FRIB’s scientific program is forged with input from the FRIB Program Advisory Committee (PAC), a group of international world-leading scientists who review non-proprietary beam-time requests submitted to FRIB for merit, consistent with U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) policy and U.S. law and make recommendations to the FRIB Laboratory director. PAC-recommended experiments align with national priorities and span the four FRIB science areas: properties of rare isotopes; nuclear astrophysics; fundamental symmetries; and applications for society, including in homeland security. 

The interest in the science opportunities at FRIB is so large that the facility continues to be oversubscribed and can only accommodate around 30 percent of all requested facility-use time. In the most recent round, beam time was awarded to 500 scientists, including from 45 U.S. institutions across 24 U.S. states, counting among them seven U.S. national laboratories and 35 domestic colleges/universities. The full list of the PAC-recommended experiments is available here.

FRIB is a DOE-SC user facility, open to all interested researchers, subject to applicable laws and DOE-SC regulations. Beam time for non-proprietary experiments is granted based on a merit review of proposals. There is no charge for users who are doing non-proprietary work, with the understanding that they are expected to publish their results. 

FRIB PAC meetings occur approximately once per year. 

The third meeting of the FRIB Program Advisory Committee (PAC3) was held 15-17 January 2025. 

Members of the PAC3 Committee

PAC includes world-leading scientists who are highly regarded in the low-energy community. The term for PAC membership is three years. The FRIB Scientific Director is a non-voting convener, and the FRIB Manager for User Relations is a non-voting administrator. Observer status is offered to the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics and a representative of the FRIB Users Organization.

• Jens Dilling (chairperson), Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Georg Bollen, Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
• Mike Carpenter, Argonne National Laboratory
• Paul Fallon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Sean Freeman, University of Manchester and CERN ISOLDE
• Magda Gorska, GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research
• Alison Laird, University of York
• Peter Mueller, Argonne National Laboratory
• Jorge Piekarewicz, Florida State University
• David Radford, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Grisha Rogachev, Texas A&M University
• Chris Ruiz, TRIUMF
• Nicolas Schunck, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Patrick Talou, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Sherry Yennello, Texas A&M University