Nancy Lazarz
Sector Coordinator

My dad was in the US Army for many years and then worked for Grumman, a defense contractor. As a result we were always moving around the country. I was born at Fort Carson, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Growing up I lived in 8 states but spent most of my life in Northport, New York (on Long Island).

When I graduated from Northport High School in New York, I had no idea about what I would like to have as a career or even what I would like to have as a major in college. I just knew what I didn't want to do. I wanted science, but not biology or anything medical related. I attended Penn State University in State College, Pa. My freshman course "Introduction to Geology" grabbed my interest and I then knew my major. I took a double major and earned a BS in Geology and a BA in history. After graduation, I worked for many years as an exploration geologist for Amerada Hess Corporation in the international exploration division. During this time, I went to graduate school at night at New York University in New York City. I again took a double major and received a M.S.degree in Material Science and in Economics.

After graduate school, I worked for the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, located on Long Island in New York. At that time my husband worked for the Structural Biology Department of Argonne National Lab, but stationed at Brookhaven National Lab. In 1995, after the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne was completed, we moved to Naperville, Illinois and now both of us work at Argonne. My job here at Argonne is Sector Coordinator for GSECARS at The Advanced Photon Source. I make sure visiting earth scientists from all over the world have productive experimental time here at our synchrotron facility. I am also the liaison between the GSE staff and APS.

Advanced Photon Source (APS)
DOE
GSECARS
Beamline
Synchrotron
User community
interesting, challenging and fun.

Clayton Pullins
Engineer

I grew up in Valparaiso Indiana, about 45 minutes south and east of Chicago just around the bottom of Lake Michigan.

After finishing high school in Valparaiso I went to Purdue University with the intention of graduating in Industrial Technology, but a year later I switched into the field of Mechanical Engineering. Currently I have an Associates Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology, but plan to continue my education as soon as my twins get a little older. I worked the next few years as a contract engineer for a company in Chicago. Working there allowed me to try different areas of engineering (mechanical, structural, electrical, architectural and industrial plant layout) I was most interested in the mechanical engineering jobs I...work[ed] on.

I came to work for the [University of Chicago] in 1994 and I started working on equipment design for our proposed [GSECARS] beamlines. I would take the drawings from the engineer and revise them as needed. I am now the person that designs the equipment, creates the detailed drawings, sends the assembly out to be manufactured, oversees the manufacturing, and take part in the installation of the finished product.

The interesting part of my job is coming up with solutions for design problems or fixing equipment that has failed. Some weeks are better than others...right now its more function than anything else-- you can't make an experimental table too interesting. [But] there are chances to design things that nobody has really done before, or at least different than anyone elses design. That is the fun part.

My life is pretty hectic. I have a ten year old son and 6 year old twins a boy and girl. With the three of them and a house in perpetual refurbishing I have little extra time - but [when] I can get away I enjoy fishin trips with friends and getting out for rides on my motorcycle.

Some key words in his work--

CAD, Autocad, Solidworks,
Reverse engineering,
RFQ- "request for quote"

Fred Sopron
Electronics Technician

Regretfully Fred will not be able make the videoconferencedue to the illness of his wife.
We wish her a speedy recovery!

Fred received an AAS from DeVry Institute of Technology, in 1969, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Technical Management from Northeastern University, in1983

Besides his work at GSECARS, he has been Project engineer for a number of important scientific projects, supervising construction of space science instrument, and serving as liaison to spacecraft contractors for the integration of instrument to spacecraft. Projects he has worked on include: SPADUS, Stardust, Pathfinder, EHIC, CRESS, Thistle, DUCMA-VEGA, Spacelab II, Ulysses, ICE, Mariner 10, Imp 6 & 7, and Pioneer 10 & 11.

At the APS he does technical support for construction and operation of beamlines, including: the development and construction of electronic and electromechanical devices for controlling instruments, construction and maintenance of PLC devices for equipment protection and personnel safety, and maintenance of electronic instrumentation.

Peter Eng
Beamline Scientist

Peter was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up on Long Island. As an undergraduate, at the State University of New York at Cortland, he majored in Physics, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1991. Continuing his education in graduate school at SUNY Stony Brook he received a Ph.D. in Physics in 1994. He did postdoctoral work at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

"I arrived at The University of Chicgao [in] 1994. I worked at my office on campus in Hyde Park designing the beamline layout, x-ray optics and experimental equipment [for GSECARS] for my first 1 ½ years. In 1996 we took first beam on our bending magnet beamline at the Advanced Photon Source[at Argonne]. Over the course of the next 1 ½ years I shared my time between the university campus and the beamlines at the APS. In 1997 all of our experimental stations where commissioned and I started conduction regular research projects on a daily basis at the APS...".

Currently he is studying the interaction of water and mineral surfaces, investigating how the atomic structure of the mineral surface is changed by the presence of water, as well as how atoms and molecules such as Pb, U and As that are in the water solution attach to the mineral surface.

"The main reason for our work is to better understand how pollutants travel through the environment and to help improve methods used to clean up toxic waste sites."

x-ray diffraction
x-ray absorption
synchrotron radiation
tomography
crystal structure
crystallography
angstrom

Eugene Williams is a graduate of Jackson State University with a dual Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and mathematics. He also holds a Masters of Science in mathematics from University of California at Berkeley and a Masters in Business Administration from New York University. His experience spans back to being a systems analyst with Eastman Kodak and through consulting assignments in Canada, France, England, Japan and Chicago as an independent consultant. Williams is currently a senior systems analyst at Argonne National Laboratory working with web technology and relational databases for various business units.