Cornell Video

Louisa Smieska, a former post-doc at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), explains how chemistry and art led her to become a synchrotron scientist. For the past year, Louisa has been working with X-ray fluorescence to scan manuscripts from the Johnson Museum and mining deposits from deep below the Earth's surface, and to train users on the benefits of using the high energy X-rays to peer inside, or through, their samples.

Now Louisa is embarking on a prestigious Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Conservation Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, where she will be able to use the X-ray skills she developed at CHESS to further the Met's scientific research department.

Music by: Kai Engel - Hopes and Dreams, from Better Way.