SNS-HFIR User Group Executive Committee Members

Contact the SHUG Executive Committee: shug-ec@email.ornl.gov

Yun LiuChair: Igor Zaliznyak

Physicist
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Term expires December 2024

Research interests: Strongly correlated electrons and quantum magnetism; lattice dynamics in perovskites; developing novel neutron instrumentation and methods.

 

Vice Chair: Mingda Li

Class of 1947 Career Development Professor
Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Term expires December 2025

Research Interests: Collective excitations in solids, materials with nontrivial topology, disordered systems and amorphous solids, and designing new measurement paradigms.

Rana AshkarRana Ashkar

Assistant Professor of Physics
Virginia Tech
Term expires December 2023

Research interests: Structure-property relationships in soft matter, with specific emphasis on polymeric systems and biomimetic lipid membranes. Dr. Ashkar's group is primarily focused on advancing the use of neutron scattering, in conjunction with simulations, to resolve collective structures and dynamics that are critical to the fundamental understanding and practical applications of soft materials.

 

Rebecca Dally

Instrument Scientist
NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
Term expires December 2024

Research interests: Using x-ray and neutron scattering techniques to study correlated electron materials, topological magentism, and structure-property relationships.

Ben FrandsenSecretary: Ben Frandsen

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Brigham Young University
Term expires December 2025

Research interests: quantum materials, energy conversion materials, magnetism, and neutron/x-ray total scattering methods, particularly atomic and magnetic pair distribution function analysis.

 

Lisa DeBeer-SchmittPeter Gilbert

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Queen's University
Term expires December 2023

Research interests: Understanding the role of orientation and alignment in determining soft matter properties; connecting SANS anisotropy to material alignment and mechanical performance.

 

 

 

Peter GilbertPast Chair: Yun Liu

Instrument scientist, NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
Professor, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware
Term expires December 2023

Research interests: neutron/x-ray scattering techniques and theories, biophysics, colloidal science, energy materials, and gas adsorption/desorption in porous materials.

 

 

Geneva Laurita

Lisa Debeer-Schmitt

Instrument Scientist at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (GP-SANS)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Term expires December 2023

Research interests: Flux-line lattices in unconventional superconductors; magnetism in small-angle neutron scattering; probing long-range magnetic order in materials with rich magnetic phase diagrams and structural ordering in other systems with large scale spacings in on or more dimensions using SANS and related techniques.

Naresh OstiNaresh Osti

Instrument Scientist
Spallation Neutron Source (BASIS)
Term expires December 2024

Research interests: Exploring the structure and dynamics of energy-related materials to relate their structure-property realtionship to their real-life application, especially of thenano-confided fluids, polymers, and polymer nanocomposites.

 

 

 

Travis WilliamsTravis Williams

Instrument Scientist at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HB1, HB3, CTAX)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Term expires December 2023

Research interests: Heavy fermion systems, particularly the hidden order system URu2Si2 and the cerium-based non-centrosymmetric magnets CeTX3; materials synthesis and experiments using muon spectroscopy.

 

 

Travis Williams

Amy Xu

Assistant Professor
Louisiana State University
Term expires December 2024

Research interests: Using biophysical characterisation methods, especially SANS, to study how biomacromolecules behave and interact in crowded environments.

 

Julia Zaikina

Assistant professor of Chemistry
Iowa State University
Term Expires December 2025

Research Interests: Group focus on the unconventional synthesis routes to complex solids and understanding their atomic and electronic structure to create new functional materials that address current scientific challenges in sustainable energy. We utilize X-ray, neutron, and electron elastic scattering methods, including synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder and single crystal diffraction, Pair Distribution Function (PDF), and structure determination from powder diffraction data to establish a structure-property relationship for emergent solid state materials.