Developed by researchers in the Nuclear Science Division in collaboration with the Scientific Computing Group (Science IT), Berkeley Lab’s new ALICE Analysis Facility accelerates research by allowing scientists to refine their analyses on smaller datasets before scaling up to full-scale data. Berkeley Lab plays a key role in ALICE, a major experiment at the Large Hadron Collider that specializes in analyzing information about high-energy heavy-ion collisions that mimic the conditions just after the Big Bang.
Enhancing Nuclear Isomer Populations Using Ultrafast Electron Beams
Researchers from the Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics Division and Nuclear Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have demonstrated an enhanced population of isomer states (metastable states of atomic nuclei with a different energy and half-life than other states of the same nucleus) in atomic nuclei using ultrashort electron bunches from a laser-plasma accelerator (LPA). This work has identified a potential new and improved method for populating isomer states.
Fragments
Raúl Briceño, a faculty scientist in the Nuclear Theory Program received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers. Further details can be found in this article.
Andre Walker Loud, a Staff Scientist who is also with the Nuclear Theory Program received an Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) award. The award will provide Andre with 750,000 node hours per year for two years at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF).
Several members of the Applied Nuclear Physics Program attended the 2024 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (IEEE NSS/MIC) in Tampa in November where they presented several talks and posters, and chaired technical sessions.
NSD welcomes new hires David Matters (Scientific Engineer, Nuclear Data Program), Simeon Modre (Research Assistant, 88” Cyclotron), Michael Armstrong (Postdoctoral Researcher, Low Energy Nuclear Physics Program), Jilian Kahlbow (Staff Scientist, Low Energy Nuclear Physics Program), Miles Chen (Scientific Engineering Associate, 88” Cyclotron), Provaka Datta (Postdoctoral Researcher, Relativistic Nuclear Collisions Program), Gabriel Garcia Jimenez (Postdoctoral Researcher, Low Energy Nuclear Physics Program), Jessica Rehak (Sr. Scientific Engineering Associate, Low Energy Nuclear Physics Program), and Victor Watson (Sr. Scientific Engineering Associate, Low Energy Nuclear Physics Program).
NSD Staff Gather at Offsite Retreat
In December, NSD held the second annual offsite retreat during which the whole division came together to hear updates from the scientific programs, and discuss topics including career development, outreach and communication, and cross-divisional collaboration.
The agenda included discussion of new opportunities in instrumentation and AI/ML, career development exercises, and team building activities. There was also a social hour and a poster session that showcased the research currently being conducted through NSD LDRD projects. The retreat was organized by a committee composed of staff from across the division.
NSD Community Agreement
In October 2023 the Nuclear Science Division conducted a Mentimeter Survey of NSD staff to take the pulse of the division and to identify areas where the division needed to improve its workplace culture. A number of main themes emerged from the survey results and the follow-up discussions at the NSD retreat in fall of 2023. These themes included high workload, challenges around work-life-balance, as well as lack of transparency in decision making and the need to hold ourselves and others accountable in a more consistent way. These topics were reinforced with the results of the 2024 LBNL Culture Survey. The topic of work-life-balance was also addressed by the Physical Sciences’ Workplace Life Committee which developed, jointly with the Physical Sciences Area (PSA) ALD, Natalie Roe, a Work-Life-Balance policy statement for the PSA.
Inspired by these efforts as well as the LBNL Molecular Foundry’s Community Agreement on Work Life Balance, the NSD Community Stewardship Committee (CSC) led the effort to develop a Community Agreement to identify a more specific set of guidelines with the additional aim to clearly articulate our shared values and intentions, all to empower each other to advocate for work-life balance and support each other through our actions. A draft of the agreement was presented at a NSD Staff Meeting and distributed broadly to the division, inviting feedback via a Google form. The feedback was considered by the NSD CSC and led to a refined final version of the agreement that was rolled out in December 2024.
