MEDIA ADVISORY

Contacts:                                                                                          For release: April 7, 2016
Adam Schwartz, Director, Ames Laboratory, (515) 294-2770
Matt Kramer, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, (515) 294-0276
Steve Karsjen, Public Affairs, (515) 294-5643

AMES, IA – U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will speak at the dedication of Ames Laboratory’s Sensitive Instrument Facility (SIF) in Ames, Iowa on Friday, May 6, 2016.

The dedication will begin at 2:45 p.m. on Friday, May 6, with a welcome from Director Adam Schwartz, followed by comments from Secretary Moniz and other dignitaries. Press availability for Secretary Moniz will follow at 4 p.m. on site.  Attendees are requested to arrive by 2:30 p.m.

The $9.9 million SIF was funded by the DOE’s Office of Science and constructed in 2014 and 2015 at the Applied Sciences Complex of the Laboratory’s contractor, Iowa State University.  The facility holds $6 million in state-of-the-art electron microscopy equipment, and is specially sited and designed to protect the microscopes from the vibrations and electromagnetic interference that compromise their accuracy.

“We are excited the Secretary of Energy will join us to dedicate the Sensitive Instrument Facility,” said Ames Laboratory Director Adam Schwartz.  “And we look forward to demonstrating the incredible science that this facility will enable.”

The microscopes were funded by the DOE, Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University.  They include a dual-beam focused ion beam microscope (FIB); a field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM); an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (AC-STEM); and a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM).

“This facility broadens Ames Laboratory’s materials science research capabilities considerably,” said Matt Kramer, director of the Division of Materials Science and Engineering. “We are now able to look at a variety of new materials-- from metals, semi-metals, and insulators to organic compounds-- while also being able to apply different temperatures, loads, and electric fields. We can observe the phase changes of these materials as they happen. Advanced materials discovery will follow, in keeping with the DOE’s mission for national energy research.”

Iowa State University also announced that Moniz will deliver the commencement address at ISU graduation ceremonies on Saturday, May 7.

Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory operated by Iowa State University. Ames Laboratory creates innovative materials, technologies and energy solutions. We use our expertise, unique capabilities and interdisciplinary collaborations to solve global problems. 

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

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