On January 4, 2023, Arizona State University’s Facility for Open Research in a Compressed Environment (FORCE) held its first Workshop, entitled “ASU Winter Workshop on Recent Developments in High Pressure Research”. Over 70 registered participants, in-person and via Zoom, joined the FORCE Executive and External Advisory Committee members for a day of talks as well as discussion about the National Science Foundation Mid-scale Research Infrastructure project’s progress, and the exciting science and community-building that FORCE will enable in the future.
FORCE Principal Investigator Dr. Kurt Leinenweber welcomed the Workshop attendees and introduced the External Advisory Committee: Carl Agee, Pamela Burnley, Gabriel Gwanmesia, and Yanbin Wang (Anne Pommier was unable to attend), as well as the FORCE Executive Committee: Co-Investigators Alexandra Navrotsky, Thomas Sharp, Dan (Sang-Heon) Shim, and David J. Smith, and recent FORCE hires Research Scientist Kyusei Tsuno, and Research Scientist/Outreach Coordinator Kara Brugman. All present committee members and ASU’s Sefaattin Tongay gave talks about different aspects of high pressure research. The presenters emphasized the experimental and analytical opportunities that FORCE will facilitate in the future. Additionally, the lab management team of Leinenweber, Tsuno, and Brugman presented an updated look at the lab layout. They also summarized FORCE’s technological advancement priorities and outlined the lab’s planned Education & Outreach programs and IDEA (inclusivity, diversity, equity, and access) values.
The Workshop concluded with a discussion about the future of high pressure research in the United States, both at synchrotron beamlines and at offline facilities such as FORCE. The attendees brainstormed about how to maintain the community that COMPRES (Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences) has fostered over the last 20 years.
FORCE’s first Workshop was a success, and its seminar flavor gave participants the opportunity to learn about the kinds of science that will be possible with the new facility. FORCE is already planning the next Workshop, which will likely include tours of the nearly completed laboratory. The next Workshop will include group discussions and breakout sessions that will allow Workshop participants to provide feedback on how FORCE can best serve the community.