SNS-HFIR User Group Executive Committee

Kent Griffith
Assistant Professor
UC San Diego
Term expires December 2027

Research Interests: Complex oxides, intercalation and ion exchange, mixed conductors, noncentrosymmetric structures.

Kirill Kovnir
Professor of Chemistry
Iowa State University and Faculty Scientist at Ames National Laboratory
Term expires December 2028

Research Interests: Hard condensed matter involving synthesis and exploration of structure-properties relationships for various types of functional crystalline inorganic materials; using elastic and inelastic neutron scattering techniques to probe features of crystal and magnetic structure of complex solids.

Izabela Kruk
Manufacturing Manager / Chemist
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Term expires December 2027

Research Interests: Materials Chemistry, Surface science of actinides, Neutron Scattering.

Anne-Frances Miller
Distinguished Prof. of Arts and Sciences
Professor of Chemistry
University of Kentucky
Term expires December 2027

Research interests: Enzymatic redox catalysis, electron transfer and conformational coupling within multidomain protein complexes. Scattering, spectroscopy and biochemical studies to elucidate bases for activities.

Allen Scheie
Staff Scientist
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Term expires December 2026

Research interests: Strongly correlated electrons, low-dimensional and quantum magnetism, probing solid state quantum entangelment.

Nairiti Sinha
Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Penn State
Term expires December 2026

Research interests: Design, synthesis and high-throughput characterization of biomimetic polymer-based assemblies and bioinspired nanocomposites for developing next-generation materials.

Hillary Smith
Assistant Professor of Physics
Swarthmore College
Term expires December 2026

Research interests: Dynamics and relaxations in liquids and glasses; ion and electron transport in energy storage materials.

Thao T. Tran
Dean’s Associate Professor
Clemson University, Department of Chemistry
Term expires December 2028

Research interests: Research Interests: Quantum materials, focusing on leveraging electronic structure and physical principles to address key challenges in quantum information science and energy technology.

Xin Wang
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Term expires December 2027

Research interests: Neutron/X-ray diffraction and total scattering for complex functional ceramics, energy storage materials, and molten salt materials applicable to molten salt reactors.

Yishu Wang
Assistant Professor
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Term expires December 2028

Research interests: Research Interests: Experimental development and verification of emergent phenomena in quantum spin systems.

Kathleen Weigandt
Instrument Scientist
NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
Term expires December 2026

Research interests: Neutron scattering and rheology applied to complex fluids and heterogenous materials for fundamental science and industrial applications. 

Chair: Weiwei Xie
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Michigan State University
Term expires December 2027

Research interests: Exploring new quantum materials, high pressure X-ray and neutron scattering, high pressure synthesis of novel quantum materials.