Who We Are
Beam test facilities have long played a vital role in advancing accelerator science and technology, supporting both fundamental research and applications that drive future projects and large user facilities. Despite their importance, awareness of these facilities and their unique capabilities remain limited, and many potential researchers are unsure how to begin working with them.
As a network, we are deeply committed to workforce development and interdisciplinary collaboration across academia, industry, and national laboratories. Individually, each facility contributes to innovation and discovery — but together, we can more effectively raise awareness, share expertise, and welcome new participants to the field.
We recognize that even when researchers know about our facilities, getting started can be challenging. How does one make initial contact, develop an experimental plan, or navigate the proposal process? To help bridge that gap, we are launching a new access program that connects prospective users with facility staff and expertise, making it easier to establish collaborations and initiate experiments.
After our successful pilot run in 2025, the new call for proposals opens on October 10th with a deadline on November 30th 2026.
We invite you to let us know of your interest by completing the Contact Us form. You may also reach out directly to the network chairs and coordinator through their institutional email addresses.
Current BeamNetUS Chairs
Dr. Philippe Piot (Chair) Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
Dr. Philippe Piot joined Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in 2024 as Director of the Argonne Accelerator Institute (AAI) and Deputy Group Leader for the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator (AWA). Previously, he spent two decades at Northern Illinois University (NIU), where he established a research and education program in Accelerator Science and Engineering. He also served as research-theme leader for the NSF-funded Center for Bright Beams (CBB). Piot earned his Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Grenoble-Alpes (UGA) in France, conducting research at Jefferson Laboratory. He later worked at DESY in Hamburg, Germany, contributing to the TTD and FLASH free-electron laser programs and to high-energy particle colliders, including the International Linear Collider (ILC) design. While a Peoples fellow at Fermilab, he focused on novel phase-space manipulations, ultra-bright electron beam generation, and advanced collider designs. His current research interests include advanced acceleration techniques, compact light sources, and novel radiation sources.
Dr. Emma Snively (Deputy) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Dr. Emma Snively is the Department Head for Accelerator Research and Technology within the Technology Innovation Directorate at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Operations Manager for the NLCTA test facility at SLAC. She received her PhD in 2018 from UCLA in the Particle Beam Physics Laboratory. Dr. Snively’s research has focused on the development of next generation of high-gradient accelerator technology and novel beam manipulation techniques, with an emphasis on compact accelerator applications in medicine. Her research interests include high frequency accelerator design, pushing beyond the RF frequency range of conventional beam manipulation to enable more compact, high rep-rate, high efficiency structures, and to find new applications for THz science.
Coordinator for Outreach and User Engagement
Dr. Lieselotte Obst-Huebl (Coordinator) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Dr. Lieselotte (Lotti) Obst-Huebl is a research scientist at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) Center where she is the lead for high energy density science experiments. She conducts experiments and supports user campaigns at the BELLA laser systems. Dr. Obst-Huebl first started working in the field of high power lasers and plasmas as an undergraduate intern at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in 2010 and received her PhD magna cum laude in Physics at Technische Universität Dresden in 2019. Her expertise lies in PW laser-matter interactions, including laser-proton acceleration, targetry, plasma mirrors, diagnostics, and applications. One of her focus areas is providing laser-accelerated particle beams for radiobiological studies to explore new radiotherapy regimes.
Former Chairs
FY23-25 Chair: Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi Stony Brook University
FY23-25 Deputy Chair: Jens Osterhoff Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
