Michigan State University’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) has secured $529,068,000 through the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, funding made possible by the Biden-Harris administration’s economic recovery packages.
FRIB is home to the world’s most powerful heavy-ion accelerator, a device that propels atoms at half the speed of light and facilitates collisions that produce rare isotopes, many of which have never been seen on earth. Scientists at FRIB study the properties of rare isotopes, nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interactions, and their applications for society – including in medicine, homeland security, and industry.
Since its opening in May 2022, FRIB has delivered more than 200 rare isotope beams for experimentation. Some 500 scientists including students across 39 countries and 136 research institutions (among those are national laboratories, colleges, and universities) have used the facility for their research.
FRIB will refurbish and repurpose its K500 cyclotron to serve as “the heart of a new chip-testing facility for next-generation semiconductor devices.” Semiconductors are used in everything from commercial space flight to home electronics, but since the pandemic there has been a shortage of them. FRIB’s new chip-testing capabilities will help reduce that shortage by adding thousands of hours of chip-testing capacity annually.
Funds will also be used to “harvest” extra, unused isotopes for study in multiple fields, including medicine, biochemistry, materials science, horticulture, and astrophysics. Isotopes are used to develop cancer treatments and diagnostics, among other purposes.
The United States faces a shortage of radiochemists, cryogenic engineers, and experts in accelerator science and engineering, among others. FRIB will attract students and train them in these areas of need.
FRIB Laboratory Director Thomas Glasmacher said in a statement: “This new award enables FRIB to provide unparalleled discovery opportunities for world-leading scientists to spur discoveries that will benefit humankind, and, by being located on the campus of a major research university, we will inspire students to join the next generation of engineers and scientists.”
FRIB is a joint venture funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, the state of Michigan, and Michigan State University.
Three Key Facts:
- Michigan State University’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) has received $529 million from the U.S. Department of Energy with funds from the Biden-Harris administration’s economic recovery packages.
- FRIB houses the world’s most powerful heavy-ion accelerator and has delivered over 200 rare isotope beams – unique atomic variations that are crucial for scientific research – since opening in May 2022, supporting scientists from 39 countries and 136 institutions.
- The funding will be used to refurbish the facility’s K500 cyclotron for semiconductor chip testing, harvest unused isotopes for various scientific fields, and train students in radiochemistry, cryogenic engineering, and accelerator science.
