Dear SEES Users, As many of you know, the Advanced Photon Source (APS) is currently undergoing a major upgrade (APS-U) that will dramatically enhance the brightness and coherence of the X-ray source. This upgrade is well underway, with installation of the new storage ring complete. The APS expects to begin to storing electrons in the coming weeks. You can read more about APS-U here: https://urldefense.us/v3/__https://www.aps.anl.gov/APS-Upgrade__;!!G_uCfscf7... . Work on the beamlines is progressing nicely, with installation and alignment of optics and endstation equipment also well underway. We look forward to commissioning upgraded SEES beamlines at APS Sectors 3, 6, 13, and 30 over the course of this spring and summer. Earlier today you likely received an email from the APS announcing a call for General User Proposals (GUPs) for a subset of beamlines for the 2024-2 run cycle this summer. Current projections indicate that most of the SEES beamlines (3, 6-BM, 13-BM-C, 13-ID) will still be engaged in commissioning activities during that time, with a planned return to General User Operations in the fall (2024-3). However, we hope that beamline 13-BM-D will be ready for a small number of user experiments in latter part of the summer, using the Tomography, Large Volume Press, Diamond Anvil Cell, and Brillouin Spectroscopy programs in that station. If you are interested in participating in these first experiments at 13-BM-D please submit a proposal through the new Universal Proposal System at https://urldefense.us/v3/__https://ups.servicenowservices.com/ups__;!!G_uCfs... . The timeline for APS startup and commissioning activities is still fluid, so we'll be scheduling any 2024-2 experiments in 13-BM-D a few weeks in advance as we determine when the various techniques will come online. In addition to 13-BM-D, it is possible that as commissioning activities at the other SEES APS beamlines progress, we will be able to accept Rapid Access proposals for additional beamlines later in the summer. We'll provide more information as it becomes available. Best regards, Mark Rivers Chief Technology Officer, SEES