This might be a strange thing to say in the final week of January, but happy new year and welcome to 2026. We’re excited for the year ahead, with three full user runs scheduled and nearly all of our beamlines back online and conducting user experiments. We’ve spent the last month in a maintenance shutdown, working continuing to improve the operation of the APS accelerator and the capabilities available at the experiment stations.

The first user run of 2026 will begin on Feb. 2, and we’re looking forward to seeing more and more users returning to the APS experiment floor. In 2025, we explored some of the new capabilities our feature and enhanced beamlines enable, along with our upgraded X-ray beams – the brightest synchrotron X-ray beams in the world. We are looking forward to seeing how the user community will continue to leverage these beams to address a breadth of scientific challenges, and we’re here to help.

These new capabilities are the result of the APS Upgrade, which is close to the finish line. The upgrade work is essentially completed, with all scope delivered, and final review is making its way through the Department of Energy for formal project completion.

We’re excited to make the shift from talking about the progress of the APS Upgrade project to talking about the scientific breakthroughs it makes possible. As a prelude to that, you can read this new story on the next era of X-ray science at the APS. I’d like to quote my colleague Stefan Vogt, associate director of the X-ray Science Division, from that article: “When I first joined the APS, we were only beginning to explore its potential. Today, the technology has advanced so much that imaging tasks that used to take hours can now be completed in minutes — with dramatically improved resolution and detail.” The future science the APS will enable is exciting.

As we move into the first user run of the year, a reminder to keep the APS website bookmarked for the latest information. You’ll also be able to keep up with our series of People of the APS profiles, the latest of which spotlights software engineer Arthur Glowacki. Don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook as well.

One last note: Registration is now open for the 2026 APS/CNM Users Meeting. You still have time to beat the early bird deadline for registration. We hope to see you at the meeting!

Welcome to 2026. Let’s make it a good one.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Lang
Interim Associate Laboratory Director for Science and Technology

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