Physicist Zhonghou Cai is the 2023 recipient of the Gopal K. Shenoy Excellence in Beamline Science Award. He is a beamline scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.
The annual award recognizes active beamline scientists at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility, for significant contributions to research or instrumentation and support of the beamline user community. The APS Users Office, which grants the award, renamed it in 2017 in honor of the late Gopal K. Shenoy. Shenoy was an accomplished materials scientist closely involved in the inception of the APS as well as an enthusiastic supporter of scientists who researched there.
“I’m honored to be chosen for the Gopal K. Shenoy award,” said Cai. “This award is a recognition of the success of X-ray microprobe techniques. The program at the early APS was truly a group effort including the great leadership of Dr. Shenoy. That makes this named award particularly special.”
Throughout his career, Cai has authored and co-authored 261 papers, 250 of them, and one patent, during his time as a beamline scientist at the APS. Cai has been a pioneer in the exciting area of X-ray microbeam and nanobeam techniques while at the APS. His work has inspired the creation of similar facilities and nanobeam instruments at other U.S. and international light sources.
“I’m honored to be chosen for the Gopal K. Shenoy award. This award is a recognition of the success of X-ray microprobe techniques.” — Zhonghou Cai, physicist, Argonne National Laboratory
Cai was described by his nominators for this year’s award as a tremendous asset to the APS user community for 30 years and as incredibly worthy of this distinction and recognition. Additionally, those who nominated Cai commended him for the depth and breadth of his impact. His work with his nominators covered a range of fields including advances in semiconductors, quantum materials, energy storage materials and photovoltaics.
Beyond Cai’s contributions to science, nominators admired his work with generations of graduate and postdoctoral researchers. They noted his positive impact on the development of early-career scientists and the significance of the careful and constructive onboarding he provides to those new to the synchrotron world.
Cai is a beamline scientist at 26-ID-C and has been leading the X-ray nanofluorescence imaging program since 2018. His research interests lie in the relations among growth, structure and property of nanoscale materials. As part of the APS Upgrade project, Cai also joined the In Situ Nanoprobe team to help develop instruments and build the new beamline. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1991 and completed the second of two postdoctoral fellowships at Argonne in 1994.
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