After years of the pandemic preventing in-person meetings, the 7th Annual SHyNE Meeting was held in person in the Mudd Library of Northwestern’s Evanston Campus. Advisory committee members, facility managers, and associated staff gathered to hear the exciting updates from each of SHyNE’s sites.
Overall, the program has seen increased stability and growth in users. This growth extends to fiscal achievements, user base diversity, and high satisfaction reported by users.
The outreach efforts to the greater Chicago land area have also increased including the annual Women in Microscopy Conference, Nanojournalism, and the annual RET and REU programs. These programs highlight women’s research in the field, provide high school teachers with accessible science videos on cutting-edge research, and provide students and teachers in underserved communities the opportunity to do research in our state-of-the-art facilities, respectively.
Each facility reported on equipment purchases, new capabilities of their sites, and new staff added to their teams. The committee provided excellent ideas for creating a stronger brand narrative based on external company vignettes and user testimony. Additionally, the staff was commended for their excellent recovery on multiple fronts in the post-lockdown years. SHyNE is back but focused even more on future growth to supporting its Midwestern community by making its incredible instruments and staff accessible to industry, academia, and beyond.
