Young Investigator Award

The LCLS Young Investigator Award recognizes contributions from scientists in the early stages of their research career for exceptional research performed with the LCLS X-ray free-electron laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Candidates must have been awarded their PhD less than 6 years before the annual SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting at which the award is given and be employed no higher than Assistant Professor level at the time of nomination. Nominations are invited from across the user community in advance of the Users' Meeting, with a winner selected by the LCLS User Executive Committee. The winner is invited to present at the SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting, and receives their award from the LCLS Director.

Past Winners

2024 Young Investigator Award: Adrien Descamps

Descamps,  a postdoctoral fellow working with Emma McBride in the Centre for Light Matter Interaction at Queen’s University Belfast, was recognized for turning the world’s most powerful X-ray laser into a sophisticated tool for probing extremely hot, dense matter.

First, Descamps and his colleagues shot a laser at samples of polyimide, a kind of plastic, and silicon using the Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument at SLAC. Then, they fired superfast X-ray pulses from LCLS, the world’s most powerful X-ray laser, at the warm dense matter that resulted. By measuring the shift in energy of the X-ray pulses – which have enough energy to pass through the warm dense matter and out the other side – Descamps can calculate the temperature directly.

2023 Young Investigator Award: Taran Driver

A blink of the eye, a fraction of a second and a flash are all way too slow to describe the speed at which electrons move. Electrons change their position on timescales measured in attoseconds, or millionths of a billionth of a second – a period of time that is so brief that there are as many attoseconds in one second as there have been seconds since the birth of the universe. It’s a blip of time that for most of us is impossible to comprehend, but not to Taran Driver, a staff scientist at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Taran presented on "Tracking Electrons on Attosecond Timescales at the LCLS" alongside fellow finalist Silvia Pandolfi ("Phase transition kinetics at the nanosecond timescales in shock-compressed matter") at the 2023 SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting.
 

2022 LCLS Young Investigator Award: Yijing Huang

Yijing Huang, a postdoctoral scholar at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has received the 2022 LCLS Young Investigator Award for her observation of novel photo-induced lattice instability in femtosecond optical pump and x-ray probe diffraction. The award celebrates early-career scientists who perform noteworthy research using SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser.

Alongside fellow finalists Archana Raja and Philipp Simon, Dr. Huang presented on "Discovery and characterization of a novel photoexcited lattice instability in SnSe using ultrafast x-ray scattering" at the 2022 SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting.

2021 LCLS Young Investigator Award: Aditya Sood

Aditya Sood, a research scientist with the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has received the 2021 LCLS Young Investigator Award for his work combining materials science with ultrafast physics. The award celebrates early-career scientists who perform noteworthy research using SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser.

Alongside fellow finalists Yanwen Sun, Siqi Li, and Haiwang Yong, Dr. Sood presented on "Uncovering electrically driven phase transitions using ultrafast operando diffraction" at the 2021 SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting.

2020 LCLS Young Investigator Award: Elisa Biasin

Elisa Biasin, a research associate at the Stanford Pulse Institute at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, received the 2020 LCLS Young Investigator Award for her contributions to the field of ultrafast X-ray science. The award is given to early-career scientists in recognition of exceptional research using SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser.

2019 LCLS Young Investigator Award: Matteo Mitrano

Matteo Mitrano, an emerging investigator in the field of quantum materials, will receive the 2019 LCLS Young Investigator Award at the 2019 LCLS/SSRL Annual Users’ Meeting September 24-27.

 

 

 

2018 LCLS Young Investigator Award: Tais Gorkhover

Tais Gorkhover, a principal investigator with the Stanford PULSE Institute, will receive the 2018 LCLS Young Investigator Award, granted to early-career scientists in recognition of exceptional research using the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

 

2017 First LCLS Young Investigator Award: Kasper Kjaer

Kasper Kjaer is the winner of the inaugural LCLS Young Investigator Award given by the Users Executive Committee of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The prize recognizes scientists in the early stages of their career for exceptional research performed with the LCLS X-ray free-electron laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. “With this award, we’re supporting the new ideas, new insights and new talent at our young facility,” said Mike Dunne, the director of LCLS.