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Posts Tagged ‘Sensitive Instrument Facility’

Ames Laboratory, climate change, Department of Energy, Ernest Moniz, Iowa State University, Sensitive Instrument Facility, Steve King

Moniz: Mother Nature could persuade climate change deniers; will it be in time?

In Government, University research on May 9, 2016 at 12:10 pm

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz talks to reporters in Ames, Iowa, on May 6, 2016.

For a while now, I’ve puzzled over something: Why does a segment of the population – and an even larger portion of Congress – disavow the evidence for anthropogenic (human-caused) global climate change?

Weather records show temperatures are increasing, with each year seeming to set a new record. Oceans are rising. Violent storms, droughts, wildfires and other weather-driven phenomena are happening more often and with greater force. Scientists who study the climate overwhelmingly agree we’re changing the atmosphere for the worse.

So why do so many people deny the evidence? And, more importantly, how do we change people’s minds and get them to take action before it’s too late?

I don’t have many answers and my small forum can’t do much to correct the situation, but last week I talked to someone who does have answers – and the power to do something about it.

When U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz came to Iowa, I got a moment to ask him about this. While his answer was reasonable, it was a bit disappointing. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ames Laboratory, climate change, Ernest Moniz, Iowa State University, Iran, John Kerry, Nobel Prize, Sensitive Instrument Facility, Steven Chu

Ernest Moniz is coming to Iowa next month. Here’s why you should care.

In Government on April 25, 2016 at 7:10 am

Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz greeting friends on his first day on the job, May 2013. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz greeting friends on his first day on the job, May 2013. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy.

I’m not a fan of Bill Nye. I certainly endorse his science advocacy and education efforts, but he’s of my sons’ generation, not mine, and his lack of deep academic credentials leaves him open to the kind of challenge Sarah Palin recently made. (I’m not saying Bill Nye isn’t a scientist, as Palin did. I’m saying there are other science spokespeople with stronger resumes and greater accomplishments.) So I didn’t make a big deal out of Nye lecturing at Drake University April 14.

But I am excited about the pending visit of a real science superstar: U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. He’s coming to Ames on Friday, May 6 to speak at the dedication of the Ames Laboratory’s Sensitive Instrument Facility. (I wrote about the SIF and the high-tech tools it houses earlier this year.) He’ll stay overnight and deliver the undergraduate commencement address at 1:30 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, May 7.

It’s exciting because, as I’ll explain, Moniz is probably the most consequential energy secretary in history – a big influence on world peace and climate stability. Read the rest of this entry »

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Aberration corrected STEM, Ames Laboratory, Applied Science Complex, Department of Energy, Field-emission SEM, Focused Ion Beam microscope, Iowa State University, Materials Science, Matt Kramer, Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope, Sensitive Instrument Facility, Transmission Electron Microscope

Ames Lab gets small with new microscopes

In Uncategorized, University research on January 5, 2016 at 7:02 am

Ames Lab's Matt Kramer with the Tecnai transmission electron microscope at the new Sensitive Instrument Facility (SIF). The Tecnai TEM was moved to the SIF from Wilhelm Hall, one of the buildings the lab occupies on the Iowa State University campus.

Ames Lab’s Matt Kramer with the Tecnai transmission electron microscope at the new Sensitive Instrument Facility (SIF). The microscope was moved to the SIF from Wilhelm Hall on the Iowa State University campus.

In 2015 Ames Laboratory scientists who investigate materials’ fundamental properties received their Christmas presents early.

In November and December technicians unpacked and installed around $6 million worth of high-tech microscopes, some capable of identifying individual atoms and how they’re arranged in materials. The three new devices joined one already owned by the lab, a Department of Energy (DOE) facility Iowa State University manages on its campus.

The equipment is installed at the lab’s Sensitive Instrument Facility (SIF), a fortress against interference recently finished northwest of the ISU campus. In my last post, I described the many steps the building’s designers took to keep vibrations and electromagnetic noise from disturbing the powerful microscopes inside.

In this post I’ll tell you more about the devices themselves. With their power, scientists can better understand materials and develop new ones that save energy and improve the performance of devices we use every day. Read the rest of this entry »

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Aberration corrected STEM, Ames Laboratory, Applied Science Complex, Critical Materials Institute, Department of Energy, Field-emission SEM, Focused Ion Beam microscope, Iowa State University, Materials Science, Matt Kramer, Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope, Sensitive Instrument Facility, Transmission Electron Microscope

What’s shaking? At this building, not a thing

In Uncategorized, University research on December 22, 2015 at 7:00 am

A SIF schematic with notations designating the location of each instrument. From Ames Laboratory’s Inquiry magazine.

It’s not a much to look at from the outside. The long, low building just northwest of the Iowa State University campus could be classrooms or offices, maybe for a small manufacturer or a medical practice.

The offices and public spaces are airy and furnished in a style echoing IKEA. There’s no hint that the structure is unique in Iowa and rare in the United States.
But take a tour, as I did last week, and you learn that this, the first new scientific structure Ames Laboratory has built since 1961, is a near-fortress against even the tiniest outside interference.

The Sensitive Instrument Facility (SIF), still awaiting its first occupants, can’t be disturbed. Really. And that’s what makes it a great place for researchers to make some minuscule discoveries. Read the rest of this entry »

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Thomas R. O'Donnell

Iowa Science Interface

Posts Tagged ‘Sensitive Instrument Facility’

Moniz: Mother Nature could persuade climate change deniers; will it be in time?

Ernest Moniz is coming to Iowa next month. Here’s why you should care.

Ames Lab gets small with new microscopes

What’s shaking? At this building, not a thing

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