Energy@Stanford Conference Gives Students a Glimpse into SLAC

More than 100 graduate and professional students attending an annual energy conference that takes place at Stanford and SLAC toured the lab on Tuesday. During their visit, attendees got a glimpse into the inner workings of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource and the klystron gallery above the linear accelerator.

Here, students looked through a window of an experimental hutch at SSRL's Ben Kocar, who, along with Pete Dunten, showed the students around the SSRL ring and explained the many ways SSRL's X-rays can contribute to energy science, among many other fields.

The Sept. 11 visit concluded with dinner at SLAC, where Zhi-Xun "Z-X" Shen talked about being the lab's chief scientist. The Energy@Stanford & SLAC conference continues through Friday, with several presentations by SLAC scientists scheduled on the Stanford campus on that final day.

One will feature Nick Melosh, an associate professor in Stanford's Materials Science and Engineering Department and a researcher at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences – a joint SLAC/Stanford institute. The other will be a talk by SIMES Director Tom Deveraux on the basics of photon science.

On Wednesday, emeritus lab director and Nobel laureate Burton Richter discussed his award-winning book Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Climate Change and Energy in the 21st Century.

The conference is hosted by Stanford's Precourt Institute for Energy. Free to professional and graduate students at Stanford who register, the conference is intended for those interested in a career in energy, allowing participants to build their network of fellow graduate students and faculty.

The Energy@Stanford & SLAC conference is co-sponsored by Stanford's Precourt Institute for Energy, SIMES, the Global Climate and Energy Project, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Office of the Vice Provost of Graduate Education at Stanford.