CAT members conduct their experiments using about 75 percent of the scheduled beamtime. Each CAT focuses its research in specific disciplines, such as materials science, chemistry, physics, biology, X-ray instrumentation, or geological, soil and environmental sciences. The July 2000 CAT signing was attended by Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. Research is expected to be underway in 2001. HP-CAT comprises the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Researchers study the way properties of materials can be radically altered under extreme pressure.
Understanding and possibly predicting those changes can help improve many construction and industrial processes, and add new dimensions to studies in fundamental physics, chemistry, earth and planetary sciences, and materials science and technology. The projects undertaken by the Southeast Regional CAT will range from the discovery of new molecular structures and drug designs to protein engineering and materials science. Their research will benefit from the APS's ability to reveal crystal structures too small to be studied effectively with X-ray sources at most universities. Others involved in the SER-CAT include Florida State University , Emory University , Georgia Tech , Duke University , Clemson University , North Carolina State University , Vanderbilt University and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital . COM-CAT, funded by the State of Illinois' Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, is available to commercial firms throughout the state.