The Users’ Executive Committee’s new members and leadership were nominated and elected by the APS user community and will serve for three-year terms.

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) Users’ Executive Committee (UEC) is pleased to announce its new vice chair and three new members. The UEC is an elected body responsible for advising the APS Associate Laboratory Director. The new members and leadership were nominated and elected by the APS user community and will serve for three-year terms. 

The new vice chair:

Stuart Stock is a researcher professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Stock’s research interests include microCT, nanoCT, position-resolved X-ray scattering and diffraction and X-ray fluorescence mapping. He studies biomineralized tissues, cochlear structure, scaffold structures for bone healing, and aortic morphology. Stock hopes to use his experience of over two decades at the APS to connect with users and advocate for added resources at local beamline. 

The newly appointed members:

Yijia Ding is a senior research associate in the Department of Physics at Illinois Institute of Technology. She received her B.S. in physics from Beijing Normal University in China and her M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Ding’s research interests include the structural characterization of energy storage and catalytic materials using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and the design and simulation of X-ray optics for synchrotron radiation beamlines. As a new member of the committee, Ding is excited to attract new users and expand potential collaborations by promoting the newly upgraded APS facility and its enhanced capabilities. 

Dugan Hayes is an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Rhode Island. He received his B.S. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago. Hayes’ research interests include X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy and nuclear resonance scattering and spectroscopy. As a new member of the committee, Hayes hopes to be an advocate for users that rely on certain techniques that were previously limited by the timing structure of the original APS. 

Yanfei Xu is an associate professor in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department and an adjunct assistant professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Nankai University. Xu’s research interests include deepening the understanding of heat and charge transport in polymers and uncovering structural-transport correlations using state-of-the-art techniques. As a new member of the committee, Xu hopes to inform and engage the user community through workshops, seminars, forums and support groups.