Keep FRIB on Target

In December 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science named Michigan State University as the site for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). Competition for the $550 million federal project was formidable, with Argonne National Laboratory located outside of Chicago also submitting a proposal.

The cutting-edge FRIB will attract top researchers from around the world to conduct experiments in basic nuclear science, astrophysics, and applications of isotopes to other fields. It is expected to bring $1 billion in economic activity and 400 jobs to Michigan, according to an analysis by the Anderson Economic Group.

The FRIB project was formally established in June 2009 with the signing of a cooperative agreement between MSU and DOE. Currently, the MSU team is working on planning, research and development, and hiring for key technical positions in engineering, accelerator physics, project management, and other disciplines.

MSU continues to seek ways to engage the local, national, and international communities in the excitement surrounding its nuclear science research program.

Recent highlights:

• June 12, 2009:Approximately 400 people attended a major public celebration of the past and future of rare isotope research. Videos of a few of the day’s participants—including both of Michigan’s U.S. senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, and also Steve Koonin, the undersecretary for science at DOE—are available at youtube.com/nsclmedia.
• June 13, 2009:More than 800 people turned out for National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) 2009 open house, which featured laboratory tours and hands-on science demonstrations.
• Aug. 10–11, 2009:MSU hosted the FRIB Collaboration Meeting and 2009 NSCL User Workshop. The workshop, held annually, had its highest ever attendance. More than 60 scientists from 30 institutions in six countries traveled to East Lansing to participate, and 35 listened in and asked questions via the Web.

MSU officials energized about FRIB win

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon:"We are proud to have been selected and are enjoying a productive partnership with Department of Energy Office of Science as we carry this important science forward. I’d like to thank our members of Congress for supporting this proposal; the business, labor, and economic development leaders who joined to advise us; and MSU students, faculty, staff, students, and alumni, who joined Team MSU to back the project"

NSCL Director Konrad Gelbke: "FRIB is being guided by partnership and collaboration from day one. We look forward to ongoing collaboration with DOE to build a world-leading national user facility for research. While there is deep expertise here at MSU, we will actively seek the best scientific and technical advice and collaborate with the various experts from around the science community to ensure that FRIB users will have broad opportunities to do cutting-edge, world-leading science."

NSCL associate director for research Brad Sherrill: "We want to push the science forward, even before FRIB turns on. Everything we do today to work out the kinks with these experimental capabilities – particularly regarding stopped and reaccelerated beams, which are fairly new technologies – is about ensuring that the new facility is capable of world-leading experiments as soon as it begins operations, and that the breakthrough discoveries come as soon as possible."

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