Scientific advisory committee (SAC) meeting via ZOOM

The scientific advisory committee (SAC) members act as critical friends who provide us with valuable feedback on our science and our organization and help us to recognize immediate and future points of attention. In view of this importance, ARCNL decided not to postpone this year’s SAC meeting and to organize it completely as a video meeting. On Thursday and Friday, 16 and 17 April, the SAC had an intense visit, in which they reviewed the performance and the development of the institute and interviewed representatives of all research groups, the manager of operations and the director.

The committee was well informed by an extensive information package provided well before the meeting. Also, they received a video of all the labs, which was recorded by our technician Thomas Meijvogel. In spite of the handicap of the remote meeting, the SAC managed to fulfill its role efficiently and present their report already one week after the site visit. As usual, the report contains a useful and insightful combination of observations and recommendations that ARCNL will put to good use. With much gratitude, we had to say goodbye to Petra Rudolf (Universiteit Groningen), Henri Werij (Techische Universiteit Delft) and Achmed Hassanein (Purdue University) who had completed their second and last three-year term in the SAC. They were first-generation SAC members whose advice has served the institute through its defining first years. We are happy that Marc Vrakking (Max-Born-Insitut, Berlin) will stay on for three more years as the chairman of the SAC.