramural Programs
North Carolina State Univ.
St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital
Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham
Univ. of Alabama at Huntsville
Univ. of Georgia
Univ. of Kentucky
Univ. of Missouri at Kansas City
Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Univ. of South Carolina
Univ. of Tennessee
Vanderbilt Univ.

The APS has been in operation since early 1996 and has commissioned beamline operations in about 20 of the 34 sectors of the ring. Each sector can accommodate two beamlines: one using an insertion device and the other using a bending magnet. SER-CAT plans to build both beamlines during an anticipated three-to-four year period of construction. Gerold Rosenbaum, currently at APS, will be the Project Director for the construction. The estimated cost for the construction of the two beamlines will be about $14M. Beamline access for users for at least one port could begin as soon as early 2002.

The successful completion of this beamline project will provide rapid, reliable and timely access for SER-CAT members to high quality synchrotron data collection facilities. In addition, the availability of this new resource will help to ease the demand on other synchrotron sources.
Gary Newton		  

CNS WORKSHOP, Molecular Graphics Lab, Univ. of Georgia Chemistry Department, April 21, 1999
A one-day workshop to discuss, demonstrate and provide hands-on use of the recently developed CNS program was held at the Molecular Graphics Lab located in the Chemistry Building on the UGA campus. Dr. Paul Adams from HHMI/Yale Univ. led the discussions and directed the various hands-on operations.

CNS is an acronym for "Crystallographic and NMR System" and has been developed at Yale Univ.. Principal members (listed on the CNS home page) of the collaborative CNS effort are: Axel Brunger (HHMI and Yale), Paul Adams ( HHMI and Yale), Marius Clore (National Institutes of Health), Piet Gros (Utrecht Univ.), Michael Nilges (EMBL Heidelberg), and Randy Read ( Cambridge Univ.)
Additional information about CNS can be found at
xplor.csb.yale.edu/cns_solve/main/frame
About 25 students, faculty and scientists from the Univ. of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Emory, the Univ. of Alabama at Huntsville and Marshall Space Flight Center participated in the workshop. Everyone seemed pleased with the general ease of use, especially the very helpful web pages designed to lead the user to complete and accurate input data. A user can quickly realize that a user manual, at least for input, is not necessary. Several participants brought their own data and were successful in obtaining some useful results with CNS.
Gary Newton

Ed-Flex Bills Pass House and Senate
"Ed-Flex" bills, which would give states and local school districts more flexibility in the use of federal education funds, were passed by both the House and Senate on March 11. The House bill (H.R. 800) passed by vote of 330-90, the Senate bill (S. 280) passed by a 98-1 vote. Under both pieces of legislation, the Department of Education could grant any state the authority to waive some of the requirements that come along with federal education dollars. Local education authorities could then apply to the state for a waiver of certain state and federal guidelines, in order to try out new experiments in education reform.

A House-Senate conference is now needed to reconcile the two bills into a single piece of legislation for the President's signature. Clinton has indicated that he would sign the Ed-Flex legislation. It remains to be seen whether the Ehlers amendment, which attempts to protect the underlying federal priorities for education funding, will be retained in the final version of the bill.

The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News Number 39: March 17, 1999.

Audrey T. Leath
fyi@aip.org
http://www.aip.org/

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