July 22, 2026 -- The Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, hosts 5,500 scientists from around the world in a typical year. The facility staff refers to these scientists as users, and they come from far and wide to make use of the APS’ ultrabright X-ray beams for research.

As the APS User Program Manager, Constance Vanni and the team at the APS User Office support user access at the world-class light source. Her work keeps the administrative infrastructure running smoothly, enabling scientific discovery.

“The User Office team is the best bunch of colleagues anyone could ask for. We all truly support and encourage each other, and that synergy makes us incredibly effective at what we do.” — Constance Vanni, APS user program manager

“My job is to manage the diverse and often challenging administrative requirements of teams running cutting-edge experiments,” Vanni said. ​“We ensure everything’s in place so research teams can make the most of their allotted time at the facility. As you can imagine, that’s no small feat.”

The User Office acts as the nexus for a research project’s entire life cycle at the facility. It facilitates registration, site access approvals, proposal submission and review, allocations and end-of-experiment reporting and feedback. Visiting APS users rely on the User Office for help with dosimetry, training and access checks, agenda and logistics, and coordination with safety and DOE reporting, including usage statistics.

“Teams of researchers from institutions all over the world come here to use our beamlines for experiments,” she said. ​“The User Office coordinates the administrative aspects of these visits.”

Vanni is energized by the variety of challenges her work entails. Research teams bring unique needs and constraints to the office. This means there’s always a new problem to solve or a new protocol to develop.

“No two days are the same,” she said.

Helping her address these challenges is a team of smart and collaborative people.

“The User Office team is the best bunch of colleagues anyone could ask for,” she said. ​“We all truly support and encourage each other, and that synergy makes us incredibly effective at what we do.”

Another responsibility of the User Office is to co-organize an annual user meeting, in conjunction with the Center for Nanoscale Materials, another DOE Office of Science user facility at Argonne.

Held at the APS conference center, the weeklong event enables beamline staff, general users and Argonne scientists to share how they can support one another to accelerate discovery. The meeting is a forum for conversations across disciplines. It allows research groups working on different questions to share results and plan future initiatives.

It has been almost three decades since Vanni joined the User Office. She still remembers interviewing for the position in 1997, about a year after the launch of the user program.

“At the time, I didn’t know what a synchrotron was, much less a User Office,” she said. ​“But I took the chance, and it led to the best job I’ve ever had. It’s been amazing to help the program grow and evolve over the years. I’ve learned so much as the facility’s expanded and the user community continued to grow.”

Her advice to professionals of any age is to embrace learning new things at every opportunity and not put limits on what they think they can do.

She also stresses the value of having a humble and collaborative mindset. Teamwork and respect, two Core Values at Argonne, have been instrumental throughout her career.

“Always take the time to listen to everyone’s insights and perspectives when problem solving,” Vanni said. ​“That’s how the best solutions are found.”

Argonne accelerates the science and technology that drive U.S. prosperity and security. Argonne staff are thinkers, builders, problem-solvers and caretakers — every person and every role contribute to the laboratory’s impact on the world.