SCHUMER ANNOUNCES, FOLLOWING HIS LONG-STANDING PUSH, $49 MILLION IN FED FUNDING FOR CORNELL CHESS LAB UNDER NEW, 5-YEAR AGREEMENT WITH NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION; FUNDING WILL BE USED TO CONTINUE LAB’S 40-YEAR HISTORY OF GROUNDBREAKING DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE MATERIALS
The Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) Is One Of Two High-Energy Synchrotron X-Ray Sources In The United States; The Lab Has Generated Revolutionary Scientific Innovation In Numerous Fields, Including Discoveries That Led To Two Nobel Prizes
Schumer Today Announces $49M For CHESS Lab Under New 5-Year Agreement With NSF To Operate The Newly-Renovated High-Energy X-Ray Facility “CHEXS”
Schumer: Funding Renewal Will Keep Cornell’s CHESS At The Cutting Edge Of X-Ray Innovation
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced, following his push, $49 million in federal funding for Cornell University’s High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) laboratory. Schumer explained that the funding is the result of a new, five-year cooperative agreement between CHESS and the National Science Foundation (NSF) and will be used to establish a sub-facility at the laboratory called the Center for High-Energy X-ray Science (CHEXS), which will house four energy beamlines that support the facility’s groundbreaking research in numerous scientific fields. Schumer said that CHESS, home of one of only two high-energy synchrotron X-ray sources in the entire country, has played a pivotal role in a multitude of medical discoveries and scientific breakthroughs, including the 2003 and 2009 Nobel Prizes in chemistry.
“The renewal of NSF funding for Cornell's CHESS Lab will ensure America and Cornell University remain at the cutting edge of innovation in high-energy X-ray applications," said Senator Schumer. "CHESS is a unique facility for the scientific workforce that keeps the U.S competitive, and is part of the lifeblood of our scientific community, enabling researchers to make advancements in everything from clean energy technologies to stronger and more resilient infrastructure. I have been proud to fight for and deliver funding to support CHESS and the NSF, and will continue working tirelessly to do so."
“Senator Schumer has been a tremendous champion for CHESS, as we’ve upgraded the facility’s infrastructure and transformed its funding model in preparation for this new operating award. Thanks to his leadership, CHESS will remain a world-leading third-generation high energy synchrotron facility in the heart of upstate New York,” said Joel Brock, Director of CHESS and the Given Foundation Professor of Engineering at Cornell.
CHESS is a high-energy synchrotron light source, which is a highly-sophisticated x-ray machine. CHESS is one of only two national hard x-ray synchrotron facilities in the country, and the only one located at a research university. For that reason, CHESS is a unique training ground for the nation’s scientific workforce, and plays a vital role in keeping the U.S. competitive. CHESS is a multi-disciplinary facility that supports critical research in physics, materials science, chemistry, biology, engineering, and art history. The facility, which also carries out basic research in accelerator science, is used by universities, the government and private industries across New York, the country and world.
CHESS is a national user facility, funded principally by the National Science Foundation. Senator Schumer is a long-time advocate for CHESS and was instrumental in facilitating the process that allowed CHESS to submit a peer-reviewed proposal that, based on scientific merit, resulted in a five-year, $100 million award from NSF in 2014. Since that time, CHESS has continued to forge ahead with its groundbreaking work. Additionally, Schumer was the lead negotiator of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which resulted in a historic, $130 billion increase in domestic investments for agencies like the NSF, boosting the likelihood of CHESS receiving this new 5-year cooperative agreement with the agency.
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