Data Collection at NE-CAT

Data collection time is allocated by the CMCD Synchrotron Committee. Data collection time at NE-CAT beamlines C and E are available.

Local Liaisons

Please work with your local liaisons to learn more about the procedure and follow up our instructions very carefully.

• DFCI: David Heppner
• Harvard: TBD
• Harrison Laboratory and Children's Hospital: Kevin McCarthy

Allocation Committee:

• Professor Piotr Sliz
• Professor Stephen Harrison
• Professor Mike Eck
• Professor Rachelle Gaudet

Instructions

If you have any questions about allocation process please make sure to contact the appropriate parties, as outlined below.

1. Your APS User Access must be current.
   • New users must complete the APS Central Registration several weeks before applying for time.
   • If you have any questions about the registration process please contact the APS User Office, your lab data collection coordinator, your PI, or Cyndi Salbego from NE-CAT.
2. You must have a GUP proposal in place and know your GUP number GUP.
   • Please work with your PI, your lab data collection coordinator, and Cyndi Salbego from NE-CAT when preparing and submitting your proposal.
3. Please join the CMCD-NECAT mailing list.
   • You should review the mailing list archives to get a better sense of the allocation process and to find out about upcoming trips.
   • Please note that you will need a google, hkl.hms.harvard.edu or crystal.harvard.edu account to apply for the CMCD mailing list membership.
   • The application should be done through the mailing list website, which was mentioned above (please indicate your lab name).
   • Contact Eric Fischer if your mailing list request takes more than 3 days to be approved.
   • The mailing list is used for all trip announcements. You are also welcome to post to this list with general questions that might be of interest to other users.  
4. Approximately two weeks before each trip the registration form will be posted to the mailing list.
   • This form should be completed only after this announcement is made. Users will be given two days to complete the form.
   • NEW USERS: If this is your first trip please review the past registrations requests. This will give you a better sense of what is required to complete submission.
   • ALL USERS: Please note that the registration form often changes. Questions? Please work with your PI, lab data collection coordinator and your CMCD liaisons. You can also post to the mailing list on comment on this post.
     * ALL: Please note that incomplete applications will be rejected without any additional feedback from the allocation committee (HINT: please take time to provide sufficient info in the Beam Time Application field and read all online comments).
5. We usually post the finalized trip schedule within 24 hours after all data collection request are received.
   • If you notice any mistakes in the allocation please contact the data collection coordinators as soon as possible.
6. In preparation for the trip you will need to complete an ESAF form.
   • This step should be completed immediately after the allocation is announced. Please contact Cyndi Salbego from NE-CAT with questions.
7. On-site visitors should make travel arrangements.
   • Accommodation should be booked in the APS Guesthouse.

8. Register and Ship your crystals (Failure to follow instructions will results in delivery refusal at APS):

   a) Please complete a  puck registration form. Please make arrangements early and have the form submitted  by 5PM on the day before Harvard's data collection starts.

   b) All dewars and corresponding shippers for the CMCD trips should have a clear, big label in the following format: HU-PI's Initials-dewar number, e.g. HU-SCH-1, HU-SCH-2, HU-SCH-3 for Harrison lab or HU-PS-1 for Sliz group.

   c) With many labs traveling please try to consolidate shipping - saves money and effort on the APS end. Please note that number of pucks indicated on the schedule represent the maximum number that will be loaded for your group. You can certainly have fewer pucks.

   d) The final ** packing list for each dewar must be included** in each shipper. If there are last minute scratches just indicate this on your packing list. There is no need to email coordinators with this info.

   e) U sers should include a return FEDEX label inside the case when they ship. Express saver works best in most cases.

   f) Dewars should be shipped to APS two business days before your assigned time using FEDEX Priority Overnight service to:

   Harvard Consortium.
   c/o Narayanasamami Sukumar
   Building 436E (NE-CAT)
   Argonne National Laboratory
   9700 South Cass Avenue
   Lemont, IL 60439
   phone: (630)252-0681

9. Collecting Data:

   a) Chicago Time! All schedules are posted using CTZ.

   b) Prepare for the trip. Please review all on-line documentation, which is available on the NE-CAT website, e.g. remote data collection manual, contact list, etc. Make sure that your remote login credentials are active.

   c) Remote Webex training sessions are mandatory but can be attended remotely. Users joining late or skipping assigned training session will be scratched from the allocation list. No exceptions.

   d) Attendance at puck loading, training and data collection sessions is at your own risk. No rearrangements will be made for missed slots or equipment failures.

   e) Attend your data collection session (login portal).

   f) Transfer your frames to a local directory (please contact SBGrid for additional instructions. We maintain special directories for diffraction images).

   g) Complete your End-of-Run form.

GO-TO-Chicago (GTC) Points

Each trip will be attended on-site by one CMCD laboratory (at least one person on-site for the duration of 48 hour CMCD data collection slot).

The lab with the highest number of GTC points will be required to provide this support. GTC points are collected based on number of previous NE-CAT shifts (0.5 points per hour of data collection on E and 0.75 points per hour of data collection on C).

Changes to this page?

Please contact SBGrid to request changes to this page.