XLEAP-UTEP partnership and student training

The XLEAP construction project includes a collaboration with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), enabling graduate student participation in the development of scientific infrastructure. CHESS and UTEP will work together to nurture a new center of excellence in X-ray imaging and spectroscopy at UTEP. Students will contribute to cability development for XLEAP, beginning with tests using existing facilities at CHESS, and later participating in the XLEAP beamline commissioning. This partnership has potential to create a pipeline of young talent from UTEP to the nation’s synchrotron light sources, broadening both the user base and the scientific staff of these facilities.

The XLEAP project also benefits from the expertise of the UTEP faculty, especially in design of experiments studying plant-nanoparticle interactions.

Student projects

There are five UTEP students involved in the XLEAP project. Please see their individual project descriptions and XLEAP contributions described, in their own words, at the links below:

• Abayomi Omoogun
  • UTEP mentor: Carlos R Cabrera Martínez
  • CHESS/Cornell mentors: Louisa Smieska, Chris Pollock
  • Project: X-ray fluorescence imaging (XRF) and X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES) of Proteus Mirabilis modified Pt-Ni Boron-Doped Diamond (BDD) Electrodes for Urine to Ammonia Electrooxidation
  • Contribution: Workflow for processing and visualizing spatially resolved XANES measurements
• Angelica Chacon
  • UTEP mentor: Carlos R Cabrera Martínez
  • CHESS/Cornell mentors: Louisa Smieska, Chris Pollock
  • Project:
  • Contribution: Workflow for processing and visualizing spatially resolved XANES measurements
• Jesus Holguin Muniz
  • UTEP mentor: Sreeprasad Sreenivasan
  • CHESS/Cornell mentors: Louisa Smieska, Ju-Chen Chia, Olena Vatamaniuk
  • Project: An Integrative Approach for Pesticide Sensing, Nutrient Delivery, and Photosynthetic Enhancement in Plants using Chiral Nano-Frameworks and Quantum Dots
  • Contribution: Workflow for combined x-ray fluorescence and diffraction imaging
• Loren Ochoa
  • UTEP mentor: Jorge Gardea-Torresdey
  • CHESS/Cornell mentors: Louisa Smieska, Olena Vatamaniuk
  • Project: A comparison of the foliar application of Nano-Fe3O4 and ionic Fe in young and two-year-old jalapeno pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L.) under salinity stress
  • Contribution: X-ray fluorescence data standardization and post-processing
• Sharif Uddin Ahmed
  • UTEP mentor: José Hernandez
  • CHESS/Cornell mentors: Louisa Smieska, Ju-Chen Chia, Olena Vatamaniuk
  • Project: Synchrotron high-resolution XRF imaging combined with submicron infrared/Raman imaging to understand structural and biomolecular effects of nanoscale fertilizers in two plant species (soybean and lettuce).
  • Contribution: Workflow for comparing XRF and infrared/Raman microscopy of the same sample

Past events

May 2024: HEXT workshopMay 2024: HEXT workshop (Hide)

The XLEAP graduate students visited CHESS for the HEXT workshop. The workshop includes lectures, instruction and coaching on how to write successful proposals for beamtime, and hands-on experiments. UTEP student participants at HEXT completed an XRF imaging demo with beamline scientist Louisa Smieska. See https://www.chess.cornell.edu/hext2024.

Left to Right: Loren Ochoa, Angélica Chacón (NIH Fellowship), Jesús Holguín Muñiz, Abayomi Omoogun, Sharif Ahmed, Dr. Louisa Smieska

-- LouisaSmieska - 12 May 2025