APS-Overhead-View
Arial View of the Advanced Photon Source (APS)

The Center for Advanced Radiation Sources is a part of The University of Chicago’s Physical Sciences Division (cognizant dean: Angela V. Olinto). Operations are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.

Organization

Administrative Leadership

  • Peter Eng, Executive Director

Scientific Leadership

GSECARS

  • Mark Rivers, Principal Investigator
  • Steve Sutton, Principal Investigator

BioCARS

  • Rama Ranganathan, Principal Investigator
  • Vukica Šrajer, Co-Principal Investigator
  • Rob Henning, Operations Manager

ChemMatCARS

  • Matthew Tirrell, Principal Investigator
  • Binhua Lin, Deputy Director
  • Yu-Sheng Chen, Operations Manager

Committee Oversight

CARS Coordinating Committee

This committee receives reports on APS and CARS activities and coordinates and oversees funding, staffing, central management, and infrastructure activities.

  • Peter Eng, Chair
  • Mark Rivers
  • Matthew Tirrell
  • Rama Ranganathan
  • Binhua Lin
  • Yu-Sheng Chen
  • Vukica Šrajer
  • Steve Sutton
  • Nancy Lazarz

CARS Safety Committee

The Safety Committee advises the Executive Director on the development of safe operating procedures pertaining to beamline operation and other day-to-day safety requirements. The CARS Safety Officer is Robert Henning. Meetings are scheduled as necessary.

Managing Agent

Scientific Groupings

GeoSoilEnviroCARS (GSECARS)

Geophysical and Geochemical Sciences (GeoCARS)
Soil and Environmental Sciences (SoilEnviroCARS)

GeoSoilEnviroCARS (or GSECARS, Sector 13) research furthers knowledge of the composition, structure, and properties of earth and planetary materials and the processes they control. Experiments involve high pressure research using both the diamond anvil cell and the large volume press; X-ray diffraction and scattering and X-ray absorption spectroscopy from earth and planetary materials; and X-ray fluorescence microprobe analysis and microtomography. GSECARS operations are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a national resource for the entire community in these scientific areas in the United States. Developement work is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Department of Energy (DOE). GSECARS is affiliated with the American Geophysical Union through its Committee on Mineral and Rock Physics and the Soil and Environmental Sciences.

BioCARS

Structural Biology

BioCARS (Sector 14) serves structural biology community with special interest in macromolecular dynamics. BioCARS provides state-of-the-art X-ray facility as well as scientific and technical expertise for studies of dynamic properties of biological macromolecules by time-resolved crystallography and solution scattering (SAXS/WAXS). The overall goal of time-resolved studies at BioCARS is to understand basic biological processes in structural and dynamics terms, on time scales from 100 picoseconds to seconds. This goal is fundamental to both basic biomedical science and to pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. BioCARS is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health to serve as a national resource for the structural biology community.

NSF's ChemMatCARS

Chemistry and Material Science

NSF’s ChemMatCARS (Sector 15) represents chemists and material scientists with interests in surface science, advanced crystallography, nanoscience, and the science of soft materials and polymers. Research at ChemMatCARS focuses on several aspects of dynamic and structural condensed matter and materials chemistry research. Areas include surface and interfacial properties in soft condensed matter and molecular liquids; chemical crystallography; structure and properties of molecular aggregates and semiconductors in microporous, layered and glassy materials; interfacial and bulk properties of novel polymers and composites, including supramolecular and mesoscopic structures; and local structure in metalloproteins and enzymes. ChemMatCARS is funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy as a national chemistry and materials research facility.

Administrative Support

The CARS administrative staff helps users arrange many aspects of their visits, for example:

  • Site access
  • Shipping
  • Travel advice
  • Access to Argonne and University of Chicago services

For questions, please contact:

Nancy Lazarz

Administrator
(630) 252-0423
lazarz@cars.uchicago.edu

Technical Support

CARS staff can assist, to a limited extent, with infrastructure and experimental design, for example:

  • Assistance with mechanical, electrical, and vacuum systems
  • Access to design engineers
  • Assistance with fabrication
  • Software access and support