We are pleased to welcome Mingda Lyu, who joins us as a postdoctoral researcher after receiving his Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Susannah Dorfman's Michigan State University group in May 2021. In this position, Mingda will participate the development of X-ray diffraction-contrast computed tomography (XRD-CT) for high-pressure material characterization in 3-dimensions, and he will apply XRD-CT and other cutting-edge synchrotron techniques to continue the investigation of physical and chemical properties of materials under high pressure and temperature conditions, aiming at understanding the structure, composition, formation, evolution, and dynamics of Earth and planetary interiors.  Funded by the Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, Mingda will work in collaboration with scientists from XSD’s Materials Physics and Engineering group and Computational X-ray Science group to advance synchrotron X-ray diffraction techniques for next generation high-pressure research leveraging the enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions of APS-U.