An Assessment of the Center for Neutron Research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Fiscal Year 2021 (2022) / Chapter Skim
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5 Portfolio of Scientific Expertise
5 Portfolio of Scientific Expertise
Pages 36-42
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From page 36... ...
Twice per year, there is an open call for user proposals, which are submitted via an online portal. In addition to the five instruments operated by CHRNS, NCNR directly runs user programs for six instruments: two 30-meter Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS)
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From page 37... ...
is an NIST-NSF partnership that provides user support, education, and outreach to the academic scientific community.5 The partnership is highly impactful and an important contributor to the NCNR mission of serving the neutron scattering needs of the community -- in this case, the academic research community. It provides additional user support for experiments, develops and maintains additional special environments for instruments and user-facing software, and runs educational and outreach programs, with emphasis on 2 Science-Metrix, 2018, "Bibliometric Study on CNBC's Scientific Publications, 1980–2017," https://www.science-metrix.com/sites/default/files/science-metrix/publications/sm_cnbc_final_report_2018.pdf.
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From page 38... ...
Accomplishments The partnership is viewed favorably by all stakeholders It operates more than 10 percent of the neutron scattering user instrumentation in the United States for less than 2 percent of the cost, and the instruments in the program are undoubtedly world leading. NIST views the partnership as central to making its user program mission successful and is a strong supporter.
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From page 39... ...
It would like to target support for automation and mail in for 20–25 members, new capabilities mentioned above, lengthening membership through better integration into member internal processes, doubling the publication rate and better collaborative capture of impact stories. In response to member wishes, nSoft is developing an autonomous formulation lab,10 which is an exciting development and shows the synergy of such an industry/NIST partnership, which can then develop shared capabilities that are responsive to industrial priorities.
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From page 40... ...
They serve the NCNR mission by increasing the scientific impact of the facility as well as attracting high-quality new projects and personnel into neutron scattering and into NCNR. There are also strong interactions with other parts of NIST, including the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, the Chemical Sciences Division, the Materials Measurement Laboratory, the Biomolecular Labeling Laboratory, and Radiation Physics, among others.
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From page 41... ...
Challenges and Opportunities Successful scientific output depends critically on the expertise of the scientific staff and their time available to support users and drive research. Reductions in staff numbers owing to funding-induced unfilled positions is leading to increased pressure on scientific staff time for administrative and technical support activities and will lead to diminished scientific output.13 This will also impact the mission to expand the user base and increase its diversity, which takes additional staff time and attention.
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From page 42... ...
Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) should consider developing and strengthening its connections to university-based engineering research groups with links to industry as a mechanism for increased usage of the engineering diffractometer and other industry-relevant instruments, and potentially as a mechanism for support for additional staffing.
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