Thomas Glasmacher, Director
Located on south campus, the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) Laboratory is the world’s leading laboratory for education and research in rare isotope science, and a leading laboratory in accelerator science and in applications of rare isotopes to meet societal needs. The FRIB Laboratory is a major administrative unit within Michigan State University. FRIB’s staff of approximately 700 includes faculty, postdoctoral fellows, technicians, engineers, and graduate and undergraduate students.
FRIB contributes to training the next generation of U.S science and technical talent. MSU’s nuclear physics graduate program has been a top-ranked program nationally for 28 years, according to U.S. News and World Report, and MSU awards 10 percent of the nation’s nuclear physics PhDs annually. At FRIB, graduate student researchers conduct groundbreaking research and develop new technology in the areas of experimental or theoretical nuclear physics, nuclear chemistry, nuclear astrophysics, cryogenic engineering, accelerator science, and related computational science alongside leading scientists and engineers from around the world. FRIB is world-unique and features custom FRIB-developed technology and instrumentation to operate FRIB and harness its power to enable scientists to pursue research and derive knowledge not possible elsewhere. The doctoral degree programs are administered through MSU academic departments, primarily Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, and Engineering departments. Admission and program of study are subject to the regulations of the appropriate department. The FRIB Laboratory plays an important role in undergraduate education, providing experience for undergraduate students in a highly stimulating environment where students are exposed to forefront nuclear science research and technologies. FRIB employs about 110 undergraduate students.
MSU operates the FRIB user facility—completed in 2022—for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics.
The FRIB Laboratory ensures the nation’s continued competitiveness in nuclear science by using innovative technology needed for groundbreaking rare isotope experiments. FRIB enables scientific research with fast, stopped, and reaccelerated rare isotope beams produced by in- beam fragmentation, supporting a community of approximately 1,800 scientists from around the world.
Visit
frib.msu.edu/grad or email gradschool@frib.msu.edu.