JUAMI One Year Later: An Update from Ben

Dear JUAMI Friends,

Hello! I can't believe it's been nearly a year since we all met in Addis Ababa. I'm so glad for all the memories I made with each of you! Here's a quick update from me:

I am still at Columbia University in New York working toward my PhD with Simon Billinge. I have been doing x-ray and neutron scattering experiments on superconductors and magnetic semiconductors, using the pair distribution function technique to study local structure in these materials. I also have been learning muon spin relaxation techniques to study the magnetic properties of these materials. It has been a lot of fun! I have also enjoyed keeping in touch via email with several of my JUAMI friends, and we in the Billinge research group have been lucky to have started new research collaborations with Professor Yury Gogotsi and Professor Adrian Hightower, who both presented at JUAMI last year. I am also helping BG, Matt, Georgies, and Jojo create a new website to help all of us in JUAMI to stay connected and continue to collaborate with each other--you'll be hearing more about it soon!

Here's one of my favorite pictures from last year, which I am posting just for old times' sake. What a great soccer match it was!



I hope to hear from more of you soon!

Your friend,
Ben