Dean R. Haeffner

Dean Haeffner is an Associate Division Director in the APS X-ray Science Division (XSD) in charge of new beamline development.  Prior to assuming his current position in January, 2019, he spent nine years as the Associate Project Manager of the APS-U Project in charge of the Experimental Facilities.  The Experimental Facilities portion of the APS-U has a budget of approximately $150M, and includes the construction of nine Feature Beamlines that will have world-leading capability and Beamline Enhancements to many current APS beamlines that will significantly modernize their capability.  Earlier in his career at the APS, Dean was a scientist at the 1-ID beamline of the APS.  His research focused on developing x-ray methods for mechanical measurements of materials under extreme and operando conditions, the development of high-energy x-ray tomography, and the mechanical properties of bio and bio-inspired materials (particularly bones and teeth).  He has authored or co-authored over 65 scientific publications.

Dean came to the APS in 1990 as a postdoctoral appointee and promoted to staff in 1992.  He was the lead scientist for the SRI-CAT 1-ID-A and 1-ID-B during commissioning and initial operations.  He led the XOR High-Energy X-ray Program from its inception in 1992 until 2009 and was the group leader for the X-ray Physics Group of the APS (1999-2005) and sector coordinator for Sector 1 (1999-2009). During this period, the 1-ID beamline was the only beamline in the western hemisphere with energy tunability and high brilliance for photons in the 50 - 120 keV energy range.  The beamline was heavily oversubscribed for experiments in the technique areas of high-energy diffraction microscopy (HEDM), mechanical measurement of aggregate materials (i.e., stress, strain, texture), and microfocused PDF.  Over 300 publications resulted from work on 1-ID and over 150 from work on 1-BM.

Dean has served on the APS Users Organization Steering Committee and was a Scientific Director for the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering (2001-2007).  He has organized several symposia and workshops on high-energy x-ray scattering at various professional meetings.  He is a member of the APS Radiation Safety Committee (RSC) (1992-present), including eight years as the chair for the XFD RSC (1993-2000).

Dean’s has a PhD from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) in Materials Science & Engineering (1991).  His thesis advisor at Northwestern was Prof. Jerome B. Cohen and the title of his the­sis was ​“The Structure of Guinier-Preston Zones in Aluminum-Zinc and Aluminum-Copper-Zinc Alloys.”  While at Northwestern, he was involved in the construction of the MATRIX beamline (X18-A) at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS).  The experiments for his thesis involved extensive use of synchrotron radiation.  Dean also has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1983).