The agreement is anchored in the recognition that work and life intersect in many ways, and it is important to strive for a balance that is constructive and healthy, both mentally and physically. It recognizes that everyone in the Nuclear Science Division is key to delivering on our science mission and underlines how important it is that our actions consistently embody the Lab’s stewardship values of Team Science, Service, Trust, Innovation and Respect in all we do.
We chose a nested approach for the agreement, providing examples for how we can fulfill our responsibilities to ourselves, our colleagues and team members, the Lab overall, as well as the community at large. The overarching intent is empowering each other to live our shared values, to advocate for work-life balance, and to support each other through our actions.
Below the main elements of NSD Community Agreement are reproduced:
Our responsibilities to the community
We have moral and ethical responsibilities as citizens of the scientific community and the world. To fulfill these responsibilities, we will:
- Strive for scientific excellence while conducting ourselves with integrity and professionalism
- Represent the Lab’s stewardship values to the broader community
Our responsibilities to the Lab
We are each a part of the larger Lab community, working together toward a shared mission. We can enact this by:
- Ensuring responsible stewardship of resources
- Contributing to a strong safety culture
- Incorporating the Lab’s stewardship values in our work
- Leading by example; doing so effectively, responsibly, and with accountability
- Listening to others’ perspectives on work environment and research
- Raising concerns through appropriate channels, holding ourselves and each other accountable
Our responsibilities to our colleagues
We belong to teams. To engage and communicate with them respectfully and effectively we should prioritize one another by:
- Expressing encouragement and appreciation
- Supporting each other with constructive feedback when appropriate
- Allowing others to be their authentic selves and treating them with the same fairness and respect that we expect to be shown to us
- Empowering different work styles and modalities for mutual success
- Demonstrating transparency in decision-making and including others in shared decisions
- Working within each other’s work-life boundaries
- Protecting each other’s health and respecting each other’s privacy
Our responsibilities to ourselves
We are all individuals who thrive when embodying self-care, living authentically, and protecting our boundaries. We can realize our best selves by:
- Prioritizing our own physical and mental health
- Using sick leave and other types of leave when needed
- Setting work-life boundaries that are effective for ourselves, e.g. by unplugging after hours or when on vacation
- Recognizing that admitting mistakes or asking for help are not signs of weakness
Building a STEM Workforce Pipeline
On November 9, 2024, NSD hosted the 12th annual Nuclear Science Day for Scouts Event. One hundred and eighty scouts and fifty leaders attended this year’s event. Since the inception of this annual event in 2011, it has attracted over two thousand youths and five hundred scout leaders to Berkeley Lab. The primary goal of these events is to introduce nuclear science to middle- and high-school-aged students as a career option in their future.
The day began with a short lecture by NSD scientistHeather Crawford on the “ABC” ‒ representing alpha, beta, and gamma decay ‒ of nuclear science. Jacklyn Gates, the group leader of NSD’s Heavy Element program, then presented how to synthesize and identify Element-120 using a titanium-50 beam in an accelerator facility such as the 88-Inch Cyclotron.
After these two lectures, our guests performed hands-on activities at stations around the Berkeley Lab campus. These activities included the use of Geiger counters to survey everyday items (such as tableware) for radioactivity, the use of a portable cosmic-ray detector to “see” cosmic muons, the construction of a simple electroscope to get a deeper understanding of ionizing radiation, and assembly of different nuclei with marshmallows and chocolate. The groups also toured the beamlines of the Advanced Light Source, and had the opportunity to discuss career paths with scientists trained in nuclear science.
In addition to NSD, Berkeley Lab’s K-12 STEM Education and Outreach Office and the Advanced Light Source supported this year’s event. Forty-seven volunteers from NSD and across the Lab helped conduct activities at the event.
Staff in NSD also participate in other events to induce a sense of wonder in school-age kids and encourage them to pursue a STEM career. In December, Hannah Parrilla of the Applied Nuclear Physics program presented her research in a poster to students (in a style typical for school science fairs) at the Reverse Science Fair at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, an event coordinated by Berkeley Lab’s K-12 STEM Education and Outreach Office and Community Resources for Science in Berkeley. We will continue to engage these partners to promote nuclear science to the local community.
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