U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer visited campus June 18, 2012 with some welcome news: Cornell's world-renowned synchrotron X-ray facility will continue being funded.
The Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), one of five national hard X-ray facilities for synchrotron X-ray research, had been under threat of closure due to possible cuts from the National Science Foundation, its primary funder.
Schumer, introduced by President David Skorton, put those fears to rest when he visited Wilson Laboratory, home of CHESS, to announce his advocacy on behalf of CHESS. Schumer said he had received commitments from the White House's Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy, as well as NSF officials, to allow CHESS to plan a long-term future for the facility, in view of its unique, university-based role.
CHESS produces intense X-ray beams that serve an international community of researchers from academia, government and industry, in such fields as medicine, materials science, physics, engineering, chemistry and the humanities.
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