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LCLS Directorate Reorganizes with an Eye on Future Operations

(Image - LCLS banner)With Linac Coherent Light Source early science less than a year away, the LCLS organization is evolving to address its next challenge, operating the world's first hard X-ray light source. Last week, LCLS Associate Lab Director Dale Knutson rolled out a new organizational structure for the directorate in an LCLS All-Hands meeting. While still in the final stages of implementation, the new org chart outlines the plan for restructuring and integrating the LCLS organization into one that will best serve a world-class light-source user community.

"This is an exciting phase for the lab as the LCLS becomes a reality," said SLAC Director Persis Drell. "Many challenges remain, but restructuring the LCLS Directorate is an important step toward building a world-class research program. SLAC has a very bright future of exciting science ahead."

The new organization addresses key needs for the accelerator, experimental facilities, engineering and physics, and instrumentation. Fresh from its support of PEP/BaBar operations, SLAC's existing Accelerator Systems division has been folded into the LCLS directorate to support the accelerator activities associated with LCLS operations. In addition, the new directorate structure brings about two new divisions: an Experimental Facilities division, to provide support for the "photon side" of the machine, including user support for beamlines and visiting researchers; and the Engineering and Physics division, which provides system engineering functions and core teams of physicists and engineers to support the LCLS mission.

The restructuring initiative further integrates the LCLS Ultrafast Science Instruments into the LCLS Strategic Projects division. This provides the LCLS directorate with a group capable of delivering future expansion of the LCLS machine and additional scientific instruments.

—Brad Plummer
  
SLAC Today, September 2, 2008